What the Scheduled Callbacks Auto Reschedule setting does

A Scheduled callback is a record an agent reserves for a later date and time, usually because the customer asked you to ring back. VICIdial supports two flavors: a USERONLY callback that only the original Agent can dial, and an ANYONE callback that any available agent on the Campaign can pick up. The auto reschedule behavior in VICIdial exists for one reason: a USERONLY callback that nobody dialed on time should not sit there forever.

What auto reschedule actually does

The setting is named Scheduled Callbacks Useronly Move Minutes in the campaign detail screen. When you set it to a number greater than zero, VICIdial watches every USERONLY callback. Once a callback is that many minutes past its scheduled time and still has not been dialed, the system changes it into an ANYONE callback. The check runs every minute, so the conversion happens close to the moment a callback goes overdue.

Once a callback becomes ANYONE, it stops being locked to one person and flows into normal dialing for the campaign. That means it can land back in the Hopper (the short queue of leads waiting to be dialed) and reach a customer instead of expiring quietly while the original agent is on lunch, off shift, or simply busy.

The lifecycle of a missed callback

stateDiagram-v2
  [*] --> Scheduled
  Scheduled --> Dialed: agent dials on time
  Scheduled --> Overdue: trigger time passes
  Overdue --> StillUseronly: under move minutes
  Overdue --> Converted: past move minutes
  Converted --> AnyoneCallback
  AnyoneCallback --> Hopper
  Hopper --> Dialed
  Dialed --> [*]

Read it top to bottom: a scheduled callback either gets dialed on time, or its trigger time passes and it sits overdue. While it is inside the move-minutes window it stays USERONLY and only the original agent can reach it. Once it crosses that window, VICIdial converts it to ANYONE, it enters the hopper, and it gets dialed by whoever is free. There is no agent action required and no admin button to push; the conversion is automatic once the setting is in place.

The conversion is a quiet, one-directional move. A callback that has flipped to ANYONE does not flip back to USERONLY on its own, so think of the move-minutes window as the grace period you are willing to give the original agent before the system decides the customer matters more than ownership. Pick that number to match how your shifts actually run.

When to turn it on

Auto reschedule earns its keep when you have a lot of USERONLY callbacks and agents who cannot always be at their desk at the exact promised minute. A small window, such as 30 or 60 minutes, gives the original agent first crack while still guaranteeing the customer gets called. Leave it at the default of 0 if every USERONLY callback must stay with its owner forever, no exceptions. That is the right choice for commission-driven teams where the agent who booked the appointment must be the one to close it.

One caveat worth knowing: the original agent still needs scheduled callbacks turned on in their VICIdial user options to set a USERONLY callback at all. The move-minutes setting only acts on callbacks that already exist, so it is the second half of a working setup, not the whole thing.

If you are deciding between USERONLY and ANYONE in the first place, start with our explainer on ANYONE versus USERONLY callbacks, and for the full picture of how reserved callbacks work across a campaign, read the scheduled callbacks overview.

Skip the setup hassle

On a managed VICIdial server you do not have to babysit cron scripts or wonder whether the move-minutes job is even running. We spin up a dedicated, secured dialer in under 40 seconds and you tune campaign settings like this from the admin screen. See our pricing to get started.