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How to Record Yourself on Zoom, Step by Step (With Photos)

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How to Record Yourself on Zoom, Step by Step (With Photos)

If you have been in a long Zoom meeting where you can’t remember everything that was said, a recording helps out immensely. You can record meetings (local or cloud) using a personal computer or phone. For starters, a complete guide on how to use Zoom will set the right pace for the next recording.

Before diving into the steps, here are a few things to know. During local recording, you cannot record these specific features:

  • Record Active Speaker, Gallery View, and shared screen separately.
  • Record using the iOS or Android app.
  • Audio Transcription
  • Shared screen recording with active speaker thumbnail or without any thumbnails.

We recommend using cloud recording, which requires a Zoom paid membership to access the above features. Depending on your needs, you can pay as little as $140 for a whole year of premium Zoom access.

How To Record a Zoom Meeting Using Local Recording

Before you are ready to record a meeting, you must enable some permissions on your account.

1. Sign Into Your Zoom Account

Sign into your account with your credentials on Zoom.

2. Click Account Management

On the left-hand side of the screen, you will see many options.

From this menu, click on Account Management, then click on Account Settings.

3. Select Recording

Click on Recording at the top of the page.

4. Turn on Local Recording

On this page, you can also turn on other features like automatic recording for Zoom meetings.

The first option on the Recording page will be Local Recording click on the switch next so it is blue.

5. Choose a Save Location

Choose where to store the recording of your Zoom meetings.

Using the Zoom desktop app click on the Home icon and click on Recording.

6. Start a Meeting as the Host

Start a meeting and ensure you are the host or co-host.

7. Click Record

A small recording icon will appear in the top-left corner that indicates you are recording.

You will see a circular icon on the bottom toolbar and the word Record underneath it. Click on it.

8. Click Stop

The Stop icon is located where the Record option was previously.

After your meeting, click on the Stop icon on the bottom toolbar.

9. Locate The Recording

Your recording will appear in the recording folder you set up and in the Zoom application under the Meetings tab.

When you first click into this tab, you will see your upcoming meetings, but next to that, you can click on Recorded to view previous meetings you recorded.

You can view the recording from either of these locations and share it with your colleagues by uploading the file to a file-sharing service like Dropbox. In addition to the helpful steps above, we found this insightful step-by-step tutorial on YouTube you can watch.

How To Use Cloud Recording

As we discussed earlier, cloud recording requires a paid membership to use this feature. But if you find yourself recording every meeting you are in, the extra cost is well worth it. This will also allow you to record Zoom meetings regardless of your platform. So you can be on a computer, phone, or tablet and still be able to record.

Let’s look at how to use cloud recording on your phone. It’s pretty much the same process as local recording with a PC.

1. Open The Zoom App

You can launch the Zoom app from your home screen and join or host a meeting.

2. Tap On More

Tap on the three dots in the bottom right corner with the word More underneath it.

3. Select Record

Neither options are available in a free Zoom account.

If you have an iOS device, you will see Record to the Cloud. On an Android device, you will see Record. After tapping on either of these options, your recording will begin.

4. Stop Recording

You can skip sections of the meeting you wouldn’t want to record by pausing the recording.

When you are done with your meeting, tap on the Recording icon in the top-right corner of your screen.

5. Locate The Recording

Cloud recordings may take a couple of minutes to finish uploading before you can view them.

To find your recording, afterward, navigate to the My Recordings section of the Zoom website, which we have linked here. You can also find the recording in the desktop app by going to the Meetings tab and clicking on Recorded.

40-Minute Time Limits For Free Accounts

Zoom recently updated its time limit policy for all users with free accounts, limiting all meetings now to 40 minutes long. Zoom previously had a policy in place where 1-on-1 meetings between free account users had an unlimited amount of time, but recently this changed. Now there’s an incentive for users to either upgrade their account or switch to a different platform where they can record meetings without a time limit. Their earlier policy only placed the 40-minute time limit on sessions with more than two participants, but now it applies to all free users for sessions of any size.

A subscription to Zoom is $14.99 per month, and you can record sessions for up to 24 hours at a time. However, one common way that people go around this policy is to use a different platform for the video call while using a third-party screen recorder. This allows you to host and record meetings of any length, without paying Zoom for a monthly subscription or limiting your meetings to 40 minutes.

Conclusion

Recording your Zoom meetings has many advantages and a few drawbacks. Both options allow you to retain privacy. Even cloud recordings are only accessible to people you share them with. Plus, because Zoom makes it simple to record and access your meetings, we don’t see a lot of reasons not to record your meetings unless participants specifically asked not to be recorded.

Zoom does send a message to everyone in the meeting when you start recording, letting them know you are recording the meeting, so you don’t have to announce it at the beginning meeting.

Up Next

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to install Zoom to join a meeting?

You do not need to install Zoom on your device before joining a meeting, but you will have limited access to the features the Zoom app offers.

Can I use the same zoom link for every meeting?

Zoom allows you to schedule meetings with multiple occurrences so that each occurrence uses the same meeting ID and settings. In addition, you can schedule these meetings in daily, weekly, and monthly increments.

Can someone else host my zoom meeting?

If you feel sick or don’t want to host a meeting you have already planned, the host can designate another Licensed user on the same account to be the alternative host. The alternative host can start the meeting on the host’s behalf. This user will receive an email notifying them that they’ve been added as an alternative host, with a link to start the meeting.

Is Zoom only free for 40 minutes?

Yes, if you are using a free Zoom account you will be limited to 40 minutes.

Has Zoom removed time limit?

During the pandemic starting in 2020, Zoom did remove the time limit to free accounts. But unfortunately, on June 30th, 2022, they put that time limit back into place.

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