Microsoft to Introduce Auto-Expiration for Teams Meeting Recordings

[Tony Redmond]

In September 2021, Microsoft will introduce a new auto-expiration feature for Teams meeting recordings stored in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online. By default, recordings will be moved to the recycle bin 60 days after creation (30 days for users with Office 365 A1 licenses). Tenants can control the default expiration period using Teams meeting policies while users can override expiration for individual files. And if you use retention policies to control Teams meeting recordings, their instructions take precedence over auto-expiration.

https://office365itpros.com/2021/08/03/microsoft-to-introduce-auto-expiration-for-teams-meeting-reco...

[#2]

Time saving feature - thanks for posting

[#3]

What if the file is moved to a new location? Let's say a video archive library located on a SharePoint site? Will it prevent it from being expired?

UP That was actually a question to @Tony Redmond  ;)

[#4]

I believe that the expiration date is stamped in the file properties when the TMR is created, so moving it to a new library won't do anything to stop auto-expiration. If you don't want recordings to expire either a) remove the expiration date or b) assign a retention label.

[#5]

Thanks Tony! In general I appreciate the feature - indeed, most of the recordings are used just shortly after the meeting. At the same time, it's possible that the user may want some recording to stay longer, e.g. in case of a recorded training session. It appears that we'll have to teach the users how to deal with retention labels...

[#6]

Knowing how to use retention labels is an excellent habit for users to acquire...

[#7]

Microsoft's documentation for the Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy cmdlet says that the maximum expiration period is 99,999 days. It's not. The safe value is more like 9,999. If you go above this horrible things happen, like the Teams Admin Center having problems.

[#8]

Hi Tony,
Hope you are well. Thanks for posting this!
Is there any formal documentation around this?
There's no update to this doc and apologies, I can't find any?
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/cloud-recording

[#9]

Hi, there's a whole chapter about it in the link you provided https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/cloud-recording#auto-expiration-of-teams-meeting-rec...

[#10]

Ah. Thank you Christian, perhaps I need new glasses. ;) So it's still in Dev and slipped to October for now.

[#11]

The feature might still ship in September, but the nature of these features is that many slip a little. See https://office365itpros.com/2021/07/06/office365-delays-retirements-features/ for some other recent examples of slippages.

[#12]

It is worth remembering that this is part of the Teams meeting policy so you can create custom policies with a longer expiration period if some users within your organization need to keep recordings for longer e.g. internal comms or L&D. This is much simpler than trying to get users to remember to change the expiration or add an retention label to each recording.

[#13]

That is a demanded feature.... As record meeting in Microsoft Stream cannot be download by other attendees.

[#14]

Hi, Joe. Not sure what you mean here as this is about auto-expiration and not about blocking downloads. That feature/functionality is already launched.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=block%2Cdownload

Feature ID: 70543
Feature ID: 82053

[#15]

Wow, thanks for the link! As just tested all of record meeting are stored in OneDrive now.

[#16]

@Tony Redmond, @Deleted, - You're right Tony. Moving a recording will also move the auto-expire setting. But copying a file to a different location will remove auto-expire, as will downloading and uploading the recording. There will also be user-level settings that allow a recording owner or meeting organiser to change the expiry for a specific recording. You will be able to choose from 14, 30 or 60 days, set a specific expiry date or set it to not expire at all.

Reference: A messy FAQ - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/cloud-recording#frequently-asked-questions

[#17]

The expiration is a per-file setting. It stays with a file as long as it is not removed from the file (for instance, by the owner removing the expiration date). When you copy a file, you create a new file, so logically that file doesn't inherit the expiration date. If you move a file, it's the same file so it does.

[#18]

Is this setting available via the Teams Admin Centre yet?

[#19]

@BrandonC28 No, it's not possible to set with PS yet either (but you can see it there). Best to follow Message center for updates. This was posted about 10 days ago.

"Modification of the default value is not yet possible, but we will update this message center post when you are able to modify it. We will provide instructions on how to modify the setting in PowerShell or the Teams Admin Center at that time. You will be able to modify the setting before the feature goes live."

[#20]

No problem, thank you.