Overview

You can use Blackboard Collaborate Publish to convert previously recorded blackboard collaborate sessions to an offline format.  This is a great way to backup your recorded session and/or re-use those sessions in other classes.

How to download Blackboard Collaborate Publish 

Blackboard collaborate publish is an application that will allow you to convert your recorded blackboard collaborate sessions into mp4 files that can be saved offline.  You will need to download and install this application first before you can begin converting your online sessions.

1. Open your browser and enter the following URL in the address bar: https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/v12/Moderator/Blackboard_Collaborate_Publish 
2. Scroll down and Click the download link appropriate for your Operating System under “Get Blackboard Collaborate Publish”.
3. Launch the Installer and follow the setup wizard to install the program.

Additional Notes on Installation:

• The Mac version requires a previous version of Java (Java 6). If you have a newer version of java on your computer than you will need to revert back to this version.
• We recommend that you install “ffmpeg” when prompted to during the setup wizard.  This will enable you to export your recorded sessions in appropriate file formats.  If this is not installed, the output file format will be limited.

How to convert blackboard collaborate recordings

1. Login to Brightspace (D2L) and enter the course where you recorded the online session.

2. Click Communication in the navbar

3. Click Online Rooms

4. Locate and click the session title in the name column

5. Click Archive

6. Click the recorded session title under the Name column to launch the recorded session.  

7. This will open a new tab in your browser which will display a “Downloading Recording” notice.  Ignore the collaborate playback file that is download and instead copy the “sas.Elluminate..com/…..” url in the address bar.

8. Open Collaborate Publish, which you installed previously.

9. Paste the copied url into the box to the right of “Recording”

10. Click Convert

11. Choose a location on your computer to put the converted file.

12. Once completed, you will now have a mp4 file of the session on your computer.

If you have any questions about this process or run into any trouble please email Ryan or Scott at IDWT@ship.edu or give us a call at 717-477-1816.


Additional Notes:
• Converting the files will take some time depending on how long the recorded session is.  For a one hour long session, you should expect it to take roughly an hour and a half to convert the file.  This is an estimate and it could be longer or shorter from video to video.