# Suppress Unwanted Callers (/docs/guides/phone-numbers/suppress-unwanted-callers)



Use phone suppression when a number should no longer reach your team or receive
outreach from your organization. It is useful for repeated unwanted calls,
abusive callers, and suspected spam.

Suppression applies to the **phone number across your organization**, not just
one campaign. A number does not need an existing customer record to be suppressed.

What suppression does [#what-suppression-does]

* **Inbound calls:** careCycle disconnects the caller before an AI conversation
  starts or an agent rings.
* **Outbound contact:** new call and SMS attempts to the number are blocked.
  Pending outreach is canceled.
* **Customer records:** matching records show that the phone number is suppressed.

Suppression does not end calls already in progress or recall messages already
sent. It cancels pending appointment outreach, not the appointment itself.

<Callout>
  **Suppression is different from Do Not Call or Do Not SMS.** It also blocks
  inbound calls. Your existing contact preferences remain separate: adding or
  removing suppression does not rewrite them or remove a carrier opt-out.
</Callout>

Add a phone number [#add-a-phone-number]

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Open **Settings > Calling > Phone Suppressions**.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select **Add Phone Number** and enter the caller's number.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Choose the reason, then select **Suppress Number**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The list includes numbers without customer records. Adding a number does not
create a customer. If a number was previously removed, adding it again
reactivates suppression and records the new action in its history.

Suppress from a call disposition [#suppress-from-a-call-disposition]

An administrator can associate suppression with a selectable library or custom
disposition. For example, create **Block Caller** for spam or abusive callers,
while keeping **Do Not Call** for customers who request no further outreach.

Add a disposition to a routing group [#add-a-disposition-to-a-routing-group]

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Open **Configure > Routing** and select the **Softphone** routing group your
    team uses. Open its **Dispositions** section.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select &#x2A;*Add or Create Disposition…**. Add an existing library disposition, or
    type a new name such as **Block Caller** and select **Create**.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    For a new disposition, enter its description and choose an **Outcome Type**.
    For a spam or abusive caller, **Bad Contact** is an appropriate outcome type.
    Select **Apply to Draft** to add it to the routing group's draft.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Turn on the disposition's **Suppress** switch and choose a reason, such as
    **Suspected Fraud or Spam** or **Abusive Behavior**.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select **Save Routing Group** to apply the disposition and suppression policy.
    Agents can then select that outcome when completing calls through the group.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Routing-group dispositions replace the organization's default library choices
for that group; system dispositions remain available. Add the other outcomes
your agents need as well. To reuse **Block Caller** in another routing group,
add the existing library disposition rather than creating another copy.

See [Routing Groups: Dispositions and Wrap-Up](/docs/guides/campaign-toolkit/routing#dispositions-and-wrap-up)
for routing-group setup and [Wrap-Up and Dispositions](/docs/guides/agents/wrap-up-and-dispositions)
for the agent workflow.

Configure organization defaults [#configure-organization-defaults]

Open **Settings > Calling > Dispositions** to manage the default choices used
for manual outbound calls and calls without a routing-group disposition set.
Use &#x2A;*Add or Create Disposition…** to add an existing disposition or create one.
New dispositions use **Create & Add** here. Then enable **Suppress** and choose
a reason. Changes in this settings page save immediately; suppression changes
can be reverted with **Undo** in the confirmation message.

If you close the suppression reason menu without choosing, the previous reason
is kept, or **Other** if there was none.

What agents and callers experience [#what-agents-and-callers-experience]

Agents continue using the same disposition picker. When a call is completed with
that disposition, careCycle adds the caller's number to the organization's
suppression list. The policy applies organization-wide, even when configured
from a particular destination.

Changing a policy does not retroactively suppress numbers from earlier calls.
Disabling or removing a policy does not remove numbers already suppressed.
The built-in **Do Not Call** disposition records an outbound contact restriction.
It does not add the number to the phone suppression list or block incoming calls.
Use phone suppression when you also want to prevent the caller from reaching
your team.

