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New Calling Features

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

The following new features are available for Office Communicator 2007 users who are enabled for Remote Call Control (RCC) or Enterprise Voice.

Office Communicator 2007 offers new calling features that are available across all telephony integration topologies. New features include: to give users greater control and flexibility over the way they manage their contacts and Contact List. Office Communicator 2007 also introduces new Presence states to more accurately reflect a person's ability and willingness to communicate. In addition, Office Communicator 2007 offers enhancements to instant messaging, including support for rich text format in instant messages. The following features are available with all configurations of Office Communications Server and Office Communicator 2007:

  • Call a distribution group. Users can add distribution groups from Microsoft Active Directory Services to their Contact List, and then select a distribution group to start a multi-party phone call. Note that calling a group requires users to be enabled for Office Communicator 2007 Conferencing.

  • Call a contact group. Users can create a group of contacts in their Contact List and then select the group to start a multi-party conference call. Note that calling a group requires users to be enabled for Office Communicator 2007 Conferencing.

  • Call multiple contacts. Users can multi-select contacts in their Contact List to start a multi-party conference call. Note that calling multiple contacts requires users to be enabled for Office Communicator 2007 Conferencing.

  • Improved calling experience. With Office Communicator 2007, the Conversation window appears when users place a call. To end a call, users can click the End Call button in the Conversation window to end a call. In addition, the Conversation window for a call automatically closes when either user involved in the call ends the call.

  • Improved Transfer. Users can now transfer calls to another number, contact, or device such as their mobile phone. In addition, users can consult someone with an instant message, and then transfer a call to the person with whom they are having the active IM session.

  • Actionable call alerts with DND and redirect options. Office Communicator 2007 now provides actionable call alerts, enabling users to redirect a call to another number or contact. If users do not want to be disturbed, they can set the Presence status to Do Not Disturb from the call alert. The Do Not Disturb state will last until a new hour begins.

  • Communicator Call option. Office Communicators user interface has changed for making PC-to-PC calls. The Call options menu now displays a Communicator Call option, which places a VoIP call to a contact's devices running Communicator.

  • Easy call initiation from Search. Users can now enter a phone number in the Search box and press ENTER to place a call. If users search for a contact by name, Communicator selects the first name in the Search Results box, enabling users to place a call by pressing CTRL+ENTER.

  • Phone number formatting. U.S. phone numbers in Office Communicator 2007 are formatted for readability. For example, a phone number that was normalized in previous versions of Office Communicator to look like "+14255550101" is now formatted to look like "+1 (425) 555-0101".