How to record Zoom breakout rooms
Zoom doesn't make it easy to record a breakout room, but it can be done with a few extra tweaks. Learn the steps to enable breakout room recording and boost the meeting experience.
Breakout rooms and recording are two of Zoom's most popular features. Recording a meeting's individual breakout sessions, however, can be a challenge. Learn how recording and breakout rooms work together and how to record Zoom breakout rooms.
Zoom offers the option of recording locally to your computer or recording to the cloud. Recording to your computer is generally limited to what you can see on your screen, while recording to the cloud offers more views, options and features. Ideally, to record breakout rooms, the meeting host simply records the session to the cloud, and once that's done, each breakout room has its own separate file. Sadly, Zoom doesn't work that way; in fact, breakout rooms can't be recorded to the cloud. The host can use cloud recording for the main room of the meeting but not for any of the breakout rooms.
Local recording is an option, but that only works for the time the host is in the breakout room. Recording all breakout rooms requires designated people in each room to store the session locally on their computer. Even that option can pose a hurdle because Zoom, by default, doesn't give attendees the ability to record. Instead, the host must enable recording for the meeting and then individually give permission to any attendee authorized to record.
How to record Zoom breakout rooms
- Before the meeting, enable Local Recording in the settings on Zoom's website.
- Before or during the meeting, assign one individual from each breakout room to record.
- During the meeting, click Allow to Record Local Files for each individual assigned to record.
- Give those who are recording instructions on how to find the file on their computer and send it to you.
How to enable recording
The host must enable recording in Zoom's settings before starting the meeting. If you log on as the host and don't see the record button in the lower menu bar, go to the setting showin in Figure 1, click the Local recording button and restart the meeting. Make sure to check the option that enables participants to record the meeting.
How to give attendees permission to record
After the settings are enabled and the meeting has begun, the host is the only one with a recording button. For security reasons, Zoom cannot be set to simply allow all meeting attendees to record; instead, the host has to individually give attendees permission to record. As showing in Figure 2, to do that, the host selects the individual in the participant list, clicks the three dots next to the name and then clicks Allow to Record Local Files.
Where are Zoom breakout room recordings stored?
Because breakout room recordings are not stored in the Zoom cloud, recordings can only be found on the local hard drives of participants who were given permission to record.
While recording breakout sessions requires a few more steps than is ideal, the process isn't that bad. If you regularly conduct Zoom meetings where breakout rooms are recorded, you can settle into a smooth workflow pretty quickly. The versatility of breakout rooms, combined with the power of recording, can make the extra effort to record Zoom breakout rooms worth it.
David Maldow is founder and CEO of Let's Do Video. He has written about the video and visual collaboration industry for almost 20 years.
