Best Practices for Zoom and Other Conferencing Recordings

Video conferencing platforms like Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Teams have made it much easier for us all to work remotely and still foster a feeling of connection to our colleagues and students. However, we must be mindful of how we apply this new technology to our daily work. One of the concerns surrounding virtual meetings is the temptation to record the event. Below are some important issues and solutions to consider before you commit to hitting record:

• When you record meetings, you are creating a record that may be released if requested under the Washington State Public Records Act or under Federal FOIA.
• Like any other record, meeting recordings and other records created through these meetings must be retained for the legally approved retention period, which, depending on content, can be as long as six years.
• Content in video conferencing platforms is not easily accessible. This type of software does not provide good naming capabilities and can be very difficult to search. When faced with a need to retrieve information, this lack of searchability adds to the burden on departments and creates additional liability for the University.
• Zoom and other video conferencing programs are not record repositories. While UW-IT provides these tools, they are not responsible for ensuring the legally approved retention period is met.

Records and Data Created in Zoom

• Meeting Reporting: Zoom offers reporting capabilities for account owners that allows them to review data on their previously hosted zoom meetings. These details can include attendee lists, polling results, surveys, and Q&A results. It is vital for users to be aware that these usage reports are being created on all UW Zoom meetings. These usage reports can be accessed and retrieved for up to 15 months after the Zoom meeting has occurred, with a search range up to one month at a time. After 15 months, the report data is automatically deleted by zoom and is no longer accessible.
• Meeting Recordings and Meeting Transcript: Recordings are created and then stored in the Zoom cloud. These recordings will be deleted automatically 120 days after the meeting is recorded. Deleted recordings are moved to Zoom Trash, where they are stored for 30 days and can be retrieved during this time. After that point, recordings are no longer accessible. If enabled, the recording transcript will follow the same trajectory as the meeting recording video files. It is your office’s responsibility to ensure that any recordings with requirements for retention are saved to another location where they can be found, opened, and viewed for their full retention period.
  • DISCLAIMER: School of Medicine & UW Medicine Employees will have their Zoom Cloud recordings and transcripts deleted after 30 days. The deleted recordings are moved to the Zoom Trash, where they are subsequently stored for another 30 days before becoming unavailable.
• Meeting Chats: These are in-meeting chat messages sent and received between Zoom accounts during a specific meeting. Chats during meetings are not saved by default. However, if a meeting is recorded to the Cloud, in-meeting chat is saved and viewable with all those with access to the Cloud recording. If recorded to the Cloud, the in-meeting chats will follow the 120 day automatic deletion policy, in line with Meeting Recording records above.
  • DISCLAIMER: School of Medicine & UW Medicine Employees will have their Zoom Cloud recordings and transcripts deleted after 30 days. The deleted recordings are moved to the Zoom Trash, where they are subsequently stored for another 30 days before becoming unavailable.
  • If a meeting is not recorded to the Cloud, in-meeting chat will not be saved to the Cloud. It can be locally saved, if that option is enabled by the host.
• Zoom Team Chats: UW employees can Chat with colleagues outside of meetings using Zoom Team Chat. You can send direct messages to colleagues, set up group chats with multiple recipients, setup Channels and folders to organize conversations around a given project or topic. Team Chat Channels will have follow a 120 day automatic deletion policy. Additionally, One-on-One Zoom Team Chats and Group Team Chats will be deleted after 120 days.  

If records need to be retained beyond the automated deletion policies, users must take action to download materials out of the Zoom Cloud for retention purposes. Visit the Applying Retention to Zoom Records below for more details. 

AI Companion Artifacts in Zoom

Zoom also offers Zoom AI Companion features to help improve productivity and collaboration. These features were enabled by UW-IT on 6/18/2025. 

