How to Set Up the Calls Channel in Engage (Buy a Number)

This article guides you through setting up the Calls channel in Engage by buying a phone number. The Buy a number wizard only takes a few minutes — your new number is provisioned instantly and starts ringing into Engage as soon as the purchase completes.

In Engage, select Channels in the navigation rail and open the Calls card, then click Buy another (or the get-started button if you don't own a number yet). You can also start from the Call Setup panel: on the Phone Numbers tab, click ＋ Buy a number — or ＋ Buy your first number if your list is still empty.

On the "Where should your number live?" step, select the country your number should belong to. The most common choices appear under Most popular, with every other available country listed below — you can also search by country name or dial code. Each country tile shows its starting monthly price. Click Continue.

NOTE: If your country isn't listed yet, reach out to Pabau support — new regions are added regularly.

On the "What should the number do?" step, tick the capabilities your number needs: Voice for incoming and outgoing calls (including recording, voicemail, and call menus), SMS for two-way text messaging, and MMS for picture messaging. Voice and SMS are pre-selected, and most clinics keep both. Then, under "Then choose a number type", pick Local, Toll-free, or Mobile. You must tick at least one capability before you can click Continue.

NOTE: If you're buying a United Kingdom number, a one-time Verification step is added to the wizard, because UK regulations require your business details to be verified before a number can be purchased. We suggest reading our Buying a UK Number: Business Verification in Engage article for a full walkthrough of that step.

The "Pick a phone number" step shows live availability for your country and filters. Search by digits, area code, or pattern, and use the Starts with, Contains, or Ends with options to match numbers a particular way. For local numbers in the United States and Canada, you can also filter by state or province. Each row shows the number, its capabilities, its locality and region, and its Monthly fee. Click Select next to the number you want, then click Continue.

NOTE: The monthly fee shown already includes everything — there's nothing extra added at checkout. Prices vary by country and number type, and the fee is converted to your billing currency at checkout, so the currency shown while browsing may differ from the one on your bill.

On the "Review your new number" step, check the number's details and monthly fee. Give the number a Friendly name (this name shows next to the number throughout Pabau) and, under Assignment, choose who'll handle the calls — a shared inbox or an individual team member. You can change both later in Call Setup. When you're happy, click the Buy button showing the monthly fee (for example, Buy $1.15 · /mo) and keep the window open while your number is provisioned — this usually finishes in a few seconds.

IMPORTANT: Buying a number is a real purchase. The monthly fee is billed to your Pabau account every month until you remove the number. If the purchase fails with a billing message, contact Pabau support to get billing set up on your account.

When the purchase completes, you'll see the "Your number is live" screen with a summary of your new number. Click Done to finish, or Buy another to add another number.

Your number is ready to use straight away: inbound calling is switched on automatically, so there's nothing extra to enable. If this is your clinic's first number, call recording, transcription, and automatic linking of calls to client records are also switched on for you — you can adjust all of these in Call Setup at any time.

We suggest reading our Call Setup: Numbers, Team Assignment and Call Settings article to share your new number with more of your team, and our How to Make and Receive Calls in Engage article to start calling. If you'd rather keep your clinic's existing number, our How to Port Your Phone Number to Pabau article explains how to bring it with you.

For more guides, refer to related articles below, select additional guides, or use the search bar at the top of the page. These guides will help you get the most out of your Pabau account.

Additionally, to help you fully utilize and understand your Pabau account, we recommend exploring additional guides and resources offered at the Pabau Academy.