Microsoft Teams Call Queues: Setup Guide for Business

When multiple customers call your business at the same time, you need a way to distribute those calls fairly across your team. Microsoft Teams call queues do exactly that — they hold incoming calls in a queue and route them to the next available agent, just like a contact centre but built into the Teams platform you already use.

This guide explains what call queues are, how to set them up, and how to get the best results for your team and your callers.

What Is a Teams Call Queue?

A call queue in Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based feature that:

• Answers incoming calls with an optional greeting
• Holds callers in a queue with music on hold
• Routes calls to a group of agents (Teams users) based on your chosen method
• Handles overflow and timeout scenarios when agents are busy or unavailable

Call queues are commonly used for departments that receive high call volumes — sales teams, support desks, booking lines, and accounts departments. They ensure no call is missed and workload is shared evenly.

What You Need Before Starting

Before creating a call queue, confirm you have:

• Teams Phone Standard licences assigned to every user who will act as a queue agent
• A PSTN connection — Direct Routing, Operator Connect, or a Calling Plan
• A resource account with a Teams Phone Resource Account licence (free) and a phone number, if the queue needs to be dialled directly
• Teams admin access (Teams Administrator or Global Administrator role)

Call queues can also sit behind an auto attendant. In that case, the auto attendant's resource account holds the phone number, and the queue does not need its own.

Step 1: Plan Your Queue

Answer these questions before you start building:

1. Which team members will be agents? List the users, distribution lists, or Teams channels that should receive calls.
2. What routing method suits your team?
   • Attendant routing — all agents ring simultaneously
   • Serial routing — agents ring one at a time in a set order
   • Round robin — calls distribute evenly across agents
   • Longest idle — calls go to the agent who has been free the longest
3. What happens when the queue is full? (Disconnect, redirect to voicemail, redirect to another number)
4. What happens when calls wait too long? (Set a timeout and choose a redirect target)
5. Do you want a greeting before the hold music?

Step 2: Create a Resource Account (If Needed)

If the call queue will have its own direct phone number:

1. In the Teams admin centre, go to Voice > Resource accounts.
2. Click Add and enter a display name (e.g., "Sales Queue").
3. Set the type to Call queue.
4. Assign the free Teams Phone Resource Account licence.
5. Assign a phone number (service number or DDI from your SIP provider).

Step 3: Create the Call Queue

1. Navigate to Voice > Call queues in the Teams admin centre.
2. Click Add.
3. Name the queue (e.g., "Sales Queue" or "Support Queue").
4. Link the resource account if applicable.
5. Configure the greeting — upload an audio file, use text-to-speech, or skip the greeting.
6. Set music on hold — use the default Microsoft music or upload your own.
7. Under Call answering, add agents. You can add individual users, a Microsoft 365 group, a distribution list, or a Teams channel.
8. Choose the routing method (attendant, serial, round robin, or longest idle).
9. Enable or disable presence-based routing — when enabled, calls skip agents whose Teams presence is Busy, Do Not Disturb, or Away.
10. Set agent opt-out if you want agents to be able to toggle their availability in the queue.
11. Configure overflow — set the maximum number of calls in the queue and choose what happens when it is exceeded.
12. Configure timeout — set the maximum wait time and the redirect target.
13. Click Submit.

Step 4: Test the Queue

After provisioning (allow a few minutes), call the queue number from an external phone and check:

• The greeting plays correctly (if configured).
• Hold music plays while waiting.
• The call routes to the correct agent(s) using the expected method.
• Overflow behaviour works when all agents are busy.
• Timeout redirect works after the set wait time expires.
• Presence-based routing correctly skips unavailable agents.

Best Practices for Teams Call Queues

Match the routing method to the team. Attendant routing (everyone rings) works well for small teams where anyone can answer. Longest idle is better for larger teams to distribute workload fairly.

Enable presence-based routing. Without it, calls may ring agents who are already on another call or in a meeting, wasting ring time and making callers wait longer.

Set realistic timeouts. A two-minute timeout strikes a good balance — long enough to give agents time to answer, short enough that callers do not give up. Redirect timed-out calls to voicemail or an overflow number.

Use agent opt-out wisely. Opt-out lets agents remove themselves from the queue temporarily (e.g., during lunch). Monitor opt-out rates to ensure enough agents remain active.

Monitor queue performance. The Teams admin centre provides real-time and historical analytics — average wait time, abandoned call rate, calls handled per agent, and more. Review these weekly to identify bottlenecks.

Combine queues with auto attendants. For the best caller experience, use an auto attendant as the front door and route callers to specific queues based on their menu selection.

Advanced Tips

Conference mode: Enable conference mode to reduce the delay between a caller leaving the queue and connecting to an agent. Without it, the agent hears a ring before the call connects.

Channel-based queues: You can use a Teams channel as the agent pool. Any member of the channel becomes a queue agent, making it easy to manage membership.

Shared voicemail: Configure overflow and timeout to redirect to a shared voicemail box (Microsoft 365 group mailbox) so multiple team members can access messages.

For a comprehensive overview of Teams and enterprise voice, explore our guide to enterprise VoIP and UCaaS solutions in the UK.