Your Call List is the set of people Doorkeep rings when a call needs a person, and the order it tries them in. It is the thing most worth getting right before you forward your line.
How it works
Most calls do not need anyone. The agent takes the request, documents it, and sends it to you. The Call List is for the rest: an urgent property problem, a caller who asks for a person, a situation on your escalation list.
When that happens, Doorkeep works down your list in the order you set. Whoever is first is rung first. If they do not pick up, it moves to the next person. It is a ring order, not a group page, so the person at the top takes the most calls.
One person or a list
Starter rings one person, and you choose who.
Professional rings a list in the order you set, and you can keep more than one list.
Add someone to your Call List
Open Assistant from the left menu.
On the Who picks up card, click Edit.
Pick the list at the top of the panel. Under Add to and the list's name (for example Add to Maintenance crew), find the person and click Add. Use the arrows to change the ring order.
To add someone who is not on your team in Doorkeep yet, click Add a staff contact and follow the steps. Doorkeep texts them a link to confirm.
The list is shown in ring order, top to bottom, and changes apply to the next call. On Starter, the panel shows Change who gets rung, with a Ring instead button next to each teammate.
How many people are tried on one call
Doorkeep tries up to three numbers on a call, and each one rings for up to 20 seconds. If your list has more than three people, the ones after the third are not rung on that call. They are still texted afterward. A number that appears twice on the list only uses one try.
Check that everyone can be rung
A staff contact you add by phone number confirms that number by text before Doorkeep can ring them. Until they do, they are skipped.
This is the most common reason a transfer test fails, and it looks like an agent problem when it is not. Before you make test calls, check that everyone on the list is ready to be rung, and check again whenever someone joins your team. A person you archive is taken off every Call List, and reactivating them does not put them back.
Different situations, different people
On Professional, you can keep more than one Call List and choose which list handles some kinds of calls. Emergencies and the situations on your escalation list use the same list, the one for your current call behavior, so pointing another call type at a different list does not change who they ring.
Emergency handling can't be switched off, and your call windows do not change that. Outside your windows, other kinds of calls are handled the way you set them. See Why emergency alerts can't be turned off.
When nobody answers
If a transfer reaches someone's voicemail, Doorkeep does not connect the caller to it.
If nobody on the list can be reached, the agent takes a detailed message and tells the caller it has been passed on. The call is documented either way.
What you get afterward
After a call, Doorkeep texts everyone on the list who can receive texts, in list order. On Starter, the account owner is texted as well. Text alerts need to be switched on for your account and for each person. See Get notified by text (SMS).
What Doorkeep will not do
The agent detects, connects, and documents. It does not dispatch a vendor, schedule a repair, authorize work, or tell a caller what to do while they wait. See What Doorkeep does not do.
Start small
Put yourself on the list first, alone. You will hear everything the agent escalates, which is the fastest way to find out whether your settings are too wide or too narrow.
Add teammates once you know what actually reaches the list. Adding people before you know the volume is how a team learns to ignore the phone.
Do not forward any phone on your list to your Doorkeep number. Doorkeep rings those phones to reach a person, so a forwarded one can send the call straight back. See Forward your calls to Doorkeep.
Re-test after every change. See Make test calls before you go live.