If you close a Zoom meeting without stopping the recording, do you lose it?

[LA8]

Hello. I recorded a Zoom meeting as a guest (with acceptance by the host). However, when he ended the call, I realized I didn't know how to find that video. I've searched my laptop documents and entire laptop, but and not finding the folder. So I'm wondering if it may be because the meeting was ended without ending the recording...? I.e., I never clicked to stop the recording b4 he ended the call. Thank You.

[Mr_Smith]

Hello,

Yes, the recording will still save, even if you didn't stop the recording.  If you saved it locally, you should find it on the device.  I would record another meeting locally and figure out where that 2nd recording was saved and you should find the first one.  If the recording was saved in the cloud, that recording will be owned by the host.

[LA8]

Thank you, Mr. Smith!
That's a great idea to create a test video. I did that and found it, but not the video in question. The issue seems to be that the Zoom pop-up confirming to save the video that I saw when doing the test just now did not occur on my end (that I recall) after my Zoom session as a guest recording it. So that must be the glitch, and again, I don't recall seeing that, but it's possible that I did a "quicker clicker" thing and closed it without thinking. 

Will that pop-up window to confirm saving always pop up for whichever party is recording it? I.e., as guest or host?

Thanks again for the prompt response and good idea!

LA8

[Kristien]

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for a Zoom recording to process to a local device? I, too, am looking for a file on my laptop and don't yet see it. I was a guest and the Zoom host approved me recording our call, but it was nowhere to be found when the call ended. Will the file/folder show up immediately but with a progress meter (i.e., 19% out of 100%)? 

[MGSR]

Hello @Kristien, 

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

Once the meeting ends, the recording will be converted. The conversion time would depend on several factors: the length of the meeting, the processing power of your device, and other applications being used while the recording is being converted.

You can check out this article on how to locate and view your local recordings.

Let me know if you need further assistance. 

[Kristien]

Thank you, Mark. I do see a folder where my previous Zoom recordings are stored but I have one more question: 

If the meeting recorded successfully, will I be able to see the files in that folder even though they are still converting? Or will they just show up when they're done?  That isn't covered in the article you sent so I wanted to clarify before I get too worried. Right now, there is nothing from this meeting and I have no way to tell that anything is in progress.

[MGSR]

Yes, if the recording was successful, there should be a file like double_click_to_convert.zoom. There have been cases when hosts have enabled the "Request to record locally" feature and the users have requests to record, but their request has been mistakenly rejected and is unnoticed. We recommend contacting the host to ask for a copy of the recording if they recorded the meeting.

[Kristien]

Thank you. No such files anywhere, so I fear I'm out of luck. And this meeting's host told me they did approve my recording request at the start of the meeting, so this recording should have gone to my files on my laptop, but it didn't. The host did not record the meeting himself because he knew I was doing it. Fail.

I'm so bummed that I lost nearly two hours of info I needed. 😞

[MGSR]

I'm sorry to hear that. I would advise checking at a different location if it was recorded in a different folder or on the cloud instead. You can check out this article on finding your local and cloud recordings.

[Kristien]

Thank you so much for trying to help me. Because I am only a basic subscriber, I'm not even able to send it to the cloud. Just a bit of crappy luck on the worst possible day. From now on, I'm doubling everything up to make sure this never happens again. 🤣😭

[bagadefente]

Hi,

I also ended a call without hitting "end recording." This happened about 15 minutes ago, and I can't find the recorded files, including any "double_click_to_convert.zoom" files or similar.

The call lasted around 25-30 minutes, and my setup is to save locally. The previous call (when I did click "end recording" before ending the call) is in the folder, but this time, I didn't get the transcoding message with the progress bar.

Is there any other place I can check to recover this seemingly lost recording?

Thanks!