Set up 8x8 Work Users

A user is any Virtual Office contact assigned with 8x8 services (licenses) and permissions. If you would like your contact to communicate via phone, you need to promote it to a user by assigning a service, a telephone number, and an extension number. You may have created a contact with minimum requirements and saved in your tenant. You now need a physical device for the user and to activate it. A softphone is assigned by default.

You can create individual users or create them in bulk. To create multiple users at once, see Create Users in Bulk.

To set up users and configure additional features:

  1. From the main menu in 8x8 Admin Console, go to Users.
  2. Click + Create User, or click to edit an existing contact.
  3. Follow the instructions to set up additional features for the user.

  4. Click to save the user.

    • The left-side navigation menu allows you to jump to the desired section quickly without having to scroll multiple screens.
    • While creating or editing a user, if you miss a field, you are navigated to the section that requires a valid value. The section with error information expands showing you a message in red. Correct the information and save.
    • When you upgrade a basic contact to become a user, a welcome email is sent automatically to the email address in the user profile notifying the user of important information such as extension info, device activation code, and password setup link.
    • To reset a user's password, go to Home > Users and click Reset user password from the menu next to the user.

Set up Additional Configurations

Configure a user for more features such as voicemail, caller ID, call forwarding rules, hold music for the callers, emergency address, and more:

FAQ

Refer to the following frequently-asked questions for more information:

  • To upgrade or downgrade your user license, go to Home > Users > Services and permissions while editing a user profile. Select a different license from the drop-down list, and click to save the user.
  • To remove a user license, while editing a user, go to Home > Users > Services and permissions, click x next to the license. You receive a message that removing a service can affect the user capabilities. Click Continue, and save the user.

While editing a user, scroll down to Voice basic settings, and next to Device model, choose a different device from the list. You must activate the device by entering the MAC address or Activation Code.

You can activate a device by going to Users > Voice basic settings > Device model and selecting an available device:

  • Select Input MAC address to activate the device remotely. Enter the unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to the device for the user. The device is activated remotely once the user is saved. A MAC address is ideal when there is no email associated with the user, such as lobby or computer lab phones.
  • Select Use an Activation Code to activate the device directly from the device. Once the user is saved, an automatic code is generated by the system for the device, and associated with the user. The activation code is then sent to the user in their welcome email. The user can activate the device from their desk by calling the 8x8 registration service and entering the activation code.

An audio codec is used for voice calls. The codec specifies a certain ratio between audio quality and compression. A codec with a higher compression uses less bandwidth (better for sites with a less performance-intensive internet line) but offers lower fidelity, which causes poorer sound quality.

While editing a user, scroll down to Voicemail settings, and click Reset Password next to Voicemail password. Then, enter the new voicemail password; the new password must be numeric-only and contain a minimum of six digits.

If you are in the process of porting a number to 8x8, it cannot be used as caller ID until it is verified or successfully ported. Once the number is successfully ported to 8x8, then it is automatically available in your caller ID list of numbers.

The audio file is a music or message used for callers hold music, auto attendants prompts, call queues greetings, and ring groups music. The audio file repository can be accessed from Users edit page. While editing a user, go to Music-On-Hold and click Change next to the default audio file. The Audio files page opens. Click next to the audio file that you like to delete. You can also access the audio files from Auto Attendant, Call Queues, and Ring Groups edit pages.

With call recording capability, 8x8 Work users can record calls, delete, and listen to their calls from their 8x8 Work for Desktop or 8x8 Work for Mobile. While creating a user, go to Call Recording and select the option to record the calls. If you allow users to record their calls selectively, they must manually press record when a call is offered to them. You can configure the call recording further if you want the system to announce recording to the user, or caller, before recording. Once a call is recorded, you can access it under the main menu's Call Recordings. For a quick access, filter it by date or user's name. If a user deletes a recorded call on their end, it still shows up for the supervisor and in the 8x8 Admin Console.

Calling country determines the destination of your calls and helps expedite dialing.

Yes, emergency address is a service location address for 911 emergency service. The address for each user must be accurate and verified. This address is used whenever someone makes an emergency call from that phone number or extension. By default the system uses the site's address as the emergency address but you can choose a different emergency address for each user.

While editing a user, go to the Fax notification settings and select a fax number. Enter your choice of notification, and the user's email address to receive email notifications. Note that the settings in 8x8 Admin Console can be changed by the user from within 8x8 Work for Desktop. To set up the fax notification, you have the following options:

  • Disable Notification: No email notification is sent to the user when a fax is received.
  • Attachment Only: An email notification is sent to the user with a fax message attached as a PDF. The user's email address is required to notify the users of the new internet fax.
  • Link & Attachment: An email notification is sent to the user with both a link to the fax and an attachment. The user's email address is required to notify the users of the new internet fax.
  • Link Only: An email is sent to the user including a link to the fax message. The user's email address is required to notify the users of the new internet fax.

To set up an analog fax machine, you need to create a user first, then assign a service and an analog fax device.

To set up an analog fax machine:

  1. From the main menu in 8x8 Admin Console, go to Users.
  2. Click + Create User.
  3. Enter the first and last name (such as Analog Fax Machine 1), and basic information such as the administrator's email and site.
  4. Enter a service from Services and permissions.
  5. Enter a Phone number that can be used for fax. An Extension number is also assigned to the fax machine.
  6. Assign an Analog fax device and activate it.
  7. Click Save to save the user's new settings.

You can forward your faxes from an analog fax machine to another user when the fax machine is broken or not responding. To forward your faxes, you need to set up call forwarding rules for the analog fax machine. Create and save a user with the proper services and permissions for the analog fax machine and assign the analog fax device before you set up the call forwarding rules

To forward analog faxes:

  1. From the main menu in 8x8 Admin Console, go to Users.
  2. Click + Create User.
  3. Enter the name and basic information for the fax machine, such as Analog Fax Machine 1.
  4. Enter a service from Services and permissions.
  5. Enter a Phone number that can be used for fax. An Extension number is also assigned to the fax machine.
  6. Assign an Analog fax device and activate it.
  7. Open Call forwarding rules.
  8. Edit rules for when the Internet connection is down, or the system is not working.
  9. Click to Save the analog fax user.