Why an agent can't see their own callbacks

An agent swears they set a callback, the customer is waiting, and the callback is nowhere on the agent's list. Before you assume the feature is broken, know that VICIdial is almost certainly doing exactly what its settings tell it to. A callback can exist in the database and still be hidden from the one agent who set it, for four ordinary reasons. This walks through each, in the order you should check them.

A Scheduled callback is a lead an Agent flagged to be contacted at a future date and time. The big-picture version of how callbacks work lives in scheduled callbacks explained. This page is the troubleshooting view: it is set, so why can't the agent see it?

Reason one: it's ACTIVE, not LIVE yet

A USERONLY callback the agent reserved for themselves has two states. While it is set but its date and time have not yet arrived, it is ACTIVE. The moment its trigger time passes, it becomes LIVE. The campaign setting Scheduled Callbacks Count decides which of those two the agent's alert panel shows. The default is ALL_ACTIVE, which displays both ACTIVE and LIVE callbacks. If someone changed it to show only LIVE callbacks, then anything scheduled for later today or next week simply will not appear yet, because it has not triggered.

This is the most common confusion. The agent set a callback for Thursday, it is Monday, the count is set to LIVE-only, and so the panel is empty even though the record is fine. The deeper walkthrough of this one setting is in the Scheduled Callbacks Count setting, and the wording itself is untangled in LIVE vs ACTIVE callbacks.

Reason two: Display Days is hiding it

The campaign setting Scheduled Callbacks Display Days restricts the list to callbacks set to trigger within a number of days from today. A day here is a standard calendar day, so if Display Days is set to 1, only callbacks triggering between now and midnight tonight are shown. A callback set for next week is in the database, but it is past the horizon, so the agent's screen leaves it off until it gets close enough. The default is 0, which means no limit, so if you see this behavior someone set a value on purpose. The dedicated article is Scheduled Callbacks Display Days.

Reason three: Hours Block is delaying it

Scheduled Callbacks Hours Block keeps a USERONLY callback off the agent's callback list until X hours after it was set. If this is set to 4, a callback the agent created at 9am will not appear for them until 1pm, even if it is meant to trigger long before then. It is a deliberate brake to stop agents from stacking near-immediate callbacks for themselves. The default is 0, meaning no block.

Reason four: it was set as ANYONE

There is a checkbox on the callback screen usually labeled My Callback. Ticking it makes the callback USERONLY, reserved for that one agent, so it shows on their personal list. Leaving it unticked makes it an ANYONE callback. An ANYONE callback goes back into the campaign Hopper when its trigger time arrives and is dialed by whichever agent is next available. It is never on any single agent's personal callback list, because nobody owns it. If the agent forgot to tick My Callback, the callback is working as designed, just not for them. The checkbox itself is covered in the agent callback user option.

How to walk through it

Check the four reasons in order, since each is quick to rule out from the campaign settings and the agent's user options.

flowchart TD
  A[Agent cannot see callback] --> B{My Callback ticked}
  B -- No --> C[ANYONE goes to hopper not personal list]
  B -- Yes --> D{Triggered yet}
  D -- No --> E{Count set to LIVE only}
  E -- Yes --> F[Hidden until trigger time]
  E -- No --> G{Display Days limit}
  G -- Beyond horizon --> H[Hidden until within range]
  G -- Within range --> I{Hours Block elapsed}
  I -- No --> J[Hidden until X hours pass]
  I -- Yes --> K[Should be visible]

Read the diagram top to bottom. First confirm the callback is USERONLY at all; an ANYONE callback will never be on a personal list. Then check whether it has triggered, and whether Scheduled Callbacks Count is filtering to LIVE-only. Then rule out Display Days and Hours Block. If all four pass and the callback still does not show, the cause is usually elsewhere, like the campaign-level Scheduled Callbacks Status (lead status) being off or the agent's own user option being disabled.

The quick summary

Four settings hide a callback that genuinely exists: it was ANYONE so it went to the hopper, the count is LIVE-only and it has not triggered, Display Days puts it past the horizon, or Hours Block is still counting down. None is a fault. They are guardrails, and once you know them you can answer the agent in under a minute instead of opening a database. Consistent callback rules also keep your Disposition reporting honest.

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