EzVoice 3.5 is full-featured answering machine and voice mail software. It runs on your personal computer and answers your phone calls while you are away. Its main features include:
- Answering machine with caller id display.
- Pre-screen all phone calls.
- Block unwanted callers or telemarketers.
- Auto-forward junk calls to Bulk Call folder.
- Configurable to 10 voice mailboxes.
- Notifying and forwarding of recorded messages to email accounts.
- Phone address book.
- Customized greeting for individual callers.
- Add notes to voice messages and address book entries.
- Power search to find voice messages and address book entries.
- Remote message retrieval.
- Dual password protection.
- Toll Saver support.
- Unlimited recording length of greetings and messages.
- Sound alert through speaker of new calls or messages.
- Flashing icon on new calls.
- Log all calls.
- Iconize to system tray.
- Ring setting and silence detection.
- Simple installation and setup.
EzVoice is feature-rich, yet easy-to-use software. Many other applications suffer from a lack of usability. But our software incorporates techniques from the latest advancements in human-computer interactions. The EzVoice user interface is carefully engineered and meticulously designed to significantly reduce user frustration. Most users have reported setting up and running EzVoice to answer phone calls within five minutes after downloading.
EzVoice is shareware; you can freely use this fully functional software on a trial basis for 15 days. To keep it costs you just a modest US$28.60 registration fee.
The minimal system requirements are as follows:
To purchase / register EzVoice 3.5, please click the Register button on your EzVoice toolbar to bring up the registration popup window. Then click the order link on the Register popup window after you logon to the internet. EzVoice will invoke your web browser. Follow the simple instructions on the web form and complete the registration process.
After the payment, please obtain your EzVoice license key at the link below. Upon submission of the request form, your license key will be automatically generated, and emailed promptly to you, normally within an hour.
Once you have received this key, please click the Register button on your EzVoice 3.5 toolbar and enter the key into the license key field on the popup window. EzVoice will now run on your machine without time limitation.
There would be no EzVoice without the support from you: the EzVoice user. It is you who have made this software better and better. If you enjoy using it and find it to be genuinely helpful, would you consider recommending EzVoice to your friends? You can do this by simply clicking the Tell a Friend about EzVoice button on the top of the folder tree. An email template will be displayed in your email client. Just enter their email addresses and click the send button.
Your support will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Congratulations on selecting EzVoice as your PC answering machine! You are now eager to know what setup steps are required to quickly start EzVoice. The answer is: no setup is required, except for some advanced features. EzVoice has automatic hardware detection and configuration, so generally, no setup is required. Please make sure the phone line is connected to the modem and start enjoying this program now.
If you have multiple modems installed on your computer, you can choose another than the EzVoice default selection by following the instructions in the Selecting your modem section.
If you want to remotely access your voicemail or be notified of new calls, you can find details in the sections: Setting up remote retrieval and activate email forwarding.
If you want to use advanced features, such as multiple mailboxes, call blocking, customized greetings or other related features, please refer to the Basic Setups section.
Note: if you have installed other phone answering or recording software on your computer, please make sure that these programs do not run at the background e.g. as a service. As this may cause conflicts with EzVoice.
In most cases, EzVoice will automatically detect a suitable voice modem for you. However if you have multiple voice modems and all of them are good for answering calls, you should manually select a modem and physically connect it to the telephone jack (RJ-11) from the wall.
To select a modem, click Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Modem and Call submenu item. A dialog window will be displayed, which contains a list of all voice modems on your computer. Select one modem from the list and click Next button to bring the next popup window and click the OK button on the popup window to save this setting.
Pre-screening allows you to monitor the incoming voice message through the speaker in real time, as the caller is speaking.
When recording voice messages, EzVoice will automatically enhance sound quality by filtering noise on the phone line and adjust recording volume. It is recommended to leave this option on unless EzVoice does not hang up calls properly or produce undesirable sound effects.