• AI Companion Transcripts: When AI Companion is enabled by the host, a transcript of the meeting is generated and stored in the host’s zoom cloud. The AI-generated transcript will be automatically deleted 120 days after the meeting closed. Deleted AI Transcripts are moved to Zoom Trash, where they are stored for 30 days and can be retrieved during this time.
  • DISCLAIMER: School of Medicine & UW Medicine Employees will have their Zoom Cloud recordings and transcripts deleted after 30 days. The deleted recordings are moved to the Zoom Trash, where they are subsequently stored for another 30 days before becoming unavailable.
• Meeting Summary with AI Companion: The AI generated meeting summary, if enabled by the Host, will be available to the Host in the Zoom Cloud for 30 days. After 30 days the summary will be moved to the Zoom Trash, where they are subsequently stored for additional 30 days before being permanently purged.
  • The meeting summary cannot be downloaded or emailed to other meeting participants, it will only be available to the Host.
  • The meeting summary artifact is a transitory record and an imperfect account of the meeting. It is not a replacement for a meeting recording or formalized meeting minutes. The summary can be used to help the host generate formal meeting minutes if needed or serve a short-term reference for the host, but it will be destroyed 30 days after the meeting has occurred. The host can delete the AI-generated files from the Zoom Cloud prior to auto-deletion.
• Asking in-meeting questions with AI Companion: When a host enables this feature during a meeting, participants can type questions to the AI chat bot. The queries posted by participants and the responses received will be deleted at the close of the meeting. These messages are considered transitory and do not need to be retained locally by participants using the feature. The inputs and outputs will not be available in the Zoom cloud after the meeting has concluded.
• AI Smart Recording: When enabled, this allows for recordings to sliced and diced into sections. This will follow the same deletion policies as other Meeting Recordings and Transcripts: deleted after 120 days, where it is then moved into Zoom Trash and stored in the Zoom Trash for 30 days.
  • DISCLAIMER: School of Medicine & UW Medicine Employees will have their Zoom Cloud recordings and transcripts deleted after 30 days. The deleted recordings are moved to the Zoom Trash, where they are subsequently stored for another 30 days before becoming unavailable.
• AI Companion for Team Chat: UW Zoom users can summarize lengthy chats conducted outside of meetings. Thread summary can be enabled on your Zoom AI settings page.  

When hosting a meeting, consider whether you need to record and why. If you have not previously recorded similar meetings, don't record just because you can. Recording without a specific reason is not worth the extra liability and risk to the University and your office. This risk includes the possibility of public interpretation or misinterpretation of any verbal exchange at the meeting. This same analysis should be applied to the use of AI Companion tools in Zoom. The creation of any additional superfluous records can add extra liability and risk to the UW.

Notice & Consent

When you record a meeting, be mindful of laws that may relate to recordings (e.g., RCW 9.73.030 – Washington’s two-party consent requirements for private conversations). UW recommends against recording staff or one-on-one conversations, and when recordings include students or members of the public it is suggested you obtain consent from all participants or, at a minimum, notify all attendees that the event is being recorded. Refer to the UW Privacy Office’s Best Practice for Online Conferencing for more information regarding consent and privacy.

Defining Retention to Recordings, Report Data, and AI Generated Materials

The versatility of online meeting platforms allows us to hold online meetings for a variety of different workplace purposes. It is the function and content of a recorded meeting which determines how long the recording must be retained. Below are some common examples with links to the University General Records Retention Schedule.

• Meetings: 
  • Meeting Materials – Attendees’ Copies
  • Informal Staff Meetings
  • Routine Staff and Internal Committees Meetings
  • Meeting Records of Governing/Executive/Policy-Setting Bodies
• Drafts - If you use the recording to later transcribe minutes that highlight decisions and conclusions from your meeting, the recording can be considered a draft and should be deleted once the minutes are completed and saved.
• Graduations & Other Events – retain for 6 years after the end of the calendar year then transfer the recording to University Archives. (Includes Informal Events)
• Formal Report Outs – retain for 3 years after the end of the reporting period then delete.
• Student Interactions – retention varies (See the General Records Retention Schedule entry for more detail).
• Individual and Team Brainstorming and Collaboration – retain until reference purpose served then delete.

Applying Retention to Zoom Records

• HOST/COHOST/ALTERNATE HOST RESPONSIBILITY: As a result of the automated deletion policies, the responsibility of the management of the meeting materials comes down to the Host, CoHost, Alternate Host, or a delegated participant from the meeting. These users should review the automated deletion policies set forth in the Zoom Cloud in conjunction with our UW Record Retention Policies and determine the type of meeting that took place, the function of what that meeting was for, and determine if the materials need to be downloaded and retained before the automated deletion policies purge records from the Zoom cloud.  
• OTHER MEETING PARTICIPANTS: Other meeting participants may not have access to artifacts created after the meeting has closed. Even if they have shared access to the materials, per the Meeting Materials – Attendees’ Copies record series, these member copies of materials are not required to be downloaded and retained for legal retention purposes. The official copy retained for the legal retention period should be handled by the Host/CoHost/Alternate Host or delegate. If general participants of the meeting are given access and choose to download the records, they should be promptly purged as soon as the reference purpose has been served.  

Saving a Recording

If you need to retain your recording outside the Zoom Cloud in order to save it from the automated deletion policies mentioned above, users can follow these instructions:

Transfer the recording to an enduring, shared location (such as a departmental network drive or OneDrive for Business). Organize recordings into folders by type of meeting. Include the event/meeting name and date in the file/subfolder name so that the recording can be found, if needed, as well as identified for deletion once the appropriate retention period is up. Apply retention and delete recordings (at least) annually using the date information included in the file/folder name.

Suggested file naming conventions include:

Please contact Records Management Services for more information given your particular situation.

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