Microsoft Teams is a popular communication and collaboration platform that allows users to meet, chat, call, and collaborate all in one place. One useful Teams feature is the ability to record meetings, enabling you to capture the audio, video, and screen sharing activity for later reference or to share with others who couldn’t attend. Here’s everything you need to know about recording Teams meetings.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites for Recording
To record a Teams meeting, you need:
- A Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license that includes Teams recording capabilities, such as E1, E3, E5, Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium
- Permissions to record meetings in your Teams organization, set either at the organization or team level
- The Teams desktop or web app (recording isn’t available in the mobile apps)
Start the Recording
Starting a recording in Teams is easy:
During an ongoing meeting:
- Click on the “More actions” button (the 3 dots)
- Select “Start recording”
When scheduling a new meeting:
- Click on the “Meeting options” link when composing the meeting invite
- Toggle “Record meeting automatically” to “On”
All meeting participants will be notified that recording has started.
Customize Recording Settings
When you start recording, you have a few options to customize:
- Record video – Toggles capturing video
- Record audio – Toggles capturing audio
- Recording permissions – Chooses who can view the recording between people in your organization or the whole organization
Stop Recording
To stop a Teams meeting recording:
- Click on “More actions”
- Select “Stop recording”
The recording will process after the meeting ends and be available shortly after.
View Recordings
Teams meeting recordings are saved to Microsoft Stream by default. To access them:
- During meeting – A link appears in the meeting chat
- After meeting – Open the meeting event in your calendar and click the recording link
In Stream, you can play, download, share, or delete the recording.
To share a Teams meeting recording:
- Open the recording in Stream
- Click “Share”
- Get a shareable link or email it directly
You can share with your entire organization or specific people.
Set Expiration Date
By default, Teams meeting recordings expire and are deleted after a set period of time determined by your Teams admin. As the meeting organizer, you can customize this expiration date:
- Open the recording in Stream
- Click the “Details” tab
- Set a custom expiration date or make it never expire
Best Practices
Follow these best practices when recording Teams meetings:
- Notify all participants that the meeting is being recorded
- Test recording functionality before an important meeting
- Use headphones to prevent audio feedback
- Place cameras properly to capture relevant visuals
- Use screen sharing judiciously as too much can be distracting
- Edit long recordings and trim unnecessary portions before sharing
- Set viewer permissions appropriately for sensitive recordings
Troubleshooting Issues
Some common issues when recording Teams meetings and how to fix them:
Recording button missing
- Verify you have the necessary Teams license and permissions
- Try the Teams web app instead of the desktop app
Poor video quality
- Pause other video streams during recording
- Lower your Teams video resolution in settings
Can’t find recording
- Check Stream instead of Teams or SharePoint
- Confirm you have permissions to view
Recording stops unexpectedly
- Limit screen sharing as this can interrupt recording
- Extend auto-expiration time for long meetings
Conclusion
Recording Teams meetings is easy and enables you to revisit discussions and capture details you might have missed. With the proper tools, settings, and best practices, you can record meetings seamlessly for future reference or to share with stakeholders. Be sure to inform participants, test ahead of time, and optimize settings for best results.