How to Use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams Without Saving Meeting Recordings or Transcripts

Meeting organizers can use Microsoft 365 Copilot to summarize live discussions and track action items without creating persistent recordings or transcripts by changing the meeting's Copilot setting to "Only during the meeting". In this mode, Copilot processes spoken dialogue using ephemeral speech-to-text streaming in temporary memory. As soon as the call ends, the audio buffer is wiped clean, leaving no permanent transcript file in OneDrive, SharePoint, or Microsoft Stream, and generating no post-meeting intelligent recap.

This configuration resolves a critical dilemma for organizations bound by legal privilege, strict confidentiality agreements, works council rules, or compliance mandates (such as HIPAA, GDPR, or financial advisory regulations). Teams can benefit from real-time AI assistance without introducing legal discovery risks or audit trail liabilities tied to retained meeting transcripts.

How "Only During the Meeting" Works Under the Hood

Standard Copilot functionality in Microsoft Teams relies on continuous, saved transcription. When transcription is enabled, Teams writes a permanent .vtt file to OneDrive or SharePoint, allowing Copilot to populate the post-meeting Recap tab and answer follow-up prompts days or weeks later.

When an organizer selects "Only during the meeting", Teams alters its data pipeline:

1. Ephemeral Speech Processing: Teams converts spoken audio into an in-memory text stream in real time.
2. On-the-Fly Reasoning: Copilot’s large language model processes this temporary text stream solely to answer active prompts during the live call.
3. Immediate Memory Flush: When the meeting concludes or participants leave, the temporary speech-to-text buffer is permanently discarded. No transcript is saved to Exchange or SharePoint.
4. No Post-Meeting Recap: The Recap tab in Teams will not contain AI notes, speaker timelines, or Copilot chat history.

Compliance Note (Microsoft Purview): While no audio recording or meeting transcript is stored, Copilot user prompts and AI responses generated during the call may still be retained within your organization's Microsoft 365 compliance substrate if Purview retention and eDiscovery policies are configured for Copilot interactions.

Step-by-Step Guide for Meeting Organizers

1. Pre-Meeting: Configure Meeting Options

You can enforce this mode before the meeting begins through Microsoft Teams or Outlook.

1. Open your Calendar in Microsoft Teams or Outlook.
2. Select your scheduled meeting and click Edit or open the meeting invitation.
3. Click Meeting options (or Options in newer Teams interfaces).
4. Locate the section labeled Copilot and other AI (or Allow Copilot).
5. Open the dropdown menu and select Only during the meeting.
6. Select Apply or Save.

Note: Meeting organizers who do not own a Microsoft 365 Copilot license can still configure this option. Doing so enables licensed attendees to use Copilot safely under the restricted policy.

2. During the Meeting: Initiating Copilot

Copilot does not begin capturing audio automatically when the call starts. A licensed attendee or organizer must initiate it manually:

1. In the top meeting controls bar, select the Copilot icon.
2. A banner will confirm the meeting privacy state: select Turn on to open the side panel.
3. If prompted, confirm the primary spoken language of the meeting to ensure transcription accuracy.
4. Once initiated, Copilot begins monitoring the live audio stream. Participants who join late can query discussions that took place from the moment Copilot was turned on.

3. Private Querying and Collaboration

Interactions in the Copilot pane are private to each user. Other attendees cannot see the questions you type or the responses Copilot returns to you. You can query Copilot freely throughout the session.

Best Live Prompts for Real-Time Recaps and Action Items

Because the meeting buffer vanishes when the call ends, organizers should query Copilot periodically during the call:

The "Post-Meeting Amnesia" Trap: How to Preserve Action Items

The primary operational risk with "Only during the meeting" is data loss due to meeting closure. Because Teams does not persist the transcript, closing the call closes the Copilot conversation window forever.

To ensure your action items and summaries are preserved without violating organizational recording bans:

1. Prompt 5 Minutes Before Adjournment: Ask Copilot to produce a complete summary and action item table before attendees hang up.
2. Copy to an Approved Destination: Use the Copy icon at the bottom of the Copilot response and paste the text into your desired repository, such as:
   • A shared Microsoft OneNote notebook or Loop workspace;
   • An email summary to stakeholders;
   • The Teams meeting chat (if text chat retention is permitted by policy).
3. Mid-Meeting Transcription Override: If participants collectively decide that a permanent record is necessary, an authorized participant can select More (...) > Record and transcribe > Start transcription. From that exact timestamp onward, Copilot becomes persistent, though discussions prior to starting the transcript remain excluded from post-meeting recap.

Policy Prerequisites and Feature Limitations

Before relying on this workflow for sensitive sessions, verify these organizational prerequisites and boundaries:

• IT Admin Meeting Policies: Teams administrators manage this feature in the Teams admin center under Meetings > Meeting policies > Recording & transcription > Copilot. If the policy is set to enforce saved transcription or disables Copilot entirely, the "Only during the meeting" option will be grayed out or missing from meeting options.
• Licensing Requirements: Any user who opens and prompts Copilot must have an active Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Unlicensed users cannot interact with Copilot during the session.
• External and Federated Guests: External participants—including cross-tenant users from Multi-Tenant Organizations (MTO)—cannot access Copilot in "Only during the meeting" mode. Copilot cannot process cross-tenant ephemeral audio streams.
• Irreversible Closure: Once the last organizer ends the meeting, Microsoft Support cannot retrieve in-meeting Copilot discussions.

References

• Use Copilot without transcribing or recording a Teams meeting or call | Microsoft Support
• Manage meeting and events policies in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
• Catch up on meetings with Microsoft Copilot in Teams | Microsoft Support