To connect an existing PBX or telephony provider to Salesforce, an admin sets up a Call Center that points at the integration. The exact files come from your telephony vendor. These steps describe the Open CTI path; for a new build, prefer Salesforce Voice with Partner Telephony instead.
- Get the call center package from your vendor
Most telephony providers ship a managed package or a call center definition XML file. Install the package from AppExchange or obtain the definition file from the provider. This is what tells Salesforce how to reach the PBX.
- Import or create the Call Center
In Setup, search for Call Centers, then import the vendor's call center definition file. If the vendor uses a managed package, the call center record may already be created for you during install.
- Assign agents to the call center
Open the call center record and add the users who should get the softphone. Only assigned users see the phone tools, so this step controls who can take calls.
- Add the softphone and a softphone layout
Make sure the softphone appears in the utility bar of the agent's Lightning app, then configure a softphone layout to control what Salesforce searches for and displays on an incoming call.
- Test screen pop, click-to-dial, and logging
Place test calls in both directions. Confirm a matching record pops, a clicked number dials, and the call writes an activity to the record. Fix mismatches in the softphone layout or vendor mapping before launch.
The configuration file that describes how the telephony system connects to Salesforce and which softphone settings apply.
Controls which objects Salesforce searches and which fields it shows when a call arrives, driving the screen pop behavior.
Determines which agents are members of the call center and therefore see and use the softphone.
Where the softphone lives in Lightning Experience so agents can control calls without leaving the record.
- Open CTI is in maintenance mode and retires on February 28, 2028, so a fresh integration built on it has a limited shelf life.
- The PBX, not Salesforce, owns call routing and audio quality. Most "Salesforce phone" problems are actually network or PBX configuration issues.
- Screen pops only work if the caller's number matches a record. Plan for the no-match case so agents are not left on a blank screen.
- Softphone behavior differs between Lightning Experience and Salesforce Classic because they use different Open CTI APIs.