Microsoft Stream is the video management and sharing service for employees at all levels across businesses of all sizes who are interested in using videos in the workplace to connect, collaborate, learn, and share information. Users can search for videos easily and consume them on their device, whenever and wherever.
For more information on Microsoft Applications, please refer to our Microsoft Office 365 page. If additional information is needed, use the .
Useful Terms and Recommendations when using Stream
Please review these terms definitions and recommendations to better understand and use Stream.
Channels are an organization method for videos, but not a permission method. Channels do not have any permissions on their own. You can put a video into one or several channels to help viewers find it more easily.
When you create a channel, you decide whether it's a company-wide channel that anyone in your organization can add and remove videos from, or if it's a group channel where you can limit contributors. See How to create a channel in the Stream How To section.
Company-wide channels are great for organizing videos by topics and providing a way for community-driven content duration.
- They can be seen by everyone within your company.
- Everyone within your company can add videos or remove videos from them.
- Only the creator of the channel can edit the channel itself.
- Only videos that have Allow everyone in your company to view this video checked can be added to company-wide channels.
Group channels are great for adding further organization of videos within a group and when you want to determine who can see and who can upload videos to a channel.
- Group channels inherit the permissions from the group they are contained in.
- All contributors to a group can create channels, add videos to them, remove videos from them, and edit settings about the channel.
A group can be used when you want to limit access to who can view videos to those within the group or if your videos need to persist after you leave the university as in the case of videos for offices, departments, committees, or project teams.
- An owner of the group will have to add and remove members of the group.
- Only group members will be able to see videos and channels within the group.
Owners: Owners of the group will get full control over the group, channels within the group, and any videos owned by the group. They can edit the settings of the group and create/delete channels.
Members: There is Stream setting that controls if members are contributors to the group or they are viewers only. This is controlled by the Allow all members to contribute setting.
- If Allow all members to contribute is on, the members of the group will be contributors to the group. They will be able to create/delete channels, add video to the group, and modify videos owned by the group.
- If Allow all members to contribute is off, the members of the group will be viewers of the group. They will only be able to view videos with this group.
See How to request a group, How to add or remove users from a group, How to upload a video to a group, and What to do if you don't see a group listed and you believe that you are a member in the Stream How To section.
If you wish to use Steam as part of your course syllabus, be sure to review and follow the recommendation.
- If your videos can be viewed by anyone at IUP, the videos can be uploaded using the company-wide option on the Permissions tab. For organizational purposes, it is recommended that you create a company-wide channel for each course.
- For videos that need to have a smaller audience, you can request a group. It is recommended that the group be course-based, not semester-based. If you are teaching PLSC 111, the group will be named with the course name and your username: PLSC 111 username
- After the group has been created, upload the videos to the group.
- The group owner is responsible for updating membership in the group from semester to semester.
- If your students will be uploading videos to share with the rest of the class, you can request a group with the term and optional section added, for example: 2020 Spring PLSC 111, or 2020 Spring PLSC 111 008.
- The group owner is responsible for adding your students to the group.
- After they've been added, they can upload their videos to the group.
Request a new group by submitting an ticket. In the request, identify
- the name you'd like to use for the group,
- the owner of the group and
- justification for your request.
The owner will be able to update the membership of the group.
When the group has been created, you will be able to upload the videos to the group. Be sure not to upload these to your own account when you upload your videos. This will ensure that the videos will remain available and accessible after you leave the university.
How to use Stream
From how to log in and various activities for using Stream.
- Log in to .
- If you see the Stream icon, select it to open the Stream app. If you don't see the Stream icon, click the 3 x 3 waffle icon in the upper-left corner, then select All apps, then select Stream.
- Select My Content from the menu bar.
- Select Groups.
- Select the group name.
- Select Upload video. This automatically sets the permissions for all members of the group to view the video. Other settings can be changed here before publishing the video (e.g., name, video language, etc.)
Note: If you have been instructed to upload your video to a group, please use the instructions under How to upload a video to a group.
Select Create, then Upload video. There are several sections you can update during the upload process. You can get more information about a setting by clicking on the "i" icon next to the setting name.
