Canary Voice

What's on this page

1. Answers to specific questions.

2. Background and general information on using CanaryVoice.

3. Step-by-Step instructions.

4. Community Outreach.

5. Need to reach us during normal business hours? Call: 805-386-6106.

To get started, create a voice album, then invite others to leave messages. As the host of a voice album you can record a special greeting for your guests to hear. As messages are received, you can review and organized the messages in the Playlist screen. When you have collected all the messages, share them using the "Share" button on the playlist screen.

Answers.

1. I can't remember my password? Use the Get New Password page to receive a new password. Then you can change the password you receive.

2. How do I get more time for my voice album? Just call us.

3. How do I upload images? That feature is not available on the website. Please call us for special instructions.

4. What the best way to get friends and family to call in? Send them a few emails and give them a deadline. Remember, many people are very busy and we find that most of the calls come in the last few days and hours. But it is certainly helpful to remind your guests.

5. Can I get special artwork on the CD or DVD? Yes! Just call us.

6. I accidentally deleted a message in my mailbox? Can you recover it? In some cases, if you call us soon. Hundreds of messages are recorded daily, but when you call we'll return the message to your voice messages playlist.

7. Can you send me a message from somebody else's playlist? Sorry. No.

8. Can you give me a summary of the messages? No, we never listen to client messages without your express approval. Unless there is a court order, we do not monitor what's said.

9. I got a message from somebody else, it was a wrong number. What now? Call us immediately. We take every precaution to keep the PIN codes unique but if this situation ever arises, we'll issue a new one immediately.

10. Is there a local number for my city? Probably. Call us and we may be able to give you a new number immediately. We are always adding new numbers.

General Instructions

How to Create a Voice Album

You can create voice albums by clicking the New Album button. To create a voice album, you must provide a name and the dates you expect to use the album. You may also choose voice album artwork which will help you identify the album on subsequent screens.

You can enter any name but note that the name you enter here will be displayed on subsequent screens including the voice album dashboard and playlist management screens. We currently allow voice to remain active for up to 60 days. We recommend that you setup your voice album for more days that you expect to use it. At this time, we are not allowing through the internet edits to either the voice album name or dates. However, if you need to extend the dates for which your voice album is active, please send us an email.

You can setup dates where the voice album will become active at a future date. The voice albums with future start dates are marked as "pending." You will NOT be able to change your greeting or accept guest recordings until the start date. However, this is useful if you know you'd like to setup the voice album while we are offering free setup but do not yet know the start date.

Album art allows you to quickly and easily recognize your voice album. Choose a descriptive picture for the album art. You can change the voice album artwork at any time.

When you create a voice album, a page will be displayed indicting the mailbox number, the Host PIN code and the Guest PIN code.

Mailbox number - The mailbox number is the unique identifier of your personal voice mailbox. You must enter the mailbox number to access the voice system.

Host PIN - The host Personal Identification Number (PIN) identifies the voice album owner to our voice system. When you enter the host PIN you are given additional options to record a greeting. The host PIN is only needed to manage the voice system.

Guest PIN - The guest host Personal Identification Number (PIN) identifies the voice album guest to our voice system. When you enter the guest PIN you are allowed to hear the greeting that the host recorded and to record a message. You should distribute the guest PIN to everyone that you invite to dial-in to the system.

An email message is also sent to the owner email address including this information AND the dial-in numbers.

Dial-in numbers - We offer various US dial-in numbers to access our system. Toll-free numbers are available for an additional fee.

Send Invites to Guests

You should send to your guests an email that contains the dial-up numbers and PIN codes and invites them to dial-in and record messages. You have two options:

1. Use our template.

In the email sent to the voice album owner we include a sample email message that you can forward to all your guests. Simply copy and paste this email message into a new email message, add recipients, and send the message. This template has all the necessary information for them to dial into the CanaryVoice system

2. Create your own email message

You can create your own message. Please remember to include the necessary dial-in phone numbers, the mailbox number and the guest PIN so that your guests can dial into the CanaryVoice system.

