# How to set business hours and an after-hours message for a phone line

Business hours decide when a line rings at all. Outside them, nobody's phone rings and callers go straight to voicemail, after an optional after-hours message. This guide shows account admins how to turn business hours on, set each day's hours and the time zone, and write the after-hours message.

Works on: Web app. Updated November 6, 2026. Web page with labeled screenshots: https://www.onyxphone.io/guides/business-hours

## Before you start

- You need to be an account admin.

## Step 1. Turn on business hours

- Step 1.a: In the left menu, click Lines, then click the pencil button next to the line.
- Step 1.b: Click Business hours.
- Step 1.c: Choose Outside of business hours, send the caller directly to voicemail. Choose Regardless of the time, inbound calls are handled the same to ring at any hour.

![The Business hours section of a line's settings with the choice to send callers to voicemail outside business hours.](https://www.onyxphone.io/guides/shots/web-hours-on.webp)

## Step 2. Set the time zone and each day's hours

- Step 2.a: Choose the line's Time zone.
- Step 2.b: For each day you're open, tick the day and set the time you open and the time you close. Hours that run past midnight work too.
- Step 2.c: Clear the days you're closed.

![The time zone and each day's open and close times in a line's business hours.](https://www.onyxphone.io/guides/shots/web-hours-days.webp)

## Step 3. Write the after-hours message

- Step 3.a: Tick Play an after-hours message.
- Step 3.b: Type what callers hear before voicemail, such as "You've reached us after hours. Leave a message and we'll call you back first thing tomorrow."
- Step 3.c: Click Save changes at the bottom of the page.

![The Play an after-hours message checkbox and its message box in a line's business hours.](https://www.onyxphone.io/guides/shots/web-hours-message.webp)

## Questions and answers

### What happens to calls outside business hours?

Nothing rings. Callers hear the after-hours message if it's on, then leave a voicemail, which everyone on the line sees in Calls.

### Do texts stop after hours?

No. Texts still arrive in Messages at any hour, just without alerts outside your alert hours.

### How are business hours different from alert hours?

Business hours are for the whole line and decide whether it rings at all. Alert hours are each person's own and decide whether that person is rung. See Alert hours.

### Can each line have different hours?

Yes. Every line has its own business hours and time zone, which helps for locations in different time zones.

### Can I make an emergency line that always rings?

Yes. Leave that line on Regardless of the time, or add a phone menu option that rings someone at any hour. See Phone menu and call routing.