How to Use Live Captions in Microsoft Teams Meetings (2026): 5-Step Guide

Many people assume that if they turn on live captions in a Teams meeting, they'll be able to find a transcript afterward. This is the most common misunderstanding—Teams live captions are only displayed during the meeting, and Teams does not save captions.

Another inefficient approach is to rely on memory to write meeting notes afterward, only to miss decisions, commitments, and action items. Instead, it's better to clarify the roles of captions, transcription, and post-meeting organization before the meeting starts.

Two-hour meeting, another two hours of cleanup? First, understand that captions are not transcripts

Teams can detect what's being said in a meeting and display live captions. Participants can listen and read simultaneously, and for cross-language meetings, live translated captions are available.

But note: captions are "in-the-moment assistance," not "post-meeting records." If you need a text record that can be searched and downloaded after the meeting, you must enable transcription.

This article will first show you how to turn on Teams live captions in 5 steps, then explain what you can do for post-meeting organization.

4 key points to understand before you start

1. Live captions and transcription are two different things

Live captions provide real-time subtitles during the meeting, but Teams does not save captions. Transcription creates a real-time written record of what's said during a meeting or event, which can be viewed and downloaded after the meeting ends.

2. Live translated captions are for participants

By default, live captions are displayed in the language used during the meeting or event. Live translated captions allow users to see captions translated into the language they're most comfortable with.

In Teams live events, attendees can view captions and translated captions in six languages in addition to the spoken language; event organizers can select from a list of over 50 languages.

3. Not everyone can enable transcription

Transcription is both a per-organizer and per-user policy setting. For meetings and events to include transcription, the organizer must enable this setting; users who start recording or transcription must also have it enabled.

Additionally, when organizers turn off Microsoft Copilot in Teams meetings and events, recording and transcription are also turned off. It's best to confirm admin policies before the meeting.

4. CART captions are human-generated, not automatic

CART is a service where a trained CART captioner listens to speech and immediately converts it to text. The meeting organizer needs to create a CART caption link for the captioner, who then connects via the Teams CART caption API.

If you need human-generated captions with high accuracy, CART is an option; but it requires advance preparation and isn't suitable for last-minute requests.

How to turn on Teams live captions: 5-step guide

Step 1: Decide whether you need captions or a transcript

Ask yourself: do you just need to understand the content during the meeting, or do you need a transcript afterward?

If it's just in-the-moment assistance, simply turn on live captions. If you need a text record afterward, enable transcription during the meeting and confirm that both your and the organizer's policies allow transcription.

Step 2: Turn on live captions from the meeting controls

In the Teams meeting controls, select More actions, then click Turn on live captions.

Teams has built-in closed captions that you can turn on from the meeting controls. If the meeting uses CART captions, CART captions are displayed by default; to use automatically generated captions, go to the overflow menu in the captions area and select your language.

Step 3: Choose caption language and live translation

After turning on captions, select Translate attendee captions, then choose the language available for live translated captions during the event.

By default, captions are displayed in the language used during the meeting or event. Participants can choose to translate into the language they're most comfortable with, making cross-language meetings easier to follow.

Step 4: Adjust caption display and privacy options

If you're using the Windows or Mac desktop app, there are several caption customization options you can adjust based on screen size and reading preferences.

Additionally, people can choose not to be identified in captions. If you don't want your name to appear in captions, refer to the settings for hiding identifying information in meeting captions and transcripts.

Step 5: Get the transcript after the meeting

Teams does not save live captions. If you want a meeting transcript, enable transcription during the meeting and download the transcript after the meeting ends.

Transcripts are stored with meeting recordings in OneDrive and SharePoint storage. In other words, if you only turn on captions without transcription, you won't have a transcript afterward.

Tinrec — an alternative for post-meeting organization in Teams

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams. It supports real-time recording, bot-free online meeting transcription, audio/video file import, real-time translation, and automatically generates summaries, chapters, action items, and mind maps. It's not an either-or relationship with Teams built-in captions: Teams captions solve "understanding during the meeting," while Tinrec fills the gap of "turning meetings into usable data afterward."