Calls will be answered after a pre-defined number of rings. If you subscribe to a caller ID service, set the ring count to at least 2, because the telephone company will normally deliver caller ID information between the first and the second ring.
Toll Saver means that EzVoice will let phone ring two more times before answering calls, if there are no new messages. This means that if you are calling long distance to retrieve your voice messages, you can hang up after the pre-defined number of rings and not incur any Toll Charges since you know there are no new voicemails.
Limit the message length of a call by setting a non-zero value in "Hang up a call if more than xx minutes.". EzVoice will start counting time from the first ring and disconnect the call when the specified time limit has been reached. Entering a zero will disable this function and allows the caller to leave a message of unlimited length.
Silence detection will disconnect a call if a defined period (in seconds) of silence has been detected. It is best to set the silence time to longer than 5 seconds.
To detect silence, a user configurable parameter, silence sensitivity, monitors the call volume. If it falls below this threshold, EzVoice assumes it is silence. Keep this value small, and try to use the the default silence sensitivity unless EzVoice does not answer the call properly. To learn more about silence detection, click on a link below.
To configure above parameters, select Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Modem and Call submenu item. A dialog window will be displayed, press Next button on the dialog to proceed to call setup window where you will be able to set pre-screening and sound enhancement options, ring count, Toll Saver mode, hang up, and silence parameters.
In most cases, EzVoice will automatically detect the default speaker and microphone on your computer. These devices allow recording of outgoing messages (OGM's) and greetings, review of voice messages, and call screening. However if you have multiple recording or playing devices and all of them are good for above purposes, you should manually select one of them.
To select a playing/recording device, click Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Mailbox and Greeting submenu item. A dialog window will display a dropdown list of all sound devices on your computer. Select playing and recording devices from the dropdown list and click the Next button to proceed to the last popup window and then click the OK button on the popup window to save these settings.
The EzVoice installation program creates a default main greeting. You are not required to record any greetings. When a call comes in, EzVoice will play this main greeting followed by a beep. Caller can then leave a voice message.
However you can record your own greetings by selecting Setup on the EzVoice menu and choosing Mailbox and Greeting submenu item. A popup window will ask you to select the recording and playing devices. (In most cases, the default selection is fine, unless multiple sound / audio devices are present.) Click Next button on the popup window to proceed to the main greeting setup window. Now click the (Record) button on the greeting setup window to begin recording the main greeting. When you finish, simply click OK button to save all settings. Please make sure Activate multiple mailboxes option is NOT checked.
Note: To record your greeting, you need a microphone connected to your sound card. To listen to the greetings just recorded, you need a speaker.
When multiple mailboxes mode is active, and a call is received, EzVoice answers and plays the main greeting and then waits for the caller to enter a single digit specifying the desired mailbox number. EzVoice then plays the individual mailbox greeting and a beep to allow the caller to leave a voice message.
For example: You record your main greeting as: "Hello, welcome to XXX, Inc. Press one to learn more about our products; press two to order our product...". After the caller presses a digit (0-9) on the handset, EzVoice plays the greeting corresponding to that mailbox number, such as: "Thank you for inquiring about our products, our major product is blah blah..., please leave your detailed info after the beep".
This example illustrates the importance of mentioning the available (if any) mailbox options and instructions in the recording of the main greeting. A main greeting such as: "Hello, please leave a message after the beep" will likely not record a voice message because the caller has no idea that EzVoice is waiting for a telephone handset key press. Therefore, when recording the main greeting for multiple mailboxes, please always mention your mailbox selections such as: "press one to ..., press two to ..., etc.".
To record your main greeting, select Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Mailbox and Greeting submenu item. A popup window will ask you to select the recording or playing devices. In most cases, the default selection is fine unless you have multiple sound audio devices. Click the Next button on the popup window to proceed to the main greeting the setup window. Now click the (Record icon) button on the greeting setup window to begin recording your main greeting. Now click the Activate multiple mailboxes option to make sure it is checked. Now click Next button to proceed to mailbox greeting setup window to record your greetings for individual mailboxes. Finally, click OK button to save all settings.