Review a suppressed number [#review-a-suppressed-number]

Search by phone number or filter by **Status**, **Reason**, **Origin**,
**Added From**, and **Added Through**. Dates use your organization's timezone.
Date filters include the full selected days.

Select a row to open its details:

* **Customers** shows matching customer records you have permission to view,
  including their separate Do Not Call and Do Not SMS preferences.
* **Activity** shows blocked-call records and canceled outreach.
* **History** shows when suppression was added or removed and its recorded reason
  and origin.

Remove suppression [#remove-suppression]

Open the number's details, select **Remove suppression**, then confirm.

The number becomes eligible for future contact subject to your other contact
rules. Any independent Do Not Call, Do Not SMS, or carrier opt-out remains in
place. Previously canceled outreach does not restart automatically.

If you do not have access to remove suppression, contact your administrator.

Remove several numbers [#remove-several-numbers]

Select the checkboxes beside the numbers, or use the header checkbox to select
the current page. To include other pages, choose **Select all matching this
filter**. Your search, status, reason, origin, and date filters all apply. You
can uncheck individual numbers to exclude them.

Select **Remove selected**, review the count, then confirm. Numbers that changed
since selection may be skipped; review any remaining numbers before trying again.
Previously removed numbers cannot be selected.

Import a CSV list [#import-a-csv-list]

Use **Import CSV** to add a larger list. A file can contain up to **50,000 data
rows** and must be a **UTF-8 CSV no larger than 4 MiB**. Split larger lists into
separate files.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Select **Download Template**, or prepare a file with exactly these two headers:

    ```csv
    phoneNumber,reason
    +12125550123,customer_request
    +442079460123,suspected_fraud_spam
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Choose your file. Review how many rows are valid, duplicated, or invalid before
    importing.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select **Import valid rows** and follow the progress shown in the dialog.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Review the result. If some rows failed, keep the file selected and use
    **Retry Import**. Numbers already imported successfully are not added twice.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Importing a file adds to your list. It does not remove numbers that are missing
from the file or create customer records. Repeated numbers are counted once,
using the first valid row. Importing a previously removed number suppresses it again.

Use the following reason codes to categorize your numbers. &#x2A;*Blank or unrecognized
reasons are saved as `other`**, so those numbers can still be imported. The preview
shows how many rows will use Other. Invalid phone numbers are skipped.

| Reason                         | CSV code                      |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| Abusive Behavior               | `abusive_behavior`            |
| Customer Request               | `customer_request`            |
| Deceased                       | `deceased`                    |
| Duplicate or Recently Handled  | `duplicate_recently_handled`  |
| Failed Verification            | `failed_verification`         |
| Not Interested                 | `not_interested`              |
| Other                          | `other`                       |
| Out of Network                 | `out_of_network`              |
| Repeated Shopping              | `repeated_shopping`           |
| Suspected Fraud or Spam        | `suspected_fraud_spam`        |
| Wrong Person or Invalid Number | `wrong_person_invalid_number` |

Export the list [#export-the-list]

Set the filters you want, select **Export CSV**, then **Start Export**. When the
file is ready, select **Download**. You can also leave the page and download it
later from export activity.

The file contains matching phone numbers, reasons, statuses, origins, and recorded
dates. Export files are available for **24 hours**. Dates in the CSV use UTC;
the date filters use your organization's timezone.

An export is a reporting file, not an import template. To import selected numbers
from it, keep only `phoneNumber` and `reason`, and review the statuses first so you
do not unintentionally reactivate removed numbers. Exported phone cells may have
a leading apostrophe to keep spreadsheet software from treating them as formulas;
remove that spreadsheet prefix when preparing the two-column import file.

Permissions [#permissions]

Viewing the list, managing individual numbers, importing, exporting, and
configuring disposition policies are separate permissions. Matching customer
details also require customer and contact-information access.

If an action is missing, ask your administrator to review your
[roles and permissions](/docs/guides/run-your-team/roles-and-permissions).

For normal handling of callers who are not suppressed, see
[How Inbound Calls Route](/docs/guides/phone-numbers/how-inbound-calls-route).