How to Transcribe a Microsoft Teams Meeting Free (2026)

Most guides to Teams transcription tell you to click Start transcription. The reason you are reading this is that the option is greyed out, missing, or produced nothing — and Teams does not explain why.

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. Microsoft's own plan comparison lists "Team meeting recordings with transcripts and live captions" from Teams Essentials ($4.00 per user per month) 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. Transcription itself supports 51 language variants, from English (US) through to Welsh.

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, not everyone in the room can start a transcript:

• Organisers and co-organisers: yes
• Presenters: only if the organiser has enabled it
• Everyone else: no

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 is stored alongside the recording in OneDrive and SharePoint — specifically in the meeting organiser's OneDrive for Business. You can reach it from the meeting chat and the Recap tab until the organiser deletes it.

Two consequences people discover at the wrong moment:

If you were a guest, it is not your file. You may be able to read it in the Recap tab, but the copy lives in someone else's storage, and you have to ask them for it.

Downloads are restricted by default. Organisers and co-organisers can download it as a .docx or .vtt file. Everyone else needs the organiser to widen that permission. Transcripts can also be set to expire automatically, so an old meeting may simply no longer be there.

And live translated transcription — the transcript rendered in a language other than the one spoken — is a Teams Premium feature, separate from ordinary transcription.

The route that works regardless

Every obstacle above is a permission, not a technical limit. The audio exists either way, and audio is all transcription needs.

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

For step two you can use the Meetings Brief transcription tool free. Drop the file in and the text comes back. There is no account, no minute cap, and — 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 last point is not a marketing line, it is the reason the tool can be free. Hosted transcription services charge per minute because every minute costs them compute. Move the computation to the device and the per-minute cost disappears, and with it the reason to put it behind a signup.

It is also the answer to a specific problem in Teams-heavy organisations: many IT policies block third-party bots from joining calls. Otter, Fireflies, Fathom and the rest work by joining the meeting as a participant, which is visible to everyone and is exactly what those policies exist to stop. Transcribing 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, which you can now do 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 again 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 to know first: 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.

Before you record

Recording obligations vary by jurisdiction, and an organisation's internal policy is separate from the law.

Some places require only one party to consent, others require everyone on the call. Say it out loud at the start, put it in the invite, and do not record over an objection. There is more detail in is it legal to record meetings.

If your employer restricts recording of internal meetings, that restriction 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 in a room with a fan running. This is the highest-leverage thing you control, and it is free.

Crosstalk is the main failure mode. When two people speak at once, every transcription engine degrades — the paid ones included. Chairing the call well improves the transcript more than switching tools does.

Names and jargon are where errors cluster. Product names, client names and internal acronyms are rare in training data. Saying them clearly the first time helps; expect to correct a few afterwards.

A transcript is not the finished product

An hour of conversation is roughly 9,000 words. Nobody rereads that, which is why so many people have a folder of transcripts they have never opened.

The questions you will have next week are "what did we decide" and "what did I promise" — and a raw transcript answers neither directly. Turning the text into decisions, owners and deadlines is the step that saves time, and it is best done the same day.

Meetings Brief does that part 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. It is well integrated and lands next to the recording.

If any of those four 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.