Post-Answer Playback

Learn how to upload an announcement recording to Classic PBX and assign it to an outbound route so called parties hear a disclosure before the call connects.

Configuring post-answer playback

Post-Answer Playback plays a short pre-recorded announcement to the called party immediately after they pick up, before the agent and the called party are connected. The most common use is a call-recording disclosure ("This call may be recorded for quality purposes…").

When a call goes through a route with Post-Answer Playback enabled:

The called party answers.
They hear your announcement (usually 3–8 seconds).
During that window, your agent hears silence - that is normal.
When the announcement finishes, the agent and the called party are joined and the call proceeds normally.

If the announcement recording is unavailable when a call comes in, the system ends the call before it connects. The feature ensures the system always plays the disclosure - it never lets a call through silently if it cannot play the disclosure.

Before you start

You need:

Sign-in access to your FreePBX dashboard.
The announcement audio file ready on your computer, in WAV or MP3 format (the system handles any sample rate or channel layout - it'll be converted automatically on upload).
Knowing which outbound route(s) the announcement should apply to.

Accessing post-answer playback

To access Post-Answer Playback:

Open Post-Answer Playback

In the FreePBX top menu, go to Applications > Post-Answer Playback.

Screenshot of the Post-Answer Playback menu tab — **Post-Answer Playback** menu tab

Review the tabs

You'll see three tabs:

Routes: turn the announcement on or off per outbound route.
Recordings: upload, preview, and delete announcement files.
Logs: see which calls played the announcement and which were ended because the recording wasn't available.

Screenshot of the Post-Answer Playback tabs: Routes, Recordings, Logs — **Post-Answer Playback** tabs: **Routes**, **Recordings**, **Logs**

Uploading announcements

Open Recordings

Click the Recordings tab.

Screenshot of the Recordings tab — **Recordings** tab

Browse for a file

Click Browse.

Choose the audio file

Choose your .wav or .mp3 file (≤ 5 MB, ≤ 60 s) from your drive.

Wait for the confirmation

Wait for the confirmation banner: usually under a second.

Screenshot of the confirmation banner: audio file uploaded — Confirmation banner: audio file uploaded

Find the recording

Your file appears in the list. The name will start with pap_ followed by your filename (for example, pap_hello_and_welcome_long). That prefix keeps these announcement files separate from any other system recordings on the PBX.

Screenshot of the uploaded file listed in the Recordings tab — Uploaded file listed in the Recordings tab

Play the recording

Click play to play the recording in your browser and confirm it sounds right before assigning it to a route.

Delete a recording

To delete the recording, click delete.

If upload fails

What you see	What to do
Name already in use; rename file and retry.	A recording with that filename already exists. Rename the file (e.g. add a version suffix) and re-upload.
The file is too large or too long	The system caps uploads at 5 MB and 60 seconds. Trim the audio on your side and try again.
The file isn't a valid WAV /MPs	The source file may be corrupt or in an unsupported variant. Confirm it plays in any media player on your computer; if it does, contact your CommPeak support contact with the filename.
No file received	Your upload was interrupted. Retry on a stable connection.

Assigning recordings to outbound routes

Open Outbound Routes

Go to Connectivity > Outbound Routes.

Screenshot of selecting the Outbound Routes menu tab — **Outbound Routes** menu tab

Edit the route

Click to edit the route that should carry the announcement.

Screenshot with the Edit button — Editing outbound routes

Open Additional Settings

Switch to the Additional Settings tab.

Set up post-answer playback

In the Post-Answer Playback section:

Set Enable post-answer playback to Yes.
The Recording dropdown appears below it. Pick the recording you just uploaded.
Click Submit at the top of the route page.

Screenshot of the Enable post-answer playback option set to Yes — **Enable post-answer playback** set to **Yes**

Applying the configuration

At the top right of every FreePBX page is a red APPLY CONFIG button that appears whenever you have unsaved changes.

Screenshot of the APPLY CONFIG button — **APPLY CONFIG** button

Click it. After a few seconds the button disappears which means your changes are now active. The next call placed through that outbound route will play your announcement.

Verifying with a test call

Place a test call

Place a call through the route you just configured.

Listen for the announcement

When the called party answers, they hear the announcement. The agent hears silence during this window — that's expected.

Continue the call

When the announcement finishes (usually 3–8 seconds), both sides are joined and you can talk normally.

✔️ Congratulations! You're done.

Checking the call log

Open the Logs tab in the Post-Answer Playback tab.

Screenshot of the Logs tab with the list of recent calls — **Logs** tab: list of recent calls

Each row is one event. The most useful ones to recognize:

Event	Description
Played OK	The announcement played to the called party as expected.
Fail closed	The recording wasn't available, so the call was ended before it connected. Check that the recording still exists in the Recordings tab; re-upload if needed.
Missing file	The system noticed that a recording file is missing. Re-upload the recording.
Config applied	Logged every time you click APPLY CONFIG. Use it to confirm your changes were picked up.

Use the filters at the top of the table to narrow by event type or date range.

Turning the announcement off for a route

Open Outbound Routes

Go back to Connectivity > Outbound Routes.

Open Additional Settings

Click to edit the needed route and switch to its Additional Settings tab.

Disable post-answer playback

In the Post-Answer Playback section, set Enable post-answer playback to No.

Submit the route

Click Submit.

Screenshot of the Enable post-answer playback option set to No — **Enable post-answer playback** set to No

Apply the configuration

Finally click APPLY CONFIG.

📘
NOTE
The recording itself is not deleted and you can re-enable the route later, or use the same recording on a different route, without re-uploading.

Deleting a recording

In the Recordings tab, click Delete on the row.

Screenshot of the Recordings tab with Delete buttons — **Recordings** tab: **Delete** buttons

📘
NOTE
You can't delete a recording while it's still assigned to an outbound route that has Post-Answer Playback enabled. Disable it on the relevant route(s) first, then delete.

Quick reference

I want to…	Where to go
Upload an announcement	Applications → Post Answer Playback → Recordings → Upload
Turn it on for a route	Connectivity → Outbound Routes → (route) → Post-Answer Playback → Yes → Submit → Apply Config
Turn it off for a route	Connectivity → Outbound Routes → (route) → Post-Answer Playback → No → Submit → Apply Config
Delete an old recording	Applications → Post Answer Playback → Recordings → Delete (must be unassigned first)
Check what happened on a call	Applications → Post Answer Playback → Logs

📘
NEED HELP?
For help resolving common Post Answer Playback issues, see Troubleshooting Post-Answer Playback Issues .
If your issue isn't covered in the troubleshooting section , contact your CommPeak support contact and include:

The date and time of the test call, including your time zone.

The outbound route name.

The recording name you assigned.

A screenshot of the Logs tab from around that time.

That's enough for support to identify exactly what happened.

Updated 9 days ago

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