How to export all Gong call recordings and transcripts in bulk

The short answer: plan on the API, not a download button

To export all Gong call recordings, plan on Gong's API. The interface is designed for listening to, clipping and sharing individual calls; a whole library is an API job, and Gong's API documentation is the reference for listing calls, retrieving media links and pulling transcripts. For very large libraries, ask the account team early whether help is available on your plan.

CRM syncs are not a substitute. Salesforce and HubSpot integrations log call activity and link back to Gong; they do not hold a complete archive of media and transcripts. In practice, a technical administrator issues API credentials, a script lists every call by date range, retrieves call details, media links and transcripts, and writes each file to company-owned storage alongside its CRM deal ID.

Before you start

• A clear purpose. A renewal, a switch to another tool, a retention change or a company closure. The purpose sets the scope and the retention date.
• Written sign-off from the client's CRO or RevOps director and from counsel, naming who owns the archive.
• A technical administrator in Gong who can generate an API access key and secret, plus a secure place to store them.
• Company-owned storage, such as a cloud bucket or drive in the client's tenant, with access controls. Never the consultant's account.
• The current retention settings. Check which rules are deleting calls today, and whether the client wants them paused while the export runs.
• A size estimate: call counts per month, average length and expected storage.

How to export all Gong calls, step by step

1. Build the manifest first. Use the calls list endpoint to page through every call, month by month, and save each call ID with its date, duration, owner, team and workspace. Month-sized batches fail more gracefully than one giant run, and the job stays restartable.
2. Retrieve detailed call data in batches. Gong's extensive call-data endpoint returns context such as participants, CRM links and, when requested, media URLs. Save the CRM account and opportunity IDs for every call.
3. Download media promptly. Media links are temporary, so fetch the audio or video soon after retrieving them, store each file under its call ID, and record file size and a checksum in the manifest.
4. Pull transcripts separately. The transcript endpoint returns speaker-separated text with timestamps. Store it as JSON next to the media so speakers and times stay intact.
5. Respect rate limits. Gong publishes its API limits in its documentation; throttle the script and log every failure for retry rather than restarting from zero.
6. Validate month by month. Compare manifest counts with the call totals Gong shows for each period, play back a sample, open sample transcripts and re-run failures.
7. Capture the joins. Export the CRM opportunity and stage-history tables for the same period, so calls can be linked to outcomes later.
8. Close out. Write a readme covering scope, date range, counts, storage location, custodian and retention date, then revoke the API credentials.

For new calls going forward, automation platforms and Gong integrations can copy recordings to storage as they are created. They help with the future; the backlog still needs a one-time job like the one above.

Common mistakes that lose history

Exports for archiving versus exports for licensing

Keep the two apart. An export for the client's own archive is normal RevOps work governed by the client's retention policy. An export for a data license happens only after an executed agreement, covers only the agreed scope, applies the agreed redaction rules and runs through the company's own authorized process. It never passes through a consultant.

Notice history matters more than people expect. FTC staff have warned that adopting more permissive data practices, such as using data for AI training, and telling people only through a quiet, retroactive change to terms or a privacy policy may be unfair or deceptive. A licensing review looks at what call participants were told at the time; editing the recording notice today does not change that. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel before acting.

The Gong licensing brief covers recording-notice law and what makes a library licensable.

Why a deep Gong library deserves a second look

A multi-year Gong library at a company with 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded) is a record type AI buyers ask for: real sales and customer conversations, linked to deal stages and outcomes, across many reps and years. Agents trained to sell, onboard or support customers need exactly those examples, and they are thin on the public web.

That makes the export project a natural moment to mention licensing, especially when the library is about to be purged at renewal. The RevOps consultant overview explains how consultants use the program, and the who qualifies page spells out which companies fit.

If the client says yes:

1. Register, then give the client your referral link so they can apply themselves, or submit them through the referral form.
2. SourceX confirms fit with an authorized sponsor at the client: size, operating history, data breadth and rights.
3. The client describes Gong and its other systems in a metadata inventory, for example with the data inventory builder, without moving any recordings.
4. SourceX agrees the price and terms with the client, then puts the opportunity in front of AI labs and data buyers.
5. When an agreement is executed, the client hands over data redacted to the agreed rules and receives payment.

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, and the reward is paid only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. No reward is guaranteed. Check your consulting agreement for limits on outside compensation, and tell the client about the referral relationship.

Example (Illustrative)

Illustrative, fictional: Tallow Ridge Software, a B2B software company with 180 full-time employees at its peak, is moving to a different conversation intelligence tool at renewal. Its RevOps consultant starts four months out, builds the manifest, finds six years of calls linked to opportunities and discovers that a retention rule is about to start deleting the oldest calls.

The client pauses the rule, the export runs in monthly batches, and the consultant raises licensing with the CRO before the old library is purged. The CRO applies with the consultant's referral link; nothing leaves the company's storage.

If a client is closing rather than switching tools, keeping Xero records after a business ceases covers the finance side of the same scramble.

Next step

Before your next Gong renewal project, check the client's retention rules and build the manifest early. If the library is deep, register as a partner and introduce the client, or have them apply at sourcex.si/apply with your referral link.