Note: To record your greeting, you need a microphone connected to your sound card. To listen to the greetings just recorded, you need a speaker.
Remote message retrieval allows you to check your voice messages from another telephone. To enable remote retrieval, passwords are required. The current password is the password used for retrieving recorded messages. The default password is a backup password. You should select a familiar default password. Even if you forget your current password, you still can remotely reset the system to use the default password to login and change the current password later.
To set up your password, select Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Remote Retrieval & Email Forwarding submenu item. A dialog window will be displayed, activate remote retrieval and enter passwords on the password fields. Be sure to click the OK button on the dialog window to save all settings.
To retrieve your voice messages remotely while you are away, dial your home phone number (or wherever EzVoice is running). When the call gets connected, press the # (pound sign) key to retrieve the voice messages. EzVoice will ask your current password and then guide you through the remaining steps.
If you have an always-on broadband Internet connection such as DSL or Cable, EzVoice can forward newly recorded voice messages to your email accounts. In addition, most cellular phones and pagers now support short message service just like emails. So activating this feature, you will be instantly notified of new calls or messages on your cellular phones or pagers.
To enable email forwarding, select Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Remote Retrieval & Email Forwarding submenu item. A dialog window will be displayed, select one of the email forwarding modes, and click Next button to proceed to email server configuration window. When done, click the OK button on the dialog window to save all settings.
Note When email forwarding, it is recommended that you avoid selecting the Attach Message option unless absolutely necessary. The size of recorded voice messages (.wav) is usually big, and can quickly use up your email quotas. Moreover, if the email address is your cellular phone or pager, your mobile service provider might limit text messages to 160 characters.
EzVoice can play alert sounds such as "You've got new calls" or "You've got new messages" through your computer speaker after new calls are received or voice messages are recorded.
To set up this feature, select the Setup on EzVoice menu, and choose the Personal Preferences submenu item. A dialog popup configuration window will be displayed. Set it as you prefer and click the OK button on the dialog window to save all settings.
Automatic answering mode lets the computer answer phone calls automatically. To enable it, simply click Answer button on the EzVoice toolbar or select Tools on the EzVoice menu and choose the Automatic Answer submenu item. The small tick besides the Automatic Answer menu indicates the status of the automatic answering mode.
However, even with the automatic answering mode active, you still can answer incoming phone calls manually. To answer a call yourself, pick up the phone, and click the Hang up button in the pop-up window. You will now be able to talk to the other party.
To turn off Automatic Answer mode, you can just repeat the above procedure and the small tick besides the menu item will be toggled off.
EzVoice comes with a built-in address book. Whenever someone calls, EzVoice will look up your address book. Based on the Caller ID and the associated address book info, EzVoice can either block the caller or play a personalized welcome greeting. For example:
Your friend John's home phone number is: (416)123-4567 and the customized greeting for him is: "Hello John, I am not in home, call my cell at (416)765-4321". When John calls you from home, EzVoice will first search the Caller ID in your address book. If you have an address entry whose phone number is the same as the caller's phone number, your customized greeting will be played. In this example, your friend John will know your cellular phone number and be able to reach you.
You have another friend, Bob, who does not contact you very often. Thus his phone number has not been added to your address book. When he calls you, he is going to hear the default main greeting recorded for general purpose. The customized greeting recorded for John will not be played.
Customizing greetings for individual callers when multiple mailboxes are selected also requires that you include the mailbox selection options in the customized recorded greeting. This ensures that callers will know to press a digit to select a mailbox before they leaving a voice message. Refer to Setting up your greetings for multiple mailboxes for more details.
To add callers to your address book, you can right-click on a selected caller in your call message window and then choose Block This Caller or Add To Address Book menu item from the short-cut menu. To create your address book entries manually, first switch to the Address Book window by clicking Address tab under the folder tree window. You can then select one of the folders under address book, and create a new address entry by:
After above step, the address entry dialog window will then be displayed, you can now enter your friend phone numbers and record customized greetings for them.
