Teams Meeting Transcription: Free Ways That Work (2026)

Teams can transcribe a meeting as it happens — if your plan, your admin's policies, your role, and your device all cooperate. Below: the four clicks that start a transcript, the four things that gray the button out (only one is your subscription), and a free route for when none of them go your way.

Meetings Brief processing choice: The device-only instructions below require On this device. Live notes also offer Online with Groq when available: selected audio leaves your device in short batches after your processing choice, with shared limits. Online is available for existing recordings: audio goes through private Supabase upload storage to the provider named before upload (Cloudflare Workers AI or Groq), subject to shared usage limits. Check permissions and privacy; AI briefs separately send transcript text to Anthropic.

How to start Teams meeting transcription (step by step)

Teams meeting transcription is built into paid Microsoft 365 plans — here is how to turn it on, and what to do when your plan, policy, or role blocks it. In a meeting, on the Teams desktop app:

1. Select More actions (the three dots) in the meeting controls.
2. Select Record and transcribe, then Start transcription.
3. Confirm the spoken language — the one people are actually speaking, not the one you want to read.
4. Select Confirm.

Every participant sees a notification that the meeting is being transcribed — there is no silent mode, which is as it should be; the legal side is covered in is it legal to record meetings. And starting a recording starts transcription automatically alongside it, so you rarely need both.

If those menu items are missing or grayed out, skip to the four checks further down.

How to stop, hide, or restart transcription mid-meeting

To stop: select More actions, hover over Record and transcribe, and select Stop transcription (or Stop recording, which ends the transcript that came with it). Restart the same way you started and the transcript resumes.

If the live pane is distracting but you want the record kept, choose Hide transcript instead — transcription continues in the background.

How to download a Teams transcript (.docx or .vtt)

After the meeting:

1. Open Chat in Teams and select the past meeting.
2. Select Recap, then Transcript.
3. Select the arrow next to Download and pick .docx for reading and editing, or .vtt, the subtitle format.

Turn the transcript into a recap: drop the downloaded .vtt file into the free meeting summary generator, or copy the text from your .docx file and paste it there. Review the decisions and action items before sharing the summary.

The file lives in the meeting organizer's OneDrive for Business, with the recording, reachable from the chat and Recap tab until it is deleted or expires. By default only organizers and co-organizers get the Download option. Other people in the organizer's organization can normally read the saved transcript; external and anonymous participants have different access rules and may need the organizer to share it.

Who can start, view, and download the transcript

Microsoft's own support table, condensed:

Two footnotes. Organizers can narrow who may record and transcribe in the meeting options — organizers and co-organizers only, presenters as well, or no one — which is why a colleague with an identical license may see a button you do not. And dial-in callers cannot view the transcript at all.

Changing the transcription language — and what Teams Premium adds

If the transcript is coming out garbled, the spoken language is usually set wrong. In the transcript pane, select Language settings, pick the right language under Spoken language in this meeting, and select Update — it changes for everyone. Transcription supports more than 50 language variants, from English (US) through to Welsh.

Reading the transcript in a different language than the one spoken — live translated transcription — is a Teams Premium feature, and it is the organizer who needs the license. Translated versions are not saved; only the original-language transcript is stored.

How to delete a transcript

Organizers and co-organizers only: open the past meeting in Chat, select Recap, then Delete above the transcript. Admins can also set transcripts to expire automatically — why an old meeting's transcript sometimes vanishes on its own.

Is Teams transcription free?

Check the subscription that hosts the meeting. Microsoft's business plan comparison lists meeting recordings with transcripts on Teams Essentials and eligible Microsoft 365 business plans. The free personal product is a different offer; do not assume it includes those business transcription rights.

An included license still needs the applicable policies, meeting options and permissions. If you already have an approved recording, the post-recording options below may be more useful than changing your meeting subscription. Consult the current plan page for regional prices and billing terms.

Why is the Start transcription button grayed out?

There are four separate things that can stop it, and only one of them is your subscription. Working through them in order takes about two minutes.

