Recording and transcription are two separate things
| Transcription only | Recording | |
|---|---|---|
| What is captured | Text of what was said, with each speaker's name and a timestamp | Audio, video and screen sharing |
| Does it start the other one? | No. Starting transcription does not start a recording. | Yes. Microsoft says that when you record a meeting, transcription starts automatically. |
| What is left afterwards | A transcript you can download as .docx or .vtt | A video file, plus the transcript |
| What participants see | A notification that the meeting is being transcribed | A notification that recording has started |
| Where it is stored | The meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business | The meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint for a channel meeting |
For a client meeting where the goal is an accurate file note, transcription only is usually the better choice. You get the words without an audio or video file of the client that you then have to store, secure and eventually delete.
How to start transcription without recording
- Join the meeting in the Teams desktop app.
- Tell the other person you are about to switch on transcription, and why. Wait for a yes.
- Select More actions in the meeting controls.
- Select Record and transcribe, then Start transcription. Do not choose Start recording.
- Confirm the language everyone is speaking, then select Confirm. Choose English (Australia) if it is offered.
- To finish, go to More actions, hover over Record and transcribe and select Stop transcription. Transcription also stops by itself when everyone has left.
Use the desktop app. Microsoft says live transcription is only available on Teams for desktop, and that the mobile app supports viewing a transcript after a meeting ends.
If Start transcription is greyed out
Hover over the lock icon on the button and Teams tells you why. Microsoft lists these reasons:
- You are a guest, or from a different organisation to the organiser. Only people in the organiser's organisation can start it.
- You joined without signing in. Anonymous participants cannot start it.
- Your IT admin has not allowed transcription, for you or for the meeting organiser. Both need it. A change to the policy can take time to apply.
- The organiser limited who can transcribe. The meeting option Who can record and transcribe can be set to organisers and co-organisers only, or to no one.
- Copilot is turned off for the meeting. Microsoft says that when an organiser sets Copilot to Off in meeting options, recording and transcription are turned off with it. It only comes up where your admin's Copilot policy lets organisers change that option.
- You are an attendee, not a presenter. Ask the organiser to make you a presenter.
The practical rule for client meetings: send the invite from your own account. If the client or another firm organised the meeting, you are the outsider, and you generally cannot start the transcript or download it.
What the other participants see
Microsoft says all participants see a notification that the meeting is being transcribed. People inside your organisation can also open the live transcript during the meeting. People from another organisation can view the live transcript but, according to Microsoft's table, cannot view or download it afterwards. People who dial in by phone cannot view the transcript at all.
Participants can choose to hide their identity in captions and transcripts. If a client does that, their lines will not carry their name.
Admins can go a step further with a policy called Require participant agreement for recording and transcription. It is off by default. When it is on, Microsoft says participants' audio, video and content sharing are turned off until they agree to be included in the recording and transcript.
See what a finished file note looks like.
Pick your line of work and we'll send a sample note written from a mocked call. No account, no card, and nothing from your own client files.
One sample note, plus the occasional CallNote update. Unsubscribe any time by replying. We never ask for your call recordings or client files.
Can you have Teams transcription only for you?
People search for this hoping for a private transcript. Teams does not have one. Starting transcription notifies everyone, and the saved transcript belongs to the meeting. There are three things that come close, and each has a catch.
| Option | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Live captions | Subtitles on your own screen during the meeting. Microsoft describes this as a per-user setting. | Captions are not saved. When the meeting ends there is nothing to download. |
| Copilot set to "Only during the meeting" | You can ask Copilot questions during the meeting, and your prompts and answers are private to you. | Needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence and an admin policy that lets organisers choose this mode. Microsoft says the speech-to-text data is not saved after the meeting, so there is no transcript. |
| Normal transcription with default download rights | A saved transcript. By default only the organiser and co-organisers can download it. | Everyone was still notified, and people in your organisation who attended can view it. |
There is a good reason Teams works this way. A transcript nobody else knows about is a covert record of a private conversation, and in much of Australia that is a legal problem. More on that below.
Where the transcript is stored
Microsoft says Teams transcripts for meetings with recording, transcription or both are stored in the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business. For channel meetings, recordings and transcripts go to the channel's SharePoint site. In Teams you reach the transcript through the meeting chat and the Recap tab.
Two things follow from that:
- The organiser owns it. If a colleague organised the meeting, the transcript is in their OneDrive, and they and any co-organisers are the ones who can download or delete it.
- It can expire. Microsoft's default is that meeting recordings and transcripts expire after 120 days, at which point they move to the recycle bin. Your admin can change the number of days or turn expiry off. Do not treat Teams as the permanent home of a client record.
How to download the transcript (.vtt or .docx)
- In Teams, select Chat and open the chat for the past meeting.
- Select Recap.
- Select Transcript.
- Select the dropdown arrow next to Download and choose .vtt or .docx.
The .docx is the easy one to read. The .vtt is plain text with a timestamp and speaker on each line, and it is the format note tools read. For people who joined from a mobile device, Microsoft suggests downloading the transcript and attaching it to the meeting chat.