To play recorded message, select a message first and then you can use one of the following methods:
For the last three methods, a message dialog will be displayed. You can click > (Play) button at the bottom of the dialog window to start play.
To add notes to your voice messages or address book entries, you can use one of the following methods:
Then a dialog window will be popped up, which contains item's detailed information. You can enter your notes into the notes field on this dialog window.
To find voice messages or address book entries, you can select Tools on the EzVoice menu and choose Find submenu item. You can also click Find button on the EzVoice toolbar. A dialog window will then be displayed, and you can specify your search options on this dialog window.
To sort items, you can simply click on the list view column header or select View menu item on the EzVoice menu, choose Sort Messages By submenu item and then select related fields that you want to sort.
To delete voice messages or address entries, you should select items you want to delete and then click Delete button on the EzVoice toolbar or select Edit on the EzVoice menu and choose Delete submenu item.
To move/copy voice messages or address book entries, you first select items and then either click Move button on the toolbar or go to Edit on the EzVoice menu, choose Move or Copy submenu item.
To move items, you can also drag your selected items and drop them to the target folder.
Note: Duplicated entries are not allowed in Address Book as this causes confusion and leads to potential problems. Therefore, copying is not allowed in Address Book.
To create a new folder, select File on the EzVoice menu, choose Folder submenu item and click on New. You can also use shortcut menu by right clicking in the folder tree window.
Note: The folder created will be under your current folder selection. Create folder under Deleted Messages folder will not be allowed.
To rename currently selected folder, click File on the EzVoice menu, choose Folder submenu item and select Rename. You can also use shortcut menu by right clicking in the folder tree window.
Note: The system created folders (root folder, Inbox, Deleted Messages, and Bulk Call) are not allowed to be renamed.
To delete currently selected folder, select File on the EzVoice menu, choose Folder submenu item and click on Delete. You can also use shortcut menu by right clicking in folder tree window.
Note: 1). The system created folders (root folder, Inbox, Deleted Messages, and Bulk Call) are not allowed to be deleted. 2). Non-empty folders will not be deleted.
To hide/show toolbar or folder tree, you can select View on the EzVoice menu, choose Toolbar or Folder Tree menu item. The tick displayed besides these menu items indicates that the toolbar or folder tree is currently being displayed. Selecting these menu items again will hide toolbar or folder tree, and remove ticks from these menu items.
Recorded voice messages can be saved to other locations or medias such as floppy disk. The message will be saved as a wave audio file. To save a voice message, select the message first and then click File on the EzVoice menu and choose Save As submenu item. You can also use shortcut menu by right clicking in the message list view window.
Note: Only one recorded message can be saved at a time.
To read user manual, you can select Help on the EzVoice menu and choose User Manual submenu item. You can also click Manual button on the EzVoice toolbar.
If you are a paid EzVoice user, simply request a new license key at the link below. Upon submission of the request form, your license key will be automatically generated, and emailed promptly to you, normally within an hour. This service is available 24x7, and is FREE for all paid users.
After receiving this key, please click the Register button on your EzVoice toolbar and enter it into the license key field. EzVoice will now run again on your computer.
To upgrade from EzVoice v2.x to EzVoice 3.5, please write down your previous version license key on a piece of paper. As EzVoice 3.5 honors v2.x license key for registered users in most cases, you can enter this license key in EzVoice 3.5 registration window.
To upgrade from EzVoice 1.1.1, please click the link below after you logon to the Internet. If you are a registered EzVoice user, in other words if you have already purchased early version EzVoice. You will be receiving the license key within an hour.
After receiving this key, please click the Register button on your EzVoice 3.5 toolbar and enter it into the license key field. EzVoice will now run on your machine without any nagging screens.
