Recording feature no longer working | Community
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Newcomer
Elisa Baum
Newcomer
February 20, 2026
Question

Recording feature no longer working

  • February 20, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 376 views

I’ve had automatic recordings set for my meetings for a number of years with no problem. The recordings started as soon as the meeting did, informed the participants that it was being recorded, and the recording automatically saved to my computer. Easy. 

Suddenly, a few weeks ago, despite still having record option chosen in my settings (I didn’t touch the settings), the meetings are no longer being recorded - AND there is no option while the meeting is going to manually press record. Nothing. Nada. No button to press, no options in settings. I reached out to Zoom customer service about 20 times (not kidding), they keep sending me emails saying they’re looking into it and to be patient (with the exception of one email yesterday asking me whether I’ve followed their advice yet…??). But the issue remains. 

I do think it a bit odd that this all started the week they introduced the AI companion feature. But I can’t seem to find anyone with a similar issue.

I’m not a paying Zoom customer (could that be the issue?) but I was looking into upgrading. I will not do so if this issue doesn’t get resolved. Anyone have any suggestions?? I’m really out of ideas - and not getting any help obviously.  

 

Thanks!

E

      2 replies

      MGSR
      Community Manager
      MGSR
      Community Manager
      February 20, 2026

      Hello ​@Elisa Baum,

      Welcome to the Zoom Community! We’re glad to have you here.
       

      Since you mentioned you are not a paying Zoom customer, you are currently on the Basic (Free) plan. Here are some important points about recording on the Basic plan:

      • Local recording is available on the Basic plan, but only the host can record the meeting.
      • If you are not seeing the Record button or the option to record, it could be due to one of the following reasons:
        • You are not signed in as the host when starting the meeting.
        • The local recording feature has been disabled in your Zoom settings.
        • You are joining from a device or platform that does not support local recording (for example, the web client or certain mobile devices).
        • There may be a software or permissions issue on your computer.

      Troubleshooting Steps:

      1. Sign in as Host: Make sure you are signed in to your Zoom account and are the host of the meeting.
      2. Check Local Recording Settings:
        • Go to Zoom Settings.
        • Under the "Recording" tab, ensure that "Local recording" is enabled.
      3. Update Zoom Client: Make sure you are using the latest version of the Zoom desktop client.
      4. Check Device Permissions: Ensure your computer allows Zoom to access the necessary folders for saving recordings.
      5. Try a Test Meeting: Start a new meeting as the host and see if the Record button appears.

      Note: Cloud recording is only available for paid plans. On the Basic plan, you can only record locally to your computer.

      If you have checked all the above and still do not see the Record option, it may be a technical issue with your Zoom installation or account. You can try uninstalling and reinstalling the Zoom client.

        G
        Newcomer
        GD92
        Newcomer
        February 21, 2026

        This happened to me as well. I am an enterprise user and now that my company’s IT set AI companion to be automatically enabled, the record button is no longer visible in the top tool bar.

         

        Unfortunately I learned this today when I went to retrieve the link to share a video recording with my client. It was then I discovered, the last meeting it automatically recorded was February 11.

         

        After an hour of searching, I was able to find the record button hidden behind the “More” menu at the bottom of the screen (2 icons to the right of the Share icon). After it is selected, you also have to choose local or cloud storage. An additional task with 3 extra clicks per meeting because the record button was removed from the top task bar.

         

        AI is supposed to provide an efficiency gain. AI companion’s transcript and summary being “close” is not good enough to document details of a technical conversation. I relied on the recordings to fill in important details AI got wrong or simply excluded.

         

        In short, zoom’s AI companion has made me less efficient and I will be requesting our IT team disable the automatic AI companion feature on my account until the record button is restored in the top tool bar. 

        Top bar with no record button
         
        Hidden in More menu

        After navigating to the bottom to select More, then select Record, then choose cloud or local recording. 

        E
        Newcomer
        Elisa BaumAuthor
        Newcomer
        February 22, 2026

        Thank you for your replies. First, I agree about AI companion being less than ideal. Thankfully, I took copious notes during the meetings where the record feature wasn’t working because the AI transcripts left a lot to be desired (but helped fill in the gaps, for sure). Second, I decided to try a few things yesterday to see what worked. I downloaded the new version of Zoom Workplace and initiated the meetings via the app (still from my computer, though), versus from the Zoom website and using my browser (an approach that had been working fine for years). All of a sudden, the record feature starting working again. I just wish customer service folks had suggested trying that as a starting point. But perhaps everyone is trying to figure out the glitches. Anyway, I’ll update further if it stops working again. Fingers crossed. Thanks!

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