The admin settings behind it
| Setting | Where it is | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Transcription (meetings) | Teams admin centre > Meetings > Meeting policies | On for new policies. Applies to both the organiser and the person who starts it. |
| Transcription (1:1 and phone calls) | Teams admin centre > Voice > Calling policies | Off. Your admin has to turn it on. |
| Require participant agreement for recording and transcription | Meeting policies > Recording & transcription | Off |
| Recordings and transcripts automatically expire | Meeting policies > Recording & transcription | On, 120 days |
| Who can record and transcribe | Meeting options, set by the organiser | Needs Teams Premium or a Copilot licence to change |
| Transcript API access | Teams admin centre > Meetings > Meeting settings | Off. Only needed if an app such as CallNote will read transcripts. |
You do not need Copilot or Teams Premium to transcribe. The licence detail is in our guide to Teams transcription licence requirements. If you are weighing up Copilot or a meeting bot instead, see our comparison of AI note takers for Teams.
Consent etiquette in Australia
A transcript is a word-for-word record of a conversation, so we treat it the same way as a recording. The state and territory surveillance and listening devices Acts differ. Recording a private conversation generally needs the consent of everyone on it in New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory allow a person who is a party to the conversation to record it. The federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 sits alongside the state laws and deals with intercepting communications as they pass over a telecommunications system. This is general information, not legal advice. Our guide to recording calls in Australia covers each state.
Whatever state you are in, the good-practice version is the same:
- Say it before you click. The Teams banner is a backup, and a client on a phone line never sees it.
- Say what it is for: an accurate written record on their file.
- Say that it is text only and nothing is being recorded.
- Wait for a clear yes, then start. That way the yes is at the top of the transcript.
- If they say no, take notes by hand. Do not turn on captions quietly and work from those.
- Put a line about transcription in your engagement letter or privacy notice so it is not a surprise.
What to do with the transcript
A raw transcript is not a file note. A 30 minute meeting runs to several hundred lines of half-sentences. The record that belongs on the client file is a short, structured note of what was discussed, advised and agreed.
This is the step CallNote does. It never joins the meeting and never receives audio. It takes the transcript Teams made and writes the note in your firm's format. There are two ways to get the transcript to it:
- Automatically. Each person connects their own Microsoft account in CallNote once. Before that works, your Teams admin has to turn on Transcript API access (Teams admin centre, Meetings > Meeting settings, set Microsoft Graph access to On, and turn on Include speaker attribution so the note knows who said what). Microsoft ships this off. After that, when a meeting you organised ends with transcription on, the draft note is waiting in CallNote.
- By hand. Download the .vtt using the steps above and upload it on New note, or forward it by email to your CallNote address. This also works for meetings a colleague organised, if they send you the file.
You review the draft, fix anything the speech-to-text got wrong, and publish. The published note is sealed and locked, later changes are added as amendments, and it goes to the one CRM your firm has connected: HubSpot, Clio or Microsoft Dynamics 365. How to turn a Teams transcript into a file note walks through it, and Teams meeting notes to Dynamics 365 covers the CRM end.
Here is a fictional example of where a transcript-only meeting ends up. A solicitor has a first meeting about a will over Teams.
- Consent
Mrs Liddell was told that transcription would be switched on for an accurate record and that no audio or video recording would be made. She agreed before it was started.
- Instructions received
- Mrs Liddell wants a new will to replace the one she made in 2011.
- Her two adult children are to be executors together.
- Her home and savings are to be divided equally between the two children.
- She wants to leave $10,000 to her local animal shelter.
- Advice given
- Explained what an executor does and that both children would need to agree on decisions.
- Explained that her superannuation does not automatically pass under the will and that she should check the nomination with her fund.
- Explained that an enduring power of attorney is a separate document and offered to prepare one.
- Capacity
Mrs Liddell gave clear and consistent instructions, knew what she owned and who her family were, and explained her reasons without prompting. Nobody else was in the room.
- Not covered on this call
Who should receive a child's share if that child dies before her.
- Next steps
- Solicitor to send the costs disclosure and a draft will by Friday 16 October 2026.
- Solicitor to ask about the substitute beneficiary question in the covering email.
- Mrs Liddell to check her superannuation nomination.
The solicitor read every line against her own memory of the meeting before publishing. That review is not optional. Our attendance note generator is a free way to try the format on a meeting of your own.
Common questions
Can you transcribe a Teams meeting without recording it?
Yes. In the meeting select More actions, then Record and transcribe, then Start transcription. Teams creates a text transcript with speaker names and timestamps and does not create an audio or video file. It only works the other way round: starting a recording also starts transcription.
Can I turn on Teams transcription only for me?
No. When transcription starts, all participants see a notification, and the saved transcript is available to the organiser and to people in your organisation who attended. Live captions are per-user but are not saved. Copilot prompts are private to you, but its Only during the meeting mode keeps no transcript and needs a Copilot licence.
Do participants know when a Teams meeting is being transcribed?
Yes. Microsoft says all participants see a notification that the meeting is being transcribed. Someone who joins by phone cannot see it, so tell people out loud as well. Admins can also require each participant to agree before they can unmute.
Where are Teams transcripts stored?
In the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business, or in the channel's SharePoint site for a channel meeting. You open it from the meeting chat or the Recap tab in Teams. By default Microsoft expires recordings and transcripts after 120 days unless your admin changes that.
How do I download a Teams transcript?
Open the past meeting chat in Teams, select Recap, select Transcript, then use the dropdown arrow next to Download and choose .docx or .vtt. By default only the organiser and co-organisers can download it.
Do I need consent to transcribe a Teams meeting in Australia?
Treat it like a recording. Recording a private conversation generally needs everyone's consent in NSW, WA, SA, Tasmania and the ACT, while Victoria, Queensland and the NT allow a party to the conversation to record. The safe practice everywhere is to tell people first and get a clear yes. This is general information, not legal advice.