// HOW-TO · REPURPOSING

How to enable Microsoft Teams live captions and transcripts (2026)

Turn on live captions and a saved transcript in a Teams meeting, download it as .docx or .vtt, and reuse the words as content. The 2026 step-by-step.

Last verified · 2026-09-22 · by Moe Ameen

Microsoft Teams can do two different things with the words in a meeting, and people mix them up constantly. Live captions put speech on screen in real time so people can follow along — but Teams throws them away when the meeting ends. Transcription writes the same speech to a saved, timestamped record with each speaker's name, and that file survives the call: you can download it as a Word document or a subtitle file afterward. If your goal is a record you can reuse, captions alone will leave you with nothing.

This guide covers both, in the order you actually need them: switch on captions for the room, start transcription so the meeting is captured, get the language and consent right, then download the transcript and put it to work. Everything here reflects Teams as of September 2026 — menu paths and licensing shift, so if an option is missing it is almost always an admin policy, which the gotchas cover.

The steps

Turn on live captions for accessibility. In your meeting controls select More actions, then Language and speech, then Show live captions (on mobile it is More options, then Turn on live captions). Captions appear instantly at the bottom of the window and need no license. On desktop you can adjust caption font size, color, position, and the number of lines shown. Remember what this does not do: Teams does not save captions, so this step is for people in the room, not for a record you keep.
Start transcription to get a record you can keep. This is the step that produces a reusable file. Select More actions, then Record and transcribe, then Start transcription. The transcript builds in real time next to the video, tagged with each speaker's name and a timestamp, and it keeps running whether or not you also hit record. You can start it without recording the video if all you want is the text. This is the only path to a downloadable transcript — turning on captions in the previous step is not enough.
Set the spoken language before you rely on it. Accuracy hinges on the language setting matching what is actually being said. Teams recognizes more than 50 spoken languages for captions and transcription; confirm the meeting's spoken language in Language and speech so it is not transcribing English audio as something else. If your audience needs another language, translated captions and transcription cover 28 languages — but that is a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot feature, so check availability before you promise it.
Get consent before you capture anything. Teams shows participants a notification when recording or transcription starts, but a banner is not the same as consent. Say out loud that the meeting is being transcribed and why, especially with external guests or customers. Some regions require every party to agree before you capture a conversation, and a meeting you plan to turn into public content raises the bar further — you want clear permission on record before a word leaves the call.
Download the transcript after the meeting. When the meeting ends, the transcript is available in the meeting event on your calendar and in the chat. Open the past meeting chat, select Recap, then Transcript, then use the dropdown beside Download to choose .docx or .vtt. Pick .docx for a Word file with speaker labels and timestamps you can read and edit; pick .vtt if you want a subtitle file to sync onto a video. By default only the organizer and co-organizers can download unless your admin has widened that.
Clean the transcript and turn it into content. Raw transcripts carry crosstalk, filler, and misheard names and jargon, so do a fast editing pass before reusing anything. Then treat the file as a source: the strongest lines become quote graphics or text posts, a walked-through explanation becomes a short or a blog section, and the whole thing becomes an outline for a recap article or newsletter. One recorded meeting or webinar holds a week of posts once the words are on the page — the transcript is the raw material, not the finished piece.

Common gotchas

Captions and transcription are not the same feature. Live captions are never saved; only transcription produces a file you can download after the meeting.
If Start transcription is greyed out or missing, your IT admin has it disabled — it is a per-organizer and per-user policy, so both the organizer and the person starting it need it turned on.
By default only the organizer and co-organizers can download the transcript; other attendees need permission granted through admin policy.
Accuracy falls with distance from the mic, background noise, and people talking over each other. Names, brand terms, and jargon almost always need a manual fix.
Translated captions and transcription (28 languages) and Intelligent Recap — AI notes, action items, and auto-generated chapters — require Teams Premium or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, not standard Teams.
On personal or free Teams, live captions are available, but recording and transcription depend on your plan and admin settings; do not assume the option is there.

Legal note

Transcribing or recording a conversation can carry consent obligations. Teams notifies participants, but some jurisdictions require all-party consent, and using someone's words in public content is a separate permission. Announce transcription, and get explicit sign-off before repurposing a meeting with customers, guests, or anyone who did not expect to be published.

Where Kompozy fits

A downloaded Teams transcript is the cheapest content source you will ever have — a full meeting, webinar, or client call already written down with speaker names and timestamps — and it is exactly where most teams stop. The words sit in a .docx in someone's downloads folder and never become anything. Kompozy is built to close that gap. It is a full AI content generation and multi-platform publishing engine, not a note-taker: you paste the transcript in as a source and it produces [18 output formats across video, image, text, blog, and newsletter](/glossary/output-buckets) from that single input. The strongest quotes become [Quote Graphics](/glossary/output-buckets) and Text Posts, a well-explained answer becomes a captioned [Persona Short](/glossary/persona-shorts) or a Carousel, and the whole session becomes an outline for a recap [Blog Article](/glossary/output-buckets) and an [Email Newsletter](/glossary/output-buckets) — all held to one voice by a [Persona Brief](/glossary/persona-brief) so a rough spoken transcript comes out reading like your brand, not like a raw recording. Then [Autopilot](/glossary/autopilot) schedules the batch across the eight social platforms plus blog and email behind a per-post review gate, so a human approves every piece before it ships. The discipline that matters most here is the review step: a transcript can contain things a participant never expected to see published, so the per-post gate is the point, not autopublish. Starter ($99/mo for 5,500 credits) suits a solo operator turning a weekly meeting into a content set; Pro ($299/mo for 18,000 credits) fits a team fanning every webinar and call across every platform on autopilot; Enterprise is custom for agencies repurposing recorded sessions across many brands.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between live captions and transcription in Teams?

Live captions show speech on screen in real time for accessibility and are discarded when the meeting ends. Transcription creates a saved, timestamped record with speaker names that you can download afterward as a .docx or .vtt file. Turning on captions does not give you a transcript.

Are Microsoft Teams live captions saved?

No. Teams does not save captions — they exist only during the meeting. If you want a record of what was said, you have to start transcription, which is a separate control under Record and transcribe.

Do I need Teams Premium or a license for transcription?

Standard live transcription is available on many Teams plans but is governed by an admin policy, so it can be turned off for your organization. Translated captions and transcription, and the AI-generated Intelligent Recap notes and chapters, require Teams Premium or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

What file formats can I download a Teams transcript in?

Two: .docx, a Word document with speaker labels and timestamps for reading and editing, and .vtt, a subtitle file for syncing captions onto a video. You choose from the dropdown beside Download in the meeting Recap.

Who can download a Teams meeting transcript?

By default, only the meeting organizer and co-organizers can download the transcript. Your IT admin can grant download rights to other participants through policy, but that is not on by default.

How many languages do Teams captions and transcripts support?

Teams recognizes more than 50 spoken languages for live captions and transcription, including speaker attribution and timestamps. Translated captions and transcription narrow that to 28 languages and require Teams Premium or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.