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Overview

Talkdesk Agent-Initiated Recording gives agents the flexibility to manually record calls during active interactions. When automatic recording is disabled, agents can start recording as needed to capture important conversation details while still respecting privacy requirements.

Table of Contents

• Understanding Agent-initiated Start Recording
• Key Features
• Use Cases
• Prerequisites
• Enabling “Agent-initiated Start Recording”
• How It Works
• Recording Behavior
   

Understanding Agent-initiated Start Recording

In Talkdesk, agents can manually start call recordings during an active call.

Once an Admin has enabled this feature, agents will see a recording button in Conversations whenever the call is not already being recorded.

Key Features

• Manual Trigger: Agents control exactly when a recording starts during an active call.
• Visual Indicators: A recording indicator appears in Conversations once the process begins to confirm the action.
• Selective Capture: Allows for the recording of specific segments of a call rather than the entire duration.
• Compliance Support: Helps organizations follow regional privacy regulations by ensuring recording only happens after obtaining consent.

Use Cases

• Obtaining Consent: Starting the recording only after the customer provides verbal agreement to be recorded.
• Sensitive Interactions: Capturing only escalated or sensitive portions of a call to protect user privacy during the rest of the conversation.
• Targeted Documentation: Recording a specific technical explanation or confirmation within a longer, general interaction.

Prerequisites

For Agent-initiated Start Recording to work correctly, the following settings must all be enabled:

• Call Recording (Inbound and/or Outbound).
• Agent-initiated Start Recording.
• Agent-initiated Pause Recording.

Note: If any of the required settings above are disabled, the Start Recording functionality may not work as expected.

Enabling “Agent-initiated Start Recording”

To enable “Start Recording” for the entire account, follow these instructions:

1. Go to Admin [1] > Channels [2] > Voice [3]. 

2. Select the tab Recordings [4] and then click Edit [5] to enable changing of settings.

3. Under the “Call recordings” section, enable the appropriate recording settings for inbound and/or outbound calls.

4. Scroll down to the “Agent related settings” section.
5. Enable both:
   • “Agent-initiated pause recording”
   • “Agent-initiated start recording”
   •  
6. Save changes.

It is also possible to define different recording settings on a phone number basis.

To do so, follow these instructions:

1. Go to the Admin app [1].
2. Select the Numbers tab [2].
3. Click the phone number for which you would like to configure this setting [3].

4. Go to the tab Classic settings [4].
5. Click the Custom Settings tab [5].
6. Select Yes next to “Override Account Settings” [6].
7. Configure the recording-related settings as needed.
8. Press Save at the bottom of the page to apply your changes.

Note: If custom settings configured at the phone number level override the account-level settings and do not follow the required setup described above, Agent-initiated Start Recording may not work correctly.

How It Works

When the required settings are enabled:

• Calls begin in a Not Recorded state.
• Agents will see a Start Recording button during the active call.
• Selecting the button immediately starts recording.
• Only the portion of the interaction after recording starts will be captured.

If automatic recording is already active for the call:

• Agent-initiated Start Recording will stop all recordings by default at the start of a call. This setting disables recordings by default at the start of a conversation. 
• To restore the previous behavior, disable Agent-initiated Start Recording and keep Agent-initiated Pause Recording enabled.
• Agent-initiated Pause Recording features a toggle to stop and restart recording, while Agent-initiated Start Recording disables auto-recording. Agents are responsible for manually initiating recording.

Depending on the account configuration, agents may also be able to pause, resume, or stop recordings during the call.

Depending on the account configuration, agents may also be able to pause, resume, or stop recordings during the call.

Recording Behavior

Once recording starts:

• A recording indicator will appear in Conversations.
• Recording continues until the call ends or recording is manually stopped (if supported).
• Recording events such as start, pause, resume, and stop follow the standard recording behavior and event flow. Only the portion of the interaction after recording starts will be stored.