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Vodia and Google Translate API

Published on:

December 27, 2019

The Vodia PBX integrates with the Google Translate API to transcribe voicemail recordings into text; this text is then included in voicemail notification emails. To enable this feature, you’ll need a Google Cloud account, along with an active Voice API subscription key - this can be created under “APIs & Services” in the Google Cloud Console. This API key, which should be restricted for security, is entered into the Vodia PBX system to activate transcription capabilities. For multi-tenant setups, voicemail transcription can be managed per domain or disabled for specific extensions, offering flexible control over API usage.

Hamlet Collado

Google offers a powerful API for converting speech into text. The Vodia PBX is currently using this feature to convert voicemail recordings into text format; it includes that text in the voicemail notification, which is typically sent to the user by email. This API must be enabled in the Google Cloud Console.

Enable API in Google Cloud Console

After you have set up an account with Google Cloud, make sure you provide your credit card information so you can enable the Voice API. You will also have to create a project that holds the API key. You can do this in “APIs & Services” in the Dashboard area.

Create new project in Google Cloud Platform
Google Cloud Platform - APIs & Services

Activating Google Cloud Subscription Key

After you have created a project, you need to navigate to the “Credentials” area, where you can create new credentials for your project. You need to create a new API Key.

Activating Google Cloud Subscription Key

You should then restrict the key by some means (e.g., by limiting it to your server IP address) so nobody else can use that key unless it's used from that IP address.

Google Cloud Platform - API Key Credentials

Enable Voicemail Transcription in Vodia PBX

After you have set up your account on the Google console, copy the API Key into the PBX in admin mode, General/Settings/Notifications. There you can also determine if domains should have the feature enabled or not, unless you set it explicitly in the domain settings.

Enable Speech to Text in Google Cloud Platform

Multi-Tenant Scenario

In some cases, you would want to disable the Google API per extension. To disable, go the main page of your domain page and click on the edit button, scroll down to "Enable voicemail to text API" and switch it to off.

Disable the Google API per extension in Vodia PBX
Enable voicemail to text API Enable in Google Cloud Platform

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