How to Program a Mitel Headset Button for a Corded Headset

How to program a Mitel headset button

These codes come from Mitel's own documentation rather than from folklore. The 5320 IP Phone Quick Reference Guide, published under MiVoice Office 250, lists Program Buttons as 397 and Headset On/Off as 317, with Handsfree On/Off at 319 and View Button Assignments at 396. The key you end up programming does one job, which is to switch call audio over to the headset jack, so it behaves the same whichever wired telephone headset is plugged into it.

The programming sequence, button by button

Four presses, in this order, with the handset down the whole time.

1. See what the buttons already do

   With the phone idle, dial 396, View Button Assignments. The phone reports what each programmable button is currently set to, which stops you from taking over a button a colleague set up for a line or a speed dial.

2. Dial 397 to enter programming

   Still on-hook, dial 397, Program Buttons. The phone waits for you to nominate a button rather than doing anything visible on its own.

3. Press the button you want to use

   Press the programmable button you picked in step one. On a 5320 the eleven programmable buttons are self-labeling, so a free one reads blank on the display next to it.

4. Dial 317 to make it a headset key

   Dial 317, the Headset On/Off code, to assign headset mode to that button. Pressing it afterwards sends call audio to the headset jack.

Because 317 is a toggle rather than a one-way switch, the same button turns headset mode back off, which is how you hand the phone to someone who wants the handset. If you program over a button you turn out to need, Mitel lists 395 as Programmable Buttons Default, which restores default button assignments.

Why 397 seems to do nothing

The feature codes work when the phone is idle, so a phone that is off-hook or on a call will not act on 397 the way you expect. Mitel's quick reference says that in that state you press the Special button first to activate the feature, then enter the code. Two more keys are useful while you are in there: the star key cancels a feature you have started, and the Hold key moves the cursor left and deletes digits you mistyped.

feature code: A feature code: a short number you dial on a Mitel phone to reach a system function instead of a person, the way 317 reaches headset mode.

Your system's codes may not be 397 and 317

Mitel prints these as defaults, and the MiVoice Office 250 user manual says the features shown may or may not be enabled for your system, next to a blank New Code column for administrators who have changed them. That is the usual reason 397 works on one desk and not on a phone that looks identical two desks over. Dialing 396 answers the question in a few seconds, since the phone will tell you what it thinks each button is for. It is also worth noting where this code list is published: it is headed MiVoice Office 250, so treat 397 and 317 as that platform's defaults rather than as numbers every Mitel phone everywhere responds to.

When the headset button is the wrong fix

A mechanical handset lifter needs headset mode switched off, which is the opposite of what you have just programmed. The lifter sits under the handset and raises it physically when a call comes in, so the phone should carry on routing audio through the handset, and a headset key takes that path away.

Settle which of the two you have before you start dialing codes, because a corded headset that plugs straight into the phone and a wireless base that lifts the handset for you want opposite settings on the same phone. Our handset lifter setup guide covers the mechanical side of that.