Every business day for the month of November, we will be posting a useful tip for 3CX, a powerful SIP-based unified communications platform.
Pro users know: hot keys or keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of fumbling around. While most of us will never hit the heights of power Photoshop creatives, knowing that, for example, pressing Command + Tab on a Mac will let you flip through applications can help speed up your workflow.
3CX has full hot key functionality for the Windows client. You can set up hot keys for common functions like answering calls, transferring calls, putting calls on hold, and so on.
How? Read on.
3CX Hot Keys
Hot keys are disabled by default, so the first thing you need to do is enable them.
From the 3CX Dialpad, go to settings by clicking the gear icon in the bottom right corner:
Click on “Hot Keys.” Here, you’ll find a list of the functions that you can set a hot key for.
Select the function you want and set the hot key. You can choose from Ctrl, Shift and Alt in any combination, plus any key. For example, you could set “Answer Call” to be Ctrl + Shift + A.
Make sure that the hot key you set isn’t already in use elsewhere! Check against the list of Windows keyboard shortcuts.
One very useful hot key that many people like to use is the “Copy Number from Clipboard” function. With this function, you can highlight a phone number from any document or webpage, press the hot key, and the number will be copied right to your 3CX Dialpad. All you need to do is press “Call.”
These are the kind of efficiencies that hot keys enable.
Note: Customizable hot keys for 3CX are only available for Windows right now. There is, however, a single, very useful 3CX hot key for Mac. Highlight a phone number, hit ⌘ (Command) + 3, and you’ll automatically dial that number. You don’t even need to press “Call”!