Microsoft Teams has a built-in transcription feature, but it comes with conditions: you need a Teams Premium licence, your IT admin has to enable it, and everyone in the meeting sees a notification that the call is being transcribed. For many situations — sensitive discussions, external client calls, small team check-ins — that's not ideal.
The alternative is to record and transcribe privately, without a bot and without needing admin permissions.
How to record a Teams meeting locally
The simplest approach: use your operating system's built-in tools.
On Mac: Use QuickTime Player. Go to File > New Audio Recording, select your system audio input, and hit record before you join the Teams call. When the meeting ends, stop the recording and save the file.
On Windows: Use the Xbox Game Bar (Win + G) to record system audio, or use a free tool like Audacity set to capture your speaker output.
Easier option: If you're the meeting organiser in Teams, you can start a local recording from the meeting controls (... > Record) which saves to your OneDrive. Download it afterwards and upload to your transcription tool.
Upload to NoteMate
Once you have the audio or video file, upload it to NoteMate. The transcription runs in a few minutes and you get back a full transcript with speaker labels — no bot invite needed, no admin permissions required, no notification to other participants.
When to use which approach
- Internal team meeting you organised: Use Teams' local recording, then upload to NoteMate for better summary quality than Teams provides.
- External client call: Record system audio locally, transcribe privately — no bot notification to worry about.
- Sensitive discussion: Local audio recording + private transcription keeps everything off company infrastructure until you're ready to share.
What about Microsoft Copilot for Teams?
Microsoft 365 Copilot includes meeting summaries, but at £24.70/user/month (on top of your existing Microsoft 365 licence). For most individuals and small teams, that's hard to justify for transcription alone. NoteMate costs a fraction of that and works across Zoom, Teams, Meet, and any other audio source.
Try it free
NoteMate's free tier covers 60 minutes of transcription per month. Record your next Teams call, upload the file, and have structured notes ready before the follow-up email goes out.