# Can You Save Teams Live Captions? Use a Transcript Instead > Teams does not save live captions. Start transcription during the meeting; whether you can download it afterward depends on your role and what your organization allows. - URL: https://freelivecaption.com/en/posts/teams-save-captions - Published: 2026-10-01 - Updated: 2026-10-01 - Author: Vocena team (https://freelivecaption.com/en/about) - Topic: Meetings (https://freelivecaption.com/en/topics/meetings) - Tags: Meetings, Captions ## Summary - Teams doesn't save live captions. To keep a record, start transcription during the meeting in Teams for desktop. - Afterward, download the transcript on desktop if your role and your organization's policies allow it. - If the meeting has ended, check whether transcription was running. Captions on screen don't mean anything was saved. --- We make Vocena. The Teams steps below come from Microsoft's support and admin pages, read on October 1, 2026. We didn't try them in your organization's Teams setup, where your admin's policies decide what you can do. ## Captions aren't saved; transcripts are Microsoft's page on [live captions in Teams meetings](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/use-live-captions-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) says it plainly: Teams doesn't save captions. If you want the words after the meeting, turn on transcription, and download the transcript afterwards. So there are three separate things: - Live captions help you follow the meeting while it happens. You turn them on from More actions → Language and speech → Show live captions, and they're gone when the meeting ends. - A transcript is the text record you can open after the meeting, with each speaker's name and a timestamp. - A recording is the audio and video, if you need to hear the meeting again. Microsoft's guide to [starting and downloading transcripts](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) says recording a meeting starts transcription automatically. Admins can still switch transcription off in a meeting policy, and the [Teams admin guide to transcription and captions](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/meeting-transcription-captions) says that if recording is on and transcription is off, the recording has no transcript file stored next to it. Check that transcription itself is running, not just the recording light. ## Before the meeting Ask the organizer what will be kept and who gets it: a transcript for everyone who attended, a recording for people who couldn't come, or a short list of agreed decisions. Then find out, from the organizer or your IT admin: - whether transcription is allowed by the meeting policy, - who can start it, - who needs to download the transcript afterwards, since by default only the organizer and co-organizers can, - where the downloaded copy should be stored. If people from outside your organization are joining, tell them. The permissions table in Microsoft's [transcript guide](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) says people from another tenant can see the transcript during the meeting but can't view or download it afterwards, and people who dial in by phone can't view it at all. ## Starting transcription during the meeting Microsoft's [steps for starting a transcript](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) on Teams for desktop: 1. Select More actions in the meeting controls. 2. Select Record and transcribe → Start transcription. 3. Confirm the language everyone is speaking, then select Confirm. Everyone sees a notice that the meeting is being transcribed. Live transcription runs only on the desktop app; the mobile app can open a transcript after the meeting. The organizer, co-organizers and presenters can stop and restart it, and it stops by itself when everyone leaves. If Start transcription isn't there, ask the organizer or IT admin; don't bring in another recorder mid-meeting as a workaround. Soon after starting, open the transcript pane and check that it's writing in the right language. If it isn't, the organizer, co-organizer or whoever started transcription can change the spoken language under Language settings in that pane. ## Downloading the transcript When the meeting is over, Microsoft's [download steps](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) on desktop are: 1. Select Chat in Teams. 2. Open the past meeting's chat. 3. Select Recap, then Transcript. 4. Select the arrow next to Download and choose .docx or .vtt. Choose .docx for reading and editing. Choose .vtt when another tool asks for timed text, and check that it opens there. Renaming the file extension doesn't convert it. Open the downloaded file and check the meeting title, the start and end, and a passage you remember. Keep that original and edit a copy, so corrections to names or mistakes stay separate from your own notes. Before you add a task from the transcript to anyone's to-do list, ask the person responsible to confirm the task and the deadline. ## If the transcript or Download button is missing Work out which of these it is, because each has a different fix: - No transcript at all. Check that you opened the right meeting, then ask the organizer whether transcription actually ran. Captions on your screen weren't saved anywhere. - You can read it but can't download it. That points to permissions: by default only organizers and co-organizers can download, and admins can let others. Ask the organizer for a copy. - You joined from another organization. Your invitation doesn't include the transcript afterwards. Say how you joined when you ask the organizer. - It used to be there. Microsoft's [transcript guide](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) says transcripts are stored in the organizer's OneDrive for Business and stay available through the meeting chat and Recap until the organizer deletes them. Ask the organizer or IT. When you contact IT, give the meeting name and date, your role in it, and which button is missing. You don't need to attach the transcript to explain a permissions problem. ## If the meeting ended with captions only There's nothing to download. Ask whether the organizer turned on transcription or made a recording you're allowed to use. If there's a recording and its owner agrees, it can be transcribed afterwards; check the text against the audio before you share it. If there's neither, ask the participants to confirm the key decisions in writing, and label those notes as reconstructed, not a transcript. Don't put quotation marks around what people remember. Next time, run a short test meeting with the organizer to check that transcription starts and that the right person can download the file. ## Translated captions and transcripts Microsoft's [live captions page](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/use-live-captions-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) says live translated captions are part of Teams Premium and Microsoft Copilot licences. If the organizer has one, everyone in the meeting can use translated captions and transcription. Its [transcript guide](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/meetings/start-stop-and-download-live-transcripts-in-microsoft-teams-meetings) notes that past translated transcripts aren't stored; only the original-language transcript is. If you need a translated record, plan to translate the downloaded transcript afterwards. For captions written by a person, Teams also supports a CART captioner, someone who types captions in real time. ## A personal caption record, when it's allowed Use the Teams transcript when it covers what the group needs. A separate tool makes sense only when the participants and your organization allow another record and you have a reason for it, for example following the meeting in your own caption window. Vocena runs on Mac (macOS 15.5 or later) and on iPhone and iPad (iOS or iPadOS 26 or later). On a Mac it shows free live captions of the system audio or the microphone, with no time limit and no sign-in, and saves each session in its Library. Audio is recorded only when you start a recording; saved text alone doesn't mean the audio was kept. Live captions mark each line as microphone or system audio, not by person. Transcribing an imported recording is paid. With the Qwen local model, the transcript of an imported recording is split by speaker; Apple's speech recognition doesn't split speakers. You can export text as TXT, and SRT with timestamps when the session has recorded audio. To caption another app's audio on an iPhone, you need a physical iPhone running iOS 27. ![Vocena iPhone demonstration of a saved Team call transcript with line timestamps and an audio player]() Interface preview (demo data) The picture is the iPhone app with demo data, not a Teams meeting. Speech is recognized on the device by default; audio or text leaves it only if you choose a cloud model. Translation is paid. None of this recovers Teams captions after a meeting or gets you a transcript you don't have permission to download. If what you need is to understand another language during a Zoom call, our guide to [Zoom translated captions](/en/posts/zoom-translated-captions-plans) covers who pays for that on Zoom. ## Sources and checks - [Use live captions in Microsoft Teams meetings]() — Checked 2026-10-01 - [Start, stop, and download live transcripts in Microsoft Teams meetings]() — Checked 2026-10-01 - [Admins - Manage transcription and captions for Teams meetings]() — Checked 2026-10-01 ### Device testing We have not tested these steps on a device. This guide is based on official documentation and Vocena's product information.