Copilot transcription changes for Teams meetings

If you rely on transcripts for documentation, follow-ups, or compliance, this change could disrupt your workflow.

You know that moment when you realise the meeting you couldn’t be bothered to take notes in – the one that droned on while you fought to stay awake – might actually need a transcript because, surprise, you missed half the point?

Well, Microsoft’s just made things… a bit more complicated. Of course they have.

What’s changing (because something always is)

As of early November 2025, if you’re using Copilot in Teams meetings, transcripts will no longer be generated and saved by default.

That means no automatic transcript tucked away in OneDrive. Copilot will still be in the room (metaphorically), but it won’t leave a permanent record. Just enough memory for the meeting itself and then – gone.

Cue wild applause from the perpetually paranoid who’ve been convinced for years that one badly phrased comment would one day resurface in a tribunal, HR complaint, or worse — an email from their boss with the subject line “care to explain?”.

Why Microsoft is doing this

There are good reasons for these changes:

1. Privacy: transcripts are indexed by Microsoft Search. Somewhere, a compliance officer is already sighing in relief.
2. Policy tightening: DLP rules, sensitivity labels and all that Purview magic need to be respected.
3. Less clutter: if you don’t need a transcript, why fill OneDrive with yet another forgotten file? Minimalists rejoice, while the rest of us wonder why we can never find anything we actually saved.

Who’s affected

Don’t assume you’re safe:

• If you’re using the default Teams meeting policy, you’re in the danger zone. (Somewhere, an IT manager is muttering: “default policies are the devil’s work”.)
• If you’ve got custom policies, you might already be enforcing or blocking transcripts anyway. (Translation: you’ve probably broken something without realising.)
• New tenants will inherit the new defaults. Old tenants get a mix depending on past settings. (New tenants shrug. Old tenants? They’re already on their third coffee trying to untangle what applies where.)

What you can actually do about it

• Admins: use PowerShell to change the meeting policy, of course it’s PowerShell that saves the day.

# Install the Teams PowerShell module (run once)
Install-Module -Name PowerShellGet -Force -AllowClobber
Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams -Force -AllowClobber

# Import the module
Import-Module MicrosoftTeams

# Connect to Microsoft Teams
Connect-MicrosoftTeams

Get-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy | Where-Object {$_.Copilot -eq "Enabled"} | Format-Table Identity 

To update a policy and restore Copilot with transcription, note the policy name and update it like this:

# Install the Teams PowerShell module (run once)
Install-Module -Name PowerShellGet -Force -AllowClobber
Install-Module -Name MicrosoftTeams -Force -AllowClobber

# Import the module
Import-Module MicrosoftTeams

# Connect to Microsoft Teams
Connect-MicrosoftTeams

Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity "NameOfPolicy" -Copilot "EnabledWithTranscript" -AllowTranscription $true

• Organisers: if it’s an important meeting, tick the transcription box when scheduling (or during the call). Don’t assume it’ll happen on its own anymore. Open the meeting and choose meeting options. Then Recording and transcription.
  You can also choose to allow Copilot during and after the meeting.

Why it’s slightly maddening

Because Microsoft loves to tweak settings without shouting too loudly about it. That leaves the rest of us scrambling when someone asks for a transcript that doesn’t exist.
Somewhere, an executive is saying, “why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”, while IT silently screams into a cushion.

But, again, this will help those who have been terrified of using Copilot in meetings because of transcription and the fear of those transcriptions being stored somewhere forever.

To sum up:

1. Check your Teams meeting policy. (Yes, even you.)
2. Update it if you actually need transcripts. (Spoiler: you probably do.)
3. Don’t assume the default works in your favour. (Defaults never do.)
4. Remind your colleagues before they ask for “that transcript” that was never saved. (Better to be the annoying one than the useless one.)

It’s not the end of the world. Microsoft’s just given us yet another reminder that “automatic” doesn’t mean “forever” — it means “until we decide to fiddle with it again”. Annoying? Absolutely. But at least we can all roll our eyes in unison.