Zoom Cloud Recording Auto-Deletion in 150 Days and Long-Term Recording Retention

Environment

U-M Zoom

Issue

Why does Zoom show that my cloud recording will auto-delete in X number of days? How can I keep the recording permanently?

Resolution

• Zoom is a solution for short-term recording sharing, not long-term hosting
• The U-M Zoom cloud recording retention policy is 150 days (changed from 180 days on May 18, 2021), plus an additional 30 days in Trash
• All U-M Zoom cloud recordings must auto-delete in the time period set in the retention policy to allow U-M to meet the short-term storage needs of the larger university community

Long-term storage and/or hosting options

• Download cloud recordings to your computer:
  1. Go to the Zoom Recordings page (and log in with U-M Weblogin, if prompted) 
  2. Click More next to the recording you wish to download
  3. Click Download
• Copy cloud recordings to U-M Dropbox and/or MiVideo (Recommended method for quickly saving a large number of recordings)

Additional Information

• Turning off auto-deletion of cloud recordings is not an option in U-M Zoom to ensure that Zoom cloud recording storage can accommodate the larger university community
  • Prior to August 2020 (when the retention policy was established), Zoom accounts had the ability to turn off auto-deletion of cloud recordings
  • The affected cloud recordings that had previously turned off auto-deletion will have auto-delete reenabled on October 31, 2022

Auto-Deletion Behavior

• Cloud recordings are retained for the number of days set in the retention policy, from the date that the recording is started
• After the period set in the retention policy is exhausted, they are automatically moved to the host's Trash
• Recordings remain in the Trash for 30 days or until the host clicks Delete and permanently deletes them (whichever comes first)
• When a cloud recording in Trash is due to be automatically and permanently deleted in seven or fewer days, Zoom will send an automatic daily reminder to the host about the upcoming deletion (as long as the host has not turned off the When the cloud recording is going to be permanently deleted from trash setting in Zoom (Refer to https://umich.zoom.us/profile/setting?tab=meeting)
• The host of the meeting may recover the recording from Trash until it is deleted permanently:
  • Cloud recordings that are recovered from Trash after they were automatically moved due to exhausting the retention policy are recovered for 1 day, then automatically moved back to the Trash for 30 days
  • Hosts can click Recover from Trash to recover a recording and then download the files
• Once a recording is permanently deleted, it cannot be recovered, even by Zoom

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