
Having recordings of support calls and voicemails can be helpful when you're reviewing past tickets. This topic describes how to manage different recording options in Zendesk Talk.
Configuring live call recording options
- Channel-wide: Set whether call recordings are public (meaning requesters can access recordings of their calls).
- Number-specific: Set whether calls are recorded for each specific number.
To determine whether call recordings are public
- Click the Admin icon (
) in the sidebar, then select Channels > Talk. - In the General Settings tab, select Yes or No next to New live call recordings are public? Selecting Yes means requesters will be able to access recordings of their calls.
- Click Save tab.
- Click the Admin icon (
) in the sidebar, then select Channels > Talk. - Select the Numbers tab.
- Next to the number you want edit settings for, click the menu icon, then select Edit.
- On the Settings tab, toggle the Record calls? option to on or off.
- Click Save changes.
Transcribing voicemails
Talk only transcribes voicemails into English, regardless of the language of the voicemail that was left. You can disable voicemail transcription for individual numbers.
- Click the Admin icon (
) in the sidebar, then select Channels > Talk. - Select the Numbers tab.
- Click on the number you want to edit.
- Click the Voicemail tab.
- Toggle the Transcribe voicemails? setting to off.
- Click Save changes.
Deleting recordings
In Zendesk Talk, you can either delete recordings automatically after a specified period of time or delete recordings from individual tickets. If you're on the Enterprise plan, you can view the admin that deleted the recording and when the recording was deleted in your Audit log.
Automatically deleting recordings
You can configure Zendesk Talk numbers to automatically delete live call recordings or voicemails after a certain amount of time.

- The timer starts when the recording is created. Recordings will be deleted once the selected timeframe has elapsed, regardless of associated tickets or their statuses. For this reason, we recommend that you select a timeframe long enough to minimize the chance that related tickets will still be in progress, such as six months.
- End-users can access live call recordings only if they're set to be public in Talk's general settings. For details, see Enabling the Voice channel and configuring the general settings.
- If you have transcription enabled, voicemails in English are transcribed in the ticket. The transcription will remain in the ticket even if you've set up the voicemail recording to be deleted. Live call recordings are not transcribed.
- If you change the recording deletion schedule, all of your past recordings as well as new recordings going forward will be impacted.
- Click the Admin icon (
) in the sidebar, then select Channels > Talk. - Select the Numbers tab.
- Next to the number you want to automatically delete recordings for, click the menu icon, then select Edit.
- In the Settings tab, select a timeframe for live call recordings in the Delete recordings after field.
- To set up automatic deletion for voicemails, click the Voicemail tab. Select a timeframe in the Delete voicemails after field.
- Click Save changes.
Deleting recordings from tickets
To delete a recording from a ticket
- In Zendesk Support, select the ticket with the recording.
- Next to the recording, click delete recording.
Important: Once deleted, the recording will be permanently removed from the ticket and cannot be recovered. The deletion will not be noted in the ticket events log. - Click OK.
The recording player will be replaced by a label stating "recording not available".

Downloading recordings
If you want to download Talk recordings and access them offline, use the Zendesk Download Recordings app.
The features of this app include:
- Download all inbound and outbound calls as well as voicemails with a single click
- Original ticket information like caller name, phone number, date and time
- Download recordings in all browsers supported by Zendesk (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome)
- Audio playback
- Manage access by role and groups
For full details about the app and how to install it, see the Download Recordings app page in our app directory.
9 Comments
I have a need to generally not record calls from one of our numbers so I have recording set to off for that number. I am being asked if we can occasionally initiate a recording on demand. Let's say the agent is on an outbound non-recorded number but the conversation wanders into a topic or request that should be recorded is there a way to then record the rest of the call or record until turned off for that call?
Is the permission for deleting call recordings on an individual ticket the same as deleting tickets or where is thapulled from?
The permission to delete a call recording on a ticket is restricted to admins only.
Is it possible to hide call recordings for some agents ?
For example, I want all calls to be recorded but I don't want agents to be able to see or listen to the manager's call recordings.
Thanks
Hey Stephane,
Currently there is no way to restrict call recordings from specific agents on the account. Call recordings are available to any agent on the account that has access tickets. If this is a feature you're interested in I encourage you to create a post in our Talk Product Feedback Forum to help gauge interest from other users as well as provide visibility to our Product Managers.
Additionally, it's worth mentioning that if it's manager call recordings you would like to restrict then you could restrict those agents to tickets only assigned to their group. Then have those managers call recording tickets assigned to the Manager group which those agents would not have access to since they don't belong to that Manager group. More information on agent privileges can be found in our Adding agents and administrators documentation which I've attached.
I realize this most likely isn't the solution you're looking for but hopefully it helps in some way :)
Are there any API calls that will allow a user to pull recordings en masse?
Hello Kyle,
As the base product currently stands, there are no API calls that will allow a user to pull recording en masse.
Best regards,
Devan
Devan - what about single call pulls? If so, any rate limiting?
Hey Kyle,
Call recordings are ticket attachments so it's possible to pull a single recording from the ticket data using the attachments endpoint.
Rate limits would be based on the plan level you're on. Rate Limits
Hope this helps!
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