If you use Teams for meetings on your computer, the Tinrec desktop app can capture system audio and process Teams meetings playing on your computer without adding an extra bot to the meeting. After the meeting, you get a transcript, and it can also organize summaries, chapters, and action items; decisions, commitments, and next steps mentioned by participants no longer need to be manually tracked. Even better, you can ask questions directly about the meeting content, such as "Who mentioned the budget in this meeting?" or "What were the client's objections?" It answers based on the meeting content, not just keyword search results. This content can also be exported to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, Dropbox, and other tools for continued use.

Advantages: first, bot-free recording is especially convenient for external meetings—no need to worry about an extra bot joining; second, the post-meeting workflow is complete—transcript, summary, action items, Q&A, and export all in one place; third, the team version allows meeting data to be placed in team spaces, where members can view past meetings and administrators can manage roles, seats, usage, and auditing.

Note that Tinrec is not a replacement for Teams captions and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy; actual results are affected by recording quality, noise, accents, overlapping speakers, and technical terminology. The free version has a basic quota, and heavy use requires payment; the team version is currently USD 29.80 per paid seat per month, or USD 199 per paid seat per year (about USD 16.58 per month). Each paid seat provides 2,000 minutes of team shared import quota per month, and real-time recording is currently not deducted by minutes under an active team plan and active seat. Prices and benefits are subject to the official purchase page.

If you frequently hold Teams meetings and need to write minutes, track action items, and look back at who said what, Tinrec is more suitable than just turning on captions. We recommend trying the free version quota with a recording of your own meeting first, and considering an upgrade if it works for you.

Besides Tinrec, what other options are there?

Microsoft Teams built-in live captions: Free and straightforward, captions appear during the meeting and support real-time translation. But Teams does not save captions, and you need to enable transcription separately for a post-meeting text record. What Tinrec can do that Teams captions cannot: retain meeting audio, generate summaries and action items, support AI Q&A, and store data in team spaces.

CART captions: Real-time typing by trained CART captioners, with high accuracy, suitable for important occasions or meetings requiring human-generated captions. The meeting organizer needs to create a CART caption link for the captioner, who then connects via the Teams CART caption API. It's recommended to set up and test before the meeting. What Tinrec can do that CART cannot: no need to book a human captioner in advance, automatically organize transcripts, summaries, and action items after the meeting, and a different cost structure.

Pitfall guide: 4 most common mistakes with Teams live captions

Pitfall 1: Treating captions as a transcript. Teams does not save live captions, and they're gone after the meeting ends. The correct approach: if you need a text record, enable transcription during the meeting.

Pitfall 2: Assuming everyone will automatically see translations once captions are on. Live translated captions require selecting a language for participants to see content translated into their most comfortable language. Don't assume flipping a switch handles everything automatically.

Pitfall 3: Ignoring transcription permissions and policies. Transcription is affected by both organizer and user policies, and when the organizer turns off Copilot, recording and transcription are also turned off. Confirming admin policies before the meeting is easier than discovering nothing was recorded afterward.

Pitfall 4: Turning on captions but not organizing action items. Captions help you understand in the moment but won't help you track "who is responsible for what and by when." If you still need to write minutes afterward, consider pairing with a post-meeting organization tool like Tinrec to handle transcripts, summaries, and action items all at once.

Conclusion: Which one should you use?

• Just need to understand content during the meeting → Teams built-in live captions (free)
• Need transcript, summary, action items afterward → Tinrec
• Unified organization for cross-platform meetings → Tinrec
• Need human-generated high-accuracy captions → CART
• English meetings with limited budget → Otter.ai is worth comparing

If you're not sure, start with a meeting using Teams built-in captions, then run the same meeting recording through Tinrec's free version and compare the data you get afterward. That's more accurate than just looking at feature lists.

References

• Use live captions in Microsoft Teams meetings | Microsoft Support
• Admin - Manage transcription and captions for Teams meetings - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Use live captions in Teams live events | Microsoft Support
• Use CART captions (human-generated captions) in Microsoft Teams meetings | Microsoft Support
• Live captions in Microsoft Teams for personal use | Microsoft Support