Microsoft Teams recordings typically get stored on Stream, a video management platform the company launched for businesses back in 2017. The firm announced in October 2020 that it would be transitioning storage platforms to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint, and allowed Government Community Cloud (GCC) customers to opt-out as part of a phased rollout. It has now announced firm dates for this process.
Starting from January 11, GCC Teams recordings will be stored on OneDrive for Business and SharePoint unless the setting has been explicitly set to Stream. However, after March 1, no new meeting recording will be stored on Stream, even if customers have set it as their as their preference. Instead, they will be stored on OneDrive for Business and SharePoint, utilizing existing storage quotas that customers purchased for these services. As such, Microsoft has recommended that customers change their preference before March 1, so they have better control over how and where their recordings are being stored.
The Redmond tech giant has also outlined multiple advantages of this transition including easier setting of permissions and access rights, increased quota, faster availability, and support for bring your own key (BYOK), among other things.
However, there are some limitations to consider as well. Transcription for meetings is not available in GCC, with support available for English closed captioning only. Furthermore, there is no way to prevent people with access to the recordings from downloading them. Finally, customers will not receive an automated email when a recording is ready.
The company has outlined several ways to enable and disable the new storage platforms, and has also described in detail the locations at which recordings will be saved. Microsoft has emphasized that Stream will not be deprecated in the near future and current recordings will remain as-is until they are migrated to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint at a currently unannounced date.