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Where are the Teams Recordings Stored: Mystery Explained

Michael ~ Modified: July 5th, 2024 ~ Microsoft Teams ~ 9 Minutes Reading

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Over the past few years, Microsoft Teams has seen widespread adoption, leading to its chat feature becoming a crucial component of Microsoft 365. During this time, the software has undergone numerous changes, including the relocation of team meeting recordings. Users might wonder how to find their Microsoft Teams recordings.

Microsoft Teams is a very useful collaboration tool that helps users improve their productivity. Microsoft lets users record their meetings to improve the collaboration between users. However, it is quite challenging for these users to find their recordings and they want to know how to find your Microsoft Teams recordings. The reason is that Microsoft changed the location of the stored recordings in 2021. 

In this guide, we tell you how to find your Microsoft Teams recordings and provide a step-by-step guide to help you locate them.

What are Teams Recordings and Why are They Important?

Microsoft Teams recordings captures the video, audio, and also in some cases, the screens of the users that they can share securely across an organisation. The main purpose of the Teams recordings are to review the content of the Teams meetings, sharing the minutes of the meeting with users who could not attend the meeting, documenting the decisions made and the discussions, and also for training purposes.

This is important since the Teams recordings stored help users in collaborating with each other in a better way, retaining the knowledge being shared in meetings, for legal requirements, and for development purposes.

Location of Recordings of Microsoft Teams Meetings

In Microsoft Teams people can record various types of meetings and save actions such as screen sharing, video, and audio. Over the past years, the locations of Teams recordings stored have been evolving.  In the past, all the recordings were automatically saved to Microsoft Stream, but now, depending on the type of recordings, they are saved to either SharePoint or OneDrive. However, users need to have this function turned on to access their recordings in Microsoft 365.

  • Channel Teams meetings

In this type of meetings, specific topics within an organisation are organised and discussed. They happen within a channel which provides the members with a structured space for them to collaborate with each other.

The meetings are recorded and stored in the team’s SharePoint, in the recordings folder. The recordings folder is accessible through the files tab. This ensures easy availability for all members within the channel. An established SharePoint folder is dedicated to storing all the Teams files, whenever a Teams Channel is made.

The path for the location of Teams recordings stored in SharePoint is: Teams Channel >Files > Recordings.

  • Non-Channel Teams meetings

These meetings do not occur in channels and offer better opportunities for interaction between members. It serves various purposes such as inter-department interactions, group video meetings, or communication between individuals.

Non-Channel Teams meetings’ recordings are stored in the host’s OneDrive recordings folder. While every member of the meeting that are invited can view the recording, only the host can make edits to them.

The path for the location of Teams recordings stored in OneDrive is: OneDrive > MyFiles > Recordings.

  • Microsoft Stream

Before the changes to the location where Teams recordings were stored, these recordings were kept in Microsoft Stream. Even though newer recordings are not kept here, organisations may still have some of their recordings here.

The path for the location of Teams recordings stored in Microsoft Stream is: Stream website > Content > Videos.

How to Find your Microsoft Teams Recordings

Now, let us discuss the steps on how to locate the recorded team meetings.

Step to Find Location for Recorded Channel Teams Meetings

These are meetings that are open to every user in the channel regardless of whether they were invited or not. You can find the recordings of these meetings in SharePoint. 

Here is how to find the channel team recordings:

  • Find your team and channel

  • Go to the files tab on the top bar in the channel

  • Look for the Recordings folder and open it.

  • All the recordings can be accessed here.

Also Read: Microsoft Teams Licensing Explained

Steps to Find Location for Recorded Non-Channel Teams Meetings

Non-Channel meetings are not open to every user. Also known as private or personal meetings, They maintain the privacy of the users attending the meeting.

The recorded meetings are stored in the OneDrive folder, and users will receive a notification when these recordings are ready. Here is how to find the channel team recordings:

  1. Open your computer’s OneDrive directory
  2. Locate and click on the recordings folder.

How to Change Microsoft Teams Recording Location?

There is no built-in feature to change the location of the teams recordings. The location where these recordings are stored is based on the type of meeting. However, once the meeting is recorded you can move your meetings to a different location .

