Skip to content
Thirdlane

Greetings

Greetings are the reusable audio files - announcements and voice prompts - that the system plays to callers: the main auto-attendant greeting, “our office is closed” messages, department prompts, and so on. Recording them here (rather than inside a single menu) means one file can be reused across many IVR/Voice Menus, routes, and other features, and updated in one place. You can also create greetings directly while editing a Voice Menu.

Here you can create, delete, download or listen to available Voice Prompts. Note that you can record Greetings by calling your extension or any other phone, upload pre-recorded files, or use TTS (Text-to-Speech) if you have it configured and enabled.

Create Greeting

Play or Record using Text-to-Speech (if enabled)

Text. Text to be converted to audio.

Voice. Voice to be used for audio recording.

File name. File name for the file that will be recorded, no spaces allowed.

Record via Phone Call

File name. File name for the file that will be recorded, no spaces allowed.

Extension or external phone number. Select the extension or a phone number that will be called for recording.

Clicking “Start Recording” will ring the selected phone, where you can record the audio file by following simple instructions.

Upload File

Alternatively you can upload gsm and wav files (with .gsm or .wav extensions) by selecting a file and clicking the “Upload” button. Files without extensions are assumed to be in .wav format.

Worked example: build the greetings a new auto-attendant needs

Before wiring up a Voice Menu, record the handful of prompts it will reference so each is reusable and named clearly.

  1. Main greeting via TTS. Under Play or Record using Text-to-Speech, enter “Thanks for calling Acme. For Sales, press 1. For Support, press 2.” Pick a Voice, set File name main-greeting (no spaces), and generate. Listen with the play button; if the wording is off, just re-generate - that is the advantage of TTS.
  2. After-hours greeting. Repeat with text “Our office is closed. Please leave a message and we will call you back.” and File name closed-afterhours.
  3. A human-voiced prompt (optional). For a prompt you want in a specific person’s voice, use Record via Phone Call: set File name sales-intro, choose the extension to ring, click Start Recording, and follow the phone instructions. Or Upload File a studio-produced .wav/.gsm.
  4. Use them everywhere. In the Voice Menu, select main-greeting as the announcement; on the after-hours Inbound Route branch, play closed-afterhours. One file can back many menus and routes.
  5. Update in one place. When the promo changes, re-generate main-greeting here and every menu/route that references it plays the new audio - no per-menu edits.

Keeping consistent, descriptive file names (and a consistent voice/volume across prompts) is what makes step 4 painless later.

Uploading greetings via the REST API

Greetings can also be created programmatically, which is handy for migrations or bulk uploads. POST /api/recordings/{tenant} accepts either audio to store as-is (audio_base64, or a multipart audio part) or text to synthesize via TTS. The name you supply (no extension) is what menus and routes reference, so keep it stable:

Terminal window
curl "https://pbx.example.com/api/recordings/acme" \
  -X POST -H "X-API-Key: $TL_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data-binary '{ "name": "main-greeting", "audio_base64": "UklGR...", "reload": false }'

Uploaded audio is converted to the Asterisk-native format automatically. During a bulk run, send reload=false and finalize once with POST /api/tenants/{tenant}/sounds/sync. See the Data Migration and Import guide for details.

Best practices

  • Use clear, descriptive File names (no spaces) such as main-greeting or closed-holiday so the right prompt is easy to pick when building menus and routes.
  • Text-to-Speech is the fastest way to produce and tweak wording; record via phone or upload a studio file when you want a specific human voice.
  • Keep greetings concise and get to the menu options quickly - long preambles frustrate repeat callers.
  • Record all prompts at a consistent volume and voice so a caller moving through menus does not hear jarring changes.
  • Reuse a single greeting across menus and routes instead of recording near-duplicates; update it once and every reference benefits.