How to Have Carly Answer Your Google Voice Calls
Carly can answer your phone, take messages, and route callers to the right person—while people keep calling the number they already know. You decide what Carly should handle and which calls should reach you or your team.
Here’s how to set up call answering, give Carly your instructions, and test it with Google Voice. The Google settings depend on your plan; step 4 explains which setup applies.
1. Create your Carly phone agent
Open Agents in Carly, select your team, and choose New agent, or open the agent you want answering calls. If you don’t have a team yet, create one when prompted.
Give it a recognizable name and explain its job. For example:
Answer incoming calls for our team. Ask who is calling and what they need. Answer routine questions using our approved information. Route requests to the right person using the rules below. When someone cannot be reached, collect a callback number and a concise message.
For a walkthrough of creating the agent, see how to set up an AI receptionist. The carrier forwarding codes shown in that video are for the relevant mobile carrier; they are not Google Voice setup instructions.
2. Set up and test call answering
In the agent’s Calls settings, use Get a number, or select an available number already connected to your team. This is the number you’ll enter in Google’s forwarding settings; your callers can keep using your existing number. Choose a voice and edit First thing it says. Save your settings and copy the number shown.
Call that number directly from another phone. Check that the correct agent answers, introduces itself appropriately, and takes a message. Do this before changing where your Google Voice calls go: it separates agent setup from forwarding setup.
3. Decide which calls should reach a person
Add your team’s transfer destinations and instructions before connecting the existing line. Specify who handles each kind of request, when they are available, and what happens if they don’t answer.
| Caller needs | Example instruction |
|---|---|
| A routine update | Transfer to the department that handles it, or take a message for that department. |
| A particular team member | Attempt that person’s configured transfer destination. |
| An urgent handoff | Follow your team’s explicit escalation rule and destination. |
| Help when nobody answers | Collect a callback number and message; explain the next step without promising a response time you cannot guarantee. |
Use a destination that reaches the person directly. Transferring back to the same Google Voice number that routes to Carly can create a loop.
If an answer requires access to another system, connect and verify that access first. Otherwise, instruct Carly to route the question to staff instead of guessing the answer. Call answering and routing do not require every back-office system to be integrated.
4. Check your Google Voice plan
Google’s plan comparison lists auto attendants on Standard standalone, Standard Workspace, and Premier Workspace. Basic and Starter plans do not include them.
Google Voice also supports ordinary forwarding to linked phones. However, Google’s forwarding documentation says automated systems are outside the supported use of that method and directs users to an auto attendant. That is a Google support limitation, not proof that Carly cannot receive a forwarded call.
The next step is specifically for Workspace Standard or Premier. Standalone Standard has its own attendant setup; confirm how its attendant can use the number you want to keep. If you have Basic or Starter, contact us to review the routing options before changing the existing line. Do not assume a mobile carrier’s missed-call forwarding code works in Google Voice.
5. Turn on call answering for Google Voice
For Workspace Standard or Premier, an administrator can follow Google’s auto-attendant setup:
- In the Google Admin console, open Apps → Google Workspace → Google Voice → Auto attendants.
- Create or edit the attendant and add its greeting.
- In call handling, select Transfer caller. Set the transfer type to Phone number and enter the Carly number from step 2.
- Set business hours and the action for calls outside those hours. Route the hours you want covered to Carly.
- Preview the attendant, check the call flow, and publish it.
- Assign the Google Voice number callers should reach. If it is already assigned to a user, follow Google’s number-reassignment procedure; don’t release the number.
An attendant needs an assigned number before callers can reach it. Review the effect on the current user’s calling and texting access before reassigning an established number. This procedure routes calls through the attendant; it does not automatically mean “ring my personal phone first and send only missed calls to Carly.”
6. Test the full route before using it for real callers
Call the original Google Voice number from an outside phone and try each of these:
- A routine question the agent has enough information to answer.
- A request that should transfer to a named person or department.
- A transfer where the person does not answer.
- A call outside business hours.
Check the greeting, the information Carly records, whether transfers reach the intended destination, and what callers hear when nobody picks up. Review the call record in Carly and adjust the instructions based on what actually happened.
For a medical practice, configure escalation from the practice’s approved instructions and keep a working human fallback. Confirm the agreements and configuration for patient information across the services involved. Google’s HIPAA guidance explains that its BAA does not extend to third-party applications.
What about texts and outgoing calls?
Forwarding incoming calls does not move the Google Voice number’s SMS service to Carly, and it does not automatically make that number Carly’s outbound caller ID. Configure Carly’s texting and outbound calling separately on its assigned number. If keeping one number for everything is essential, ask us to check the number and provider options before making changes.
For help with the setup, book a Carly setup call with your Google Voice plan and the numbers you want to route. Check the current Carly usage rates alongside your Google service charges.
Google documentation checked November 12, 2026. The steps describe the documented setup; the test in step 6 verifies it on your own account.
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"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
