Shared line appearance (SLA) allows one telephone to have a button (or a key) shared with another extension. Most telephone models have a busy lamp field (BLF) feature that accompanies the share line. The BLF turns on when the line is in use. Most commonly, it is green when you use the line, red when someone else is using it. When you place the call on hold, your line key flashes green; when another person places the call on hold the light flashes red. In most cases a shared line call can be placed on hold on one phone and picked up on another phone.
Configuring shared line appearance requires you to:
- Edit a phone,
- Assign a line, and
- Choose to allow or deny the barge-in feature; if barge-in is allowed then a phone with a shared line can barge-into an in-progress call: use with caution.
You need at least two telephones to set up SLA. In a boss-assistant scenario, the assistant's phone would have a button shared with the boss’s phone. If the boss’s phone is extension 2010 and the assistant's phone is 2009 then you can set up a shared line by following these steps:
- Navigate to EXTENSIONS > People and select extension 2010 to bring up the user settings for the boss. In the Phones section, click on the boss's phone. Under Lines and Utility Buttons make sure that Button 1 has SLA On under Shared Line.
- Go back to People and select extension 2009 to bring up the user settings for the assistant. In the Phones section, click on the assistant's phone entry in the table.
- Locate the key you want to use for SLA (white keys are empty). Select Line; a new view opens.
- Click Share a different line for the Line Type, and for Existing Phone Line Extension enter 2010. Click Apply and the new line key appears near the top of the list of keys.
- For the new line key, click SLA On from the Shared Line column. Click the Back link (near Edit Phone) to return to the user page. The phone reboots.
When calls come in to the boss’s phone (extension 2010) it will still ring normally, however, 2009 will also ring. Depending on the phone model, the button next to 2010 will flash while the call is ringing. The assistant can answer the call and place it on hold, and the boss can pick it up on his or her phone.