As a result of a Panopto cleanup action taken by the Education Technology Office, videos created more than 1 year ago (from June 18, 2026) were permanently deleted from the Panopto servers. Efforts to recover the videos were unsuccessful. The action was meant to remove videos that had not been viewed in over three years or that had never been viewed in over one year. However, there was an error in the logic and additional videos were removed.
Why did this happen?
A: We were required to conduct a cleanup of our Panopto video storage to be compliant with our new contract with Panopto starting July 1st. We set end-of-day June 18 as a date to delete old videos that had not been viewed in over three years. We also had over 9,000 hours of never viewed videos that we determined should be safe to delete. However, an error was made in setting up the logic for the deletion process, which resulted in all videos older than 1 year being permanently deleted (irrespective of views).
I was told that if I watched a video (simply pressed play and watched a few seconds), it would not be deleted. Why was my video still deleted?
A: Watching the video should have exempted your video from the retention plan because the retention plan criteria was supposed to be based on date of last view. However, there was an error in the logic and instead the plan selected videos based on creation date.
This error has been identified. In the future, retention plans will continue to be based on date of last view.
Are there any videos older than one year that were not deleted?
A: Yes, videos in your personal folder (My Folder) were not deleted. Additionally, there were a small number of folders that were not affected because they had been set to a different retention plan. Please see Possible Video Recovery Options.
If my video was deleted, what can I do?
A: If the video was created outside of Panopto and uploaded to Panopto, see if you can find the original file and re-upload it. If the video was created using the desktop clients (Panopto Windows or Panopto for Mac), your computer might have stored a backup copy (this will not be the case if the video was recorded using the browser-based Panopto Capture). If none of these options are possible, it is likely that you will need to re-record your video. For additional instructions, please see Possible Video Recovery Options.
If I do not find any backups, is there any way the deleted videos can be restored?
A: No, we worked extensively with Panopto to identify any possible avenue for restoration, and all options have been explored. The videos cannot be restored. However, see above for specific situations where you may have offline backups.
How can ETO help me move forward?
A: ETO can assist with attempting to locate additional copies of the video. If copies are found (in your My Folder, on your local computer or elsewhere), ETO can assist with copying the files and videos into the correct course folders, and relinking videos in Canvas. If you are able to find different versions of videos (such as an earlier take), that requires editing, ETO can assist with editing. Finally, ETO can assist you if you need to re-record any videos.
Can I trust the Panopto platform going forward?
A: Yes, within reason. We have learned from this experience and feel confident that we will avoid a similar incident in the future. Retention plans will continue to be based on date of last view rather than creation date. In addition, ITS is reviewing and updating our change management practices to learn from this incident.