Call recordings: listening, downloading and retention
Where to listen to call recordings, how to download them, how long they are kept and who has access.
Every conversation made through the CRM telephony is recorded automatically — the operator’s voice and the customer’s voice separately. Recordings are not only for settling conflicts: newcomers learn from them, AI builds transcription and quality scoring on top of them, and they close arguments about what exactly was promised to a customer. This page covers where to listen to them, how to download them and how long they live.
#How a recording appears
The recording is made by the telephony on the server, not by the CRM — so it does not depend on whether the operator closed the tab. The system then turns the file into something you can listen to:
- During the call the telephony writes two separate tracks — what the operator says and what the customer says. The files are stored in a recordings folder on the server, laid out by date:
2026/08/12/… - Right after the call ends, the CRM stitches these tracks into a single stereo file — operator on the left, customer on the right — and converts it to MP3 for the browser.
- The finished recording is attached to the call: it appears in the lead card and in the list on the Dialogs page. From there it can also be transcribed and analysed by AI.
#Listening inside the lead card
The most common scenario: a manager opens a lead and wants to hear what was agreed. All calls for the lead sit in the activity feed together with status changes, notes and SMS, in chronological order.
- Under every call that has a recording there is a player — playback right on the page, with no file download.
- Next to the player is a download button for the recording in MP3.
- The call header shows who called, the direction and the duration of the conversation. The duration is read from the audio file itself, so it matches what you hear.
- If you do not have permission to listen, the player simply is not rendered — the rest of the call information stays visible.
#The “Dialogs” page: every recording in one list
When the task is not “listen to this lead” but “check how the team handled yesterday’s inbound calls”, the Dialogs section in the side menu is more convenient. It is a list of all calls that have recordings, newest first.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Date / time | When the call happened |
| Direction | Inbound or outbound |
| Operator | Who talked to the customer |
| Lead | A link to the card — opens in a new tab |
| Lead status | Where the lead is now, not where it was at the time of the call |
| Src / Dst | The number that called and the number that was called |
| Duration | Length of the conversation |
| Status | The telephony result: answered, no answer, busy, failed, congestion |
| Transcription | None · Queued · Processing · Done · Failed |
| AI analysis | The same set of states for call scoring |
| Recording | Whether audio exists, plus a play button right in the row |
Filters
| Filter | What it is for in practice |
|---|---|
| Date from / Date to | Reviewing a specific day or shift |
| Operator | A selection for one person — the basic coaching tool |
| Project | Separates teams when there is more than one |
| Lead (ID) | Every call for a single order |
| Direction | Inbound and outbound separately |
| Call status | Answered, No answer, Busy, Failed, Congestion — missed calls are visible apart from conversations |
| Lead status | Several statuses at once: for example, refusals only |
| Transcription / AI analysis | Finding what has not been processed yet or failed |
#Downloading recordings
- The format is MP3, stereo, optimised for voice. An hour of conversation weighs about 28–30 MB.
- The file is served with one click: in the lead card from the button next to the player, in the dialogs list from the call row.
- Downloading is governed by separate permissions (
calls.download_records,dialogs.download): you can allow listening while forbidding files from leaving.
#How long recordings are kept
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Where the files live | A folder on the CRM server; the path is set in Settings → Asterisk → Call recordings path (typically /var/spool/asterisk/monitor) |
| Structure | Subfolders by date: year / month / day |
| Retention period | 90 days by default |
| Cleanup | Automatic, once a day — folders for days older than the retention period are deleted |
| Keep indefinitely | A period of 0 — nothing is deleted (watch your disk space) |
The space is easy to estimate: a call centre with 500 minutes of conversation a day accumulates roughly 21 GB over 90 days. That is the order of magnitude to plan the server disk around.
#Permissions
| Permission | What it grants |
|---|---|
calls.view_in_lead | Seeing calls in the lead card |
calls.listen_in_lead | Listening to a recording in the lead card |
calls.view_records_list | Seeing the call list |
calls.listen_records | Listening to recordings from the list |
calls.download_records | Downloading audio files |
dialogs.view | Access to the “Dialogs” page |
dialogs.listen / dialogs.download | Listening and downloading on that page |
#If there is no recording
| Symptom | Most likely cause |
|---|---|
| The call is in the card, but there is no player | The conversation has just ended and the file is still being processed — refresh the page in a few seconds |
| No player on any call | Your role lacks the listening permission. Check the role in the permissions section |
| The call is not there at all | It was made outside the CRM, from a personal mobile. The system cannot see or record such conversations |
| Recordings have disappeared for older months | The retention period kicked in. The call entry stays in the card; the audio is gone |
| Nobody on the team has recordings after a server move | An empty or wrong recordings path in the telephony settings — a job for the implementation team |
#Checklist
- Customers are warned that the call is recorded — in the greeting or in the privacy policy
- The retention period matches how long you genuinely revisit old orders
- Disk space is calculated for your volume of minutes
- The download permission is granted case by case, not to the whole team
- The manager has a habit of listening to a filtered selection rather than random calls
- Operators know that calls from personal mobiles never reach the system