Teams' built-in transcription depends on your organization's Microsoft licensing, announces recording to the whole meeting, and files the result in the company's Microsoft 365 tenant. If the transcript you need is yours — for your notes, your clients, your follow-ups — there's a simpler route: capture the call's audio on your own machine and transcribe it there. This guide uses QuickSpeak (which we make).
Before you start
Install QuickSpeak — no account, no configuration. The first run downloads the recognition model once; after that, everything runs locally, even offline.
The steps
- Join the Teams meeting. If it runs in a Chrome tab (Teams web), keep it there. If you're in the Teams desktop app, that works too — just note which.
- Open QuickSpeak and pick the audio source: Browser tab (Meet, Zoom web) for a tabbed call, or Desktop (Zoom app, Teams) for the desktop app. Microphone (in-person room) exists for physical meetings.
- Click Start recording and close the popup. Nothing appears in Teams — no banner, no bot, no announcement — because no Teams feature is being used.
- Click Stop recording at the end. Watch the stages: Transcribing, Identifying speakers, Saving. The hint under them is literal: "Working locally — nothing leaves your device."
- Click each speaker label and type the real name. "Speaker 1" becomes a person, and the label updates across the whole transcript.
- Export. Copy the transcript or download it as .txt; Pro adds Markdown, JSON, and WAV.
Why bother when Teams has transcription?
Because the transcripts serve different masters. Teams' transcription belongs to your organization: availability depends on the license, the recording is announced, and the file lands in the tenant where IT — not you — governs retention and access. For a client call, an HR conversation, or anything sensitive, "stored where I can delete it myself" is a different product.
QuickSpeak's version runs on your hardware, costs nothing to use for the core loop, and requires no changes to how the meeting is held. External clients with their own Teams tenants, guest users without transcription entitlements, and anyone who's ever asked "where did that recording go, exactly?" are the people this was built for.
The consent caveat: no announcement from your tool doesn't release you from recording law. Where you are determines whose consent you need. Say you're recording.
What it costs
The core loop is free with no meter: unlimited recording and transcription, per-meeting speaker identification, full history, .txt and audio export. Pro ($12/month or $99/year) adds live captions during the call, search across all your meetings, persistent speaker profiles, and the richer export formats. Every install starts with 14 days of full Pro, no card required.
FAQ
Does Teams notify participants?
No. No Teams recording or transcription feature is activated, so Teams has nothing to announce. Your own disclosure obligations under consent law are unchanged.
Do I need Teams Premium?
No. Teams' native transcription follows Microsoft's licensing; QuickSpeak doesn't touch it. It records the audio your machine plays and transcribes locally, free.
Which audio source for the desktop app?
Desktop (Zoom app, Teams). Browser-tab calls use Browser tab (Meet, Zoom web); in-person rooms use Microphone.
Where is the transcript stored?
In your browser profile, on your disk — the transcription is WebAssembly running locally. Export or delete the file whenever you want.