EzVoice will work with virtually all voice enabled modems. A voice modem is just a normal dialup modem which in addition to its data/fax capabilities, also supports voice. Before purchasing a modem, make sure to check the answering machine and voice function capabilities with your vendor.
To find out more on recommended modems and who makes them, please logon to the Internet and check the left column on the FAQ page for further details.
This can be many reasons, the following lists a few possibilities and their solutions.
If the above does not resolve the issues you are encountering, you might also want to read FAQ 5.15, 5.17 and 5.18 for trouble shooting your greeting related issues.
This problem is caused by the "Modem On Hold" feature on certain brand of V.92 modems. To fix it, you can simply disable this feature in your modem setting window. EzVoice should work fine then.
This indicates that you have already installed EzVoice on your computer, and more importantly EzVoice is currently running. To successfully reinstall EzVoice, you must exit the running copy of EzVoice by clicking File on the EzVoice main menu and then select Exit. After that, please go to Windows Control Panel, and select Add/Remove program to completely remove the current version of EzVoice. You will now be able to reinstall EzVoice without any problems.
EzVoice is NOT an internet answering machine, therefore it will not answer phone calls while you are online. It answers phone calls only when your modem is not online.
Yes. EzVoice is software, its machine codes need to be executed by CPU. Without a machine running, EzVoice will not even be loaded into the computer's memory. Therefore, it will not be able to pick up phone calls for you.
YES. To use EzVoice, please make sure there is a voice modem installed on your computer. You can then connect this modem to your wall telephone jack. If you are using a DSL connection, remember to connect your modem to the inline micro-filters supplied by your DSL service provider.
EzVoice utilizes your dialup modem as a voice telephone device to pick up phone calls for you. Therefore, it does not affect any of your existing internet connections and does not require you to subscribe to dialup connection or cancel your DSL/Cable service. You simply replace your telephone device with a computer installed with a voice modem.
YES. But you still need a voice modem installed on your computer, and connected to the telephone jack on the VoIP adapter supplied by your VoIP service provider.
EzVoice utilizes your dialup modem as a voice telephone device to pick up phone calls for you. Therefore, it does not affect any of your existing communication connections. You just replace your telephone device with a computer installed with a voice modem.
YES. EzVoice works happily on Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista and XP. If you encounter problems, please ensure that your modem hardware and modem driver support voice on these operating systems and the modem driver is installed correctly.
To find out more on recommended modems and who makes them, please logon to the Internet and check the FAQ page for further details.
Caller ID is normally delivered by the telephone company to the called party between the first and the second ring. Therefore if you set your auto-answer ring count to less than two, this information may not be received. To correct this, simply select Setup on the EzVoice menu and then choose submenu Modem and Call, a dialog window will be displayed. Click Next button to proceed to ring set up window.
Caller ID is a service from the local telephone service provider and requires a subscription to this service to be able to see the caller's name and phone number.
Caller ID information can be obtained only if your modem hardware is capable of doing so. If you are unsure about your modem features, please check with your modem manufacturer for further details.
All countries have various methods of sending Caller ID data string to the called party. Therefore, when you first install the modem driver, make sure you specify the country correctly.
EzVoice will hang up phone calls after it detects end of call, silence or when it reaches the time limit you specify. If you use silence detection to disconnect call, and you set silence sensitivity too small, EzVoice will even treat noise on the telephone line as voice audio and thus will not disconnect the call even if the caller hangs up.
To correct this, you can simply select EzVoice SetUp menu item and choose Modem Call submenu item. A dialog window will then be displayed, click Next button on the dialog window to go to Setup Call screen, then move the silence sensitivity slide to the right and increase silence sensitivity value.
You can also specify a time limit for the call, so EzVoice will disconnect the call when this time limit is reached.
