Live transcription with speaker attribution now available in Teams meetings for English (US)
Published Mar 23 2021 08:00 AM 176K Views

We’ve all been in situations where we’re double-booked or joined a meeting late. You don’t want to interrupt the flow but need to catch up quickly. Or, for accessibility reasons or ambient noise situations, you need help following the conversation and understanding who’s speaking. Wouldn’t it be great to have transcription with speaker attribution built into the meeting?


We’re excited to now offer live transcription in Microsoft Teams meetings for English (US). Live transcription is a written record of the spoken text that occurs during a meeting. It identifies each speaker, is captured automatically in near real time, and is available during and after the meeting.


Delivering live transcription with high accuracy, minimal latency, and cost efficiency at enterprise scale has been one of the toughest challenges in the industry. Over the last two years we’ve made significant strides in solving this problem and have dramatically improved our models for accuracy using meeting context in real time and cutting edge AI.


Live transcription in Teams uses a meeting's invitation, participant names, attachments, etc. to improve the accuracy and recognize meeting-specific jargon for each transcript automatically, without any human involvement. This means no one at Microsoft ever sees the meeting’s content, and the models are automatically deleted immediately after each meeting. In addition, Microsoft doesn’t use or store this data for improving its own AI.

 

How to set up live transcription in Teams meetings
To get started, the tenant admin just needs to turn on the Allow Transcription policy. Then the meeting organizer or a presenter can start transcription.

Menu - start recording and start transcription.png

 

In terms of privacy, live transcription is similar to recording a meeting. Participants are notified that live transcription is on and have the ability to hide it from their meeting view with just a click. If they choose not be identified, attendees can also turn off speaker attribution in their profile settings.

TranscriptUFD.png

 

After the meeting, the saved transcript is available for reference and download in Teams for desktop and web.

Transcript in Post Meeting Tab.png

 

The transcript is also immediately available in the meeting event in Teams calendar, as well as through the transcript tile in the chat.

Chat Chiclet Full View.png

 

Teams live transcription files are stored in the meeting organizer's Exchange Online account and only the organizer and tenant admin have permissions to delete it.


Teams meeting recordings that are saved in OneDrive for Business and SharePoint (ODSP) use Teams live transcript to display captions in recordings, so we recommend turning on live transcript to ensure captions are present in post-meeting recordings.


Note that live transcription is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate and so should not be relied upon in life-altering situations.

 

Cloud Video Interop customers:

If you are using Cloud Video Interop (CVI) to join Teams meetings, please contact your CVI provider to ensure that your CVI participants get the transcription notification when transcription starts.


Who can start using live transcriptions?

As of 6/29/2021: Live transcriptions is available in English (US) on Teams Desktop for scheduled meetings under the following licenses: Office 365 E1, Office 365 A1, Office 365/Microsoft 365 A3, Office 365/Microsoft 365 A5, Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365/Microsoft 365 F3, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium SKUs.

 

Live transcription has previously been available for licenses: Office 365/Microsoft E3, Office 365/Microsoft E5, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers.


Delivering highly accurate, AI-based live transcriptions for Teams meetings has been a massive and rewarding effort across the company. With this powerful foundation built at scale, we’re ready to tackle the next set of challenges to keep improving inclusivity, accessibility, and productivity in Microsoft Teams meetings. Stay tuned…

63 Comments
Iron Contributor

What about Microsoft 365 Business Basic users? Is this feature unavailable for Business Basic?

Copper Contributor

Any timing on other languages (IC french and Dutch?)

Copper Contributor

Hi, when should we be seeing the Allow Transcription policy added to our admin center?  I don't see it yet.

Iron Contributor

Thank you for sharing

Copper Contributor

Love this feature, we've been playing with it a bit and the accuracy is very impressive. We've found that the button to activate the transcription is only there if the meeting is a scheduled one outside of a channel/team and is not an adhoc one - will the feature be present across all meeting forms in the future? 

Iron Contributor

This is great news! But I am a bit puzzled by the license requirements here... Since when did Teams features start to require Windows-as-a-service subscription. We are on Enterprise Agreement, mixing O365 E3/E1 + EMS E3. Are you telling me we need the license pack including Windows E3 to be able to use live transcription? I would have expected this to be part of O365 E3, or at least E5, with the option of a stand-alone add-on. We need this for accessibility, but have not choice but going to a third party if the only option is to upgrade the whole org to M365 E3 licenses. Thanks!

