Hi, I noticed that phone numbers are automatically converted to links using the “tel:” command.
This is great and OK for my use on the mobile phone.
However, when both I and my assistant will sit down–AT A DESKTOP BROWSER–to make calls through leads, we have the Google Voice “Click to Dial” extension installed in Chrome. This extension automatically changes phone numbers (in correct format) into clickable links to dial directly through Google Voice.
Because SuiteCRM is converting the link already using the “tel:” command, the Google Voice extension is being overridden (can’t click to dial using the Google Voice extension).
How can I turn off converting phone numbers into “tel:” links? I could find a standard setting under Admin that would let me do this.
SuiteCRM is doing what it should by converting the phone into a tel: link.
What I’m saying is I don’t want that tel: link conversion. Google Voice extension no longer recognizes the number to convert it into a GOOGLE VOICE link.
There is no problem with the tel: link not working, I just want it turned off. How can I do that?
(BTW, you can’t use Google Voice with tel: links - there is no way to set the system to handle the tel: link with Google Voice, hence the need for the Google Voice extension in Chrome.)
I should also add the link you provided gives a solution that is exactly what I’m using . . . the Google Voice extension. The problems is that since SuiteCRM is already converting the tel: link (which the browser is expecting to handle like a mobile phone dialer activation) Google Voice is not converting the link to the Google Voice version.
That does stop the browser from bringing up the attempt to dial from an Android phone (in Chrome); however, because the phone number is still converted to a link due to the tel: command, Google Voice extension will still not recognize the number as a clickable link, SPECIFICALLY for the Google Voice extension.
There’s no reason for the extension not to recognize the links. It’s probably a single line of Javascript.
Maybe it’s just getting confused with the phone formats, doesn’t it have a place where you configure the allowed formats?
The correct thing to do here would be to annoy the extensions developers until they get this working properly. But since they seem to be unresponsive and they haven’t been updating the extension, maybe you can have a look at this PR that fixed the tel links a while ago, and it will tell you which files are being used for it, so you can search for ways to customize the links.
Thanks—I’ll check it out and see if there is a way to remove disable those tel links. I know the GV plugin works, because it recognizes phone numbers and turns them into inks in every other site.
I do not believe Google Voice has an option that will allow me to set windows to handle the calls. I’m pretty sure of that unless you know a different way. All the Google support forums say no.
Windows has under Settings and Default Protocols what the TEL link pipes the number to.
It is like when you click HTTP then your default browser opens up.
You may have Firefox as a default in your Windows machine whilst I have Chrome in mine.
Windows> Settings>Apps an Features> Default Apps>Choose default Application by Protocol> then scroll down to the TEL protocol. Set your default app there which in your case is Google Voice
I will give this a try when I get back to my Windows computer; however, everything I have read over the years and even just recently looking into this now says that you cannot set up the tel links to open Google voice. Google voice is driven off of the web browser and is not actually an application sitting on the computer. Do you have experience successfully setting up the tel links in windows to open and actually make a call if you Google voice specifically?
So mine is set to Google Chrome (for default TEL protocol). The options to choose a different program for the TEL protocol do not help.
It’s important to reiterate that the Google Voice click to dial function is simply and only an extension within the Google Chrome browser. There is no software app that is loaded into the registry and disk drive. The Google Voice extension cannot be used anywhere else on the Windows PC except as an extension specifically for Google Chrome, and that only to rewrite text in any web browser page that has a recognizable phone number format and that is not already overwritten by the “tel:” link.
As a test, I put a phone number in a standard “TEXT” field in SuiteCRM. Upon loading the screen, the phone number converts to a Google Voice click to dial link perfectly and as expected. However, the actual phone fields continue to persistently convert/rewrite the phone number to a “tel:” link that Google Voice will not overwrite.
So, as stated in my original post here, the function of the browser/OS is taking the “tel:” command in the text of the phone field and converting the phone number to a clickable link that is solely looking to open the program defined by OS. This conversion of text to link by the OS is overriding Google Voice Chrome Extension from converting the link into a Google Voice click to dial link.
The simple solution (from a non-programmer new to SuiteCRM perspective) is to somehow rid all the phone fields from appending/rewriting the phone number text with the “tel:” plus phone number link.
How can I turn off or remove from the SuiteCRM system the feature of converting any and every phone field to a “tel:” link, and rather just have SuiteCRM leave the text in the phone field alone (no conversions or rewriting at all–the Google Voice Chrome Browser Extension will take care of that for me)?
One thing I found was the suggestion to add the following code to the “raw headers.” Where could I add this code in SuiteCRM–perhaps only in ONE file–that loads in the top header with EVERY page in SuiteCRM?
But from what I gather your meta tag is actually an instruction for the Chrome extension. What you’re trying to do is tell SuiteCRM to put the tag in every screen, so that the Chrome extension sees it and doesn’t get confused with the formats.
It sounds like a really controverted thing to attempt - my feeling is that the extension should just let you configure some options to define what counts as a telephone link or not. You would just tell it to understand the SuiteCRM tel links (they are perfectly standard) and it would do its job.
Thank you for the suggestions. I do need to clarify some things, however:
The meta tag was a suggestion that would tell the browser to ignore the tel: link so that the phone number is not converted into a tel: link.
What I’m trying to do has nothing to do with communicating with the Google Voice Extension. The GV extension will work perfectly fine by itself with NO CODE if the phone number is posted on the web page in a recognizable format. I happen to use ###-###-####, but the GV Voice extension will recognize other similar US phone number formats (e.g. +1##########).
What I am simply trying to do is prevent the web browser from formatting the telephone numbers into tel: links. If I could somehow disable the tel: link, and the web browser outputs the phone number as regular text (say just like the name, etc.) then Google Voice Extension will do the rest with no need to get into any coding or sending commands or anything like that.
How can I disable, remove, or turn off the tel: link formatting/rewriting in all SuiteCRM phone fields?