Enable call recording

Atender can record calls for quality review, training, and compliance. Recording is configured at the tenant level as a default, and a Send to Queue node in the IVR can override the default for its path. Atender plays a consent announcement before recording starts by default and lets callers opt out by pressing 9. If your tenant discloses recording elsewhere in the IVR, you can turn off Atender’s built-in consent announcement.

Before you start

• A role with the Channel settings permission. Owner and Team Lead have it by default, and you can give it to a custom role.
• An understanding of your local compliance requirements. Many jurisdictions require consent before recording. Atender can play a consent message and offer opt-out, but the wording, where disclosure happens, and the obligation to allow opt-out are your responsibility.

Steps

Set the tenant default

The tenant-level toggle is the baseline that applies to every call the IVR routes to a queue, unless the queue or a Send to Queue node overrides it. A Send to Queue node wins over the queue, and the queue wins over the tenant default. A queue can hold its own recording value, but no screen shows or sets it; a queue without one uses the tenant default.

1. Open Settings → Voice.
2. Select Global voice settings (the top entry, above your phone numbers).
3. Find the Record calls toggle.
4. Switch it on or off.
5. Find Play consent announcement. It shows when Record calls is on.
6. Leave it on to play Atender’s built-in consent announcement before recording starts, or turn it off if your IVR discloses recording elsewhere.
7. If the announcement is on, set Let the caller opt out with digit 9. On (the default), a caller who presses 9 is not recorded. Off: callers hear the notice, and the call is recorded whatever they press. A Send to Queue node can override this switch for its path with Allow caller opt-out.
8. Save.

Override on a Send to Queue node

Some flows only want to record specific paths — for example, only the sales line, not internal transfers. Only Send to Queue nodes have recording settings; other IVR nodes do not.

1. Open the IVR in the builder.
2. Click the Send to Queue node whose path you want to control.
3. In the node config, find Record calls. The dropdown has three values:
   Use tenant default — use the tenant default. The starting value for every new node.
   Force on — always record this path, even if the tenant default is off.
   Force off — never record this path, even if the tenant default is on.
4. To control the consent announcement for this path, find Consent announcement. The dropdown has three values:
   Use tenant default — use the tenant default. The starting value for every new node.
   Force on — play the built-in consent announcement for this path.
   Force off — do not play the built-in consent announcement for this path, and do not offer the press-9 opt-out.
5. If the consent announcement is not Force off, set Allow caller opt-out to control the press-9 opt-out for this path.
6. Pick the values you want and save the flow.

Verify it worked

Dial your number, complete a test call that should be recorded, hang up, and check the conversation in the inbox. A recorded call carries an audio player on the conversation. Just after the call, it can show Recording is being processed… until the audio arrives. If recording was off, the audio player is absent.

Opt-out behavior

When recording is on, Atender plays a consent announcement before the caller enters the queue by default. When the opt-out is on, the announcement also offers press 9 to opt out. If the caller opts out:

• Atender keeps no audio of the call. In place of the audio player, the conversation shows a notice that the customer opted out.
• The opt-out is recorded on the conversation as a recordingOptOut custom field; no conversation tag is applied.
• Optionally, the call can still be transcribed if your tenant has the Transcribe calls even when caller opts out setting enabled. This is a tenant-wide setting on the Global voice settings page. With it on, Atender records the call only to make the transcript, and deletes the audio after the transcript is made. If transcription fails or cannot start, Atender deletes the audio without a transcript.

You can turn off the built-in consent announcement at the tenant level, or override it on a Send to Queue node, when your tenant discloses recording elsewhere in the IVR. Turning off Play consent announcement also removes Atender’s built-in press-9 opt-out prompt, except on a Send to Queue node that sets Consent announcement to Force on.

The built-in consent message wording cannot be edited in Global voice settings; to override it for a path, upload Consent audio (overrides built-in) on that Send to Queue node. Whether the announcement plays is still controlled by the consent announcement settings. The press-9 opt-out is its own setting: Let the caller opt out with digit 9 on the Global voice settings page, and Allow caller opt-out on a Send to Queue node.

Where recordings end up

A recorded call’s audio is attached to the conversation it belongs to. Anyone with permission to view the conversation can play it back. Atender’s transcription, when enabled, attaches a text transcript to the same conversation.

Recordings can be deleted, but the permission to do so is gated. By default, only Owners can delete recordings; the Who can delete recordings setting can lower the threshold to Team Leads or Agents. A custom role that holds the Delete call recordings permission can also delete recordings, whatever this setting is. Confirm your tenant’s recording-deletion permissions on the Global voice settings page.

Missed calls

The Global voice page also holds a tenant-wide switch for missed calls, next to the recording settings. A missed call is an inbound call where the caller hangs up after the IVR sends the call to a queue or to the AI voice agent, and before anyone answers. A call the AI voice agent answered is not a missed call, even if the caller hangs up before a transfer.

Find the Missed calls section and set Keep missed calls open:

• Off (the default) — the conversation closes to Done.
• On — the conversation stays in Active with a Missed badge, so your team can call the customer back.

The switch is tenant-wide. It applies to every number and every queue, with no per-queue override. It does not change callers who hang up in the IVR before it sends the call on, calls the AI voice agent answered, or unanswered outbound calls.

Troubleshooting

• Symptom: Calls aren’t being recorded even though recording is enabled tenant-wide. Fix: Check the IVR nodes the call passes through. A node set to Force off wins over the tenant default.

• Symptom: Recording is on but you don’t hear the consent message. Fix: Check Play consent announcement on the Global voice page and Consent announcement on the Send to Queue node the call passes through. If it is off, or the node is set to Force off, Atender will not play the built-in consent announcement or press-9 opt-out prompt. If it is on, confirm that custom consent audio has been uploaded on that node if it uses one, and confirm your IVR routes the call through a Send to Queue node with recording enabled — if you transfer the call out before that, the consent message won’t fire.

• Symptom: The recording is silent or only one side of the call is audible. Fix: This is typically a network or codec issue on a specific call. Reach out to support with the call SID and conversation ID — it’s not a configuration problem at the tenant level.

See also

• Set up a call queue
• The Voice channel
• IVR node types