Bookmark
Overview
A bookmark saves a caller's exact spot inside a recording, and puts them back there next time. They can be an hour into a shiur, hang up, call back tomorrow, and carry on from the same second.
Every new hotline is created with one already set up, called "My Default Bookmark", on key 9 of the main menu.
In the sidebar it lives under Advanced → Bookmarks.
How It Works
There are two ways a spot gets saved:
- The caller saves it. While they are listening, they press the key you set aside for bookmarking. See the bookmark key below.
- It saves itself when the call ends. With Enable End-of-Call Bookmark on, hanging up in the middle of a recording files the spot automatically.
To go back, the caller is routed to the bookmark extension. It finds the saved spot, opens the recording it belongs to, and starts playing from exactly that position, inside the right audio player. The go-back key still works normally from there, walking back up through the real menus the recording sits under, not back to wherever the bookmark was opened from.
Settings
Basic Information
- Bookmark Name (required) — For your reference.
- Bookmark Type (required) — On My Hotline this is called How it works:
- Single Entry (One bookmark — saves and plays it right away) — One spot. Saving overwrites nothing and asks nothing; going back plays the most recent one immediately.
- Multiple Entries (Several bookmarks — the caller picks a slot) — The caller is asked which numbered slot to save into or play back from, so one person can keep several places at once.
- Phone System Reference → Extension ID — Only shown when your account has phone-system references turned on.
Audio Prompts
Only shown for Multiple Entries. Both are optional; leave one blank and callers hear the spoken default.
- Menu Prompt - Creating Bookmark (My Hotline: Recording when saving) — Played when the caller is choosing a slot to save into. Default:
"please enter a bookmark number". - Menu Prompt - Retrieving Bookmark (My Hotline: Recording when playing back) — Played when the caller is choosing a slot to play back. Default:
"please enter the bookmark key", and if an end-of-call key is set,", or press N for the end of call bookmark"is added automatically.
End of Call Settings
A collapsed section.
- Enable End-of-Call Bookmark (My Hotline: Save a bookmark automatically when the call ends) — Off by default. When the caller hangs up in the middle of a recording, their position is saved by itself. No keypress needed.
- Bookmark Entry Key (My Hotline: Key that saves it during the call) — Only shown for Multiple Entries with end-of-call saving on. The slot the automatic bookmark is filed under. Default
0. Callers are told this key automatically in the default retrieval prompt, unless you have recorded your own. - Play Recording Selection URL (My Hotline: Announce the recording number when playing back) — Plays the recording's own selection audio when the caller comes back to it, so they hear which recording they have landed in.
The bookmark key
Saving a spot mid-listen is a keypad control, set up in Settings or from the audio player's keypad panel on My Hotline.
Add a listening key, set What it does to Save a bookmark, then pick Which bookmark? from your bookmarks. The spoken hint offered to callers is "To save your spot, press N."
You can set the key for the whole account or just for one audio player.
Sending callers back to their spot
A bookmark is a routing destination like anything else. Point a menu key at it, or a phone number, and the caller is taken to their saved place. On a fresh hotline that is key 9.
- Single Entry picks up the latest saved spot straight away.
- Multiple Entries asks which slot first, then plays it.
The Entries tab
The bookmark's edit page has a Bookmark Entries tab listing what has actually been saved. It is a record of what callers did, so entries cannot be created or edited by hand.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Key | The slot it was filed under |
| Position | How far into the recording, as m:ss or h:mm:ss |
| Caller | The number it was saved from |
| Type | userBookmarked when the caller pressed the key, endOfCall when it saved itself |
| Created at | Hidden by default |
You can delete entries in bulk, and restore deleted ones with the Trashed filter.
The bookmarks list
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Bookmark Name | With "Single entry" or "Multiple entries" underneath |
| Type | A badge |
| Entries | How many spots are saved |
| End-of-Call | Whether automatic saving is on |
| Created, Last Updated, Deleted | Hidden by default |
Filter by Bookmark Type, by End-of-Call Enabled, or by Trashed. Drag the rows to reorder.
Tips
- Single Entry suits most hotlines. One spot, nothing to explain, nothing to press. Use Multiple Entries only if the same caller genuinely follows several long recordings at once.
- Turn on end-of-call saving and you barely need the key. Callers who hang up mid-shiur are put back automatically next time.
- Tell them the key. Put "press 9 to carry on from where you stopped" into your main menu recording. A bookmark nobody knows about is never used.
- Entries pile up. Each caller's slot keeps the newest save, but the tab keeps the history; clear it out occasionally if it gets noisy.