Inbox snapshot: How the call was routed
When a call comes into an inbox, it is not sent to a single person. An inbox is a group of agents, and the system rings them in a set order based on the inbox's routing rules until someone answers or the call runs out of time.
The Inbox Snapshot shows you that whole process on the call detail page: which agents were rung, in what order, how long each one rang, and why the call moved from one agent to the next.
When a caller says they were never reached, this is where you can see exactly who the call was offered to and what happened at each step.
Where to access inbox snapshot in Aloware admin and Talk
The call timeline is always tied to a specific call. You can open it from three places in the app:
Communications page in admin
Communications page in Talk
Communication logs in Talk
Once a call ends, its timeline is created automatically and remains accessible without any expiration date.
Rounds and layers
The snapshot is organized into rounds and layers, which mirror how the inbox actually rings people.
A layer is a group of agents the inbox rings together before moving on. Layers are numbered Layer 1, Layer 2, and so on, and they set the priority order: the call tries Layer 1 first, and only moves to Layer 2 if no one there picks up.
A round is one full pass through all the layers. If the call reaches the end of the last layer and still no one has answered, and the inbox has Smart Queue turned on, the system goes back to the top and starts a new round, trying everyone again.
This is why a call can have several rounds. Each round is a fresh attempt at the same group of agents, and the snapshot keeps them separate so you can follow the call in the order it happened.
Inside a layer, agents either ring all at once or one at a time, depending on the inbox's dial mode.
With Simultaneous, everyone in the layer rings together, and once one agent answers, the others are marked Canceled because the call no longer needs them.
With Round-robin, Longest available, or Random, the agents ring one after another, so each one gets their own turn and their own timestamp.
Round settings
The top of each round shows the inbox settings that applied to it, so you can see the rules the call was following.
Each field has an info icon with a short explanation. For a standard inbox, the header shows the dial mode, how long each agent is rung for, the repeat-callers rule, whether Smart Queue is on, whether Fishing mode is on, the maximum queue hold time, and the exact date and time the round started.
When Fishing mode is ON, agents are notified all at once rather than rung in layers, so the dial mode, ring duration, and repeat-callers fields do not apply and are hidden.
In their place the header shows the Fishing mode label, the maximum queue hold time, and whether contact-owner-priority routing is on.
What each agent row shows
Within a layer, every agent has a row that tells you what happened when the call reached them. Reading across the row:
Ring activity is the step-by-step record for that agent, with a timestamp on each event, such as Attempted, Answered, No answer, Rejected, Canceled, or Timed out. If the call never reached an agent in a given round, their row shows "not rung this round" instead.
Status shows the agent's current status as a colored tag: Available, Offline, Busy, On break, On call, Wrap-up, Ringing, or Coaching. This reflects their status now, not necessarily during that round.
User / Team shows the agent's name with their team underneath. An Owner or Last spoke tag appears here when the inbox is set to ring the contact's owner, or the last agent who spoke with them, ahead of the regular layers.
Can take calls? answers whether the agent was eligible to receive the call at all. Hover the info icon to see the full checklist behind that Yes or No, where a green check or red X against each rule (such as their status, hours, or availability) explains why the call was offered to them or skipped past them.
Ring outcomes
Each event in Ring Activity has its own icon. A legend at the top of the panel matches every icon to its meaning:
Outcome | What it means |
Attempted | The agent was rung. |
Answered | The agent picked up the call. |
No answer | The agent was rung but did not pick up before the ring time ran out. |
Rejected | The agent actively declined the call. |
Canceled | Another agent or device answered first, so this ring was pulled. |
Contact left | The caller hung up before anyone answered. |
Re-queued | No one answered in the round, so the call started a new round. |
Timed out | The call reached the inbox's maximum queue hold time and ended. |
Why an agent could or could not take the call
The Can take calls? column answers whether the agent was eligible to receive the call at all.
Hover the info icon to open the full checklist behind that Yes or No, where each rule shows a green check or a red X:
Agent status is active
Agent operates in the specified area code
Agent operates in the specified country and state
Agent operates within campaign hours
Agent's device can receive calls
Agent is available to accept calls
Agent operates within the call concurrency limit
Agent meets overall eligibility for calls
A No always traces back to at least one red X. An agent can pass every other rule and still show No simply because they are not currently available to accept calls.
Why inbox snapshot helps teams and users
The Inbox Snapshot answers the question that comes up most often after a call goes wrong: why didn't this reach anyone? Instead of guessing, you can see the routing decision in full and act on what you find.
For admins, it turns routing into something you can inspect. If callers are reaching voicemail when the team looks staffed, the snapshot shows whether the right agents were even eligible, whether a layer was set up as intended, and whether the call ran out of time before it worked through everyone. That makes it easier to spot a misconfigured layer, an agent who was never available, or a ring time that was too short, and to fix the setup rather than the symptom.
For agents, it gives a clear account of calls they were part of, including the ones they never saw. When an agent's row shows they were skipped, the eligibility checklist explains exactly why, which settles questions about missed calls without back-and-forth.
By putting the whole routing path in one place, the snapshot builds trust in how calls are distributed. Managers can confirm that priority and fairness rules are working the way they set them, and everyone can rely on a clear, traceable record of where each call went and why.