Action Needed: Zoom and Panopto Cloud Recording Retention

On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, in compliance with the University’s cloud storage retention efforts, Northwestern Information Technology will take the following action to reduce storage on Zoom and Panopto:

•  All Zoom cloud recordings made before January 1, 2025, will move to the Zoom Trash. The recordings will remain in the Zoom Trash for 30 days before being deleted.

• Any Zoom meeting recordings that were automatically saved to the Panopto “My Folder” and have not been viewed since December 16, 2024, will be archived (not deleted).

• Any Panopto recording that has not been viewed since December 16, 2021, will be archived (not deleted).

Archiving recordings in Panopto will only affect the main Northwestern instance of Panopto. The Kellogg and Feinberg Panopto instances are unaffected at this time.

Key Dates and Recommended Actions

Northwestern IT recommends that all Zoom and Panopto account holders review the following dates and take the recommended action.

Before December 16, 2025

• Download any Zoom recording you wish to keep.
• If you plan to use the recording, you can then upload it to Panopto.
• If you plan to keep the recording but have no active use for it, then upload it to Microsoft SharePoint.

On December 16, 2025

• All Zoom cloud recordings made before January 1, 2025, will move to the Zoom Trash. 
• Any Zoom meeting recordings that were automatically saved to the Panopto “My Folder” and have not been viewed since December 16, 2024, will be archived.
• Any Panopto recording that has not been viewed since December 16, 2021, will be archived.

From December 16, 2025, through January 14, 2026

• You can recover recordings from the Zoom Trash.
• You can restore recordings from the Panopto Archive.

On January 15, 2026

• All Zoom cloud recordings that have been moved to the Zoom Trash will be deleted and are no longer recoverable. 
• Recordings archived in Panopto will continue to be recoverable for four years (through December 2029).

About the Panopto Archive

Any archived video in Panopto can be found in the original folder where it was stored. The Panopto Archive is the non-active version of a Panopto folder.

A “Ready to view/Archived” toggle switch will appear at the top of any Panopto folder where a video has been archived. Archived videos are fully recoverable but cannot be viewed on demand while archived.

Restoring a video to an active, on-demand state is typically processed within 48 hours, but it can take up to 72 hours to process. Archived recordings can be restored for up to four years after their initial archive date.

Support

If you have questions about saving Zoom or Panopto cloud recordings, please contact the Northwestern IT Service Desk at consultant@northwestern.edu or call 847-491-4357 (1-HELP).