Copper Contributor

Wouldn't it be better if you focus on not opening 4 windows every time a call is made? Or removing an annoying header that prevents using the browser tabs when you share the screen? I don't know, maybe it's more of a priority to make sure the user experience in Teams is not a crap...

Copper Contributor

@javisilencio agree with you. the floating header is very annoying!

Copper Contributor

It is good to see that the feature is live now, but wondering is there any APIs available to get the transcript sentences, by the speaker, during the meeting (at realtime)?

1) We are working on live transcript in other languages including French and Dutch. We will share more details soon.

2) We currently don't have a public API for Teams live transcript feature.

 

 

Copper Contributor

Thanks @Shalendra Chhabra for your response... If you can tell me is there any plan to provide the public API for Teams live transcript feature in the future? If it's in the plan then any ETA that you know about?

Copper Contributor

or is there any Graph API available to download the transcript after the meeting?

Copper Contributor

can you confirm that if the user has a language setting that is not US English (ie: English New Zealand) will it still work or do people have to ensure that language is set to US for it to work?  we can see the function, and its all working but nothing is being captured....

 

HudsonNZ_0-1617777296475.png

 

Copper Contributor

This is excellent! Can you confirm were transcript/recordings are saved for impromptu "meetings" from external callers? For example, if a number outside of Teams calls my Teams number and I enable transcriptions where will this save (as there is no calendar invite or chat associated with the call)?

Copper Contributor

A similar question to @HudsonNZ ... is this only available to specifically English in the US? We're located in Canada. As an admin, I've enabled the transcription feature, but when testing in a meeting, the option appears greyed out and not we're able to click on it.

Screen Shot 2021-04-13 at 3.16.31 PM.png

Copper Contributor

Never mind...the feature is fully working today. I guess it just needed a bit of time to fully enable itself :)

Great to hear! 

Copper Contributor

@Shalendra Chhabra just wondering if you can clarify if the language settings need to be US for it to appear, or can we set the English (NZ) and it still work.

Brass Contributor

Hi,

I may have missed this, but will this be available for EDU?

 

Thanks!

Copper Contributor

Is there a way to add this to the meeting's settings so we don't forget to manually start the transcript?

Brass Contributor

When doing a PSTN Call, you can turn on Transcriptions and it shows it to the right side of the Teams window. My question is, where does it go after the call is completed?

Silver Contributor

When is live transcription coming to channel meetings? This would be helpful as our staff hold regular staff meetings in a channel and live transcription would be very helpful to back up any note-taking for the meetings.

Copper Contributor

Any estimate on when is live transcription coming to channel meetings? This would be helpful as we hold regular staff meetings in a channel and live transcription would be very helpful to back up any note-taking for the meetings. Is there a road map for this feature?

Copper Contributor

Is Exchange Online mandatory for this feature to work properly? I am able to start and stop transcription but not able to download though.

Copper Contributor

excellent work, is there any plan to release this to Education tenants if so when? 

Copper Contributor

Hi @Shalendra Chhabra as you mentioned there is no API right now to download the Transcribe files.

is there any other way to download those files automatically? or send them to a file repository?

 

Best regards.

Brass Contributor

When recording a meeting with transcription enabled, the MP4 file saved to OneDrive does not include the transcription. While I can download the transcript file separately through the meeting summary in Teams, this needs to be integrated instead of a manual process for the organizer to download the file, upload it to where the video is located, and then share it with those needing access. Additionally, the end-user then needs to be trained on how to download both files and opened the subtitle file separately. This is an extremely poor design for external attendees coming to a webinar that are unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams.

Steel Contributor

Is it actually true that you need a M365 licence and not and Office 365 licence? That's a strange decision.

Copper Contributor

@David Gorman you can use it on Office 365 licenses as well.

According to their message ID: MC260564

"Live transcriptions will be available in English (US) on Teams Desktop for scheduled meetings under the below licenses: Office 365 E1, Office 365 A1, Office 365/Microsoft 365 A3, Office 365/Microsoft 365 A5, Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365/Microsoft 365 F3, Microsoft 365 Business Basic SKUs Live transcription is already available under the below licenses: Enterprise E3/E5 Business Standard Business Premium customers"

Copper Contributor

I do find different information re the language settings of live transcriptions.
Is it available in US English only or can it be set to other languages?

