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 grey the button out (only one is your subscription), and a free route for when none of them go your way.

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 greyed 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.

The file lives in the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business, with the recording, reachable from the chat and Recap tab until it is deleted or expires. By default only organisers and co-organisers get the Download option — everyone else can read the transcript but has to ask for the file.

Who can start, view, and download the transcript

Microsoft's own support table, condensed:

Two footnotes. Organisers can narrow who may record and transcribe in the meeting options — organisers and co-organisers only, presenters as well, or no one — which is why a colleague with an identical licence 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 organiser who needs the licence. Translated versions are not saved; only the original-language transcript is stored.

How to delete a transcript

Organisers and co-organisers 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?

No. The free version of Teams does not include transcription — built-in transcripts start at Teams Essentials, $4.00 per user per month — but there is a genuinely free alternative, covered below, that transcribes the same meeting in your browser without an upload or an account.

The plan detail: Microsoft's comparison lists "team meeting recordings with transcripts and live captions" from Teams Essentials ($4.00 per user per month, paid yearly) upwards, and meeting recordings with transcripts on Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($7.00 per user per month) and above. Microsoft's page for the free version of Teams describes 60-minute group meetings, up to 100 participants and 5 GB of cloud storage per user — recording, transcription and live captions are not among the features it lists.

One detail worth knowing if you are choosing between the two cheapest tiers: on Essentials, live captions are English only. Business Basic and above cover over 30 languages.

Why is the Start transcription button greyed 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

Transcription is a paid feature, as above: nothing on the free version of Teams, built-in transcripts from Teams Essentials at $4.00 per user per month upwards. If the organisation has never paid for Teams, this is your answer and no setting will change it.

2. Both policies — yours and the organiser'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-organiser and a per-user policy. Microsoft's admin documentation puts it plainly: for a meeting to include a transcript, the organiser 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 licence:

• 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 greyed-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 licence and both policies in order, the organiser's meeting options decide who can transcribe: organisers and co-organisers always can, others in your organisation only if the organiser allows it, external and anonymous participants never — the table above has the full picture.

4. The device you are on

Live transcription is desktop only. The Teams mobile app can show you a transcript after the meeting has ended, but it cannot start one — if you joined from your phone, that alone is enough to explain it.

There is one more, easy to trip over by accident: if the organiser turns off Microsoft 365 Copilot for the meeting, recording and transcription go off with it.

Where the transcript actually goes

Assuming it runs, the transcript lives in the meeting organiser'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 organisers and co-organisers 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

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

If the meeting was recorded without transcription — or someone has sent you the video file, or you captured it yourself — Teams will not generate a transcript retroactively. But a recording is just audio, and audio is all transcription needs. Download the recording (the organiser finds it in OneDrive, in the Recordings folder), then drop the file into the Meetings Brief transcription tool. It is free, takes .mp4 and audio files, needs no account, and has no minute cap.

The part that matters in a corporate context: the recording is never uploaded. The speech model is downloaded into the page and runs on your own machine, so the audio never reaches a server at all. That is also why it can be free — move the computation to the device and the per-minute cost disappears, and with it the reason for a signup or a meter.

The route that works regardless

Every obstacle in the greyed-out list is a permission, not a technical limit. When the built-in feature is closed to you:

1. Record the meeting, with everyone's knowledge and consent. If Teams recording is not available either, every current version of Windows and macOS has a screen recorder built in, as does every phone.
2. Transcribe the file afterwards, free, as above.

This also sidesteps a Teams-specific problem: many IT policies block third-party bots from joining calls. Otter, Fireflies and Fathom join as a visible participant — exactly what those policies exist to stop. A file you already have introduces no participant and no bot.

Doing it live, still without a bot

The same reasoning extends to transcribing while the meeting runs, without recording first. Open live meeting notes alongside Teams on the web, share the Teams tab with tab audio switched on, and the transcript builds as people talk. Your own browser is doing the listening, so there is no participant to admit and nothing for a bot policy to catch. When you stop, the summary, action items and open questions can be emailed to you with the transcript attached.

Two constraints: it requires Teams in a browser tab rather than the desktop app, since a page can only reach the audio of another tab, and it needs Chrome or Edge on a desktop. Where the desktop app is mandated, recording and transcribing the file afterwards remains the route that works.

Teams built-in vs. free browser transcription

The built-in feature wins on integration; the browser route wins everywhere the built-in one is fenced off — free plan, locked-down policy, guest role, phone. 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

Audio quality decides accuracy — a cheap headset beats expensive software on a laptop microphone, and it is the highest-leverage thing you control. Crosstalk is the main failure mode: every engine degrades when two people speak at once, so chairing the call well improves the transcript more than switching tools does. And names and jargon are where errors cluster — say them clearly the first time and expect to correct a few afterwards.

A transcript is not the finished product

An hour of conversation is roughly 9,000 words, and nobody rereads that. The questions you will have next week are "what did we decide" and "what did I promise" — a raw transcript answers neither directly. Meetings Brief does that step free too: AI summaries in several formats, automatic action items, and search across everything you have captured.

The short version

On Teams Essentials or above, with both policies on, on desktop, as organiser or co-organiser — use the built-in transcript: More actions → Record and transcribe → Start transcription. If any of those conditions is not met, no setting inside Teams will unlock it. Record the meeting with consent and transcribe the file afterwards, free, in your browser, without uploading it anywhere and without adding a bot to the call.

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?

Not with the built-in feature. Microsoft lists meeting recordings with transcripts from Teams Essentials at $4.00 per user per month upwards, and the free version of Teams does not list recording, transcription or live captions among its features. You can record the meeting with consent and transcribe that file afterwards free, using a browser-based tool that needs no account.

Why is the Start transcription button greyed out in Teams?

Four things can cause it. Your plan may not include transcription; the meeting organiser's policy or your own may have it switched off, and both have to be on; you may be a presenter or attendee rather than an organiser or co-organiser; or you may be on the mobile app, which can view a transcript but not start one.

Which Microsoft Teams plans include transcription?

Microsoft's plan comparison lists team meeting recordings with transcripts and live captions on Teams Essentials at $4.00 per user per month, and meeting recordings with transcripts on Microsoft 365 Business Basic at $7.00 per user per month and above. On Essentials, live captions are English only; Business Basic and above cover over 30 languages.

Where is the Teams meeting transcript saved?

With the recording, in OneDrive and SharePoint — specifically the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business. Participants can reach it from the meeting chat and the Recap tab until the organiser deletes it, and organisers and co-organisers 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 organiser's OneDrive, and by default only organisers and co-organisers can download it. You have to ask the organiser, or record and transcribe your own copy with everyone's consent.

Does Teams transcription work on mobile?

Not for starting one. Live transcription is available on Teams for desktop; the mobile app supports viewing a transcript after the meeting has ended.

Will a third-party AI notetaker work instead?

Sometimes. Tools like Otter, Fireflies and Fathom join the call as a participant, and a great many organisations block third-party bots from meetings for exactly that reason. Transcribing a recording you already have adds no participant to the call, so it works where bots are blocked.

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

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 unlimited free transcription possible without an account, and it is why it is usable for meetings you could not upload to a third-party service.