Auto-Deletion of Teams Meeting Recordings: What You Need to Know and How to Avoid It

Microsoft Teams has become a cornerstone for virtual collaboration, with meeting recordings serving as valuable resources for reviews, training, and compliance. But many users are surprised when these recordings suddenly disappear. That’s because Microsoft has implemented auto-deletion policies to manage storage more efficiently.

Here’s what’s happening and how you can prevent losing important recordings.

How Auto-Deletion Works

1. Default Retention Period
   • Teams meeting recordings are stored in OneDrive (for personal meetings) or SharePoint (for channel meetings).
   • By default, recordings expire after 120 days unless configured otherwise by your organization.
2. Admin-Defined Policies
   • IT administrators can customize the expiration period using the Teams Admin Center or PowerShell.
   • If no changes are made, the default 120-day policy applies.
3. Notifications
   • Microsoft may send notifications before a recording expires, but these can be easy to miss, especially if you’re not actively monitoring your OneDrive or SharePoint folders.

How to Avoid Losing Meeting Recordings

1. Adjust Retention Settings (Admins Only)
   • Go to the Teams Admin Center or use PowerShell (Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy) to extend or disable expiration.
   • Alternatively, use Microsoft 365 Compliance Center to set broader retention policies.
2. Manually Save Critical Recordings
   • Download important recordings to your local device before they expire.
   • Move them to a folder in OneDrive or SharePoint that isn’t governed by auto-expiration policies.
3. Request Extended Retention
   • If you’re not an admin, contact your IT team to request longer retention for your department or specific recordings.
4. Use Power Automate
   • Set up a Power Automate flow to automatically back up new recordings from OneDrive or SharePoint to another location (e.g., a long-term archive folder or external storage).