List past webinar instances returns empty array

[ionutandrei1997]

Description
Hello, I have a little problem understanding what past instances mean. I want to take all QA’s for the past webinars using this endpoint (https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/webinars/listpastwebinarqa), but when I use the webinarId from the Zoom UI it returns something like this (Meeting does not exist: webinarId), so I try to use the past webinar instance (https://marketplace.zoom.us/docs/api-reference/zoom-api/webinars/pastwebinars) to get the UUID and use it in QA’s endpoint… but the past webinar instances returns empty array… So what can I do in order to take the QA’s for my webinars.

Error
List past webinar instances
{
“webinars”:
}

List Q&A of Past Webinars
{
“code”: 3001,
“message”: “Meeting does not exist: 86444632675.”
}

Which App Type (OAuth / Chatbot / JWT / Webhook)?
OAuth

Which Endpoint/s?

List Past Webinar Instances - Webinars - Zoom API - API Reference

List Q&A of Past Webinar - Webinars - Zoom API - API Reference

Best Regards,
Ionut P.

[MaxM]

Hey @ionutandrei1997,

Thank you for reaching out to the Zoom Developer Forum. I wasn’t able to find this Webinar in our system which likely means it is expired. When was this Webinar last hosted? Are you able to see it in the Zoom portal? Please see the following guide detailing Meeting ID expiration:

Meeting ID

Thanks,
Max

[ChrissyC]

I’m also getting an empty webinars array from the List Past Webinar Instances endpoint. What exactly does this mean? Even if the webinar expired, shouldn’t all past instances of it still be listed?

Also, I’ve looked at the documentation you indicated about webinar expiration and don’t think it applies to the webinar API endpoints because I can still retrieve data for a webinar that ended in Oct of 2020.

[MaxM]

Hey @ChrissyC,

Thank you for reaching out to the Zoom Developer Forum. How many attendees were in the webinar? With the past meeting instances endpoint, two or more attendees will need to be in the meeting for it to be returned by the API.

Are you able to provide the webinar ID that you’re seeing is returned by this API? I can confirm if it has expired and/or why it’s available when others are not.

Thanks,
Max

[ChrissyC]

Hi @MaxM ,
The webinar ID that I’m able to get data from is 97621911198. The end time retrieved from report/webinars/ID is Oct 9, 2020. And to clarify, webinars/ID also works with this ID and one instance is returned from past_webinars/ID/instances. There were 470 participants.

The webinar ID that is not found when calling webinars/ID is 95108419043. It took place Jan 14, 2021 and no instances are returned (empty array) with past_webinars/ID/instances. I use the instance ID to pull the participants report (report/webinars/ID/participants) but since none exist I tried the webinar ID and got the same message that it doesn’t exist. From my internal records, it looks like there should have been at least two attendees, but I can’t be certain.

Another webinar ID that is not found and returns the same results as above is 96891586828. It took place Nov 24, 2020 and there were over 250 attendees. The person who hosted this one pulled a report on participant data from the Zoom UI, but I’m not able to get any data from the participant report endpoint.

Thanks for your help on this! I’d like to be able to tell our client why we can’t pull their data on some of their webinars.

[MaxM]

Hey @ChrissyC,

Thank you for providing additional information. Looking at those Webinar instances, I was able to confirm that expired webinars should still display in the Past Webinar Instances API.

Looking at meeting 95108419043, instance UGQdbghORGKfATj+yR91Wg== had only one attendee so it won’t be returned from the API. However, Instance IHagyGqxRCq+fxjPNQ16GQ== had 13 attendees.

Are you able to share the request you’re making to the Get a Webinar API as well as the request that you’re making to the List Past Webinar Instances API?

Meeting 97621911198 also had two instances where there was only one attendee but there is still one instance that should be returned by the List Past Webinar Instances API. Meeting 96891586828 should also be available there.

Thanks,
Max

[ChrissyC]

I’m using Postman to verify the results my Python script is returning.

Webinar Instances of 95108419043, showing an empty array:

The baseUrl in the screenshot is https://api.zoom.us/v2
And I know the authorization is right because when I try webinar 97621911198 (the one that has been working) I do get the one instance returned.

Webinar not found message for 95108419043:

[MaxM]

Hey @ChrissyC,

Thank you for the update. It looks like the Meeting ID of 95108419043 is actually a meeting and not a webinar. Try using the List Ended Meeting Instances API with that ID and let me know if that returns the instances you’re looking for.

Thanks,
Max

[ChrissyC]

Seems so obvious now! They had been logged in our system as being webinars but apparently hosted as meetings instead.

With both 95108419043 and 96891586828 I’m able to retrieve the instance data and get data from the meeting reports API. However, when trying meetings/96891586828, it comes back with “Meeting does not exist.” Does this have to do with it being older and perhaps expired? Meetings/95108419043 works fine and is much more recent. I would think it would work the same way as webinars/ID though, where I’m still able to retrieve data from the older webinar - 97621911198.

[MaxM]

Hey @ChrissyC,

I’m glad that helped! When it comes to meeting 96891586828, that has been deleted by our system as it is expired. For the Webinar 97621911198, I’m not sure why this hasn’t been deleted by our system yet. I’m not seeing that the batch delete process ran on that but the last instance is from over 30 days ago.

I can reach out to an internal resource to gain more insight into this. Do you have any other Webinar IDs that are older than a month you’re still able to query using the Get a Webinar API?

Thanks,
Max

[ChrissyC]

Here are two other webinars I’m able to retrieve: 95494772260 and 93134516955

So 30 days after the webinar or meeting has ended, you should not be able to get data from Get a Webinar or Get a Meeting because they’ve expired and been deleted at that point. Does this deletion mean that you also won’t find it in the Past Webinars/Meetings API and the Report API’s?

I was also wondering what this looks like from the user’s perspective when they log in to their Zoom account.

[MaxM]

Hey @ChrissyC,

Thank you for providing additional Ids. It looks like all of these webinars are recurring webinars. When it comes to recurring webinars, the meeting Id will remain valid for 1 year after the last instance. My apologies for not catching that earlier.

I was also wondering what this looks like from the user’s perspective when they log in to their Zoom account.

When a meeting/webinar expires it is no longer available in the host’s UI.

Thanks,
Max