Share via

How to find an expired recording

Aaron Crosby 0 Reputation points
2026-05-07T18:06:59.4566667+00:00

I hosted and recorded a meeting on Microsoft Teams less than 90 days ago, but now there is a message that says this recording has expired. I need to either recover that recording or get a transcript from that meeting. How do I do that?

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams Free | Other

3 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Diana Mariz 8,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-05-07T23:43:19.1433333+00:00

    Hi Aaron,

    Upon further checking, once Teams meeting recording for a personal account has been expired and deleted, it can no longer be recovered unless its still visible in your OneDrive recycle bin. However, if its not already there, I am afraid that its completely purge and no way to have it restored.

    Was this answer helpful?

  2. Ruwim.B 6,225 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-05-07T20:25:45.3533333+00:00

    Call recordings with Teams Personal account (aka. Teams Free) are handled differently from recordings done with a Business account.

    Call recordings with Teams Free are not saved to OneDrive but are saved to Cloud only. Recordings remain available for download for 30 days only and then permanently deleted and can no longer be recovered.

    https://insider.teams.com/blog/meeting-recording-in-microsoft-teams/

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/manage-meeting-and-call-recordings-in-microsoft-teams-free-85d16331-2669-426e-b12a-02aefe6f5308

    Was this answer helpful?

  3. AI answer

    2026-05-07T18:07:12.49+00:00

    Teams meeting recordings are stored in OneDrive or SharePoint and are subject to expiration policies set by the IT admin.

    Key points for expired recordings:

    1. Where recordings are stored
      • Non-channel meetings: In the Recordings folder in the meeting organizer’s OneDrive for Business.
      • Channel meetings: In the team’s SharePoint site, visible on the channel’s Files tab.
      • Everyone invited can view the recording, but only the organizer/co-organizers can edit it.
    2. How expiration works
      • Meeting recordings expire after a period set by the IT admin.
      • When a recording reaches its expiration date, it is deleted and moved to the recycle bin.
      • The file owner receives an email when the recording expires and can recover it from the recycle bin.
      • Deletion after expiration can take up to about five days in some cases.
    3. How to recover an expired recording
      • Go to the organizer’s OneDrive (for non-channel meetings) or the relevant SharePoint document library (for channel meetings).
      • Open the Recycle bin (and, if available, the second-stage recycle bin) and look for the recording file.
      • If found, restore it. Once restored, it will reappear in its original location and the Teams meeting/chat link will work again.
    4. If the recording is still present but marked as expiring soon
      • Open the recording in Stream.
      • Switch to Editing mode (select Viewing > Editing if needed).
      • Under the meeting recording, select the expiration countdown.
      • Choose to extend the expiration, set a new date, or remove expiration entirely.
    5. Transcript access
      • If the recording file itself is recovered from the recycle bin, any associated transcript stored with it can be accessed again according to its storage and permissions.
      • If the recording has been permanently deleted from OneDrive/SharePoint (including recycle bins), it cannot be recovered, and the transcript is not recoverable via the user interface.

    If the recording and its file do not appear in OneDrive/SharePoint recycle bins and the expiration was recent, an admin may need to investigate further using organization-level tools (for example, eDiscovery) as described in the admin documentation.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.