Record and play back meetings in Lync Online

If your organization has enabled recording, you can record Microsoft Lync Online communications software conversations or meetings. With recording, you can capture the audio, video, instant messaging (IM), application sharing, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, whiteboard, and polling portions of the Lync Online session and play them back just as they were experienced during the Lync conversation or meeting.

You can also make a recording available to others by saving all or parts of the Lync recording in Windows Media format. This option consolidates all of the recorded content that you want to share into a single Windows Media video. By default, this video is saved on your computer, but you can share it with others by saving it in a network location or a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 asset library.

What do you want to do?

Determine what to include in a recording

Record a conversation or meeting

See who is recording the conversation or meeting

Stop a recording and save it

Play a recording

Create a version of a recording that you can share with others

Determine what to include in a recording

During a Lync conversation or meeting but before you start recording, you can select the type of content that you want to include in the recording. You can set these options while the Lync conversation or meeting is in progress by opening Recording Options in a meeting or Conversation window. Any changes you make apply to the current conversation or meeting. For subsequent conversations or meetings, these options revert to their default settings.

Note:  If you plan to create a publishable Windows Media version of the recording, be aware that if certain content in the original Lync session was very large in size (for example, a large whiteboard, a long IM session, or dual monitor sharing), the content may be less readable in the finished video. Additionally, any ink messages in the IM portion of the recording are usually truncated because of limited width in the finished video.

1. In a meeting or Conversation window, in the menu bar, click Settings. (If the Settings menu is not visible, click the More options button, and then click Show Menu Bar.)

2. Click Recording Options.

3. In the Lync – Recording Options dialog box, select the check boxes next to the types of content you want to include in the current Lync recording. If a content type is not available, your organization may not allow recording of that content.

1. Click OK.

Top of Page

Record a conversation or meeting

When you're in a person-to-person Lync conversation, you can start recording as long as each participant's organization allows recording. Note that you cannot record a conversation with someone who is using a regular telephone. When you're in a Lync meeting, you can start a recording if you are a presenter and the person who scheduled or started the meeting allows it.

1. To start recording, in a meeting or Conversation window, do one of the following:

   • Click the More options button, and then click Start Recording.

   • In the menu bar, click Actions, and then click Start Recording. (If the Actions menu is not visible, click the More options button, and then click Show Menu Bar.)

2. While the recording is in progress, you can use the controls at the bottom of the window to pause, resume, or stop recording.

Top of Page

See who is recording the conversation or meeting

While a recording is in progress, the message You are recording, Others are recording, or You and others are recording appears at the bottom of the meeting or Conversation window. If others are recording, you can point to the message to see who initiated the recording.

Top of Page

Stop a recording and save it

When you stop recording, Lync automatically saves the recording. By default, recordings are saved on your computer in the folder C:\Users\<your user name>\Lync Recordings. Lync also gives you the option of creating a Windows Media version of the recording that you can publish to others by saving it in a network location. If you have SharePoint Server 2010 or SharePoint Online and the appropriate rights, you can save the recording to a Microsoft SharePoint asset library.

Note:  If you plan to create a publishable Windows Media version of the recording, be aware that if certain content in the original Lync session is very large in size (for example, a large whiteboard, a long IM session, or dual monitor sharing), the content may be less readable in the finished video. Additionally, any ink messages in the instant messaging portion of the recording are usually truncated because of limited width in the finished video.

1. In a meeting or Conversation window, do one of the following:

   • Click the More options button, and then click Stop Recording.

   • In the menu bar, click Actions, and then click Stop Recording. (If the Actions menu is not visible, click the More options button, and then click Show Menu Bar.)

   • Use the Stop recording button at the bottom of the conversation or meeting window.

2. The Stop Recording dialog box appears. To change the name of the recording, under Recording title, type a new name.

3. To create a Windows Media version of the recording, under Publish, select the checkbox next to Also create a version that you can publish to others (.wmv).

4. To select the type of content that you want to include in the published video, click Options. Under Content in video, select the check boxes next to the type of content you want to include. (If a content type is not available, it was not originally included in the Lync session.) Then click OK.

5. To change the location of the Windows Media version of the recording, under Save to, do one of the following:

   • Click Browse and navigate to the folder where you want to save the video.

   • In the text box, paste a Web address, such as a SharePoint Server 2010 asset library URL.

Note:  If you have trouble uploading the file to SharePoint Server 2010, ask the SharePoint administrator to increase both the default maximum upload size (default 50 MB) and the upload timeout setting.

1. Click OK.

Note:  To go directly to Microsoft Lync Recording Manager to manage or play back your recording, click Manage Recordings.

Top of Page

Play a recording

You can play recordings that you have made by opening Lync Recording Manager. Recordings open in Microsoft Lync Recording Player and can be viewed from there.

1. Open Recording Manager by doing one of the following:

2. Click the More options button, and then click Manage Recordings.

   • Click Start, click All Programs, click Microsoft Lync, and then click Microsoft Lync Recording Manager.

   • In the Lync menu bar, click Actions, and then click Recording Manager. (If the Actions menu is not visible, click the More options button, and then click Show Menu Bar.)

3. In Recording Manager, click a recording, and then click Play.

If someone else has published a Windows Media version of the recording and placed it in a network location or a SharePoint site, you can open the recording to play it in the Windows Media Player. For best performance, it is recommended that you save a Windows Media recording to your computer and play it from there.

Top of Page

Create a version of a recording that you can share with others

You can make a recording available to others by saving all or parts of the Lync recording in Windows Media file format and publishing the Windows Media video to a shared network location or a SharePoint Server 2010 asset library. There are two ways to create a Windows Media version of a recording: you can automatically create one when you stop recording and save the recording (for details, see "Stop a recording and save it," earlier in this topic), or you can create one later in Recording Manager (for details, see Manage recordings in Lync Recording Manager.

Top of Page