Have your held Teams recordings or transcripts vanished after 21 days? There is an explanation, though I feel like I am stuck in an M365 eDiscovery issue rut. Really, I would like to be writing about more positive topics. This one popped up outside my usual eDiscovery testing while working with a new tech startup that heavily leverages recordings/transcripts for customer research, feature stories and bug submissions. Their new chronology analytic clearly showed a gap in their collection of transcripts starting roughly 21 days ago. My recent blog on Teams transcripts gave me a starting place for the cause analysis, which is yet another ‘building the rocket after launch story’.
Late last year Microsoft decided to phase out Streams in favor of various SharePoint/OneDrive storage locations. This fits with their long term vision of unified infrastructure/storage. I already covered their decision to temporarily store transcripts in Azure Media Storage, which is not accessible by the GraphAPI or M365 eDiscovery search. What I did not realize is that some customers might not automatically switch recording storage from Streams to OneDrive for Business. Some customers seem to require additional Admin steps in PowerShell to properly set the Teams Meeting Policy to change the RecordingStorageMode to OneDrive.
Why should I care?
If your policy is not set properly, your exec, custodial and other important meeting recordings/transcripts will be automatically deleted after 21 days. Period. Do not pass go and to heck with your legal holds. Try explaining that to a grumpy magistrate. I am sure that they are getting tired of hearing that Microsoft ate their discovery again.
How can I tell if I have been affected?
I would love to give you a clear, proven way to just search for Teams recordings/transcripts. MSFT is rolling out Content Searches for transcript keywords through July. You can search a Teams site for known .MP4 file types, but M365 Compliance search does not yet seem to support a general ‘Teams recordings’ in their list of search filters. Your best quick check is to get someone who records weekly meetings to check their Teams Calendar area and the Recordings & Transcripts tab to see if their older recordings or transcripts have started to vanish.
When can I stop checking or worrying about this?
Never. Just kidding. Although MSFT says that the Streams migration will be complete in August, I am still getting calls from peers encountering the search issues that I blogged about last year. The ones that MSFT said they patched immediately. I would just keep an eye on this until you are finding recordings and transcripts in their long term SharePoint or OneDrive storage locations.
Anyone who tells you that the Cloud makes eDiscovery simpler is selling you a bill of goods. Cloud services are radically evolving and providing users incredible performance, accessibility and functionality. That radical pace of change increases the burden, complexity and risk on corporate governance teams. This is the ‘new frontier’ of eDiscovery, privacy, security, compliance, etc. I hope that you enjoy the challenge presented by modern remote, online business. This roller coaster is not going to slow down any time soon. Throw me a note if you get stuck or find a solution that you can share with the rest of us.
Greg Buckles wants your feedback, questions or project inquiries at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com. Contact him directly for a free 15 minute ‘Good Karma’ call. He solves problems and creates eDiscovery solutions for enterprise and law firm clients.
Greg’s blog perspectives are personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a professional judgment or advice. Greg is no longer a journalist and all perspectives are based on best public information. Blog content is neither approved nor reviewed by any providers prior to being posted. Do you want to share your own perspective? Greg is looking for practical, professional informative perspectives free of marketing fluff, hidden agendas or personal/product bias. Outside blogs will clearly indicate the author, company and any relevant affiliations.
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