Leave 3-Way Start Recording: keeping a recording running after the agent leaves

Sometimes the recording you really care about is the part after the fronter steps out. That is when the closer is actually making the sale. Leave 3-Way Start Recording is built for exactly that: it begins a recording when the agent clicks LEAVE 3WAY and keeps it running once the agent is gone.

What it does

When this option is enabled and the Fronter clicks the LEAVE 3WAY button while in a Three-way call with a customer, a Call recording starts at that moment and continues after the agent has left the call. So the Closer talking the customer through the close is captured even though the original agent is no longer on the line. The default is DISABLED.

Targeting which calls record

You do not have to apply this to every call. Two exception-aware modes let you scope it using an Exception List of phone numbers:

• ALL_BUT_EXCEPTIONS enables the feature for all 3-way calls except calls to the numbers in the Exception List.
• ONLY_EXCEPTIONS disables the feature for all 3-way calls except calls to the numbers in the Exception List, so only those listed numbers get the post-leave recording.

The list itself lives in a separate Leave 3-Way Start Recording Exception setting, which must be a Settings Container of the type PHONE_NUMBERS with one number per line to even appear as an option.

How the mode decides

flowchart TD
  A[Agent clicks LEAVE 3WAY] --> B{Feature mode}
  B -->|Enabled| C[Start recording for this call]
  B -->|ALL_BUT_EXCEPTIONS| D{Number in list}
  D -->|No| C
  D -->|Yes| E[No recording started]
  B -->|ONLY_EXCEPTIONS| F{Number in list}
  F -->|Yes| C
  F -->|No| E
  C --> G[Recording continues after agent leaves]

The silence warning you must plan for

There is a real caveat here. This feature may leave several extra minutes of silence at the end of the recordings, after the customer and the 3-way call have hung up, unless your system administrator enables the cu3way and no-vc-3way-check options on your dialers. If you turn this on without those dialer flags, expect padded audio that wastes storage and annoys anyone reviewing it.

If you are seeing exactly that trailing dead air, the fix is walked through in fixing leave 3-way recording silence. Keep your Recording retention limits in mind too, since these longer files add up across a Campaign.

Setup steps

1. Pick the mode: plain enabled, ALL_BUT_EXCEPTIONS, or ONLY_EXCEPTIONS. The default is DISABLED.
2. If you chose an exceptions mode, build a PHONE_NUMBERS Settings Container with one number per line so it appears in the Exception setting.
3. Ask your system administrator to enable the cu3way and no-vc-3way-check dialer options to avoid trailing silence.
4. Run a test 3-way, have the agent leave, and confirm the closer's leg records cleanly with no padded dead air.

Treat the dialer flags as mandatory, not optional. Skipping them is the single most common reason teams turn this feature back off after a week. Because the recording outlives the Agent on the call, nothing on the agent screen signals when capture truly ends, so the dialer-side handling is what trims the recording back to the real conversation.

Pairing with the stop option

This is the mirror image of Leave 3-Way Stop Recording. One starts capture when the agent leaves; the other ends it. Decide whether the value of the recorded call sits with the fronter or the closer, and pick accordingly. For the full handoff picture, see the VICIdial transfers and closers guide.

Rather not wrestle with dialer flags and Settings Containers yourself? We set the cu3way handling up correctly on our managed dialers. See pricing.