How to Record a Teams Meeting (2026): Steps, Storage, Fixes
Vorec Team · 2026-10-26 · About 7 min read
To record a Teams meeting on desktop, open More actions in the meeting controls, select Record, choose your spoken language and what to record, then select Confirm. Everyone in the meeting is notified, and the recording is saved to the organizer's OneDrive (or the channel's SharePoint site for channel meetings) and linked in the meeting chat. A greyed-out Record button means a licence, policy, role, or guest restriction, and only the organizer or your admin can lift it. Every Microsoft fact below comes from Microsoft Support and Microsoft Learn pages we read on 26 October 2026; we did not test Teams ourselves, and "not checked" means those pages did not cover it.
How to record a Teams meeting on desktop
For a work or school account, Microsoft's steps are:
- Start or join the meeting.
- In the meeting controls, select More actions, then Record.
- Specify your spoken language and what you want to record.
- Select Confirm.
Only one person can record at a time, and everyone is notified when recording starts.
Audio only: select More actions, then Record, choose Audio only from the "Choose what to record" dropdown, and select Confirm.
To stop: select More actions, then Recording. Choosing Recording stops both the recording and the live transcription. Choosing Transcribing stops only the transcription and leaves the recording running.
Recordings won't capture more than four people's video streams at once, whiteboards and annotations, shared notes, content shared by an app, or videos and animations embedded in PowerPoint Live presentations.
How to record a Teams meeting on mobile
- In the meeting controls, select More options, then Start recording.
- To stop, select More options, then Stop recording.
The recording is processed, saved to OneDrive or SharePoint, and appears in the meeting chat (or the channel, for a channel meeting).
Teams on the web: Microsoft's article splits its steps into Desktop and Mobile tabs only. We did not check whether the browser version's menu matches the desktop one.
Recording with a personal (free) Teams account
Teams for personal use follows different rules:
- Recording is available to Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium subscribers with a Teams personal account.
- Any participant with one of those subscriptions can start and stop a recording; participants without one can't. The organizer doesn't need to attend.
- Recordings are saved in the meeting chat for 30 days, then expire. To keep one longer, use Download below the recording in the chat.
Transcription comes with the recording
Microsoft says when you record a meeting, transcription starts automatically. The live transcript appears in real time with each speaker's name and a time stamp, and participants can choose to hide their identities in captions and transcripts. You can also start transcription without recording from More actions, then Transcribe.
Where are Teams recordings saved?
| Meeting type | Where the recording goes |
|---|---|
| Scheduled, Meet now, recurring and Outlook meetings | The organizer's OneDrive, in a Recordings folder, even if the organizer didn't attend |
| 1:1 and group calls | The OneDrive of the person who selected Record |
| Channel meetings | The channel's SharePoint site, in a folder named Recordings |
| Organizer has no OneDrive | Co-organizers' OneDrive, then the person who started recording; failing that, temporary storage that is deleted after 21 days unless the organizer downloads it |
To find a recording inside Teams:
- From chat: open the meeting chat, select Shared, select the recording, then Play.
- From your calendar: select the past meeting, then Recap, then Play.
- From a channel: open the channel, select Shared, and look for the .mp4 file with the Recording icon.
Microsoft Learn puts a one-hour recording at 400 MB of OneDrive or SharePoint storage.
Who can watch and download it
Everyone invited to a non-channel meeting can view the recording; guests and external attendees can view it only if it's explicitly shared with them. By default, only the organizer and co-organizers can download or delete it. To download: in the meeting chat or channel, open the Shared tab, select the recording, then More options > Download.
Do Teams recordings expire?
Yes. Microsoft Learn says meeting recordings and transcripts have a default expiration time of 120 days, which admins can change or switch off. When a recording expires it moves to the recycle bin, and the owner gets an email. Microsoft's support page says the owner then has up to 90 days to recover it.
With edit permission (organizers and co-organizers usually have it), open the recording's video player page in the browser, select the expiration countdown under the video, and pick a new timeframe or Remove expiration.
Why is the Teams Record button greyed out?
Microsoft says to hover over the Lock icon on the recording button; the tooltip tells you why. Here is the checklist, drawn from Microsoft's "I can't record a meeting" page and its recording requirements:
- You're a guest, anonymous, or from another organization. Only people in the organizer's org can start recording. Sign in with your work account, or ask someone from the organizer's org to record and share it.
- Licence. Both the organizer and the person recording need one of these: Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3, E5, F3, A1, A3, A5, Microsoft 365 Business, Business Premium, or Business Essentials.
- Admin policy. An IT admin must turn on the Meeting recording setting in the meeting policy for both the organizer and the recorder. A changed policy can take time to take effect.
- The organizer limited who can record. In Meeting options, "Who can record and transcribe" may be set to organizers and co-organizers only, or to No one. Ask to be made a co-organizer, or ask the organizer to change it. (Microsoft says this option needs Teams Premium or a Copilot licence.)
- You're an attendee, not a presenter. Ask the organizer to make you a presenter.
- Copilot is off for the meeting. If the organizer set Allow Copilot to Off, the recording button is unavailable to attendees.
- Recording just started. The button is unavailable for a few seconds after someone selects Start recording.
Admins can run Microsoft's Meeting Recording Support Diagnostic in the Microsoft 365 admin center to check a user's licence and policies.
Can you record a Teams meeting without permission?
No, not through Teams. Recording needs a qualifying licence, an admin policy that allows it, and an organizer who hasn't restricted it, and Teams notifies everyone the moment a recording starts. Microsoft also warns that depending on your region, you may need everyone's permission before you record them. If you're blocked, ask the organizer to record and share the file. We don't cover workarounds.
After the meeting: turn a demo into a tutorial
If a call included a screen-share walkthrough or product demo worth reusing, download it and upload it to Vorec in your browser, on any OS. AI writes and voices narration synced to the on-screen actions, you get a written step-by-step guide, and the editor adds zoom, cursor effects and freeze-sync. It works on recordings you already have; it does not record Teams calls.
Plans start with a free trial with no credit card required (current allowances on the pricing page) needed. After that: Starter $9 a month or $86 a year, Pro $24 a month or $230 a year, and Business $59 a month or $566 a year. For more on narration itself, read our guide to adding narration to a screen recording.
Quick answers
How do I record a Teams meeting? On desktop: More actions > Record, choose language and what to record, then Confirm. On mobile: More options > Start recording.
Where are Teams recordings saved? In the organizer's OneDrive Recordings folder for most meetings, in the channel's SharePoint Recordings folder for channel meetings, and linked in the meeting chat and the calendar Recap.
Why is the Teams record button greyed out? Hover over the lock icon for the reason. Common causes: you're a guest or external user, a missing licence, an admin policy, or the organizer restricted who can record.
How long do Teams recordings last? 120 days by default for work and school accounts, unless your admin or the organizer changes it. Teams for personal use keeps them for 30 days.
Can I record a Teams meeting without the organizer knowing? No. Everyone is notified when recording starts, and you need the organizer's and your organization's permission.
How do I record Zoom or Google Meet instead? See how to record a Zoom meeting and how to record Google Meet. To capture your own screen outside a meeting, read how to record your screen on Windows or our list of Windows Steps Recorder alternatives.
See also: How to Record Audio on PowerPoint (2026): Windows, Mac, Web.
Have a Teams demo or screen-share recording? Upload it to Vorec and get AI narration synced to every click, plus a written step-by-step guide. Start a free trial with no credit card required (current allowances on the pricing page) needed.