Meeting minutes in Microsoft Teams: every way to get them
Teams can hold shared notes, transcribe a meeting and, with the right licence, let Copilot write a recap. Here is what each option gives you and what it needs — and how to get full minutes when you don’t have those licences or the meeting belongs to another organisation.
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Can Microsoft Teams create meeting minutes?
Partly. Every Teams meeting can have shared meeting notes that you type yourself, and transcription can be turned on. AI-written notes need a licence, according to Microsoft’s documentation: Copilot in the meeting needs a Microsoft Copilot licence, and intelligent recap afterwards needs Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot licence. Your options:
- 1Type the minutes into the meeting’s Notes during the call.
- 2Turn on transcription, download the transcript afterwards and write the minutes from it.
- 3With a licence, let Copilot or intelligent recap draft notes and tasks.
- 4Send an AI note taker such as MinutesMaster to the meeting link; it records the audio and writes the minutes when the meeting ends.
- 5Upload the Teams recording (MP4) to MinutesMaster after the meeting.
Microsoft also states that Copilot won’t work in meetings hosted outside your own organisation — a customer’s or partner’s Teams meeting, for example.
A MinutesMaster guide · updated
How to take meeting minutes in Teams with the MinutesMaster bot
No Teams app, no admin consent and no connection to your Microsoft 365 account — the bot joins through the meeting link.
- 1
Copy the Teams meeting link
Take the link from the invitation, your Outlook or Teams calendar, or the meeting chat. Pasting the whole invitation text is fine — MinutesMaster keeps just the meeting link.
- 2
Send the bot from MinutesMaster
Paste the link, choose the language of the minutes (or leave it on automatic) and send the bot. It joins as MinutesMaster AI unless you give it another name.
- 3
Admit it from the lobby
Teams keeps guests in the lobby, so someone in the meeting admits the bot from the participant list. MinutesMaster shows the bot’s live status, and the bot waits up to 15 minutes.
- 4
Tell the participants
The bot appears in the participant list under its name. Say at the start that the meeting is being recorded and transcribed, as you would with any recording.
- 5
Get the transcript and the minutes
When the meeting ends, the bot leaves and processing starts on its own. You get a transcript with the participants’ names and minutes with a summary, decisions and action items with owners.
- 6
Review, export and share
Correct a name or a decision, then export the minutes to Word (DOCX) or PDF, or share the meeting with your team workspace. Open action items also appear in Follow-ups, across all your meetings.
Ways to get meeting minutes from Microsoft Teams
What each option produces and what it needs, as Microsoft’s documentation and our own product describe them in October 2026.
| Option | What you get | What it needs | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting notes in Teams | A shared page for the agenda, notes and tasks that attendees edit before, during and after the meeting | Nothing extra — someone types the notes | Microsoft: external attendees can’t access or edit meeting notes |
| Teams transcription | A transcript of the meeting, downloadable as a .docx or .vtt file | Transcription allowed by your organisation; the organiser, a co-organiser or a presenter starts it | A transcript isn’t minutes — someone still writes up the decisions and actions |
| Copilot in the meeting | Answers about the meeting, key points, who said what, suggested follow-up tasks; “Generate meeting notes” to paste into an email | An add-on Microsoft Copilot licence; transcription on to use it after the meeting | Microsoft: not available in end-to-end encrypted meetings or in meetings hosted outside your organisation |
| Intelligent recap | AI meeting notes, AI-recommended tasks, speaker and name-mention markers and chapters, in the Recap tab | A Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot licence; transcription, and recording for the full recap | AI notes need a transcribed meeting longer than five minutes |
| MinutesMaster bot | Minutes with decisions and action items, and a transcript with participant names, in 38 languages; DOCX, PDF, TXT, JSON, SRT or VTT | The meeting link; someone admits the bot from the lobby | Works in other organisations’ meetings if they let guests join; 1 credit per 30 minutes |
| Upload the Teams recording | The same transcript and minutes, from a recording saved in OneDrive or SharePoint | The recording file (MP4 and other formats, up to 2 GB) | Also works for meetings that happened weeks ago |
Teams’ own options, explained
Meeting notes. Every Teams meeting has a Notes page where attendees can add the agenda, notes and tasks before, during and after the call. It is a good place for minutes you type yourself. Microsoft notes that external attendees can’t access or edit these notes.
Transcription. If your organisation allows it, the organiser, a co-organiser or a presenter can start transcription during the meeting, and the transcript can be downloaded afterwards as a .docx or .vtt file. A transcript is the raw material: you still have to pick out the decisions and action items.
Copilot. Participants with an add-on Microsoft Copilot licence can ask Copilot during the meeting who said what, what was agreed and which follow-up tasks came up, and use “Generate meeting notes” in the meeting chat to copy notes into an email. To use Copilot after the meeting ends, transcription has to be on. Microsoft says Copilot isn’t available in end-to-end encrypted meetings and won’t work in meetings hosted outside your organisation.
Intelligent recap. With Teams Premium or a Microsoft Copilot licence, the Recap tab adds AI meeting notes, AI-recommended tasks, speaker and name-mention markers and chapters. Transcription has to be on; without recording, the recap comes without the recording, speakers, topics and chapters. AI notes appear for transcribed meetings longer than five minutes.
Turning a Teams transcript into minutes
If you already have the transcript, writing the minutes is a matter of condensing: go through it agenda item by agenda item and pull out each decision and each action item with its owner and date. A one-hour transcript usually comes down to a page of minutes.