Follow these steps to do so:

To relocate the recording stored in OneDrive:

  1. Access the recordings from their location
  2. Right-click on the three dots icon
  3. Choose the option “Move to”
  4. Choose the location where you want to move your recording.

To relocate the recording stored in SharePoint:

  1. Open the Teams Channel.
  2. Open SharePoint.
  3. Access the recordings from their location.
  4. Right-click on the three-dot icon.
  5. Select “Move to” and choose the location where you want to move your recording.

Key Points to Remember About Recordings

  • The recordings have a time limit set by the admin. They are automatically deleted after the time is up.
  • Teams continue the recording even after the host has left the meeting.
  • When everyone leaves the meeting, the recording stops automatically.
  • This function does not record whiteboards and shared notes.
  • Teams require the permission of all the attendees before it can start recording the session

How to Download and Play a Meeting Recording?

Only the person organising the meeting gets access to download the recording. To record the session, follow the steps given below:

  1. In OneDrive or SharePoint, choose the recording file.
  2. Click on the download button located in the top navigation bar.
  3. Save the recording to the location you prefer.

If it is a channel meeting, here are the steps to play it:

  1. Locate the recording in teams calendar.
  2. Access the recording in the details tab.
  3. Now, you can play the recording.

If it is a non-channel meeting, here are the steps to play it:

  1. Find the recording in the channel conversation
  2. Now, you can play the recording directly from the conversation.
Deleting a Meeting Recording

To delete a recording in OneDrive, follow the steps given below:

  1. Open the OneDrive website.
  2. Click on the box that appears beside the file that you want to delete.
  3. Choose the delete option at the top 0f the page.

Follow the steps given below to delete a recording in SharePoint:

  1. Open the library in Sharepoint, and choose the recording that you want to delete.
  2. Right click on the file, and choose the delete option.
  3. Click on OK to confirm that you want to delete the file.
How to Retrieve a Recording That has Expired?

When recordings expire, they shift to the recycle bin. The user will also receive an email that notifies them about the shift. There is some time to recover these recordings from the bin before they are lost forever. The admin can set the time limit that the recordings can be available for. They can also remove or change the limits set on the expiration duration of the recordings.

Follow the steps given below to retrieve recording that have expired:

  1. Choose the email that has the title “Your Teams meeting video has expired“.
  2. Go to the recycle bin.
  3. Choose the recording that you want to restore.
  4. After you have selected the file, click on the restore button.
Advanced Features in Teams Recordings

Teams offer many advanced features that help users enhance and also manage the recordings of the meetings. These features help users improve their experience.

  • Transcripts

Teams has the ability to generate captions and transcripts that makes it simpler and easier to search. Administrators can enable these services, and they can view transcripts along with recording which make it easier to search for specific content.

  • Custom Policies in Meetings

Admins can make custom meeting policies that control the recordings for different groups. They can make policies in the Admin Center that helps them control who are allowed to record meetings and where they are kept. Admins can also assign custom policies for several groups or users to set up the recording settings according to their needs.

  • Integration with Third-Party Applications

Teams helps users by integrating third-party applications and several services that enhance the management of recordings. Teams recordings are integrated with cloud storage providers and manage them even out of OneDrive and SharePoint. Users can also manage recordings by editing, sharing, and getting analytics for the Teams recordings that are kept.

Important things to Keep in Mind Regarding the Recordings

Following are the points that you should keep in mind:

  1. Admins can place a limit on recordings.
  2. Even after the meeting has concluded and the host leaves, Teams still keeps filming the meeting if there are members still present.
  3. The recording automatically stops filming after everyone has left and the meeting ends.
  4. This service is unable to record whiteboards and notes in the meeting.
  5. Teams requires the consent of all the members in the meeting before it can start the recording.

Also Read: Teams Meeting Link Not Appearing in Outlook – 6 Ways to Fix the Problem

Conclusion

To improve the collaboration and productivity between users, Microsoft lets them record their meetings. However, it is challenging for the users to locate their recorded meetings. In this guide, we have explained how to locate as well as download and play these recorded meetings and have also explained the different types of meetings and the different locations they are stored in. We also discussed using a migration tool to shift all your files and data will be beneficial if you are facing many different issues along with not being able to find your recorded meetings.