Teams: how meeting recordings and transcripts work
Teams can record a meeting and write a transcript of what was said. This is handy for people who could not attend, but it needs a few things to be right. Some of it depends on your licence and on settings chosen by your organisation, so the buttons may not be available to everyone.
Start a recording
- In the meeting, find the meeting controls at the top.
- Click More actions, which looks like three dots.
- Choose Record and transcribe, then Start recording. The wording can differ slightly between versions.
- Everyone in the meeting is told that recording has started. It is polite and sometimes a legal requirement to tell attendees first.
To finish, use the same menu and choose Stop recording. Recording also stops when everyone leaves.
Start a transcript
In the same menu, choose Start transcription. The transcript appears at the side. It can be started without recording, and the other way round.
Where do recordings go?
Recordings are saved to OneDrive or SharePoint, not on your computer. For an ordinary meeting, the recording usually goes to the OneDrive of the person who started it. For a channel meeting, it goes to that team's SharePoint area. After a short wait, a link usually shows in the meeting chat.
Who can watch it?
By default, people invited to the meeting get access, but this depends on settings. To share with others, open the file in OneDrive or SharePoint and use Share. See our guide on sharing files safely.
Things to know
- Recordings can be set to delete automatically after a set number of days. Your administrator decides this, so download or move anything you must keep.
- Only people with the right permissions can start recording. If the option is missing, you may not be allowed, or your admin may have turned it off.
Common problems
- No recording link: wait a few minutes, then check your OneDrive Recordings folder.
When to get more help
If a vital recording has gone missing or you need recording turned on, contact us promptly because deleted files can only be restored for a limited time.