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.
- Start the meeting in Zoom.
- Click the Record icon located at the bottom of the Zoom window.
- Select Record on this Computer.
- Click Continue to confirm your choice.
Tip: The meeting host can Stop or Pause the recording as desired. 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 restarted, Zoom will record it to the same video file.
After the meeting has ended, Zoom will convert the recording and save the file to your computer.
Access Local Recording Files
Once the conversion process is complete, the folder containing the recording files will open. By default, the audio/video file (.MP4) will be named Zoom_0.mp4, and the audio-only file (.M4A) will be named audio_only.m4a.
Note: If the meeting unexpectedly crashes or the conversion process is interrupted, the recording files may become corrupted and non-recoverable. 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 not successful after the meeting has ended, you can try to convert the files again by navigating to the recording location and double-clicking the recording files.
By default, all recordings are saved to a Zoom folder found in the following file paths on Mac and Windows computers:
- Windows:
C:\Users\User Name\Documents\Zoom
- Mac:
/Users/User Name/Documents/Zoom
If you would like to save the files to a different folder, a pop-up window at the end of the recording will ask you where you'd like to save them.
You can only view local recordings via the Zoom desktop client and 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
- Start the meeting in Zoom.
- Click the Record icon located at the bottom of the Zoom window.
- Select Record to the Cloud.
- 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 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 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 > Manage my cloud recording).
Important: Cloud recordings are only stored for up to 150 days before they are deleted.
To avoid the 150-day storage, you can install the Zoom for Dropbox integration, which will give you the ability to automatically save a copy of Zoom cloud recordings and transcripts to your U-M Dropbox account. Refer to Getting Started with the Zoom for Dropbox Integration to learn more.
Additional Information
More information about recording can be found on the Zoom Support site.
Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.