If you are using a modem that is based on Conexant chip set (e.g. Zoom 3095, TRENDnet USB TFM-561U, Sewell USB modem SW-29644 etc), the modem will not play the greetings properly on Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and above. It has been tested that their modem driver does not support voice function well beyond Windows XP as of this writing. However, this type of modem works fine on Windows XP and below. Therefore, if your modem records voice messages but does not play greetings and beeps, and EzVoice is installed on Windows Vista or above. Please refer to 5.3 to find a supported voice modem.
To correctly record or play greetings through the EzVoice build-in recorder, make sure that a microphone and speaker are attached to your computer properly. Moreover, make sure EzVoice has used the right recording and playing devices that you have connected.
To verify these settings, you can simply click Setup on the EzVoice menu and choose Mailbox and Greeting submenu item. A dialog window will be displayed, which contains a dropdown list of all sound devices on your computer. Select playing and recording devices from the dropdown list and click Next button to proceed to the last popup window and then click OK button on the popup window to save these settings.
Additionally, if you find silence after recording, please move your mouth closer to the microphone and re-record to see whether this helps.
In most cases, it is recommended that you use the EzVoice built-in recorder to record your greetings as this built-in recorder will automatically adjust your recorded greeting and produce the optimized audio quality. However, if you already have a professionally recorded greeting and would like to import it, you can follow the instructions below:
To import a pre-recorded greeting to EzVoice, this file must be a standard MS Windows wave file with PCM format, sampling rate 8000hz, 16 bits and mono channel. If your wave file is not in this format, you can use Microsoft sound recorder to convert this file to the above format. After that, you can simply copy this file to the EzVoice installation directory to overwrite the main greeting file, which is GTMain.wav.
Soft Modems based on LSI or Agere (a.k.a. Lucent) chipset will not record voice messages longer than 60 seconds. These modems have driver bugs that will automatically stop recording after 60 seconds. Fortunately, EzVoice has the capability to automatically fix this driver issue for you. To apply EzVoice built-in driver fix, simply go to EzVoice Setup menu and click Modem and Call... entry, then click Next to move to Setup Call popup screen, select Auto-fix modem driver issues when answering calls on the dialog window.
If you are using imported greetings and manually overwrite the default main greeting, please make sure that the greeting file you have imported is in the correct format (refer to 5.16 for more details).
If you are using the EzVoice built-in recorder to record all greetings and still experiencing disconnection problems, this is typically due to the settings of timeout value for hang-up or silence sensitivity as further explained below.
EzVoice will automatically hang up a call if the call time limit is exceeded. When specifying this timeout value, add a few more seconds or even minutes to allow for time of ringing and outgoing message playback, so it can complete the call from ringing to finish recording.
EzVoice will also detect silence and disconnect the call if detected. If you provide more silence sensitivity, EzVoice will be very sensitive in detecting silence. In other words, even if the voice is still loud, EzVoice will consider it as silence and hence disconnect the call. Therefore, it is recommended to not provide a large value for silence sensitivity.
To correct this, you can simply select EzVoice SetUp menu item and choose Modem Call submenu item. A dialog window will then be displayed, click Next button on the dialog window to go to Setup Call screen, then move the silence sensitivity slide to the left and thus decrease the silence sensitivity value.
To be notified of new calls through email requires an always-on Internet connection. Additionally, your email account should not classify call notification emails as UCE ("spam") or junk mail. It is also important to accurately configure the email server and login info in EzVoice. You can test your email configuration by clicking the Send a Test Email button on the EzVoice Setup Remote Retrieval and Email Forwarding dialog window.
Yes, many people from other countries have reported that EzVoice has worked successfully on their computers. These countries include: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Sweden, Poland, Argentina, France, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, P. R. China, South Africa, New Zealand and India.
Go to Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs. A window will pop up, select EzVoice from the program list and click Add/Remove button. The uninstall wizard will automatically remove this application from your system.
Notes: Personal voice messages will not be removed from the disk, and are retained for your future reference. To remove them, please go to the directory where you have installed this application, and manually delete these wave files.
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Last updated: 01/31/2014
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