Call recordings and transcripts

ContactRoll can record your organization's calls, and make a transcript of each recorded call. Every recorded call is announced first. The audio stays in your organization's own Twilio account, and members play it on the call's row.

What is recorded

• With recording switched on: calls placed from ContactRoll, and calls that come in and are answered.
• Always: voicemails, up to two minutes each.

Switch recording on

You need the permission the Roles page calls "Decide whether calls are recorded, how long recordings are kept and whether they may be downloaded". Owners and Administrators hold it.

• Open Settings, then Calling and find the Recording panel.
• Press Record calls, with the announcement. The page confirms: "Calls are recorded from now on — placed from ContactRoll, and answered when they come in."
• To stop, press Stop recording calls. Voicemails are still recorded.

On a call placed from ContactRoll, the person called hears "This call is being recorded." when they answer. On a call that comes in, the caller hears it before they are connected. Whether an announcement is enough where you and the people you call are is a legal question for you, since some places ask for consent.

Whether a call is recorded is decided when it starts. A hold, and a transfer's ringing, are left out of the recording, so a held or transferred call is recorded in parts that play in order.

How long recordings are kept

Under How long recordings are kept, set Keep recordings to "Until somebody deletes one", "For 30 days", "For 90 days", "For 180 days" or "For a year". With a period set, ContactRoll deletes each recording at Twilio once it is older, and the call's row says so. The panel also shows Twilio's monthly price for keeping recordings.

Downloads

Under Downloads, tick Let recordings be downloaded to let members keep their own copy. A downloaded file is a copy outside ContactRoll and Twilio, so deleting the recording leaves that copy as it is.

Listening

A recorded call reads "Recorded" on its entry, on a contact's page, on a case (its timeline and Calls on this case), and in a deal's or company's Calls.

• Press Play. The recording is fetched from your Twilio account, then plays with Pause, a scrubber, and speeds of 1×, 1.5× and 2×.
• If Twilio is still preparing it, the player says so and asks again every 15 seconds.
• Every listen and download goes on the list of who listened, which members with See who listened to each recording can open.
• Download appears where downloads are switched on and you may download.

Deleting a recording

Press Delete recording, then Delete the recording (or Delete the voicemail). ContactRoll deletes it at Twilio, checks that it is gone, and then records who deleted it. Deleting a person also deletes their recordings at Twilio.

Who may do what

• Listen: Owner, Administrator, Supervisor, Agent and Sales.
• See who listened: Owner, Administrator and Supervisor.
• Download (where allowed) and delete: Owner and Administrator, and a Supervisor for calls that rang one of their call groups.

Transcripts

ContactRoll can have your Twilio account make a transcript of each recorded call. Call transcripts come with the Standard and Plus plans; on Free, recording works as usual, and transcripts already made stay with their recordings.

• In the Recording panel, under Call transcripts, Twilio's price is shown first: $0.024 a minute of recording, as Twilio publishes it. Your Twilio invoice is the actual charge.
• Switch transcripts on there. The same permission that sets the recording rules switches them on.
• Calls recorded from that moment on are transcribed. Switching transcripts off stops new ones, and transcripts already made stay with their recordings.
• The panel counts the month's transcripts and their estimated cost.

Reading a transcript

On a recorded call's row, the transcript reads "Being made…" until Twilio finishes. Then press Read to see it speaker by speaker, each line with its moment in the call: the team member by name, and the person called or calling by theirs ("Team" or "Caller" when nobody is known). Download gives the transcript as a text file, where recording downloads are allowed.

Anybody who may hear the recording may read its transcript, and each read and download goes on the recording's list of who listened.

Transcripts are made in US English.

Finding words said on a call

Search finds words from transcripts. A result reads "matched in what was said on a call on this case", or "with them" for a call that is on no case.

Kept and deleted with the recording

A transcript goes with its recording. When a recording is deleted, by a person, by the keep period, or with the person it was about, its transcript is deleted with it, in ContactRoll and in your Twilio account. A person's export includes their calls' transcripts.