Question
People commonly ask on the Zoom Developer Forum:
Why aren’t transcription webhooks triggering for my Admin-managed app on a free (non‑Pro) account? Do transcription or cloud recording webhooks require a Pro plan? Is there a specific setting I need to enable, and is there any way to test transcription webhooks without a paid plan? Additionally, we’re receiving the session.recording_transcript_failed webhook for some video sessions, but the payload doesn’t include any reason. What causes this event, can we retry or requeue transcription for the same recording, and are there any logs or API endpoints that provide detailed error reasons?
Answer
Transcription webhooks are intricately linked to Cloud Recording features and are contingent upon having a paid Zoom account. Here’s a comprehensive guide to ensure you can successfully utilize transcription webhooks:
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Ensure Eligibility: - Cloud Recording: This feature requires a Licensed user on a Pro, Business, or Enterprise account. - Audio Transcripts: You must have a Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account to access audio transcription services.
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Enable Necessary Settings: - At the account or group level, ensure that Cloud Recording is turned on. - Enable the option for “audio transcription for cloud recordings” to allow transcription services.
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Webhook Subscription: - In your application, make sure to subscribe to the
recording.transcript_completedwebhook event to receive notifications when transcription is finished. -
End-to-End Verification: - Record a meeting to the cloud and check that the transcript appears in the Cloud Recording UI. - Confirm that your endpoint receives the
recording.transcript_completedevent after the meeting. -
Testing Limitations: - Note that you cannot test transcript webhooks on a free plan, as Cloud Recording is exclusively available to paid plan subscribers.
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Handling Transcription Failures: - If you receive the
session.recording_transcript_failedwebhook, it may be due to the recording being too short or lacking sufficient spoken content. - Unfortunately, there is no Zoom API to manually retry or re-queue transcription for an existing cloud recording. Once transcription fails, it will not be reattempted automatically. - There are no APIs that provide detailed reasons for transcription failures; to investigate further, you may need to contact Zoom support with the session_id and timestamps for internal log review. -
Monitoring and Patterns: - Check if the failed sessions are consistently short or have minimal speech content. Identifying patterns can help you understand potential causes of transcription failures. - You may still receive the
session.recording_completedevent for the same session even if transcription fails.
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