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Archive Recorded Video Footage

Learn how Verkada Command makes it easy to archive recorded video footage

Updated over 4 months ago

Your Verkada Command cloud software licenses include unlimited storage for archived video clips. For legal purposes, all archived footage includes a watermark at the top corner.

Archive permissions

You must have Site Viewer or Site Admin access to archive footage from your cameras. While Site Admins can create public and private archives, Site Viewers can only create public archives.

  • Public archives are viewable by anyone who can view the associated camera's historical footage (Site Admins and Site Viewers).

  • Private archives are only viewable by the user who created the archive and Org Admins.

Manage access to archives

Org Admins can control how much access users have to archives, such as creating private archives and sharing and deleting archives.

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Admin.

  2. At the top, select Org Settings > Roles & Permissions Customization.

  3. Manage your roles and permissions:

    • For Camera Roles, click Edit to configure the camera permissions that you want to grant to different roles.

    • For Admin Roles, click Edit to configure the admin permissions that you want to grant to different roles.

  4. Click Save when you've completed your settings.

  5. You should see the current permissions that Site Viewers and Site Admins have, adjust these permissions, or click Restore Default Settings to return to the default if desired. Changes apply to all Site Admins and Site Viewers in the org.

  • The Archive Limited Permissions toggle disables the creation of private archives, deletion of archives, and sharing of archives for all users who are not an Org Admin.

  • As a general rule, the longer the video clip, the longer it takes the system to archive the footage.

Set the maximum archive duration

The Maximum Archive Duration setting can limit the maximum length of an archived video. You can set this from a minimum of 1 minute to a maximum of 24 hours.

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. From the menu, click Settings.

  3. Click Maximum Archive Duration and set the amount of time to archive. Use the dropdown next to the selected time to toggle this setting between minutes and hours.

Create an archive

You can create an archive from Command, from multiple cameras, in ePTZ mode, or from a mobile app.

Archive footage from Command

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. Select a camera to archive.

  3. At the bottom of the camera footage, select the Archive tab and click Add Archive.

  4. Enter the date and time you want to archive.

  5. (Optional) You can add Notes, uncheck Share with Organization to make it a private archive (not available for Site Viewers), or Blur All Faces.

  6. Click Create Archive.

  7. Once the archive is complete, you can view it from the camera's Archive tab or from the global Archive tab on the Home page.

Archive footage from multiple cameras

When you archive footage from multiple cameras (covering the same time interval), you have the option to create a multicamera archive. This feature proves particularly beneficial when you want to archive footage from different angles, all captured by various cameras during a single event.

When you generate a multicamera archive, Command creates separate archives for each selected camera and an additional combined archive. This archive displays a grid layout that features footage from all selected cameras.

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. Select a camera to view recorded footage. (You can add up to 4 cameras to view while on the player.)

  3. On the player right menu controls, click scissorto create an archive.

  4. Enter or click the start and end date and time you want to archive.

    The timeframe you select is highlighted on the timeline.

  5. On the Archive menu, toggle on Create multi-cam archive.

  6. Click Save to start generating the archives.

  7. Once all the archives are complete, you can view them from the global Archive tab on the Home page.

Archive footage in ePTZ mode

If you have a camera in ePTZ mode, you can archive footage and make use of the ePTZ feature.

If the camera is not currently recording in ePTZ mode, you cannot use this feature.

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. Select the desired camera (already in ePTZ mode).

  3. Choose ePTZ playback mode from the bottom left video selector.

  4. Select the Archive tab and click Add Archive. If you're on the history player, on the right, click scissorto create an archive.

  5. Enter the date and time you want to archive.

  6. Click Record ePTZ Poses. You can explore the image in ePTZ mode and once you are ready, click Start Recording.

  7. When you are satisfied with the footage, click Stop.

  8. (Optional) Preview the ePTZ poses or delete the poses.

  9. (Optional) Under Advanced Settings, choose to add the footage to an incident.

  10. Click Save. Once the archive is complete, you can view it from the camera's Archive tab or from the global Archive tab on the Home page.

Archive footage from a mobile app

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. Select the feed of the camera you want to archive.

  3. Click hamburgerand select Create Archive.

  4. Scroll to the start time of the event you want to capture.

  5. Set the start time (use the left bracket at bottom).

  6. Scroll to the end time of the event and set the end time (use the right bracket (>) at bottom).

  7. Click the checkmark icon to initialize the archive.

  8. (Optional) When the archive dialog box opens, choose to Make private (only available to Organization Admins) or add Notes.

  9. Select Done to complete or Cancel to exit.

    The newly-started archive should show as Retrieving from camera until the footage has finished uploading to the cloud.

View archives

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. On the left panel, click Archives. There are several features available to make your archive viewing experience better.

    • By default, archives are filtered by Newest First, but can be changed on the top right to Oldest First, Latest Footage, or Earliest Footage.

    • Hover over an archive, click ellipsis to select Make the Archive Private or Public, Download the Archive, or Delete The Archive.

Download archives

Once a historical clip has been archived, you can download it as an mp4 to store externally, as needed. You can only download archives from Command; however, you can share the link to an archived clip from any platform.

  1. In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Cameras.

  2. Select the archive you want to download.

  3. Click Download to download an mp4 of the clip to your device.

If a camera is deleted from an organization, the archive is stored under All Products > Cameras > Archives. The archive is then marked as Unknown Camera and only Org Admins have the capability to download and share the unlinked archive.


Need more help? Contact Verkada Support.

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