How to record a Zoom meeting

The short version

1. Open the Zoom desktop app and start the meeting as the host.
2. Click Record in the meeting controls. If a menu appears, pick Record on this Computer or Record to the Cloud.
3. When the meeting ends, wait while Zoom converts the recording. The folder with your files opens when it’s done.

Keyboard shortcuts: Alt+R on Windows or Command+Shift+R on a Mac starts and stops a computer recording. Alt+C or Command+Shift+C does the same for a cloud recording, and Alt+P or Command+Shift+P pauses.

Computer recording or cloud recording?

• Computer recording works on free and paid accounts, in the Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS or Linux. The files stay on the computer that made them, and they show the meeting the way you saw it on screen. It can’t make a transcript, and it can’t save the speaker, gallery and shared screen as separate videos.
• Cloud recording needs a licensed user on a paid plan (Pro, Business or Enterprise). Zoom keeps the video, audio and chat online, where you can stream or download them, and it can record several layouts at once. Pro and Business plans include 10 GB of cloud storage per licensed user, shared across the account.

On a free account, computer recording is the one you have. On a phone it’s the other way around: the Zoom app can only record to the cloud.

How to record a Zoom meeting to your computer

1. Start the meeting as the host in the Zoom desktop app.
2. Click Record in the toolbar, then Record on this Computer if Zoom asks.
3. Everyone in the meeting sees a recording sign in the top-left corner. People who dialed in by phone hear a message that the meeting is being recorded, unless the host turned it off.
4. Use Pause or Stop Recording in the toolbar. Pausing keeps everything in one file. Stopping and starting again makes a new file for the next part.
5. End the meeting and let the conversion finish. Don’t shut down, restart or close your laptop while it runs: Zoom says an interrupted conversion can damage the files for good.

Zoom’s settings, on the Recording tab, can also save a separate audio file for each person in the meeting, which helps if you plan to edit the audio later.

Where Zoom saves recordings

Computer recordings go into a Zoom folder inside Documents:

• Windows: C:\Users\[your name]\Documents\Zoom
• Mac: /Users/[your name]/Documents/Zoom

The video is named video[number].mp4 and the audio-only copy audio[number].m4a. You can pick another folder in Settings, Recording, but Zoom advises against Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, external drives and network storage, because saving and converting can fail there. Record to your own drive and move the files afterward.

Cloud recordings appear in the Zoom web portal under Recordings & Transcripts. Zoom says processing usually takes about twice as long as the recording itself, and now and then up to 24 hours.

How to record a Zoom meeting to the cloud

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop app with a paid, licensed account, and start the meeting as the host.
2. Click More, then Record, then Record to the cloud. A recording sign appears in the corner of the meeting window.
3. Pause or stop from the same Record button. Ending the meeting stops the recording too.

Only the host or a co-host can start a cloud recording. If you record every meeting, Zoom can also start cloud recording automatically from your recording settings.

How to record a Zoom meeting when you’re not the host

A participant can record only when the host allows it. Ask the host to open Participants, click More next to your name, and choose Allow Record. Zoom tells you when you have permission, and a recording icon shows next to your name while you record. The host can take it back with Forbid Record. A cloud recording is different: the host has to make you a co-host.

If the host says no, don’t get around it with a screen recorder. Nobody in the meeting would see a recording notice, and in some US states, including California, recording a private conversation needs the consent of everyone in it. Ask first, every time.

How to record a Zoom meeting on your phone

The Zoom app for iPhone and Android can’t save a recording to the phone. It records to the cloud only, so you need a paid account and to be the host or a co-host. In the meeting, tap More, then Record. A recording sign shows in the top-left corner, and tapping it lets you pause or stop. The recording turns up in the web portal under Recordings & Transcripts once Zoom has processed it.

If the Record button is missing

• You’re a participant. The host has to allow you to record first.
• You’re on a phone or in a browser. Computer recording needs the desktop app, and phones only record to the cloud.
• Recording is switched off. An account owner or admin can turn computer or cloud recording off for the whole account. On a work account, ask your admin.
• The cloud storage is full. Once a paid account uses up its storage, new cloud recordings can’t start until you delete old ones or add storage.

Need notes, not a video?

Plenty of meetings get recorded only so someone can find out later what was decided, and then nobody watches the video. If notes are what you need, a notes app can do that job better than a recording.

Granola (affiliate link) is one. It’s a notepad with apps for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android: you jot rough notes during the call, and it fills them out into full meeting notes from a transcript of the conversation. No bot joins the meeting, because it listens through your device’s audio, so it works with Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and other calls. Granola says its Mac and Windows apps keep the transcript but don’t store the audio. It still recommends telling people you’re transcribing, and the same consent rules apply as for a recording.

To make the meeting worth keeping notes on in the first place, start with an agenda: my free meeting agenda builder turns a loose idea into an agenda with timing and owners. My guide to meeting notes that turn into action items covers the part after the call.