Canvas @ Yale

Zoom Cloud Recordings: Accessing / Downloading / Sharing via Media Library

Updated on

Zoom sessions can be recorded either locally to the user's computer or to the Zoom Cloud. When the host selects to record their Zoom session to the Cloud the recording can be found online in their Zoom account or, if set up properly, in the Zoom tool of their Canvas course. Zoom sessions recorded to the Cloud that are set up through the Zoom tool in a Canvas course will automatically upload and be available in that course's Media Library. The instructions below will go over how to access, download, and share your Zoom Cloud recordings with the Media Library in Canvas.

For FERPA security reasons: If you record a Zoom session to the cloud, we strongly recommend that you do not share the cloud recording link. Either use the automatic integration between Zoom and the Media Library or download the recording to your computer and upload the file into the Media Library.

Automatic Upload to the Media Library through the Canvas Integration

You may also want to check out our "Using the Zoom / Panopto (Media Library) Integration" article for more information about this process.

Zoom meeting sessions that are scheduled and started through the Zoom tool in your Canvas course will have their Cloud recordings upload automatically to the Media Library once the Zoom Cloud recording is processed and available on Zoom's side. To have your Zoom session automatically upload to your course's Media Library, follow these instructions:

  1. Add the Zoom tool to your Canvas course if it is not enabled already.
    1. Your course should already have the Media Library tool enabled, though you can enable it if it is not by referencing the "Organizing Your Course Navigation" article.
  2. Schedule your Zoom meeting(s) through the Zoom tool in the Canvas course.
    1. When you schedule a meeting through the Zoom tool in your Canvas course, the "panopto_folder_context" field at the bottom of the scheduler is automatically populated with your current Canvas course's Media Library ID.

The "panopto_folder_context" field is how Zoom knows which Media Library course folder to upload your Cloud recording to.

  1. In Canvas, start your meeting from the Zoom tool. Once in your Zoom meeting, click the "Record" button from the meeting control panel and select "Record to the Cloud."
  1. Once you end the meeting or stop recording, your Cloud recording will be processed by Zoom first, then automatically uploaded and processed in your Canvas course's Media Library folder.

Your Zoom session recordings will take time to appear in your Media Library course folder. The recordings must first be uploaded and processed on Zoom completely. Then they are automatically pushed and uploaded to the Media Library where they must be processed again before they are finally available for users to view.

The processing time of recordings from both Zoom and Panopto (the Media Library) is dependent on factors like length of the recording and current processing load of these systems (i.e. certain times of day may have more videos being uploaded / processed than others), which can lead to longer turn-around times for videos to become available.

If you want / need to make your recording available in more than one course, check out our Media Library articles:

Manual Upload to the Media Library

If you record a Zoom meeting to the Cloud, and the meeting was not scheduled and started through the Canvas Zoom tool, you can still access and download your recordings to then manually upload them to your Canvas course's Media Library.

Two Ways of Accessing Cloud Recordings

You can find your Zoom Cloud recordings in both the Canvas Zoom integration as well as in your Yale Zoom account portal. To learn how to access and download Cloud recordings in each of these locations, review the sections below.

Access / Download Cloud Recordings through the Zoom Canvas Integration

The Canvas Zoom tool will only show the Cloud Recordings for the course you are currently in. You would need to go to each course to download any other recordings.

If you want to view all recordings for all courses at once, use the instructions found in the "Access / Download Cloud Recordings through Yale.Zoom.us" section below.

  1. Go to the course site in Canvas and click on the "Zoom" tool.
  2. Click on "Cloud Recordings" tab across the top to view all Cloud recordings for this course.
  3. Click on the "Topic" title of the recording you want to download.
  1. On the Recording Details screen, click on the "Download" button for the version(s) you want to download.
    1. You can download the Recording (left), which will have the audio and video of the Zoom session, and / or the Audio Only (right), which will contain no video and only contain the audio of the Zoom session.
  2. Your file will be downloaded to the Downloads area of your computer.  
Access / Download Cloud Recordings through Yale.Zoom.us
  1. Go to https://yale.zoom.us and log in with your Yale account. Once logged in, click on "Recordings" in the side navigation panel.
  2. At the top of the page, make sure that you are on the "Cloud Recordings" tab.
  3. From the list of Cloud Recordings, find the session you want to download.
    1. Click on the three-dot icon on the right-hand side of the recording you want to download.
  4. From the sub-menu, select "Download."
  5. You may see a browser alert message asking if you want to allow yale.zoom.us to download multiple files. Click the "Allow" button.
  6. Your file will be downloaded to the Downloads area of your computer.  

By default, most browsers will download your files to:

PC: C:\Users\UserName\Downloads

Mac: /Users/UserName/Downloads

Uploading Recording Files into the Media Library

Once the files are stored locally on your machine, you can follow the same instructions used to upload local Zoom recordings to the Media Library.

The instructions shown below are taken from our help article on how to access and share locally recorded Zoom Sessions. The instructions to upload to Media Library are the SAME—except that you will need to navigate to your Downloads folder where you saved the Cloud Recording.

Review our entire "Zoom Local Recordings: Accessing / Sharing via Media Library" article.

Check out our help article on "Uploading Media Files to the Media Library" for additional support and details.

Deleting Cloud Recordings

  1. Go to your Yale Zoom account at https://yale.zoom.us and log in with your Yale account. Once Logged in, click on "Recordings" in the side panel.
  2. At the top of the page, make sure that you are on the "Cloud Recordings" tab.
  3. From the list of Cloud Recordings, find the recording you want to download.
    1. Click on the three-dot icon on the right-hand side of the recording you want to download.
  4. From the sub-menu, select "Delete."

For more information, please refer to these helpful links:

For more help, please contact [email protected].

Previous Article Using Breakout Rooms in Zoom
Next Article Recording Zoom to the Cloud for Proctoring
Email: [email protected] Email Us