Manual VM Status Updates: Track Voicemail Drops on Hand-Dialed Calls

When an agent dials a number by hand and reaches a voicemail box, you still want a record of what happened. That is what Manual VM Status Updates does in VICIdial. It extends the answering-machine message statuses that normally only apply to auto-dialed calls so they also apply to manual dialing (Manual dialing (click to dial)). The setting is enabled by default, and for most teams that is the right choice.

What the setting actually changes

On an auto-dial campaign, when answering machine detection (AMD (answering machine detection)) flags a call and you leave a pre-recorded message, VICIdial records a status that reflects the voicemail drop (Voicemail drop). With Manual VM Status Updates turned on, that same status logging happens when an agent dials a lead by hand and drops a message on the machine. Without it, those hand-dialed voicemail drops would not get the standard answering-machine status applied to the call.

The practical effect is consistency. Whether a lead (Lead) was reached through the dialer or through a hand-dial, the disposition (Disposition) and status data line up. That matters for reporting, lead recycling, and any rule you run that keys off a specific called status.

How a hand-dialed voicemail flows

flowchart TD
  A[Agent hand dials lead] --> B[Call answered]
  B --> C{Voicemail reached}
  C -->|Agent drops message| D{Manual VM Status Updates}
  D -->|Enabled| E[Standard AM status logged]
  D -->|Disabled| F[No AM status applied]
  E --> G[Status shows in reports]

The flow is simple, but the branch in the middle is the whole point. With the setting enabled, the same status path that auto-dialed calls follow gets reused for the manual call. With it disabled, the hand-dialed call lands without the answering-machine status, and your numbers drift away from what the auto-dialer reports.

When to leave it on, when to turn it off

Leave it enabled if you run blended teams where agents both take dialer calls and hand-dial. You want one consistent status (Status (lead status)) set across both paths so your dashboards do not lie to you.

You might turn it off if your manual calls are part of a separate workflow with its own dispositions and you do not want answering-machine statuses bleeding into that data. That is a narrow case. Most operators never touch the default.

One thing to keep clear: this setting is about status logging, not detection. The built-in AMD application does not run on the MANUAL dial method (Dial method) at all. So on a hand-dialed call there is no automatic machine detection happening. The agent hears the voicemail, decides to drop a message, and Manual VM Status Updates makes sure that action gets recorded the same way the dialer would record it.

Where this sits in the bigger picture

Manual VM Status Updates is one small piece of how VICIdial handles machines and voicemail. For the full set of detection and routing settings, read our AMD and CPD complete guide. If you are deciding whether to run detection at all, it helps to first understand what VICIdial AMD is and does.

Getting status logging right is easier when your dialer is set up correctly from the start. VICIfast handles the VICIdial tuning, dialplan, and audio store for you, so settings like this work the way they should out of the box. See VICIfast pricing to get a managed dialer that just works.