You can program it all from a phone, it can be set up with a laptop by way of a usb port. Go to the NEC web site and down load a manual if you do not have one. Its BIG about 500 pages. There are lots of options that have to be set up such as auto attendent, each extention has a voice mailbox as well as a group mailbox. You cannot program the message by way of a laptop, but it is easy to program extentions and voice mail options by way of a computer. All programming is saved as a file and downloaded into the KSU. This allows programming without taking the system off line. Robert
