Inbound Rules – Fortis

Overview

An Inbound Rule tells VeloPBX what to do when an external caller dials one of your DID numbers. You can route the call to an Extension, IVR (Virtual Receptionist), Ring Group, Call Queue, Voicemail, or an external PSTN number, and you can apply different routing for office hours, after hours, and holidays.

In the Web Portal, go to Call Manager → Inbound Rules:

https://pbx.fortis-tele.com:8887

Creating an Inbound Rule

Step 1 — Add a new rule

Call Manager → Inbound Rules
Click Add

Step 2 — Fill in the matching fields

Field	Description	Example
Name	A friendly label that helps you identify the rule later	`Main Line`
Trunk	The SIP trunk that delivers this DID. Each Inbound Rule is bound to exactly one trunk.	`{{TRUNK_NAME}}`
DID/DDI Number Mask	The DID as it arrives in the SIP `To` header — a single number (`+374 60 123456`) or a range (`12012345001-12012346000`)	`+374 60 123456`
Caller Number Mask	(Optional) Restrict the rule to specific caller IDs. Leave empty to match all callers.	`0044****`

About the Caller Number Mask. You can combine ranges, single numbers, and wildcards using . The number of characters must equal the number of digits you want to match. Example: 0044 matches a 14-character UK number; 004420 matches London-area numbers. Combine multiple conditions with semicolons: 0036*;1000-2000;6000. In most deployments you can leave this field empty.

Note about prefixes. The DID and the trunk’s DID pool must not start with +, 0, or 00. If your provider presents the number with such a prefix, strip it before entering the value.

If both Caller Number Mask and DID/DDI Number Mask are set, the rule matches only when both conditions are satisfied. If only DID/DDI Number Mask is set, the rule matches whenever the called number matches.

You can also enable Play recording notifications so that callers hear a voice prompt informing them the call may be recorded.

Inbound Rule general fields — Fig. 1 — General section of an Inbound Rule. **Name** (e.g. `From Twilio`). **Caller Number Mask** — leave empty to match every caller, or specify a range (e.g. `100-200`) or wildcard (e.g. `0038*` for any 10-digit number starting with `0038`). **Trunks** — select the trunk that delivers the call. **DID/DDI Number or Number Range** — a single number (e.g. `3356123091`) or a range (e.g. `123456` / `10000-20000`). The **Enable** toggle activates the rule and **Play recording notifications** plays the recording-notice prompt.

Step 3 — Configure how matched calls are routed

For each of the three time windows — Office Hours, Out of Office Hours, and Holidays — choose a forwarding action:

Action	What it does
Forward to Number	Sends the call to an extension, system extension (Ring Group, Virtual Receptionist, Queue, Conference), a PSTN number, or an extension range
Forward to Voicemail	Drops the caller straight into the voicemail box of the chosen extension
Hang Up	Terminates the call when it matches this rule

Note: If you have not configured Office Hours, VeloPBX uses the Office Hours routing for every call, regardless of the time of day.

Inbound Rule routing — Office Hours / Out of Office Hours / Holidays — Fig. 2 — Full routing overview for an Inbound Rule. The DID/DDI range `12012345001-12012346000` is routed three ways. **Office Hours** → `Forward to Number` → extension range `1001-2000` (1:1 mapping). **Out of Office Hours** → `Forward to Number` → the same `1001-2000` range (in this example; in practice this would usually be voicemail). **Holidays** → `Forward to Number` → `1001-2000`. The magnifier icon lets you pick the destination from a list.

Inbound rule forwarding directly to a single extension — Fig. 3 — A single-extension forward (e.g. `1001`). All three time windows route to the same extension. Use this pattern when the DID is a personal direct number for one employee.

Inbound rule forwarding to extension 0 (operator) as a fallback — Fig. 4 — Default routing to extension `0`. Extension `0` is conventionally the operator (receptionist) extension or the default IVR. This is a useful fallback when no direct human agent is configured.

Step 4 — Save

Click Save.

Bulk DID-to-Extension Mapping

If you have a serial range of DIDs that map 1:1 to a serial range of extensions (for example, 100 DIDs to 100 extensions), you can express that with a single Inbound Rule. Both the DID Number Mask and the Forward to Number must be ranges of the same size.

Field	Value
DID Number Mask	`442012345600-442012345800`
Forward to Number	`1100-1300`

With this configuration, a call to 442012345600 is routed to extension 1100, a call to 442012345698 is routed to extension 1198, and so on.

Pass-through mode

In some integrations you may want VeloPBX to forward the call without rewriting the called number — typically when a downstream system handles the final routing. To do this, set the destination number to 0 in the Inbound Rule. VeloPBX preserves the dialed number as it routes the call.

Per-rule Office Hours

An Inbound Rule can have its own Office Hours that override the tenant-wide schedule. This is useful when different DIDs follow different schedules (for example, Sales runs 09:00–17:00 while Support is 24/7).

Inside the Inbound Rule, open the Office Hours tab and choose Use Specific Office Hours.
Enable the days of the week you want as working days.
Add one or more time ranges for each day (e.g. 09:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00 around lunch).
In the Holidays section, click Select Holidays and pick from the global list.

Inbound Rule with custom Office Hours and Holidays — Fig. 5 — Custom Office Hours screen for an Inbound Rule. **Use Specific Office Hours** is selected. All seven weekdays are enabled (toggles in blue). The + button adds a time range to a day (for example, 09:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00 with a lunch break). **Apply To** copies the schedule onto multiple days at once. The **Holidays** section below has a **Select Holidays** button that opens the global Holiday list (e.g. Christmas, Independence Day, New Year’s Day) — pick only the ones that apply to this Inbound Rule.

Editing and Deleting Rules

Edit: select a rule from the list → Edit → make changes → Save.
Delete: tick the rule’s checkbox → Delete → confirm.

Warning: Once an Inbound Rule is deleted, calls to that DID are no longer routed until you create a replacement.

Sample Configurations

Example 1 — DID → IVR with after-hours voicemail

Setting	Value
Name	`Main Inbound`
DID	`+374 60 123456`
Office Hours routing	IVR → `Main IVR`
After-hours routing	Voicemail → `General Voicemail`

Example 2 — Direct DID → Extension

Setting	Value
Name	`Direct — {{COMPANY_NAME}} Sales Lead`
DID	`+374 60 123456`
Office Hours routing	Extension → `1001`
After-hours routing	Voicemail → mailbox of `1001`

Next Step

→ Outbound Rules

Last updated: 2026-05-01