When your video has been uploaded, click Publish. When the updates are saved, you will see Updates saved, and Publish will change to Published. You will also receive an email message indicating that your video has finished processing. Please note that the video will not be available for viewing by others until you have received the notification.
To request a group, please submit the request via In the request, be sure to include the following information.
- Requested name for the group
- Identify the owner of the group
- Justification for your request
- Click the 3 x 3 waffle icon in the upper left corner.
- Select Outlook.
- Click the People tab. Under Groups, select Owner. The middle pane will display Groups you own.
- Select the desired group, then click the Members tab.
- Select My Content.
- Select Groups.
- Select the desired group name.
- Select Upload video.
This automatically sets the permissions for all members of the group to view the video. Other settings can be changed here before publishing the video (e.g., name, video language, etc.) See step 2 under How to upload a video to your Office 365 account for information about these settings.
- Select My Content.
- Select Videos.
- Locate the desired video, then click the More actions ellipses [] and select Share.
Please note that your video must be company-wide, or you must provide access to those enrolled in the course. See "Recommendations for using Stream in a course" above.
Log in to MS Stream. Select Videos from theMy Content drop-down menu.
On the Video list page, select the triple dot (…) icon to the far right of the video, and from the drop-down menu click Share.
On the Share screen page, you will see the link to the video. Copy this link by selecting the red Copy button.
Go to your D2L course and select the module where you would like to put the video. Click on the blue Update/Create button. From the drop-down menu, select Create a Link.
In the Edit Link pop-up box, enter the title of the video and then paste the share link you copied from the desired MS Stream video. You must check the box next to Open as External Resource. Click the Create button when you are ready.
Go back to the module where the video is and click on the link to test the link.
- Click the 3 x 3 waffle icon in the upper-left corner.
- Select Outlook from the apps list.
- Click the People tab.
- From the left menu under Groups, select Member.
- From the middle pane, select the desired group name.
If the group is not listed, please ask the group's owner to verify your membership in the group. - Open Stream.
- Select My Content.
- Select Groups.
The group should now appear. If it does not, please ask the group's owner to verify your membership in the group.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding MS Stream
If you do not see your question listed here, please log a ticket in .
If I already uploaded my videos, and then requested a group, can I just copy the videos to the group?
There is no concept of copying a video to the group. If the videos need to persist after you leave the university, you should re-upload the video to the group, and remove the original videos from your content. (If necessary, you can download the original videos from your account, then re-upload them.)
No. At this time, viewing is limited to those with IUP computing accounts.
I uploaded a video and set the permissions to be company-wide, then I added a link to the video to my D2L/Moodle course. Why are students are being prompted to log in to view the video?
At this time, Stream does not have an integration with D2L or Moodle so they will be prompted to authenticate to view any videos in Stream.
No. Zoom recordings are not automatically saved to Stream. Because of the storage limits of Zoom, it is critical to download recordings and upload them to Stream if you wish to continue hosting the recording online and sharing with others at IUP. It is also important that you delete the downloaded recording from your PC after you've uploaded it to Stream and verified that the upload was successful.
No, you will have to log an ticket to request a group. Please include the following information in the request:
- Requested name for the group
- Identify the owner of the group
- Justification for your request
You should request a group if one of the following is true:
- Your videos require limited accessibility for viewing and cannot be "company-wide."
- Students will be uploading videos in Stream as part of their coursework, and the other students in the course will need to have access to the videos.
- Your videos will need to be accessible after you leave the university. This is most common for offices or departments.
Videos that are uploaded to your account will no longer be accessible. Videos that you uploaded to a group will remain in the group where they can be managed by other group members.
From the left menu under Groups, select the role you have in the group: Owner or Member.
If the group is not listed and you should be a member, please ask the group's owner to verify your membership in the group. If you are the owner of the group and the group is not listed, please log an ticket for assistance.
If the group appears, continue with these steps:
- Open Stream.
- Select My Content.
- Select Groups.
When I play a Stream video, it plays for about 20 seconds, and then displays "Your session has expired."
This error will occur if your computer is not using the correct time zone for your current physical location, or it does not have the time set correctly for that time zone. You will need to correct the time zone, then set the time correctly for that time zone.