> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.withallo.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Call Flow Troubleshooting

> Fixes for the problems people hit most often when building a call flow

Work through the symptom that matches what your callers are getting. If none of these fit, contact support with the number you called and roughly when.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Callers hear silence where my recording should be">
    Almost always the file format. Allo plays **MP3 and WAV**. An m4a file, the default for voice memos on an iPhone, can save without complaint and then play as nothing on the call.

    **Fix:** convert the file to MP3 or WAV and upload it again, or use **Record audio** to record straight into Allo, which cannot produce a format that fails to play.

    Then call your own line and listen to the whole flow before you leave it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My menu announces the options twice">
    Your recorded greeting already lists the options, and the named options are read out after it.

    Allo plays the greeting first, then one line per option: "For Sales, press 1". A greeting that already says "press 1 for sales, press 2 for support" gets both.

    **Fix:** cut the list out of the greeting and leave it as a welcome only, such as "Thanks for calling Dupont Plumbing". The option names do the listing.

    Recording each option separately does not help. Allo always plays the greeting and then every option, so a greeting that lists the options is announced twice whichever source each option uses.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="An option is read out as nonsense">
    The option name is dropped into a sentence: "For **{name}**, press 1". A full sentence in that field produces "For if you would like to book an appointment please press one, press 1".

    **Fix:** shorten the name to a noun phrase, such as "Sales", "Support" or "A new appointment".
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Callers cannot press a key until the menu has finished">
    Expected, if any part of that menu uses a recording. Callers can then only press once the last option starts playing. On a text-only menu they can press at any point.

    **Fix:** if pressing early matters more than the recorded voice, switch that menu to text to speech.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Calls go straight to voicemail, or take a path I did not expect">
    Check that what you think you built is what is saved. Unsaved work stays on your screen and never reaches a caller.

    1. Open the line's **Call flow** section and look at the map under the heading. That is the live version.
    2. If the designer header shows **Unsaved**, your edits are not live. Select **Save**.
    3. Follow the branch a real caller would take, including **No selection**, **If missed** and **No match**. An empty-looking branch is often the one being used.
    4. Call the line yourself and press the keys.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A caller's property did not match">
    The **Contact property** step sends every uncertainty down **No match**, not just a different value. It takes No match when the caller has no contact record yet, when their number is withheld, when the property is empty on their contact, and when the value differs.

    **Check:**

    * The caller exists in your contacts, with the number they actually called from.
    * The property is filled in on their contact.
    * The value matches what you typed. Case and surrounding spaces do not matter, so "acme" and "Acme" are the same, but "Acme Ltd" and "Acme" are not.

    A first-time caller has no contact record at the moment the call arrives, so a brand new number always takes No match. Point that branch somewhere real.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Save is blocked and a step is highlighted">
    A step is missing something it needs. The step says what, for example "Choose what this step does", "Add at least one member to ring" or "Write or record a name for this option".

    Two rules catch people out:

    * A menu needs at least one keypad option, and every option needs a name, written or recorded.
    * A **Business hours** step cannot sit underneath another one, and a **Contact property** step cannot test the same property as one above it. In both cases one branch could never run.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My Business hours, Interactive menu, Call routing or Missed call handling settings are gone">
    They have not been deleted. A live call flow decides all four of those things, so each section now shows a note pointing at your flow instead of its own controls.

    Change them by editing the matching step in the flow. If the flow ever stops governing the line, the old settings come back exactly as they were.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I do not have a Call flow section">
    Call flows are in beta and rolling out team by team. If your line settings have no **Call flow** section, your team has not been switched on yet.

    Your line keeps working on its Business hours, Interactive menu, Call routing and Missed call handling settings in the meantime.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Call flows overview" icon="https://mintcdn.com/themobilefirstcompany/8QXaFZIztUCZ-MxU/media/allo-icons/Subnode.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=8QXaFZIztUCZ-MxU&q=85&s=add7e572f2906143c977e33577e94ef3" href="/en/features/call-flows" width="24" height="24" data-path="media/allo-icons/Subnode.svg">
    Steps, saving and limits
  </Card>

  <Card title="Recordings and audio" icon="https://mintcdn.com/themobilefirstcompany/RgYoir1kmfhXIZ06/media/allo-icons/Waveform.svg?fit=max&auto=format&n=RgYoir1kmfhXIZ06&q=85&s=5c43cc5d913d39201b03a7ef19577fbf" href="/en/features/call-flows-audio" width="24" height="24" data-path="media/allo-icons/Waveform.svg">
    Formats, sources and replacing audio
  </Card>
</CardGroup>