Copper Contributor

Are transcriptions available to external participants if they have joined the meeting? 

@amangeles See this support article and scroll down to "Who can start, stop, view, and download transcription".

 

View live transcription in a Teams meeting - Office Support (microsoft.com)

Copper Contributor

I'm able to use the live transcription and I've enabled this option as an admin but I'm not able to view it after the meeting or download it. What am I missing? I did a test meeting, recorded it, used the live transcription and then found the "Recordings & Transcripts" tab of the meeting after. In there is the recording but it says "No meeting transcript".

Copper Contributor

The directions state it works for "Scheduled Meetings" but I find not all scheduled meetings work.  If I schedule a meeting in Outlook, Transcription works.  If I use TEAMS channel calendar and create a meeting, Transcription isn't available.  

 

Please define better the requirements for enabling the functionality.

Please read the above support article.

Copper Contributor

@ChristianJBergstrom I did read the support article but it's still not working. I'm using it in a schedules meeting and I've enabled transcripts in the admin center.

Copper Contributor

The article is incomplete and doesn't properly define the many ways a team meeting can get started/scheduled to have Transaction show up.  I have Transaction working some times, but not consistently determined the pattern for when it is there or not. 

Brass Contributor

I read somewhere that "Meet Now" and Channel Meetings are not supported yet. I've been able to get transcripts for any other traditional meeting. However, with recording to OneDrive/SharePoint, the transcripts are useless.

Copper Contributor

It appears not ALL scheduled meetings can have transcriptions.  Scheduled Outlook meetings can have transcriptions.  Scheduled Teams meetings won't work.

 

Meeting Created by: Transcription Available Recording Available
Outlook - MeetNowNoYes
Outlook - Meeting Schedule [personal calendar]YesYes
Outlook - Meeting Schedule [Teams calendar]YesYes
Teams App - Channel top right - Meet NOWNoYes
Teams App - Channel top right - Scheduled MeetingNoYes
Copper Contributor

It appears that the transcription service is only available in meetings that are scheduled in the calendar, with named participants...i.e. NOT channel meetings.  Is this right.  If so this limits the utility of transcription and is a significant downgrading of the facility that we have been accessing in Stream to date.

Hi @davebarber Yes, today live transcript is only available for scheduled meetings not channel meetings. However, we are working on enabling live transcript in channel meetings and it is coming out soon. 

Copper Contributor

good news!  would we be able to rely on this being available by September do you think?

Copper Contributor

I would like to use the transcription function, for my interviews, however, I can see the function however it is greyed out and does not allow me to click on it? 

Copper Contributor

FionaSander1979_0-1626390714965.png

 

Brass Contributor

No info in roadmap about other languages enabled for transcription.... any update?

I'm looking for Italian.

 

Carlo

@Carlo Reggiani 

 

  • Microsoft Teams: Live Captions in additional spoken languages for Teams Meetings - 70593
  • Microsoft Teams: Live transcript in Teams meetings in additional spoken languages - 83615
Copper Contributor

Hi @Shalendra Chhabra  & @ChristianJBergstrom ,

 

Is Exchange Online required? After I enabled the feature I was able to start and see the transcriptions but when I tried to click on it for downloading I received the pop-up message "Unable to schedule event: Mailbox not found, please contact your system admin". Today I no longer have the option to click on the transcriptions. I see them in the meeting chat window, but clicking them does not do anything....

 

When I follow the download instructions ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/view-live-transcription-in-a-teams-meeting-dc1a8f23-2e2... and open the calendar app on the left bar of Teams, my calendar is blank and does not show any of my Outlook scheduled meetings. 

 

Thanks,

MSSSA

Copper Contributor

Hi @ChristianJBergstrom!

 

Can you (or someone else) confirm that additional languages for Teams meeting transcript have been rolled out and are working?

 

Regards

Michael

@Michael_Broda Yes, both launched and working.

Copper Contributor

In our tenant when the change from Stream to OneDrive was pushed, we noticed when you hit record on a Teams meeting, the Transcript would automatically start! You would have to manually turn it off...
A few weeks later, it reverted back, and now currently when we hit record, you have to manually turn on Transcripts as well. Is there documentation to this particular change? @Shalendra Chhabra @ChristianJBergstrom 

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Last update:
‎Jul 13 2021 03:37 PM
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