Microsoft Teams guide
How to transcribe a Teams meeting
To transcribe a Teams meeting, select More actions > Transcribe in the Teams desktop app, confirm the spoken language and select Confirm. After the meeting, find it in the meeting chat under Recap > Transcript, where organizers can download it as .docx or .vtt.
Start live transcription in Teams
These steps match Microsoft's support pages as of October 2026.
- Join the meeting in the Teams desktop app. Live transcription can't be started from the mobile app.
- In the meeting controls, select More actions (...), then Transcribe.
- Check the language everyone is speaking. Teams uses it for the transcript and captions, and a wrong language gives a garbled transcript.
- Select Confirm. Everyone in the meeting is notified, and the transcript appears in a panel as people talk.
Recording also starts transcription automatically, so if you use More actions > Record you get both. To stop only the transcript, open More actions, go to the recording options and choose to stop transcribing.
Change the spoken language
Select More actions, open the menu next to Transcribing, choose Show transcript, then Language settings, pick the language and select Update. This changes it for everyone.
Who can transcribe a Teams meeting
| Who | Start or stop | See it after the meeting |
|---|---|---|
| Organizer, co-organizers | Yes | Yes, and download |
| People in the same organization | Yes (unless the organizer limited it) | Yes; download depends on IT policy |
| People from another organization | No | No (live view only) |
| Anonymous guests, phone dial-in | No | No |
With Teams Premium or Copilot, organizers can restrict recording and transcription to organizers and co-organizers, add presenters, or turn it off. Your IT admin can also disable transcription entirely.
Find and download the transcript
- In Teams, select Chat and open the past meeting's chat.
- Select Recap, then Transcript.
- Open the menu next to Download and choose .docx (a Word document) or .vtt (a captions file with timestamps).
Transcripts are kept in the organizer's OneDrive for work or school until they're deleted. If you need to keep the recording itself, see how to record a Teams meeting, including where recordings are stored and when they expire.
If Copilot is available
On accounts with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium, the Recap page can also show AI notes and follow-ups built from the transcript. If your company already has those licenses, that's the most integrated option for Teams.
When Teams transcription isn't an option
Common cases: you're a guest in another company's meeting, IT has turned transcription off, or you use personal Teams. Your options:
- Ask the organizer to transcribe and share the transcript.
- Transcribe a recording afterwards. If you have a Teams recording (an .mp4), download it from OneDrive or SharePoint and open it in a transcription app.
- Use a note-taking bot such as Otter or Fireflies, if the organizer lets it into the meeting. Everyone sees it join.
- Transcribe on your own computer with a desktop recorder that captures your mic and the computer's audio. It needs no Teams license, but it won't show Teams' transcription notice.
Get consent first
Recording laws vary and some places require everyone's consent. Many employers also have rules about recording meetings. Tell people you're recording and transcribing, and stop if anyone objects. This isn't legal advice.
Transcripts of every Teams call, on your computer
Hark records Teams meetings on your own computer, transcribes them locally and names each speaker by voice. No bot, no Teams license needed. Free forever.
How to transcribe Teams meetings with Hark
Hark is a free desktop app that records and transcribes meetings on your own computer. It records the computer rather than joining Teams, so it works whether you're the organizer, a colleague or a guest.
- Download Hark and sign in with a free account. The speech models (about 730 MB) download once.
- Start recording in Hark and join the Teams meeting. A live transcript appears as people speak.
- Stop when the meeting ends. Hark makes a second, more accurate transcript and splits it by speaker.
- Name each voice once. Next time, Hark recognises your colleagues by voice.
- Edit any line, click a word to play from that moment, and export the transcript.
Already have a Teams recording? Drag the .mp4 into Hark (or use File > Import) and it's transcribed the same way.
Good to know
- On Windows and Linux, Hark records both your microphone and the computer's audio. On a Mac, it records the microphone only.
- Transcription is English only and runs on your computer; audio isn't uploaded.
- Recording, transcripts and speaker names are free forever with no limits. AI meeting notes by Claude are $12/month (2-day preview for new accounts) and send the transcript text, not audio, to Claude.
Weighing up tools for Teams? See the best AI note takers for Microsoft Teams or learn how speaker labels work.
Teams transcription vs. a desktop transcript
| Teams transcription | Hark on your computer | |
|---|---|---|
| Needs | Work/school account, admin permission, same organization | Hark on your computer, any Teams account |
| Languages | Many | English only |
| Speaker names | From Teams accounts | By voice, remembered across meetings |
| Stored in | Organizer's OneDrive | Your computer |
| Notifies everyone | Automatically | No, so you tell them |
If you organize meetings inside your own company, Teams' built-in transcript is hard to beat for convenience. A desktop transcript makes more sense when you're a guest, when transcription is turned off, or when you want your meeting history in one place across Teams, Zoom and Google Meet.
Related
- Local AI transcription How on-device speech recognition works, and the trade-offs.
- How to record a Teams meeting Recording in Microsoft Teams, licenses, and where files go.
- How to transcribe a Zoom meeting Zoom's transcripts and other ways to get a transcript.
- Google Meet transcription Meet's built-in transcripts and the alternatives.
- Transcribe an audio recording to text Every realistic way to turn a recording into text.
- Voice recorders with transcription Apps that record and transcribe, on phone and computer.
Frequently asked questions
How do I transcribe a Teams meeting? +
In the Teams desktop app, select More actions > Transcribe during the meeting, confirm the spoken language and select Confirm. Recording the meeting also starts the transcript. Afterwards, open the meeting chat, go to Recap > Transcript and download it.
Where do I find a Teams meeting transcript? +
Open Chat in Teams, select the meeting's chat, then Recap and Transcript. Organizers and co-organizers can download it as a .docx or .vtt file; whether others can depends on your IT policy. Transcripts are stored in the organizer's OneDrive for work or school.
Why can't I transcribe a Teams meeting? +
People from another organization and anonymous guests cannot start or stop transcription, and your IT admin may have turned it off. Live transcription only starts from the Teams desktop app, not the mobile app. If the organizer has Teams Premium or Copilot, they may also have limited who can transcribe.
Can I transcribe a Teams meeting as a guest? +
Not with Teams' own transcription. Guests from other organizations can see the live transcript but cannot start it, view it after the meeting or download it. Ask the organizer to share it, or transcribe on your own computer with a desktop recorder, after getting everyone's consent.
Can I transcribe a Teams recording I already have? +
Yes. If a recording was made without a transcript, download the video from OneDrive or SharePoint and open it in a transcription app. Hark, for example, imports .mp4 files and transcribes them on your computer with speakers separated by voice.
Record, transcribe and remember every meeting
Hark records your calls on your own computer, transcribes them privately, and learns who is speaking. Free forever, with a 2-day preview of AI meeting notes.