PURPOSE: To prevent a speech which is recorded from deteriorating in sound quality by providing a means which judges whether or not a recording device is in operation and also providing a means which inhibits a speech message from a microphone from being recorded when it is judged that the recording device is in operation.

CONSTITUTION: A main control part 101 starts recording operation when a received image is stored in an image memory 105 by a specific amount, and turns ON an in-recording flag in its internal memory to indicate that recording is in process. The main control part 101 judges whether or not a facsimile equipment is in recording operation by referring to the contents of the in-recording flag. In the message recording operation of the control part 101, it is decided whether or not the in-recording flag is ON when sound recording from the microphone is indicated from an operation part 102. When the flag is ON, the sound recording operation is skipped, a message from the microphone is recorded, and an alarm lamp indicating that the sound recording from the microphone is disabled illuminates or blinks during the recording operation. Therefore, the speech which is recorded is prevented from deteriorating in sound quality.