Voice mail spoken in by a Teams user using @azure/communication-calling is not recorded

Hii @Trommel, Kees,

Sorry for the inconvenience. Please check the below links now

Call Automation overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/call-automation/call-automation

Call Recording concepts: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/voice-video-calling/call-recording

Quickstart for call recording: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/voice-video-calling/get-started-call-recording?pivots=programming-language-javascript

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

I think this is not going to work in our case. In our case we are using the following @azure/communication-calling APIs to start a Teams call:

callClient = new CallClient();

teamsCallAgent = await callClient.createTeamsCallAgent()

teamsCall = await teamsCallAgent.startCall();

teamsCall.on('stateChanged', async () => {console.info(Call state: ${call.state});}

teamsCall.hangUp()

When starting a call to another Teams user the call state changes as follows:

Call state: Connecting
Call state: Ringing
Call state: Connect # This state changes happen when the remote side hangs up!!
Call state: Disconnecting # This state change happens when hangUp is called locally
Call state: Disconnected

The teamsCall object does not have a method to start recording a voice mail.

If somehow a voice mail can be recorded then it is not possible to know that the remote side is prompting for a voice mail. This because both when the remote size accepts the call and when it rejects the call, the call state changes to "Connect". When the remote site rejects the call then the call is accepted by the remote site's voice mail.

Hii @Trommel, Kees,

Thanks for clarifying your implementation, your understanding is correct.

• The TeamsCall object in @azure/communication-calling doesn’t provide a startRecording() method because ACS Call Recording is initiated from server-side Call Automation APIs, not directly from the client call object. Microsoft documents that Call Recording APIs are part of Call Automation and are started using a serverCallId.
• On the client, Microsoft supports retrieving serverCallId once the call is Connected using call.info.getServerCallId().
• However, there is no documented SDK signal that distinguishes “user answered” vs “voicemail answered.” In both cases the call can appear as Connected, so you can’t reliably detect when the remote side is prompting for voicemail using only call.state.

Because Teams Cloud Voicemail does not deliver voicemail for ACS/custom endpoint scenarios (confirmed by Microsoft), the only supported way to guarantee voicemail recording is to implement voicemail within your own application using Call Automation (play greeting + start recording server-side).

reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/voice-video-calling/get-server-call-id
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/voice-video-calling/get-started-call-recording?pivots=programming-language-javascript
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/call-automation/call-automation

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

Hii @Trommel, Kees,

I'm just reaching out to see if your issue has been resolved or if you've had a chance to review my previous comment?

@Golla Venkata Pavani It is not clear for me which side will do the recording of the voice mail. The one that calls (in this case the side that is using @azure/communication-calling) or the the one that is called (in this case the side that is using a Teams app)? I always assumed that the recording is done by the side that is called. Can you confirm or deny my assumption?

Hii @Trommel, Kees,

Thank you for your question. To clarify, in Azure Communication Services (ACS) the recording of a call or voicemail is not performed by either client endpoint (neither the caller using @azure/communication-calling nor the called party using the Teams app). Instead, call recording is initiated and controlled by your server-side application using ACS Call Automation / Call Recording APIs.

Call Recording APIs are part of the Call Automation libraries and are started using a serverCallId or callConnectionId, which represent the call on the ACS backend. The client SDK’s role is limited to obtaining the serverCallId once the call is connected (for example, via call.info.getServerCallId()), after which your backend service can start, stop, pause, or resume the recording. The Teams client itself does not start or manage recording for ACS calls, and there is no mechanism where the “called side” implicitly records voicemail for ACS identities.

Therefore, your assumption that voicemail recording is handled by the called (Teams) side does not apply in ACS interop scenarios. If you need guaranteed voicemail recording, the supported approach is to implement voicemail handling within your own application using Call Automation (for example, play a greeting and start recording server-side once you have the serverCallId).

Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/voice-video-calling/get-server-call-id
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/quickstarts/voice-video-calling/get-started-call-recording?pivots=programming-language-javascript
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/call-automation/call-automation

Kindly let us know if the above helps or you need further assistance on this issue.

Please "upvote" if the information helped you. This will help us and others in the community as well.

I am confused. When @azure/communication-calling user calls a Teams app user and the Teams app user does not pick up in time or reject the call from the @azure/communication-calling user, it gets a greeting. This conflicts with your statement that this must be done by my own call automation application.Voice mail is not required for our application. So is it possible to block the Teams app user to send a greeting and asking to speak in a voice mail that is not recorded?

Hi @Trommel, Kees
Apology for your inconveniences.
When a call occurs between a Microsoft Teams user and an Azure Communication Services client using the @azure/communication-calling SDK, the call still follows the Teams user's configured calling behavior, including voicemail greetings. However, the voicemail recording service belongs to the Teams and Exchange Online infrastructure and is not integrated with Azure Communication Services identities. Because of this, the greeting may still play when the call is unanswered, but the voicemail recording is not actually stored or delivered when the call involves an ACS user. This behavior is therefore expected and not related to a bug or incorrect SDK usage. If voicemail is not required, the recommended approach is to disable voicemail or adjust unanswered call settings for the Teams user so that the greeting is not triggered. If voicemail functionality is needed, it must be implemented through application logic such as call handling or call automation within Azure Communication Services.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/voice-video-calling/about-call-types
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/communication-services/concepts/teams-interop
http://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/microsoftteams/phone-system/voicemails-not-delivered
Let me know if you have any further assistances needed.

if voicemail is not required, the recommended approach is to disable voicemail or adjust unanswered call settings for the Teams user so that the greeting is not triggered.

Then this should be done for all Teams users in a tenant, isn't it?

Hi @Trommel, Kees
Voicemail greeting playback and unanswered call routing behavior in Microsoft Teams are controlled through Teams calling policies and voicemail configuration settings, which can be managed centrally by administrators. Instead of configuring each user individually, administrators can create or modify policies in Teams Admin Center or via PowerShell and assign them to specific users, groups, or the entire tenant. This allows organizations to standardize how unanswered calls and voicemail greetings are handled. However, any global change to voicemail or call answering rules will also affect the regular Teams calling experience, such as internal or PSTN calls no longer routing to voicemail. Therefore, such changes should be evaluated carefully before applying them broadly.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-calling-policy
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/set-up-phone-system-voicemail
Let me know if you have any further assistances needed.

Am I the only one that thinks this "expected" behaviour is from an users point of view not so expected? Are there any plans to changed the expected behaviour to what the user expects?

Hi @Trommel, Kees

The current behavior is classified as expected because voicemail recording is handled by the Microsoft Teams and Exchange Online voicemail service, which today does not fully support recording workflows when calls involve Azure Communication Services identities. At this time, there is no publicly shared roadmap or confirmed timeline indicating that this interoperability behavior will change. Feature enhancements in this area are usually prioritized based on customer feedback and usage demand. Until then, organizations typically handle this by either adjusting Teams voicemail or call answering policies or by implementing their own unanswered-call handling logic using Azure Communication Services capabilities.
Let me know if you have any further assistances needed.