New administrative controls for Teams
Microsoft has announced a change to how recording and transcription permissions are managed within Microsoft Teams. Currently, the ability to start a recording is often available to most participants with presenter status. A new update, scheduled for release in late 2026, will allow IT administrators to set stricter rules on who can trigger these functions.
Administrators will be able to limit recording and transcription rights specifically to meeting organisers and co-organisers. Alternatively, they can choose to include all presenters. This change is designed to help businesses maintain a consistent approach to how data is captured during internal and external meetings.
Managing meeting privacy
For many small businesses, meeting transcriptions—where the software converts speech into a written text log—and video recordings contain sensitive commercial or personal data. Under the current system, it can be difficult to prevent unauthorised participants from starting a recording.
With this update, business owners can decide whether to enforce a single policy across the whole company or allow meeting organisers to adjust the settings on a case-by-case basis. If a policy is enforced by the administrator, the organiser will not be able to override it, ensuring that company-wide privacy standards are met.
Implementation timeline
Microsoft has listed the general availability for this feature as December 2026. This is a long-term roadmap item, and the exact date may change as development progresses.
There is no immediate action required for UK business owners. However, when the feature is released, it will be found within the Teams Admin Centre under meeting policies. We recommend that businesses with specific compliance or confidentiality requirements review their recording culture closer to the release date to decide which staff members should hold these permissions.