Uniqueid Status Display explained

When you need to trace one specific phone call through your system, the value that ties it all together is the call's Asterisk uniqueid (a single identifier Asterisk stamps on every call so you can find it in logs and recordings). The Uniqueid Status Display setting on an Ingroup (the inbound queue that holds callers until an agent is free) puts that identifier right in front of the agent, which turns a tedious log hunt into a quick read-off.

What the setting shows

Enable Uniqueid Status Display and, when an Agent (a person logged in to take calls) receives a call through this in-group, the uniqueid of that call appears on the status line in their agent interface. The default is DISABLED, so out of the box agents never see it. Turn it on for any queue where supervisors regularly need to pull a specific call's recording or trace its path.

Why bother showing it to the agent at all? Because the agent is the person on the call. If a caller has a complaint or a billing question that needs escalation, the agent can read the uniqueid straight off their screen and hand it to a supervisor, who can then find the exact Call recording (the saved audio of a call) without guessing at timestamps.

The prefix option

There is a PREFIX option that adds a defined label to the front of the uniqueid in the display. You set the actual text in the Uniqueid Status Prefix field, which is empty by default. This is handy when agents handle calls from several sources and you want them to spot at a glance which one a uniqueid belongs to, for example tagging a support queue's IDs differently from a sales queue's.

Carrying the ID to a second agent

Calls often pass between people. If you use the PRESERVE option and the call is sent on to a second agent, the same uniqueid and prefix shown to the first agent are also shown to the second. That continuity matters for a transferred call: both agents reference the identical ID, so a supervisor tracing the call sees one consistent value across the whole journey rather than a fresh ID at every hop.

flowchart TD
  A[Call enters ingroup] --> B{Display enabled}
  B -->|no| C[Agent sees no ID]
  B -->|yes| D{Prefix set}
  D -->|yes| E[Show prefix plus uniqueid]
  D -->|no| F[Show uniqueid]
  E --> G{PRESERVE and transfer}
  F --> G
  G -->|yes| H[Second agent sees same ID]

When to turn it on

This is a low-cost, high-value setting for any team that does quality assurance or handles escalations. The agent screen gets slightly busier, but the payoff is being able to point at exactly one call. For broader call tracing and reporting, the inbound group report ties these IDs to per-call detail. Start with our inbound call handling guide for the surrounding queue settings, and see the inbound group report for where these calls show up afterward.

Uniqueid Status Display is one of those small settings that pays for itself the first time you need to find a call fast. Enable it, optionally add a prefix, and use PRESERVE if calls get transferred. If you would rather not manage the box at all, our managed VICIdial hosting gets you a working dialer in under a minute.