3. Use the CanaryVoice Invite feature

We provide the invite feature so that you can easily email an invite to your guests. Before you can send invites to your guests using the Invite feature, you will need to add contacts to your CanaryVoice Address Book. When you use the invite feature CanaryVoice sends the displayed email message to each person listed in the Invite Recipients box. You can add an individual contact or an contacts from an entire group to the window. Then, you can select from the contacts entered those that you wish to send the invite.

Manage Messages on the Playlist

On the playlist screen you can listen to recorded messages, rename them, add them to a playlist and use other features to share the playlist. When making changes to your Playlist, you must click SAVE to confirm the changes.

Voice Messages Panel
The Voice Messages panel displays recorded messages. As messages are recorded they are named according to time plus a unique number. Also shown is the callerID, if known, the length of the message in seconds and the date and time it was recorded.

New - Messages which have not been played.

Rename - Click the pencil icon to rename the message. Enter a new message name, then click the arrow or press the Enter key on your keyboard

Add - Add the messages to your playlist

Play - Play messages before adding them to your playlist

Download - Download the message to your computer.

Order - Click the order button and drag the message to reorder your messages. Click the Remove button to move a message back to the Voice Messages panel.

Playlist Panel
The playlist the order of play of the messages you can share.

Download - Download the message to your computer

Order - Click the order button and drag the message to reorder your messages.

Click the Remove button to move a message back to the Voice Messages panel.

Remove - Remove the message from the playlist and return it to the Voice Messages panel.

Listen - Play all the messages.

Download - Transfer to your computer a compressed file of all the messages in the playlist

Share - Send a message to selected emails in your address book inviting them to listen to the messages. Recipients will receive and email with a link to the share window where they will be allowed to play messages only. They will not be able to manage the messages or access them in any other manner.

Order CD - Send notification to CanaryVoice to create a CD of the messages listed in the playlist. Be sure to notify CanaryVoice of shipping instructions.

Manage Voice Album

As the Host of voice albums, you have many features available to you to get guests to call in and to create and share playlists. On the Voice Album Management screen, you'll find information about each voice album and links to additional features. In general, guests leave their messages on the voice system while the host has other features available to review and share the messages.

The album list provides information at-a-glance including the status, days remaining, number of messages, and the mailbox number and relevant PIN codes. You'll also find links to four features including Edit, Invite, Delete and Manage Playlist.

Album List
Status - Indicates whether the voice album is In Progress, Pending, or Completed. Guests can record messages only to In Progress albums.

Days Remaining - The total days remaining on an In Progress status voice album.

Mailbox number - the four digit number you and your guests need when accessing our system. The mailbox is your personal voice message center.

Host PIN- the four digit number needed to record the greeting and accesses other features through the voice system. The Host PIN is used ONLY by the person coordinating the voice album and should not be shared.

Guest PIN - the four digit number needed by persons participating in the voice album when they want to leave a message. When a person dials into the voice system and enters a Guest PIN, the system will play the greeting recorded by the Host.

Messages: the total number (new) messages.

Links From This Page
Edit - View the data for each voice album and change the artwork associated with an album

Invite - Send invites to emails listed in the address book inviting guests to call and leave a message

Delete - Delete the contents of each voice mail.

Manage Playlist - View messages and create a custom playlist that can be shared.

Address Book

The address book allows you to quickly create a list of email addresses to which you can send invites and share your voice album. Before you can invite guests to leave messages and before you can share a playlist, you MUST have email addresses listed in your address book.

After you have created added email addresses to your address book, you will be able to select which mail addresses you would like to send invites or share. You need not send invites or share links to every email listed in your address book. You may want to create email groups so that you can invite and share to the emails addresses in just one group.

Remember, you can always send messages using your own email system. Many users prefer that. However, as CanaryVoice features become available, you will want to keep email address here so that you can quickly use those features.

To add ONE email, click the Add Contact(s) button near the bottom of the Address Book panel. Simply enter the name and email information for each contact you would like to store in your CanaryVoice Address Book.

To add MANY email addresses from your email program, choose Import Contacts, then choose your email program and follow the instructions. After you have imported email addresses, you can delete those that you do not expect to use.