Exempt phone numbers from call recording

Keep specific numbers off call recording while recording stays on for everyone else, one number at a time, in an import sheet, or straight from the contact directory.

Call recording is a system-wide switch, but some numbers should never be recorded even while it is on — a personal mobile, a lawyer, a caller who has asked not to be. The exemption list is the per-number override. A number on the list is skipped at the moment recording would have started, so no audio is ever captured for it.

Prerequisites

The intended phone system selected in the header.
An administrator role. The whole page requires permission to manage exemptions; there is no read-only view of the list, and the page says so if your role cannot open it.
Call recording reviewed first on Settings > Compliance. An exemption only matters while recording is on.

How an exemption is matched

An entry matches on the outside party’s number — never on your own extension or your own phone number:

On an incoming call, the number the call came from.
On an outgoing call, the number you dialled.

Each entry also carries a direction, so you can exempt a number one way only:

Direction	Applies to
Inbound and outbound	Calls in either direction
Inbound only	Calls arriving from that number
Outbound only	Calls placed to that number

The decision is made when the call starts, which has one consequence worth stating plainly: an exemption applies to new calls only. Adding a number does not delete recordings that already exist, and removing one does not create a recording for a call that has already happened.

Add an exemption

Open Settings > Recording Exemptions.
Select Add exemption.
Enter a Name — up to 80 characters, for your own reference, such as Personal cell.
Enter the Phone number. Use the full international form, for example +14155551212. Everyday formatting is tidied up when it is saved, but entering the number with its country code is the reliable path.
Choose a Direction. New entries default to inbound and outbound.
Select Add exemption to save.

Each number can appear once per phone system. Adding a number that is already listed is refused with a message pointing you at the existing entry — edit that one rather than creating a second.

Import a list

Use Import when you are moving a list over rather than adding numbers one at a time.

Select Import. The dialog opens a spreadsheet-style sheet with Name, Phone, and Direction columns.
Fill the sheet. Type into the cells directly, or paste from Excel or Google Sheets into any cell — pasted values fill down and across from where you drop them, adding rows as needed. Drag across cells to select a block and press Delete to clear it. Phone numbers format themselves as you type. Direction is a dropdown on each row — Both (default), Inbound, or Outbound — and the Apply to all… control in the column header sets every filled row at once. Direction text pasted from a sheet is matched onto those same choices, and anything it does not recognize falls back to both.
To seed the sheet from the shop’s address book instead, select Import contact list in the dialog header. Every number saved on a contact becomes a row with that contact’s name and the direction left at both. Numbers already in the sheet are skipped, and contact entries that are internal extensions are left out because an extension can never be the outside party on a call. The button is unavailable while the contact list is loading or when the shop has no contacts, and it tells you when there is nothing new to add.
Select Next to review. Every row is shown with a status: New, Will update for a number already on the list, or Blocked with the reason.
Fix or remove any blocked rows. The import is all-or-nothing — nothing is written while a single row is still blocked.
Select Import. The confirmation reports how many entries were added and how many existing entries were updated.

Up to 255 rows are accepted per import. The sheet warns when you are past the limit, and Import contact list fills only up to it, saying so when it has to leave numbers out.

Rows are blocked for a missing or over-long name, a phone number that is missing or not a valid format, and a number repeated twice inside the same sheet. A number that already exists on the list is not an error — it is an update, and the name and direction you entered replace what was stored.

Edit or remove entries

Edit on a row reopens the same form, so a number’s name or direction can be corrected without removing and re-adding it.
Remove on a row asks for confirmation and tells you which number will be recorded again.
Tick the checkboxes and use Delete selected to remove several at once.

Removing an entry only changes future calls; the confirmation says as much. Every add, edit, import, and removal is written to the account’s change history with the number and direction involved, so the list is auditable after the fact.

Skip recording on one call

Separately from the list, a phone system can be given a star-code prefix that an operator dials immediately before an outbound number to skip recording for that one call — the prefix, then the number, in a single dial string. When it is used, the call is not recorded and the recording announcement is not played to the other party. It applies to outgoing calls only, it changes nothing about the exemption list, and it lasts exactly one call.

This prefix is not configured from the dashboard. If you want one, ask Steer Phones to set it up and to tell you the code that was chosen; there is no code in place until then.

Expected result

The list shows every exempted number with its name, direction, and when it was last changed. Calls to and from those numbers start without recording while recording stays on for the rest of the phone system, and the call’s own record shows no recording rather than an empty one.

Troubleshooting

The page will not open: Managing exemptions requires an administrator role. Ask an administrator to make the change for you.
The phone number is rejected: Enter it in full international form beginning with the country code, for example +14155551212. Numbers typed without one are not always interpreted the way you expect.
The number is already on the list: Only one entry per number per phone system exists. Edit the existing entry to change its name or direction.
The import will not run: At least one row is still blocked. The preview names the reason on each row; correct them in the sheet and try again.
A number on the list was still recorded: Check the direction on the entry, and check that the call’s outside number is the one you listed. An exemption added after the call started does not apply to it.
A number was removed but old recordings are still there: That is expected. Removing an exemption is forward-looking, and so is adding one — neither touches audio that already exists.