# Status: Active, Messages only, Paused

> One click on the status decides for all assistants whether they work as usual, only take messages, or let calls ring on your phone first for a few hours.

https://scoco.ai/en/docs/assistant-status/

The status at the top of the dashboard decides for all assistants at once how they handle calls. This page shows what callers experience in each of the three states, how to switch, and when the status switches back on its own.

## The three states

| Status | What callers experience |
|---|---|
| **Active** | Your assistant answers and works exactly as you set it up. |
| **Messages only** | The assistant answers but puts nobody through, not even known callers or VIP contacts. It takes every request as a message and promises that someone will get back to them. |
| **Paused** | Every call rings on your phone first. If you do not pick up, the assistant takes over and takes a message. |

**Messages only** suits moments when you cannot talk, such as a meeting. **Paused** suits moments when you want to answer yourself and only need the assistant as a fallback.

Blocked callers reach you in no state. Test calls do not ring your phone in **Paused** either.

If an assistant also answers on WhatsApp, it does not answer there at all in **Paused**. You then read the messages yourself in the **Inbox**.

## What rings when paused

In **Paused**, scoco calls the **Destination number** on the **Put known callers through** card under **Assistants › Behaviour**. This also applies when the **Put known callers through** switch is off. If you have several assistants, each call rings the number of the assistant that was called.

- Your phone shows the caller's number.
- Your phone rings for at most 12 seconds. Then the assistant takes over.
- If no number to ring is on file, nothing rings. The assistant then takes every request as a message, and a note under the status says so when you switch.

## Switch the status

1. Click the status. It sits at the top of the sidebar, or at the top of the bar on a phone.
2. Choose **Active**, **Messages only** or **Paused**.
3. For a pause, choose the length below: 1, 2 or 4 hours. Clicking **Paused** on its own pauses for 1 hour.

The new status applies immediately and to all assistants. During a pause, the status shows until when it lasts, and so it does for **Messages only** with an end. It is quicker from search: press Cmd K (Mac) or Ctrl K and choose **Change status**.

If an assistant is [switched off or set to messages only on its own](https://scoco.ai/en/docs/several-assistants/#silence), the status also shows a number: how many assistants are not active right now. The status itself still names the state for all. Clicking the status lists those assistants under **Set on their own**, each with its state and, if one is set, the day it is active again. Click a name to open the assistant. Switch it back on there.

A **Member** or **Viewer** sees the status and the number too but cannot change anything.

## Status through Ask scoco

As an **Owner** or **Admin** you can also have [Ask scoco](https://scoco.ai/en/docs/ask-scoco/) change the status, for example with "I'm in a meeting until 3 pm" or "Pause for two hours". Ask scoco changes nothing itself: it shows a card with the current and the new status and says what callers meet until the end. Only your click on **Apply** switches it.

- Through Ask scoco, every status except **Active** has an end at most 24 hours later, **Messages only** too. Without an end, Ask scoco makes no proposal.
- Ask scoco is instructed to propose **Messages only** for "in a meeting" or "not available", and **Paused** when you want to answer yourself. The card shows which status it is.
- If an assistant has no number to ring, the card names it. For **Paused** it also names every assistant that then stops answering on WhatsApp.
- If someone changed the status since the proposal, Ask scoco does not apply it. Have it proposed again.
- The card offers no **Undo**. You switch back as always with one click on the status.

Ask scoco switches a single assistant as well, with a card of its own and an end at most 14 days ahead, see [Silence an assistant](https://scoco.ai/en/docs/several-assistants/#silence).

## When the status switches back

- **Paused** ends on its own at the time shown. The status is then **Active** again. You do not need to do anything.
- **Messages only** stays until you switch back to **Active** yourself. If it has an end because you set it [through Ask scoco](https://scoco.ai/en/docs/assistant-status/#ask-scoco), the status is **Active** again after it.

> **Note:**
>
> After a meeting, remember to switch from **Messages only** back to **Active**. Otherwise your assistant keeps putting nobody through.

## Common problems

**Your phone does not ring in “Paused”.** Check the **Destination number** under **Assistants › Behaviour**. The scoco number itself cannot be saved there, and if it is still there from before, scoco does not call it. And if you test by calling from the very phone that should ring, it does not ring either. Test from another phone.

**Your phone rings only briefly.** That is deliberate. If your phone forwards unanswered calls to scoco, scoco has to hang up first, or the call comes back round in a loop. More in [Set up call forwarding](https://scoco.ai/en/docs/call-forwarding/).

**The assistant no longer puts anyone through.** The status is **Messages only**. Switch back to **Active**.

**You see the status but no menu.** Your role is **Member** or **Viewer**. Only an **Owner** or **Admin** switches it.

_Last checked: 30 October 2026_