How do you find and download a Teams meeting transcript?

A Teams meeting transcript lives with the meeting. You find it in the meeting's chat or its Recap tab, and you download it from there. By default the organizer and co-organizer can download it as a Word (.docx) or caption-style (.vtt) file. Most of the problems people report come from one of three things: the transcription was never turned on, the person looking for it is not allowed to see it, or the transcript sits in a different place from where they are looking.

This page gives the steps, the places a transcript is kept, and what to check when it does not appear. To turn transcription on in the first place, see how to turn on meeting transcription in Teams. If the option itself is missing, read why Teams meeting transcription is not available. For the wider picture of voice in Teams, Slack and Notion, see our guide to voice to text in Teams, Slack and Notion.

Open the past meeting chat, then select Recap

Microsoft's steps for the desktop app are these. Select Chat in Teams, open the past meeting chat, select Recap, then select Transcript, and use the dropdown next to Download to save it ¹.

Microsoft's help page describes the same route for finding a transcript after a meeting ends: the meeting chat and the Recap tab are where it is kept, and it stays there until the meeting organizer deletes it ². If you cannot find the meeting in chat, check the calendar. Microsoft says the transcript is immediately available in the meeting event on the calendar once the meeting is over ³.

Download as a .docx or .vtt file, and only the organizer can by default

Two file types are available. By default, meeting organizers and co-organizers can download a transcript as a .docx or .vtt file ⁴. A .docx file opens in Word for reading and editing. A .vtt file is a timed text format that video players read as captions, so it is more useful for matching text to a recording.

Other people may be given permission to download it, but that depends on the policies your IT admin sets. Microsoft says you may be able to give others permission to download a transcript, depending on those policies. If you are not the organizer and the download option is missing, ask the organizer to share the file, or ask an admin to check the policy.

Where a transcript is stored decides who can open it

A transcript is stored with the meeting recording, and this is where the organizer's account matters. Microsoft says Teams live transcripts for meetings with recording or transcription are stored in the meeting organizer's OneDrive for Business ⁵. So if you are not the organizer, the file may not be in your own OneDrive, even when you can see it in the chat.

Some people cannot see a transcript at all. Microsoft says that people who call into a Teams meeting cannot view the transcript ⁶. If you dialed in by phone, the transcript will not show in your chat, and you will need the organizer to send you a copy.

When the transcript is missing, check whether it was made

Before you look for a file that does not exist, check that one was created. Microsoft says that when a recording is turned on but transcription is off, the recording does not have a transcript file stored next to it ⁷. So a recording alone does not guarantee a transcript. Check that transcription was on, either at the meeting start or through More actions and Transcribe.

If it was on and the transcript still does not show, use these checks in order:

1. Confirm you are looking in the meeting chat or the Recap tab, not a general chat with the same people.
2. Check that the organizer has not deleted the transcript, because it stays only until an organizer deletes it.
3. Ask whether you are the organizer or co-organizer, since only those roles download it by default.
4. Ask an admin to run the Teams transcripts diagnostic in the Microsoft 365 admin center, which checks a user's account against the transcription requirements ⁸.

The admin tool needs the email address of the affected user and the meeting URL. It is not available in every Microsoft 365 environment, so the admin should check the page for their cloud before they start.

What to do

1. Open the Teams desktop app and select Chat.
2. Open the past meeting chat and select Recap.
3. Select Transcript, then use the dropdown next to Download to save the .docx or .vtt file.
4. If you cannot find it, check whether transcription was on for that meeting and whether you are the organizer.
5. If you dialed in by phone or are not the organizer, ask the organizer for a copy.

For a short note on how this differs from typing a message by voice, see does Microsoft Teams have speech to text. For Slack and Notion, read how to use voice to text in Slack and whether you can dictate in Notion. A transcript is a written record of what was said, which is not the same as dictation, as the difference between dictation and transcription explains. Captions are also different: our glossary entry on live captions covers why a live caption is not a saved transcript.