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Teams Transcription (Licensing / Button greyed out for some users)

Andreas Lindemann 40 Reputation points
2026-04-21T12:34:06.9933333+00:00

Hello,

i have questions regarding transcription in Teams. Our org has Microsoft 365 Business Standard licenses, two users have icrosoft 365 Copilot Business on top of that.

  1. Is transcription possible for users without Copilot Business License?

If the meeting policy is specified as something other than "off", some people can start the transcription, even if all participants of the meeting have no Copilot Business License. Is this on purpose or am i using a loophole and am i violating my license agreement in any way?

  1. Some users can start the transcriptions, while others with the same teams version, license and meeting policy can not

I read that having the personal setting disabled to identify yourself automatically in meetings will prevent you from starting the transcription, but that setting is enabled for every participant. On the teams app for android, one participant can enable the transcription, in the same meeting in the desktop app it is not available (disabled by Administrator per Policy)

Teams version is 26072.519.4556.7438.

 

Any pointers how i can locate the user specific difference, that is responsible for the transcription? I checked the assigned meeting policy and it is the same.

 

Thanks for your time and help! Best regards,

Andi

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Settings | Other
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Answer accepted by question author

  1. Nam-D 3,695 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-04-21T15:19:11.2166667+00:00

    Hello @Andreas Lindemann

    Regarding your concern, please find below some checks and clarifications that may help identify the issue:

    Transcription and Copilot are separate features in Microsoft Teams.

    • Transcription is available when enabled via meeting policies and supported by Microsoft Business Standard.
    • Microsoft 365 Copilot provides AI-powered capabilities such as summaries and insights, but it is not required for transcription.

    Therefore, users without Copilot licenses can still use transcription as long as it is enabled through policy.

    If some users cannot start transcription, please first ensure the assigned Teams meeting policy includes:

    • Allow transcription is enabled
    • Also confirm the policy is correctly assigned and applied to all user.

    It is also recommended to reassign the license to the affected user and then verify whether the issue persists after the change has fully propagated.

    In the meantime, please check whether transcription can be enabled in Teams on the web version.

    Additionally, Microsoft Teams may not consistently reflect updated policies across all clients' devices due to policy sync or client cache issues. In this case, you can try:

    • Sign out and sign back into Teams on all devices
    • Clear Teams desktop cache
    • Allow up to 24 hours for policy propagation if there are any updates

    I hope this information helps. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to let me know.

    If this response resolves your issue, kindly click Accept Answer and consider upvoting. If you need further clarification, please click Comment.

     

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    1 person found this answer helpful.

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  1. Q&A Assist
    2026-04-21T12:34:39.5233333+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more
    1. Transcription for users without Copilot Business license

    Yes, transcription in Teams is possible for users who do not have a Microsoft 365 Copilot (or Copilot Business) license.

    From the provided context:

    • Live captions and live transcriptions are core Teams capabilities.
    • If the meeting organizer has a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license, all meeting participants can use translated captions and transcription without a specific license required.
    • If individual participants have a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license, only those licensed participants will see the Translate to option and can use translated captions and transcription.

    This means:

    • Basic transcription (and live captions) can be available even when participants do not have Copilot.
    • Copilot and Teams Premium mainly add advanced capabilities such as live translated captions/transcripts and some Copilot-specific behaviors, but they are not a hard prerequisite for standard transcription.

    Therefore, users starting transcription without a Copilot Business license are not exploiting a loophole; this is expected behavior and not, by itself, a license violation based on the information in the context.

    1. Some users can start transcription, others cannot (same version/license/policy)

    The context shows that whether a user can start transcription in a specific meeting depends on meeting options and meeting policy, not only on license or client version.

    Key controls are in the meeting options under Recording & transcription and Copilot and other AI:

    • Allow Copilot (meeting option)
      • If Allow Copilot is set to Off, then:
        • “Licensed users can’t interact with Copilot in Teams. No one can record or transcribe.”
        • The transcription button is not available to any attendees.
      • If Allow Copilot is set to During and after the meeting, then Who can record and transcribe cannot be set to No one.
    • Who can record and transcribe (meeting option)
      • Controls who can start recording or transcription:
        • Organizers and co-organizers: only organizer and co-organizers can start transcription.
        • Organizers, co-organizers, and presenters: presenters can also start transcription.
        • No one: nobody can start recording or transcription.
      • Limitations:
        • Cannot be set to No one if Allow Copilot is During and after the meeting.
        • Can only be set to No one if Allow Copilot is Off.
        • Not available if Record and transcribe automatically is turned on.
    • Admin meeting policy – transcription
      • In the Teams admin center or via CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -AllowTranscription, the admin can set transcription On/Off.
      • This policy value directly affects whether Copilot and transcription can be used in a meeting and how:
        • If policy is Off and Allow Copilot is During and after the meeting, licensed users cannot interact with Copilot unless another participant with permission to transcribe turns on transcription.
        • If policy is Any and Allow Copilot is Off, no one can record or transcribe.

    How this explains different behavior between users

    Even if:

    • Teams version is the same, and
    • Licenses are the same, and
    • The assigned Teams meeting policy is the same,

    users can still see different behavior if:

    1. Meeting options differ per meeting
      • For a given meeting, if Who can record and transcribe is set to Organizers and co-organizers, then:
        • Only organizer/co-organizers see the transcription button.
        • Other attendees see tooltips like:
          • “Only meeting organizer and co-organizer can start transcription for this meeting. Reach out to the meeting organizer for access.”
      • If Allow Copilot is set to Off for that meeting, then:
        • Tooltip: “Unavailable because Copilot is turned off for this meeting. To enable it, ask meeting organizer or co-organizer to allow Copilot in meeting options.”
        • Transcription button is disabled for everyone.
    2. Organizer’s license and options affect everyone
      • If the organizer has Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot, all participants can use translated captions and transcription in that meeting.
      • If the organizer does not have those licenses, participants with such licenses may still see additional options (like Translate to) only for themselves.
    3. Client/platform differences surface policy/tooltips differently
      • The Android app and the desktop app can show slightly different UI or tooltips for the same underlying policy/meeting options, even though the actual capability is governed by the same policy.

    Practical steps to locate the user-specific difference

    To identify why some users can start transcription and others cannot, check the following for an affected meeting:

    1. In the meeting invite, open Meeting options and verify:
      • Allow Copilot under Copilot and other AI:
        • Ensure it is not set to Off.
      • Who can record and transcribe under Recording & transcription:
        • If only the organizer can start transcription, this will be set to Organizers and co-organizers.
        • To allow more people to start transcription, set it to Organizers, co-organizers, and presenters.
    2. Confirm that the admin meeting policy allows transcription:
      • In the Teams admin center, check the user’s assigned Teams meeting policy and ensure AllowTranscription is On.
    3. Check who is organizer, co-organizer, or presenter in that meeting:
      • Users who are only attendees cannot start transcription if Who can record and transcribe is restricted.
    4. If a user sees “disabled by Administrator per Policy” on desktop but can start transcription on Android:
      • Compare the exact tooltip text on desktop with the cases described in the “I can’t transcribe a meeting in Microsoft Teams” article to see whether it is due to:
        • Copilot being turned off for that meeting, or
        • “Who can record and transcribe” being restricted.

    These checks will reveal the effective combination of meeting options and policy that is causing the difference, even when licenses and Teams versions appear identical.

    References:

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