MinutesMaster doesn’t take a pasted transcript or a .vtt file as input; it works from the audio, because it separates the speakers by their voices. If the meeting was recorded, download the recording from OneDrive or SharePoint and upload that instead — you get a fresh transcript and the minutes in one go.
Minutes for meetings in another organisation’s Teams
Many meetings you need minutes for aren’t yours: a customer’s weekly call, a partner’s steering group. You can’t start their transcription, and Microsoft says Copilot won’t work there. The MinutesMaster bot joins through the meeting link like any guest, so it works as long as the host lets guests in and someone admits it from the lobby.
Some organisations don’t allow guests or anonymous participants at all. Then record the meeting in your browser or with the MinutesMaster app on your phone, and MinutesMaster transcribes that recording instead.
Recording and consent
Whichever option you use, tell participants that the meeting is being recorded and transcribed, and get their consent where the law or your organisation requires it. The MinutesMaster bot is visible in the participant list under its name, and MinutesMaster doesn’t use your meetings to train AI models.
Minutes from any Teams meeting, without extra Microsoft licences
MinutesMaster sends a bot to the Teams link, records the audio and writes the minutes when the meeting ends: a summary, decisions, action items with owners and the next meeting, plus a transcript with participant names. It doesn’t need access to your Microsoft 365 account, calendar or files.
It handles 38 languages, including meetings that switch between them, and can write the minutes in a different language from the one spoken. One credit covers 30 minutes, so a one-hour meeting uses 2 credits; new accounts get 5 free credits.
Sources
Facts about other companies’ products on this page come from their own documentation, listed below with the date we read it. Features, names and licences change — check the linked page before you rely on them.
- [1]Microsoft Support — Take meeting notes in Microsoft Teams — read 2026-10-28
- [2]Microsoft Support — Get started with Copilot in Microsoft Teams meetings — read 2026-10-28
- [3]Microsoft Learn — Manage Microsoft Copilot in Teams meetings and events (updated 2026-10-26) — read 2026-10-28
- [4]Microsoft Support — Generate meeting notes — read 2026-10-28
- [5]Microsoft Support — Meeting recap in Microsoft Teams — read 2026-10-28
- [6]Microsoft Learn — Intelligent recap for Teams calls, meetings, and events (updated 2026-10-15) — read 2026-10-28
- [7]Microsoft Support — View live transcription in Microsoft Teams meetings — read 2026-10-28
Frequently asked questions
- Can Microsoft Teams take meeting minutes automatically?
- With a Teams Premium or Microsoft Copilot licence, intelligent recap writes AI meeting notes and suggested tasks after a transcribed meeting, according to Microsoft. Without those licences, Teams gives you a transcript and a shared notes page, and you write the minutes yourself — or use a note taker such as MinutesMaster.
- How do I take meeting notes in Teams without recording?
- Type them into the meeting’s Notes. With a Microsoft Copilot licence, the organiser can also set Copilot to “Only during the meeting”, which uses speech-to-text data that isn’t saved after the meeting. AI note takers that write minutes afterwards, including MinutesMaster, work from a recording, so tell participants.
- Where do I find meeting notes and the recap in Teams?
- Open the meeting in your Teams calendar or its chat and go to the Recap tab: the recording, transcript, notes and — with intelligent recap — AI notes and tasks are there. Microsoft says recaps are available for meetings that were recorded or transcribed.
- Do I need Copilot to get AI meeting minutes from Teams?
- Not with MinutesMaster. The bot joins through the meeting link and writes the minutes without a Copilot or Teams Premium licence and without access to your Microsoft 365 account. Inside Teams itself, AI notes need one of those licences.
- How do I turn a Teams transcript into meeting minutes?
- Go through it agenda item by agenda item and write down each decision and each action item with an owner and a due date. MinutesMaster can’t import a .vtt or .docx transcript, but it can take the Teams recording (MP4) and produce both a new transcript and the minutes.
- Can I take minutes in a Teams meeting hosted by another company?
- Yes, if the host lets guests join: the MinutesMaster bot joins through the link as a guest, and someone admits it from the lobby. Microsoft notes that Copilot won’t work in meetings hosted outside your organisation.
- Is there a meeting minutes template for Teams?
- A Teams meeting’s Notes page holds an agenda and notes that you structure yourself. MinutesMaster writes minutes in a fixed structure — summary, agenda, decisions, action items, next meeting — and has 13 built-in templates, such as 1:1, stand-up and board meeting.
- How much does MinutesMaster cost for Teams meetings?
- One credit covers 30 minutes of audio, so a one-hour Teams meeting uses 2 credits. New accounts get 5 free credits (2.5 hours) without a credit card; after that, credit packs start at €9 for 10 credits, and Pro is €19 a month for 40 credits.
Related pages
- Microsoft Teams meeting notesPaste a Teams meeting link, admit the bot from the lobby and get a transcript plus minutes.
- Meeting minutes generatorUpload a recording and get minutes with decisions, action items and owners, ready to export to Word or PDF.
- Audio to textConvert MP3, WAV, M4A or video recordings into a transcript with speaker names, then into minutes.
- How to write meeting minutesA step-by-step guide with a worked example: what to record, what to leave out, and how to send minutes people actually read.
- MinutesMaster for ChatGPTAdd MinutesMaster to ChatGPT as an MCP app: meeting notes, minutes and action items you can ask about with @MinutesMaster.
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