A user presses the designated button to light the Manual Message Waiting button lamp at the telephone of another user telephone. Both the telephones must be multiappearance telephones. To turn the lamp off, either telephone user can press the Manual Message Waiting button.

You can administer Manual Message Waiting for pairs of telephones only. These telephones might be used by two people who share the same job function and often take calls for one another. The Manual Message Waiting feature is also useful in situations where one person usually answers calls for a second person, such as an administrative assistant might do for a manager. The administrative assistant can press a Manual Message Waiting button to signal the manager that a call must be answered. The manager can answer the call or press a Manual Message Waiting button to indicate that the administrative assistant should handle the call