Do you often forget to click Record, or do you want a training session or weekly meeting always recorded from the first minute? Microsoft Teams can automatically record and transcribe a meeting as soon as it starts. This article shows how to set that up as an organizer, what an administrator has to allow, where the recording ends up and how long it is kept.
Turn on automatic recording as an organizer
- Open the meeting in your Teams calendar (or in Outlook) and select Meeting options. During a meeting you'll find it under ... (More) > Settings > Meeting options.
- Go to the Recording & transcription section.
- Turn on Record and transcribe automatically.
- Select Save.
You set this per meeting. For a recurring series the setting applies to every meeting in the series. For webinars and town halls the option is on by default. A quick Meet now has no meeting options beforehand, so there you start the recording yourself.
From the browser or your phone
- Teams on the web: open the meeting in the calendar and choose Meeting options. The options open in a separate tab or pane, with the same settings.
- Mobile app: tap the meeting in your calendar and look for Meeting options in the details. Not every option is equally easy to reach on mobile; if it doesn't work, set it on your computer.
Who can start and view the recording?
- Recording starts as soon as the first person with recording rights joins. A guest or external attendee who joins first doesn't start it.
- In meeting options, under Who can record and transcribe, choose whether only organizers and co-organizers may do so, or presenters too.
- Everyone in the meeting sees a notice that it is being recorded.
How to control who can watch or download the recording afterwards is covered in control who records and who sees recordings.
The transcription language
Teams transcribes in the spoken language set for the meeting. If it's set to English while everyone speaks Dutch, you get an unreadable transcript. Check the spoken language in meeting options or, once transcription is running, in the transcript settings during the meeting.
Option missing? What the administrator must do
The option only appears if the meeting policy allows recording. A Teams administrator checks this in the Teams admin center under Meetings > Meeting policies: Meeting recording and Transcription must be on. An administrator can also enable automatic recording for certain users or groups with PowerShell (after Connect-MicrosoftTeams):
Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity "Training" -AutoRecording Enabled
Even then the organizer has to turn the option on per meeting. A meeting template can switch it on by default; organizers need a Teams Premium licence for assigned templates. Admins can also turn on explicit recording consent in the meeting policy: attendees then have to agree before their microphone, camera or screen is included in the recording.
Where is the recording saved?
- Regular meeting: in the OneDrive of the organizer (or whoever started the recording), in the Recordings folder.
- Channel meeting: in the team's SharePoint site, in the channel's Recordings folder.
You also find the recording in the meeting chat and on the meeting's Recordings & transcripts tab in your calendar. More on finding and sharing it in record, find and share a Teams meeting.
How long is a recording kept?
New recordings get a default expiration of 120 days. After that they go to the recycle bin. You can change the expiration per recording in the file details, and an administrator can change the default; see change the expiration date of a Teams recording. Need recordings gone sooner for legal reasons? Use a retention policy for meeting recordings.
Note: consent and privacy
A recording contains personal data: voices, images and names. Under the GDPR you must inform attendees and have a valid reason to record. Mention in the invitation that the meeting will be recorded, and ask external attendees for consent in advance. Don't record confidential conversations, such as performance reviews, automatically.
Tips and problems
- Transcript without video: if you only want notes, turn on transcription only. With Microsoft 365 Copilot or Teams Premium you also get an automatic summary.
- Recording started but nobody stays: recording stops automatically when everyone leaves.
- Recording doesn't start: check that the first attendee has recording rights and that your policy allows recording. A policy change can take a few hours to apply.
- Recorded by mistake? Delete the recording in OneDrive or SharePoint; it then disappears from the chat too.
Questions and answers
Can attendees stop the automatic recording?
Anyone with recording rights can stop it during the meeting via ... > Record and transcribe. Regular attendees can't.
Does it work for meetings someone else scheduled?
Only the organizer or a co-organizer can change the meeting options.
Nederlandstalige versie: Een Teams-vergadering automatisch opnemen en transcriberen vanaf de start