Configure call recording, transcription, and captions in Teams

Applies to: Microsoft Teams

In Microsoft Teams, users can record, transcribe, and view captions in their Teams calls. This article explains how to configure these features for your users. For an overview of recording and transcription policies for Teams calls and meetings, see Overview: Recording and transcription for Teams meetings, events, and calls.

For information on managing transcription for Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams calls, see Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams calls.

For optimal accessibility, follow the guides and resources Accessibility guide for Microsoft Teams admins to configure Teams.

Enable call recording

You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell to set a Teams calling policy to control whether a user's 1:1 Teams call or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call can be recorded.

Many users use calls and meetings interchangeably depending on their needs. We recommend you check your meeting recording policy settings as well. If the settings are different for calls and meetings, it might cause confusion for your users.

Using the Teams admin center

To allow call recordings:

In the Microsoft Teams admin center, select Voice > Calling policies.
Select the policy that you want to edit.
Turn Cloud recording for calling to On.
Select Save.

Using PowerShell

With PowerShell, you can configure the -AllowCloudRecordingForCalls parameter and manage the resulting policy with the following cmdlets:

For example, this script enables call recording for the global policy:

Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -Identity Global -AllowCloudRecordingForCalls $true

For information on Teams compliance recording, see Introduction to Teams recording and Third-party compliance recording for Microsoft Teams calls and meetings.

To allow or prevent meeting recordings, see Teams meeting recording.

Enable call transcription

Transcription is automatically generated, recorded text of what was said in a call. When turned on, the transcript is available to users to review after a call ends. This setting is off by default.

Using the Teams admin center

To turn on call transcription for users:

In the Microsoft Teams admin center, select Voice > Calling policies.
Select the policy you want to modify.
Turn Transcription to On.
Select Save.

Using PowerShell

With PowerShell, you can configure the -AllowTranscriptionForCalling parameter and manage the resulting policy with the following cmdlets:

For example, this script enables transcription for the global policy:

Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -Identity Global -AllowTranscriptionForCalling $true

Enable call captions

Captions are real-time automatically generated text of what is said in a call. They appear a few lines at a time for a user who turns them on. Captions aren’t saved. This setting is on by default.

Using the Teams admin center

To turn on real-time captions for calls for users:

In the Microsoft Teams admin center, select Voice > Calling policies.
Select the policy you want to modify.
Turn Real-time captions in Teams calls to On.
Select Save.

Using PowerShell

With PowerShell, you configure the -LiveCaptionsEnabledTypeForCalling parameter and manage the resulting policy with the following cmdlets:

For example, this script allows the user to turn on real-time captions in the global policy:

Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -Identity Global -LiveCaptionsEnabledTypeForCalling DisabledUserOverride

In this example, the script prevents the user from turning on real-time captions in the global policy:

Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy -Identity Global -LiveCaptionsEnabledTypeForCalling Disabled

Require participant agreement for recording and transcription

When the call recording agreement policy is turned on, once a user either starts recording, transcription, or both, the other call participant is muted, with their camera and content-share turned off. The user who initiates recording or transcription is considered to have given consent and remains unmuted. When a participant decides to un-mute, turn on their camera, or share content, they’re asked to respond 'Yes' or 'No' to consent to be included in the recording and transcription. If a participant responds 'No' to the question, they have a view-only experience for the call and cannot unmute or turn on their camera. View-only participants can't start recording or transcription for any meetings that require explicit consent.

The consent choice for each participant is visible by the admin and is included in the Purview audit log for the call.

You can use the Teams admin center or the -ExplicitRecordingConsent parameter in the New-CsTeamsCallingPolicy cmdlet to manage recording consent for Teams calls. This parameter manages recording consent for Teams 1:1 VoIP and PSTN calls. Audio conferencing and group calls are managed by Teams Meeting Policy. To learn about recording consent for Audio Conferencing, see Explicit recording consent for Audio Conferencing. To learn about recording consent for Teams meetings, see Manage Teams recording policies for meetings and events.

You can view consent data using the Added information about call participants filter in the Teams calling audit logs in Purview. To learn more about audit logs in Purview, see Audit log activities.