How to record a Microsoft Teams meeting

The short answer

To record a Microsoft Teams meeting, select More actions then Record in your meeting controls, choose your spoken language and what to record, then select Confirm. Everyone in the meeting is told straight away. To stop, select More actions then Recording. The recording appears in the meeting chat once it has processed, and it's saved to the organiser's OneDrive, or to the team's SharePoint site for a channel meeting.

You can also trim a recording after the meeting, and change how long it's kept. Both are covered below.

Who can record a Teams meeting?

The organiser and people from the same organisation can start and stop a recording, as long as their IT admin has allowed recording. Guests, people from other organisations and anonymous attendees can't. Only one person can record at a time, and the recording carries on even if the person who started it leaves.

With Teams Premium or a Copilot licence, organisers can also choose who's allowed to record when they schedule the meeting: open the event in your Teams calendar, select Options, and set Who can record and transcribe.

Before you press record

• Tell people. Teams notifies everyone automatically, but it's good practice to mention it in the invite and at the start, and explain what the recording is for. Depending on where people are, you may need their permission to record them.
• Check your audio. A headset gives the clearest sound for anyone watching later.
• Know the limits. Recordings don't capture whiteboards, annotations, shared notes, videos embedded in PowerPoint Live, or more than four people's video at once.

How to record, step by step

1. Start or join the meeting.
2. Select More actions then Record.
3. Choose your spoken language and what you want to record. To record sound only, choose Audio only from the Choose what to record list.
4. Select Confirm.
5. To stop, select More actions then Recording. Choosing Transcribing instead stops only the live transcript.

If nobody stops it, the recording ends automatically when everyone leaves the meeting.

Where to find your recording

Once it has processed, the recording shows up in the meeting chat, or in the channel conversation for a channel meeting. Behind the scenes it's stored here:

• Scheduled, ad hoc and Meet now meetings: the organiser's OneDrive, in a folder called Recordings.
• Channel meetings: the team's SharePoint site, in the Recordings folder for that channel.

The organiser owns the recording. By default only organisers and co-organisers can download or delete it, colleagues get view access, and guests or external attendees only see it if it's shared with them.

Can you edit a Teams recording?

Yes. Anyone with edit access can trim the start and end, or hide sections from the middle, in the video player in OneDrive or SharePoint:

1. Open the recording from the meeting chat so it plays in your browser.
2. Select Edit, then open the Trim panel.
3. Drag the trim handles, or type start and end times. Use Cut from the middle to hide a section.
4. Select the tick to save.

Trimming hides parts during playback rather than creating a new file, so you can undo it later. People with edit access, and anyone who downloads the file, can still see the full version. To remove content permanently, edit it in Clipchamp and export a new video.

How long Teams recordings are kept

New recordings expire after 120 days by default, although your admin may have set a different period. To keep one for longer, open it in the video player, select the expiry countdown below the video, and choose a new timeframe or Remove expiration. You need edit permission to do this. If a recording does expire, the owner gets an email and it moves to the recycle bin, where it can usually be recovered for up to 90 days.

Tips for better recordings

• Ask people to mute when they're not speaking.
• Turn on the transcript so people can search the recording later.
• Trim the small talk at the start before you share it.
• Remove the expiry on anything you need for training or compliance.
• Share a link rather than downloading copies, so access stays under control.

New to Teams? Our Microsoft Teams tips for beginners cover the basics. If you'd like help setting up recording policies across your business, our Microsoft 365 services can help, or get in touch.

Further reading

• Microsoft Support: start, stop and find meeting recordings in Teams
• Microsoft Learn: where Teams recordings are stored and who can see them
• Microsoft Learn: Teams recording expiration policy

Further reading: Stay on Top of Meetings with Teams Meet