Panopto

Panopto: How to record video lectures

Panopto is the UW’s lecture capture software that allows you to record, review, edit, and archive videos in your Canvas course, and on your computer.

This guide covers how to record and edit video lectures and embed videos in your Canvas course.

Before you select the record button, consider what you’ll say. The first step to creating a clear and concise video is to plan what you will say, and how you will present the material. Consult Continuum’s script writing guide for ideas about script writing and presenting on camera.

For live demonstrations of many of the steps outline in this guide, explore our library of Panopto training videos.

Recording options with Panopto

Panopto offers two recording options: There are a few slight differences, but both systems work well.

Panopto Application (download to your computer via your Canvas course)
Panopto Capture, records through your web browser/web cam (accessed via your Canvas course)

To access the Panopto App, or Panopto Capture, log in to the Canvas course you teach, using your UWNetID.

Record with Panopto Capture

Select the Panopto Recordings link in your Canvas course navigation menu.
Check to verify you are recording the video into the correct Canvas course: Find the name of the course near the top of the page. Select the carrot to reveal or select other course folders.
In Panopto Recordings, select the + Create button near the top of the screen.
From the Create dropdown menu, select Panopto Capture: Record in browser
Accept Panopto’s request to use your computer’s camera and microphone (or choose different audio/video recording devices by clicking on those icons).
If you are recording a narrated slide show, or a document, or another screen, select these artifacts through the Screens and Apps tab.
Click the red record button and a 5-second countdown will begin.
When you are finished recording, click the red stop button and title the video.
In the Canvas course, click on the Panopto Recordings tab to refresh the folder and view your new video (there may be a delay dependent on the recording length).

Record with the Panopto Application

From your Canvas course menu, select the Panopto Recordings tab
Select “+ Create” in Panopto.
From the dropdown menu, select, Record in application and Download Panopto
Find the downloaded uw.hosted.panopto file and double click to begin installation.

Adjust Settings for higher video quality (choose the 1080i/p setting), and other settings as needed.
Check the Folder where the video will be uploaded, and give the video a Name.
In Primary Sources, select a Video source (or None), Audio source, and Quality (select Ultra).
From Secondary Sources, select Capture Powerpoint (if used), and Main and/or Second Screen to capture other screens or documents you wish to record.
Enable screen capture preview (at base of application) to verify what will be recorded on the Main/ Second screen. Set the fps setting to 30 (frames per second).

UW-IT Resources: Install the Panopto Recorder
UW-IT Resources: Create a recording on your computer

UW Panopto web site

When you log in to the UW Panopto web site, you’ll see all the recordings you’ve made, and recordings that have been shared with you. On the UW Panopto web site, you can: edit recordings, create folder structures and move recordings between folders, and search for videos across courses. This page is where you edit your user settings.

Managing Your Panopto Recordings

Now that you have a recording, you might want to move it to a specific course folder, edit the recording, or add the recording to a specific Canvas page.

How to move recordings from one folder to another

If you don’t see a video in a specific Canvas course folder, it may be saved to another folder. Follow these steps to Copy or Move a video to a different folder in your Panopto account.

From your UW Panopto account, select: “My Folder” in the navigation bar on left.
Hover your mouse over a video, and click the white checkbox in the upper left corner of the video. You can select multiple videos to move them together in the same action.
Once you’ve selected the video(s), click the “Move” button at the top of the page.
You can also “Copy” video(s) to a different folder.
This will open a dashboard overlay. Under the “Move video(s) to” header, click on the dropdown menu and select the course folder you want to move the video to.
Once you have selected your specific course folder, click the Move button.
Exit the dashboard overlay once the Move or Copy action is listed as Done. The video will no longer show in your “My Folder,” and is now saved in the course folder.

Editing with Panopto

Panopto is a non-destructive video editor, so any sections of video you remove from a recording can be added back to the video later.

In the Panopto Video Recordings folder, hover your mouse over the video you want to edit, and click the “Edit” button to the right of the video.
This action will take you to the editing page.

Trimming sections out

Trim a few seconds, or sections, from the beginning, or end, or middle of the video (for instance, you can trim out sections when students are in breakout rooms, or during a class break.)

Hover your mouse over the beginning of the video to see a gray vertical bar.
Click-and-drag the bar to “gray out” a few seconds, or a longer section, you want to trim out.
You can place the mouse cursor anywhere on the video timeline and click-and-drag to cover a section to trim.
If you need to “reverse” a trim, click on the start or end of the gray “trimmed out” section and drag to the left or right along the timeline.

Trim more precisely

Click once, anywhere on the timeline, and “place” the red vertical bar. (For instance, at the end of a section you plan to trim out).
Next, click-and-drag slowly toward the red bar. When the leading edge of the gray section gets close, it will “snap” to the red bar. This helps you create precise trims.

Sections that are “grayed out” on the timeline will not play back to your viewer after you apply changes. To “undo” and return sections back to the video, click-and-drag from the beginning or end of the gray are on the timeline.

Don’t forget to “Apply” your edit changes to this new version of the video!

Panopto Resources: Video on editing in Panopto

Save your changes!

When you are finished editing a video don’t forget to click the “Apply” button in the upper right corner of the editor to save changes.

Edit video captions

Automatic captioning is turned on by default for Panopto videos at the UW. These machine-generated captions will appear after the video is created.

However, automatic captions don’t meet minimum accessibility requirements, so it is important to edit the captions, checking for misspellings and grammar errors.

From the EDIT page, click on the “Captions” button on the left side of the screen.
In the captions interface, click on the caption text to begin editing the text.
Don’t forget to click the “Apply” button in the upper right corner of the editor to save changes to captions.

Panopto Resources: Guide on editing Panopto captions

Add a Panopto video to a Canvas page

Open a Page inside a Canvas course.

Select “Edit” (in the top right corner).
In the Canvas Rich Canvas Editor, locate the plug-in icon dropdown menu, and in the dropdown select “Panopto Recordings.”
Select the video you want to embed and click the “Insert” button in the lower right corner.
The video will be embedded in the Canvas page at the location where the mouse cursor is sitting. Save the Canvas page to apply changes and view the video.

UW-IT Resources: Add a Panopto video to a Canvas page

Watch Continuum’s video training series about recording using the Panopto app.

Two laptop computers and the title, Panopto Training Series.

Updated 09/26/24