How do you download a Microsoft Teams meeting transcript?

A Teams transcript can be downloaded as a Word document or a subtitle file, but only by the people Teams allows, and by default that is the organiser and co-organisers. This answer is for anyone who needs the file after a Microsoft Teams call, including freelancers and consultants who attend clients' meetings from outside. It branches from how to get a transcript of a Teams meeting, which covers starting one. The details come from Microsoft's page on live transcription in Teams meetings as of October 2026.

How do you download the transcript after a Teams meeting?

From the meeting's Recap, on Teams for desktop:

1. Select Chat.
2. Open the past meeting's chat.
3. Select Recap, then Transcript.
4. Open the menu next to Download and choose the file type.

Microsoft also says the transcript is available straight away in the meeting's event on the Teams calendar. On mobile, open the past meeting's chat, find the "Meeting ended" message, and tap Transcript to read it.

Should you choose .docx or .vtt?

Choose .docx to read, quote or send the transcript; it opens in Word like any document. Choose .vtt when the text has to line up with a recording, for example as subtitles in a video player or to be loaded into another tool. A .vtt file is timed lines of text, readable but not pleasant to read.

Who can download a Teams transcript?

By default, the organiser and co-organisers. Based on Microsoft's table:

Participant	View after the meeting	Download after the meeting
Organiser and co-organisers	Yes	Yes
Person from the same organisation	Yes	No, unless organisers configure who can download
Person from another organisation	No	No
Anonymous participant	No	No

Microsoft adds that organisers may be able to let others download it, depending on policies set by their IT administrator. The organiser and co-organisers can also delete the transcript, from the same Recap view.

Why is the Download button missing?

Usually because you are not the organiser or a co-organiser and nobody has let you download it, or because you are on the mobile app, which shows the transcript but cannot download it. If you are in the organiser's organisation, ask them to download it and send it, or to allow downloads. If you joined from another organisation or anonymously, the transcript is not yours to see after the meeting at all; ask the organiser for the file. If there is no transcript in Recap, nobody started one, or the organiser has deleted it; see transcribing a Teams meeting without recording it.

What can a guest do instead?

Ask the organiser before the call to turn transcription on and send the .docx afterwards, and join signed in, on Teams for desktop, so you can at least read along live. Or bring a notetaker, openly. The TrackHeros notetaker joins the Teams call as a participant, waits in the lobby if the meeting has one until someone admits it, and keeps the transcript, recording and notes under the client in your own TrackHeros workspace, so they do not depend on the organiser's download settings. The transcript is read in TrackHeros rather than downloaded as a file. More on the Microsoft Teams notetaker page, and on whose record it is in when the client hosts, who keeps the notes.