VICIdial screen label ID rules explained

The Label ID is the first thing VICIdial asks for when you build a screen label, and it is the one field with hard rules. Because this ID is what identifies the label throughout the system, the form is picky about it on purpose. Get the naming right early and you will never have to untangle it across a busy Campaign list later.

The exact rules

A screen label ID must be at least 2 characters long and no more than 20 characters. It cannot contain spaces, and it cannot contain special characters. That is it: a short, plain, alphanumeric handle. The Label Name field next to it is free text for the human-friendly description, so resist the urge to cram a long phrase into the ID. Keep the ID tight and let the name do the explaining.

flowchart TD
  A[Enter Label ID] --> B{At least 2 chars}
  B -->|No| R[Rejected]
  B -->|Yes| C{No more than 20 chars}
  C -->|No| R
  C -->|Yes| D{No spaces or special chars}
  D -->|No| R
  D -->|Yes| S[Accepted]

The flow above is the validation in order: length floor, length ceiling, then character set. Fail any gate and the form rejects the value. Pass all three and the ID is yours.

How the ID relates to the rest of the form

The Label ID sits alongside three other fields you set when creating the template: the Label Name, the Active flag, and the Admin User Group. Of those, only the ID is rule-bound. The Name is a plain description, Active simply toggles whether the label is in use, and the Admin User Group governs visibility, defaulting to --ALL-- so any admin user can see the record. Restricting that group is how you keep a sensitive label scoped to one team, but it never changes the ID rules. So think of the ID as the permanent handle and the other fields as adjustable metadata around it. Once the template is saved, that ID is what the system carries into every listing and into the Agent Screen Labels pulldown on each Campaign that uses it.

Why the limits exist

These limits are not arbitrary. The ID becomes a system key that appears in pulldowns and listings, so spaces and punctuation would break clean references and make selection error-prone for an Agent admin. The 20-character ceiling keeps the Screen Labels list readable, and the 2-character floor stops you from creating cryptic single-letter IDs nobody can decode in six months. If you have ever named an Agent script ID, the discipline is identical.

A naming convention that scales

Pick a prefix and stick to it. Something like SL_COLLECT or SL_INS_AB tells you at a glance that it is a screen label and which workflow it serves, all within the 20-character budget. Use underscores instead of spaces, keep casing consistent, and avoid recycling an ID for a different purpose. When the same ID shows up in the Agent Screen Labels pulldown on the Campaign modification page, that consistency pays off fast. The same care you take when assigning a script to a campaign applies here, and the broader agent screen configuration guide covers how labels sit alongside the rest of the screen setup.

Spend thirty seconds on a sane ID and your label list stays clean for years. If you would rather run a VICIdial environment that is already organized and supported, see VICIfast pricing.