Transfer a Call

Transferring and merging calls is essential for connecting callers to the right agent and showing you care about their needs.

Dialpad provides 4 different types of call transferring:

• Direct transfer (transfer now)

• Ask first (warm)

• Transfer to voicemail

• Transfer to hold queue (transfer to hold)

Let's dive into the details.

Direct transfer (transfer now)

Ask first (warm transfer)

The ask first (warm transfer) feature lets you introduce the caller to your recipient before handing off the call. Once your team member/operator answers, you'll have options to finalize the transfer, send the caller to voicemail, or even hang up the call.  

Warm transfers are available for:

• Team members

• Numbers outside your Organization

• Departments & main line

• Contact Centers

Note

Warm transferring (Ask First) is only available when transferring to direct numbers (i.e. personal lines). You cannot transfer to an extension, or to a Contact Center that does not have a direct line.

To Warm Transfer a call:

1. Select Transfer

2. Search for a contact

   1. Manually type in a number, or select one of your most frequent contacts

   2. If a team member/department has more than 1 number, click on the drop-down arrow to select

3. Select Ask First

4. The existing call will be put on hold while being connected to the person you're transferring the call

5. Once connected, select the Transfer button again

   

Note

Call recordings are per call leg.  The first leg of a warm transfer will not include the full end-to-end recording.
When Agent 1 completes the warm transfer, their recording will end. To hear the rest of the call, you’ll need to access Agent 2’s call recording.

Transfer to voicemail

When you transfer to voicemail, your active call is put on hold and is transferred directly to your party’s voicemail greeting.

Transfer to voicemail is available for transfers between team members or to departments (including the main line).

How to transfer to voicemail:

1. Select Transfer

2. Search for a contact

   • Manually type in a number, or select one of your most frequent contacts.

   • If a team member/department has more than 1 number, click on the drop-down arrow to select.

3. Select Transfer to voicemail?

Transfer to an individual hold queue

Transferring to a hold queue is perfect for when a team member can take the call in a minute or two, (for example, if they’ve stepped away from their desk).

When you transfer to a hold queue, the call is placed on hold and moved to the team member’s queue. The recipient will see the call in their active call sidebar, and the caller stays on hold until the recipient selects Switch Call to This Device to accept it.

Note

Individual hold queues are available only on Enterprise Dialpad Connect or Premium Dialpad Sell plans.
Before you can use this feature, you’ll need to enable your individual call queue.

To transfer to an individual hold queue:

1. Select Transfer

2. Search for a contact:

   • Manually type in a number, or select one of your most frequent contacts.

   • If a team member/department has more than 1 number, click on the drop-down arrow to select.

3. Select Send to hold the queue

Transfer on the Android app

Easily transfer calls on the Android app.

To transfer a call:

1. Press Transfer

2. Enter the number or contact name

3. Choose the desired transfer type (warm, direct, to voicemail, or to hold queue)

   

Transfer on the iOS app

Call transferring works on the iOS app, too!

To transfer a call:

1. Press More

2. Press Transfer

3. Enter the number or contact name

4. Choose the desired transfer type (warm, direct, to voicemail, or to hold queue)

Merge a call

Easily turn any call into a group call by merging calls.

You can merge the calls by either accepting a call waiting or placing a call on hold and merge it to another call.

Here’s how to merge calls:

Merge an incoming call

When you receive a new call during an active call, you’ll see the ANSWER and MERGE options.

• If you select MERGE, the inbound call will immediately join your current call

• If you select ANSWER, the existing call will be placed on hold until the merge action is selected

Once you answer the call, you’ll need to manually merge the calls by navigating to your active call indicator on the top left of the app

1. Select Options (that’s the 3 vertical dots)

2. Select Merge

Merge a new outbound call

You can also call another person and merge them into your active call.

1. Place the active call on hold

2. Select the Call icon on your Dialpad app

3. Enter the name or number of the person you want to call

4. Select Options on your active call on-hold (that’s the 3 vertical dots)

5. Select Merge

Frequently asked questions

Can I transfer to a number outside of my company?

This depends on whether you're making or receiving the call.

If you receive a call and then need to transfer your caller, you can transfer to a # outside of your company. You'll just need to make sure that your admin has enabled this office-wide feature.

The number will have to be associated with a Dialpad account, i.e. another department, contact centers, Dialpad team member, room phone, etc.

If you're making the call and then transferring your caller, you can't transfer to a # outside of your company if you are on a Standard Plan. If you are on a Pro or Enterprise plan, reach out to our Customer Care Team to enable this feature.  

Are transferred calls recorded?

If you have auto-recording turned on, department or contact center calls transferred to another Dialpad user (in your company) will be recorded from beginning to end — if you use Ask First (warm transfer).

You can change this behavior, by heading to your Office settings and selecting the box 'Stop automatic call recordings (for example, on a contact center or department) after warm transfer'.

If you use Transfer Now (blind transfer), or transfer the call to a number external to Dialpad, only the first part of the call (prior to transfer) will be recorded.

If someone calls my toll-free number and the call is transferred to an external number, will my calling credits continue to be used once the call is transferred?

Yes, your credits will continue to be used. Calls to toll-free numbers will be charged per minute used post-transfer.

If someone calls my toll-free number and the call is transferred within my company, do I need to add call credits to the office to which the call is being transferred?

Yes, once the call is transferred to the other office, they will be responsible for the toll-free line charges, but only for the duration of the call that they handled (meaning, they will be charged per minute used post-transfer).

How come when I try to transfer a call, sometimes it disconnects immediately?

Looping is not supported. If you are transferring a call back to someone who originally transferred your call the call will disconnect.  

For example:

1. Jim calls Sue (This is Jim's call)

2. Sue then transfers Jim to Betty (This is Sue's call)

3. Jim and Betty are on a call (This is the incorrect assumption — while Jim and Betty have bridged audio, Jim is still on a call with Sue from Jim’s reference point.)

4. If Jim attempts a blind transfer call to Sue (this is, in effect, Jim transferring Sue to Sue, creating a feedback loop that results in the call being dropped.