Event Tasks

Overview

An event task waits for something to happen on your hotline and then does something about it. A caller leaves a message and you get an email with the recording attached. A transcription finishes and the text is emailed on. A conference recording is saved into an audio player automatically. Unlike Scheduled Tasks, which run on a clock, these run the moment the event occurs.

Find them in the sidebar under Advanced → Tasks. (The Advanced group is collapsed by default; click it to open.)

How It Works

Every task is one sentence made of three parts:

1. A source — the audio player, forward call, conference, or merchant being watched.
2. An event — what has to happen on it.
3. An action — what to do when it happens.

The actions on offer change with the source and the event, so you can only build combinations that make sense.

Task Information

• Task Name — required. A name that identifies this task for you.

Trigger Configuration

• Trigger Source — required. One of:

  Source	What it watches
  Library	an audio player, which is where message boxes save their messages
  Transfer to Number	a forward call block
  Conference	a conference room
  Merchant	a payee taking card payments

• Select Item — required. The specific audio player, forward call, conference, or merchant.

• Trigger Event — required, and the choices depend on the source:

  Source	Events
  Library	new library Recording · transcription completed
  Transfer to Number	started new call
  Conference	new conference recording
  Merchant	new payment received

Action Configuration

Action to Perform is required, and the list depends on the source and event you picked:

What each one does:

• send email with recording — emails the new recording to the addresses you list.
• transcript — sends the new recording off to be transcribed. When the transcription comes back it fires the transcription completed event, which is what you hang the next task on. Transcription is a billed feature; see Billing, Plans & Add-ons.
• send email with transcript — emails the finished text.
• send email — emails you that a transferred call has started.
• create a library recording — saves the conference recording into an audio player of your choosing, so callers can listen to it later.
• credit callmagic balance — adds the payment to a CallMagic balance.

There is no webhook or HTTP callback action. If you need your own system to be told about something, use the Hotline API.

Action Options

These appear only for the actions that need them:

• Email Recipients — required for send email with recording, send email with transcript, and send email. A comma separated list, for example office@example.com, gabbai@example.com.
• Include the caller's phone number — only for send email with recording. Adds the number the message was left from, when the caller ID is known.
• Target Library — required for create a library recording. "Conference recordings will be saved to this library."
• CallMagic API Token — required for credit callmagic balance. A personal access token from your CallMagic account, entered as a hidden password you can reveal. The credited balance lands on the user that owns this token.

Tasks the builder creates for you

Some tasks appear that you never created. That is normal, and it is the message box doing it for you.

When you set Email each new message to on a Message box (in the ⚙ panel on My Hotline, or on the Message Box page), the app creates a task behind the scenes:

• Trigger Source Library, pointed at the audio player the box saves into
• Trigger Event new library Recording
• Action send email with recording, with your addresses and the Include the caller's phone number setting
• Named "Email new messages — " plus the box’s name

If you change the addresses, that task is updated. If you clear them, it is deleted. If you point the message box at a different audio player, the task moves with it. You can open it in this list and adjust it like any other task, but the simplest place to change it stays the message box itself.

Managing tasks

The list shows Task Name (with the name of the source underneath), Trigger Source, Trigger Event, and Action, newest first.

It can be filtered by:

• Trigger Source — Library, Transfer to Number, Conference, Merchant
• Trigger Event — New Recording, Transcription Completed, New Call Started, New Conference Recording, New Payment Received
• Action — Email + Recording, Email + Transcript, Send Email, Transcribe, Create Library Recording, Credit CallMagic Balance

Created, Last Updated, and Deleted are hidden columns you can switch on from the column menu.

Deleting a task is a soft delete, so nothing is lost outright. The bulk actions menu holds Delete, Force delete, and Restore. Unlike Scheduled Tasks, this list has no Trashed filter, so a deleted task drops out of view; ask support if you need one brought back.

Common Patterns

• Voicemail to your inbox. The easiest route is the Email each new message to field on the message box. Do it there and the task is made for you.
• Voicemail you can read. Two tasks on the same audio player: one on new library Recording running transcript, and one on transcription completed running send email with transcript. Now every message arrives as text.
• Keep your conferences. On the conference, new conference recording → create a library recording with a Target Library called something like "Conference recordings". Point a menu key at that player and anyone can listen back.
• Know when the office line rings. On the forward call, started new call → send email.

Tips

• One source can have several tasks. They all run.
• The same audio player can be watched by more than one task, which is exactly how the transcribe-then-email pair works.
• Make sure the Select Item really is the audio player your message box saves into. If messages land elsewhere, no event fires.
• For anything based on a time rather than an event, use Scheduled Tasks.