MS Office 365 Cloud Service includes several tools for different needs. Microsoft’s cloud-based Stream video service is well-suited for sharing and storing internal videos within an organization. Currently, the permissions available in Stream do not allow sharing videos outside your organization. You can upload videos to the service and, if desired, share them with other members of your organization. You can keep videos private, share them with specific individuals within your organization, or publish them to the entire organization. Note that you can also see all the video recordings you have made in Teams within Stream.
When sharing your videos with others, even within the organization:
How to upload a video to Stream:
- Open Stream (you can also find it in the MS Office 365 app menu, known as the “waffle”).
- Select Create, Upload video (see allowed video file types on Microsoft’s website)
- In the Details section, define the basic information for the video:
- Give the video a descriptive name
- You can use hashtags in the description field
- Define the primary language of the video
- In the Permissions section, specify who can see your video:
- By default, only you can see the video. If you share the video with others, remember data privacy. For example, if you check the box “Allow everyone in your company to view this video,” all members of your organization will see your video. This should only be allowed if you have explicit permission from those appearing in the video for broader distribution. Note that you can redefine permissions later (see instructions at the end of this page).
- In the Options section, adjust other settings:
- The People setting allows or prevents timelines for individuals in the video, making it easier to find specific appearances in a long video.
- The Comments setting can allow or prevent commenting on the video in Stream.
- In the Captions section, you can create automatic captions for the video in supported languages. Finnish is not yet supported. Additionally, you can import a separate caption file created elsewhere (e.g., using Screencast-o-Matic).
- In the Subtitles section, you can add a subtitle file in another language.
- Finally, press the Publish button. (The Share button allows you to get a share link or embed code: these work only according to the permissions you have defined, and sharing outside your organization is not possible.)
How to share a video already uploaded to Stream:
- List your videos in Stream (My content, Videos)
(If desired, you can watch the video by clicking its icon or name.) - Select Update video details (pencil icon) to change the video settings, where you will find the same options as when uploading the video:
- In the Details section, you can edit the basic information of the video.
- In the Permissions section, you can adjust the viewing/editing permissions of the video.
- In the Options section, you can adjust other settings.
- If you want to share your video with everyone, check the box “Allow everyone in your company to view this video” (remember data privacy!)
- If you want to share multiple videos with a specific student group, you can create a private group in Stream, make a channel for the group, and share the videos through it only for the group’s members to view. Note that all group members must have a valid user account.
Note: Groups can be created not only in Stream but also in other MS 365 services and are available in all of them. However, it may take a couple of hours for them to appear elsewhere in 365. If you delete a group in Stream, it removes not only the group’s permissions in Stream but also any data and files in Teams, SharePoint, etc., including all possible files in Teams.
- Create a private group in Microsoft Stream.
- Create Channels in Microsoft Stream.
- Add videos to Microsoft Stream channels and groups.
- Define Permissions and privacy in Microsoft Stream.
- You can see your channels when you open Stream, select My Content, and Channels. (If you are logged into MS 365, the direct link also works: https://web.microsoftstream.com/studio/channels).
- If you want to share multiple videos with a specific student group, you can create a private group in Stream, make a channel for the group, and share the videos through it only for the group’s members to view. Note that all group members must have a valid user account.
- If you want to share your video with specific individuals, select Share with in the dropdown menu, then People, and search for individual users by name (you can find both students and staff in the user directory; you can also find class lists in the same search).
- Finally, press the Apply button (note that it is above the selections!)
- If necessary, you can remove an individual’s permissions by clicking the cross next to their name (on the left side).