1. Your plan

Confirm that the host’s subscription includes the feature and that the required license is assigned. Check the current Microsoft plan comparison or ask the administrator; a missing button alone does not identify the cause.

2. Both policies — yours and the organizer's

This is the one that catches people who are definitely on a paid plan, and it is documented but easy to miss.

Transcription in Teams is both a per-organizer and a per-user policy. Microsoft's admin documentation puts it plainly: for a meeting to include a transcript, the organizer must have the setting turned on, and the person who starts the transcript must have it turned on too.

So there are two ways to be blocked while holding a perfectly good license:

• Your own meeting policy has transcription off
• You are joining someone else's meeting and their policy has it off

Both look identical from where you are sitting: a grayed-out button. If you administer the tenant, the setting is under Meetings → Meeting policies → Transcription in the Teams admin center, and it is on by default for new policies. There is also a transcripts diagnostic tool in the Microsoft 365 admin center that checks whether a specific user's account meets the requirements for a specific meeting.

3. Your role in that particular meeting

Even with the license and both policies in order, the organizer's meeting options decide who can transcribe: organizers and co-organizers always can, others in your organization only if the organizer allows it, external and anonymous participants never — the table above has the full picture.

4. The device you are on

Check the controls in your current Teams app. Microsoft documents More options → Transcription → Confirm on mobile, although viewing the live transcript can differ from starting it. If the control is missing, update the app and ask your administrator to check your license, policies and meeting role.

Check the actual Recording & transcription meeting options. Copilot choices and capture controls interact, but turning Copilot off should not be described as automatically disabling every recording route. Microsoft’s troubleshooting guide explains the available combinations.

Where the transcript actually goes

Assuming it runs, the transcript lives in the meeting organizer's OneDrive for Business, next to the recording — which means that if you were a guest, it is not your file. You may be able to read it in the Recap tab, but the copy sits in someone else's storage, downloads are restricted to organizers and co-organizers by default, and transcripts can be set to expire. It is entirely possible to attend a transcribed meeting and end up with nothing.

Already recorded the meeting? Transcribing it after the fact

To make the recording in the first place — who can press Record, and what to do as a guest — see how to record a Teams meeting.

If transcription was on while the recording ran, you already have a transcript — it is sitting in Recap next to the video.

If the recording has no transcript, Microsoft provides a post-recording option. Open the recording in its browser player, choose Video settings → Transcript and captions → Generate, and select the spoken language. You need ownership or editing access, a supported file and language, and a tenant that permits transcription. Microsoft documents this in meeting recording playback help and video transcript management. The latter currently specifies files under 4 GB and under four hours. Generation takes time; it is not recovery of speech that was never recorded.

If that option is unavailable, ask the owner for an approved export. You can transcribe a recording you are allowed to use with the Meetings Brief transcription tool. It needs no account and has no service-imposed minute quota; supported formats and practical file length depend on your browser and device.

The file-transcription step processes audio on your device. A model must download on first use, and longer recordings take more device time and memory. Choosing Get the brief afterwards sends transcript text to the AI service; finishing transcription alone does not. Check the privacy policy before using that separate step.

An alternative when your organization permits it

A missing button is not permission to bypass a recording restriction. If a separate recording or transcript is allowed:

1. Record the meeting, with everyone's knowledge and consent. If Teams recording is not available to you, ask the organizer first; how to record a Teams meeting covers who can record and what else works.
2. Transcribe the file afterwards, free, as above.

This also matters for a Teams-specific rule: many IT policies block third-party bots from joining calls. The bot modes of Otter, Fireflies and Fathom join as a visible participant, which is what those policies cover. A file you already have introduces no participant and no bot; your organization's recording rules still apply.

Doing it live, still without a bot

The same reasoning extends to transcribing while the meeting runs, without recording first. Open Meetings Brief to transcribe a Teams meeting live, without recording it: with Teams on the web in another tab, share the Teams tab and leave "Also share tab audio" switched on (it normally is), and the transcript builds during the call. Your own browser is doing the listening, so there is no participant to admit. Check your organization's recording rules, and tell everyone you are transcribing. When you stop, the summary, action items and open questions can be emailed to you with the transcript attached.

