Zoom: Record Meetings and Save to Cloud or Computer

Environment

U-M Zoom

Issue

How do I record a meeting in U-M Zoom to the cloud or my local computer?

Resolution

You can record a meeting in U-M Zoom in two ways: to the cloud or to your local computer.

Record locally to your computer

Recording your Zoom meetings to your computer saves the meeting audio and video locally to your computer drive.

Note: Local recording is not supported on iOS and Android devices.

1. Start the meeting in Zoom.
2. Click the More icon at the bottom of the Zoom window, then select Record (if its not already visible in the toolbar).
3. Select Record on this computer.
4. Click Continue to confirm your choice.

Tip: The meeting host can pause or stop the recording as desired by clicking the Record icon again and selecting Pause recording or Stop recording, respectively. If the recording is stopped and then restarted, a new video file will be created for the next recording segment. If the recording is paused and then resumed, Zoom will continue recording to the same video file.

After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording and save the file to your computer. (Zoom won't start converting the recording until after the meeting ends.) This may take several minutes, depending on the length of your recording.

Access local recording files

Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open.

• By default, the recording files are formatted in a certain way. The audio/video file (MP4) will be named video[number].mp4. The audio-only file (M4A) is named audio[number].m4a.
• If the meeting is unexpectedly shut down or the conversion process is interrupted, the recording files may become corrupted and unrecoverable. Restarting or shutting down your computer, putting the hard disk to sleep, or closing your laptop will interrupt the conversion process.
• If the conversion process is unsuccessful after the meeting has ended, you can try converting the recording manually.

By default, all recordings are saved to a Zoom folder found in the following file paths on Mac and Windows computers:

• Windows: C:\Users\Username\Documents\Zoom
• Mac: /Users/Username/Documents/Zoom

You can change the default location Zoom saves local recordings if desired.

You can only view local recordings via the Zoom desktop client and the recordings folder on your computer. You cannot view them on the Zoom website, as only cloud recordings will appear there. However, you can visit https://umich.zoom.us/recording/local to confirm that a local recording did occur.

Record to the cloud

1. Start the meeting in Zoom.
2. Click the More icon at the bottom of the Zoom window, then select Record (if its not already visible in the toolbar).
3. Select Record to the cloud.
4. Click Continue to confirm your choice.

After the meeting has ended, Zoom will process the recording and save the files to your U-M Zoom account. (Zoom won't start processing the recording until after the meeting ends.) This may take several minutes, depending on the length of your recording.

Zoom will send the host an email when the process is complete, and the recording is ready to view. If you are a co-host (but not the meeting creator) and record to the cloud, the recording will be saved to the creator's/host's Zoom account, not yours.

Access cloud recording files

The host can find their cloud recordings in their U-M Zoom account on the web or via the Zoom desktop client (Settings > Recording > Cloud recording storage > Manage).

To avoid the 150-day storage retention policy, you can install the Zoom for Dropbox integration, which lets you automatically save copies of Zoom cloud recordings to your U-M Dropbox account. Refer to Getting Started with the Zoom for Dropbox Integration to learn more.

Additional Information

• Zoom Support | Starting a computer recording
• Zoom Support | Starting a cloud recording

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.