How to record a Microsoft Teams meeting on a Mac

Teams' recorder saves to OneDrive or SharePoint and needs the right licence for both the organiser and the person recording. Guests cannot use it at all.

This guide sets out Microsoft's rules as of September 2026, how to use Teams' recorder when you can, and how to record and transcribe a Teams call with Notey. Check Microsoft's article on meeting recordings and its admin guide to recording policies before relying on the details; licences and policies change.

The short answer

Who can record in Teams

Microsoft's support article, as of September 2026, says that to start or stop a recording you need one of these licences: Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3, E5, F3, A1, A3, A5, Microsoft 365 Business, Business Premium or Business Essentials. You also need recording turned on for you by an IT admin, and you must not be a guest or from another organisation.

The admin guide adds two points that explain most "I can't record" cases:

• Both the organiser and the person starting the recording need recording permission. A licensed person in a meeting organised by someone whose policy blocks recording still cannot record.
• External participants cannot record meetings, except under a third-party compliance recording set up by their own organisation.

Microsoft's article lists who can record by role: organisers and people in the same organisation can; people from other organisations, guests and anonymous participants cannot. Organisers with a Teams Premium licence can also use meeting options to control who records and transcribes.

One more rule surprises people: Microsoft notes that when organisers turn off Copilot for a meeting, recording and transcription are turned off too.

Option 1: Record with Teams

Start and stop

1. Join the meeting in the Teams app or in a browser.
2. In the meeting controls, choose More actions › Record and transcribe › Start recording.
3. Confirm when Teams asks.
4. To stop, open More actions › Record and transcribe again and stop the recording.

Microsoft says all participants get a notification in their Teams desktop, web or mobile app as soon as a recording starts. Some organisations also require participants to agree before they are recorded; that is a policy an admin can switch on.

Find the recording

A recording of an ordinary meeting is uploaded to the organiser's OneDrive; a channel meeting's recording goes to the channel's SharePoint site. It is linked in the meeting chat and shown on the meeting's Recordings and Transcripts tab in the Teams calendar. People invited from inside the organisation can view it; guests and external attendees can view it only if it is shared with them explicitly.

Transcription is a related option that the same policies govern. If you want notes written by Copilot, see the Teams Copilot alternative guide, which covers what that needs.

Option 2: Record the call on your Mac with Notey

Notey is a Mac app that records your microphone and the sound your Mac is playing as two separate tracks and transcribes both on the Mac. It does not join the meeting, and it does not use Teams' recorder, so it does not depend on your licence or your tenant's recording policy. That does not settle whether you should record — the section on consent below does.

Set it up once

1. Download Notey and open it. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 26 or later. You do not need an account to record.
2. Allow Microphone when macOS asks, and allow audio recording for what your Mac plays. Notey never asks for Screen Recording, because it captures the Mac's audio through a Core Audio process tap, which does not need it.

Record a Teams meeting

1. Join the meeting in the Teams app, or in Chrome, Safari, Arc or Edge.
2. Notey's floating button says a Teams call has started and asks whether to record. Nothing is saved until you choose Allow.
3. While it records, a red dot and the elapsed time show in the Notey window, the menu bar and the floating button, each with Stop.
4. When the meeting ends, the button offers to finish. Choose Keep recording if you are still talking, or let the countdown run out.

If you have decided to record every Teams call, tick Always record for Teams on the floating button. That choice is listed in Notey, where you can change it back to asking each time. You can also arm the next call in advance — it covers one call and lapses after an hour — or tick the calendars whose meetings Notey should record. In every case the recording is announced with Stop beside it.

What you get

• A transcript made on your Mac, your microphone as You and the call as Them, told apart by track rather than by learning anyone's voice. Several people on the other side are separated after the recording, and you name them.
• Ten languages live; after an English meeting, Notey reads the recording again on your Mac and keeps the words the recognisers agree on, unless you have edited it.
• AI notes on request, with an account and a paid plan: summary and action items, minutes, a follow-up email, and more. Only transcript text is sent, never audio, and everything the AI wrote is labelled as AI-generated.
• Export as Markdown, so you can paste the notes into whatever your team uses. Notey has no shared workspace of its own.

The audio stays on your disk. With no account, nothing leaves the Mac.

Get a usable recording

• Use headphones. On speakers, your microphone also hears the meeting, and their words land on your track. In Notey you can move a line to the other side.
• Check the microphone in two places. Teams has its own device settings; macOS has System Settings › Sound › Input. After you plug in a headset they can disagree.
• Be wary of Bluetooth microphones. Many headsets drop to a lower-quality mode when their microphone is in use. Listen on the headset and speak into the Mac's microphone if transcripts come out poor.
• Test before a meeting that matters. Record ten seconds and play it back. A file with bytes in it can still be silence.

Tell people you are recording

Teams' recorder notifies everyone. A recorder on your Mac is outside the meeting: nobody in Teams sees it, and Notey's red dot is visible only to you. So say it at the start — "I'm recording this for my notes, is that all right?" — and stop if someone objects.

This matters most in exactly the situation where a Mac recorder is tempting: you are a guest in another organisation's meeting and Teams will not let you record. The organiser's policy is a signal of what they expect. Ask them. Whether the law requires everyone's agreement depends on where the participants are; see is it legal to record a meeting? for the background and how to ask for consent to record for wording. The same choices on Zoom are in how to record a Zoom meeting on a Mac.

Which should you use?

• You organise the meeting, have a qualifying licence, and want a video in OneDrive for colleagues: Teams' recorder.
• You want notes and a transcript on your own Mac, or your licence or role does not allow Teams recording, and everyone has agreed: a recorder on your Mac such as Notey.
• Both at once is fine. Teams keeps the video; Notey keeps a transcript on your disk.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I record a Teams meeting?

Teams recording depends on your licence, on a recording policy your IT admin sets, and on the organiser's policy too. Guests, anonymous participants and people from other organisations cannot start a recording, according to Microsoft's documentation as of September 2026.

Can I record a Teams meeting as a guest?

Not with Teams' own recorder. A recorder on your Mac captures what your Mac plays and does not depend on Teams, but whether you may record is still a question for the law where people are, the organiser's rules, and courtesy. Ask before you start.

Where are Teams recordings saved?

Microsoft says recordings of ordinary meetings go to the organiser's OneDrive and channel meeting recordings go to the channel's SharePoint site. They are also linked in the meeting chat.

Do people know when a Teams meeting is recorded?

With Teams' recorder, yes; Microsoft says every participant gets a notification in the Teams app when recording starts. A separate recorder on your Mac is not in the meeting, so Teams shows nothing and telling people is up to you.

Does Notey work with Teams in a browser as well as the app?

Yes. It notices calls in the Teams app, and in Chrome, Safari, Arc and Edge when the browser uses the microphone. Either way it asks before saving anything.