Two constraints: it is built for Teams in a browser tab (Teams on the web), and it needs Chrome or Edge on a desktop. Where your organization only allows the desktop app, record the meeting and transcribe the file afterwards.

Teams built-in vs. free browser transcription

The built-in feature keeps the workflow in Microsoft 365. A browser tool is another option for an approved recording or supported live audio source; it does not override a locked-down policy, guest restriction or phone capture limitation. Weighing up the bot-based notetakers too? See the best AI meeting assistant for Microsoft Teams.

Before you record

Recording obligations vary by jurisdiction: some places require one party's consent, others everyone's. Say it out loud at the start, put it in the invite, and do not record over an objection — is it legal to record meetings has the detail. And if your employer restricts recording internal meetings, that applies to your own screen recorder as much as to a bot. Ask first.

Getting output you will actually use

Test the actual audio source before relying on it. Check a short sample for both sides of the conversation, then review names, numbers, overlapping speech and specialist terms in the final transcript. A working audio meter does not prove those details were recognized correctly.

A transcript is not the finished product

Keep the transcript as the source, then prepare a shorter recap of decisions, actions and open questions. The summary generator accepts text or a .vtt file; review the result before sharing. It is free with daily AI limits.

The short version

With an eligible subscription, the applicable policies enabled and an allowed meeting role, use More actions → Record and transcribe → Start transcription. If the option is unavailable, ask the organizer or administrator to check the license, policies and meeting options. For an existing recording, try the supported Microsoft player’s Generate option or transcribe an approved export on your device. A separate tool does not override a recording restriction.

Working in Google Meet or Zoom as well? The same approach applies, with different plan rules: transcribing a Google Meet call and transcribing a Zoom meeting.

Frequently asked questions

Can you transcribe a Microsoft Teams meeting for free?

Native business transcription needs an eligible subscription and settings. If you are permitted to use an exported recording, Meetings Brief can transcribe that file without a paid tier or account. Your device handles processing and limits the practical file size.

Why is the Start transcription button grayed out in Teams?

Check the host's subscription, both your and the organizer's transcription policies, the meeting's recording permissions, and your app version. A phone alone does not rule out starting transcription: Microsoft documents a Transcription control in the mobile app.

Which Microsoft Teams plans include transcription?

Microsoft lists recording with transcripts on Teams Essentials and eligible Microsoft 365 business plans. Check the current business plan comparison, assigned licenses and your organization’s policies. Translation and other AI features can have separate requirements.

Where is the Teams meeting transcript saved?

With the recording, in OneDrive and SharePoint — specifically the meeting organizer's OneDrive for Business. Participants can reach it from the meeting chat and the Recap tab until the organizer deletes it, and organizers and co-organizers can download it as a .docx or .vtt file. Transcripts can also be set to expire automatically.

Can I get a Teams transcript if I was only a guest on the call?

Not automatically as a file of your own. The transcript is stored in the organizer's OneDrive, and by default only organizers and co-organizers can download it. You have to ask the organizer, or record and transcribe your own copy with everyone's consent.

Does Teams transcription work on mobile?

Microsoft documents starting and stopping transcription from More options → Transcription on mobile, and viewing the saved transcript after the meeting. Starting transcription and viewing its live text are separate capabilities; check the current app, meeting permissions and administrator settings.

Will a third-party AI notetaker work instead?

It depends on the permitted capture mode and vendor. Some assistants offer bot and bot-free options. Importing a recording adds no participant, but that does not override organizational recording, vendor or data-handling restrictions.

Does browser-based transcription send my recording to Microsoft or anyone else?

On this device: No. The speech model is downloaded into the page and runs on your device, so the audio file never leaves your machine. That is what makes free transcription with no minute limit possible without an account, and it avoids uploading the audio. That alone does not establish approval for a sensitive meeting. AI summarization is separate and sends transcript text to the AI service.