How to2 min read
How to record a Microsoft Teams meeting without a bot
Record a Teams meeting from your own Mac with no bot in the participant list and no recording banner, and get notes with a checklist of who does what.
Teams can record meetings itself, but whether you can depends on your organisation’s policy, the recording goes to the organiser’s OneDrive or SharePoint, and a banner tells everyone it’s happening. Notetaker bots join as a participant, and in many companies an external bot is blocked from the meeting outright.
Recording from your own computer avoids both. Teams plays the other people’s voices on your Mac; trepil records that sound and your microphone, and nothing joins the meeting.
What you need
- A Mac with Apple Silicon. Windows is on the way.
- Teams, the app or in a browser.
- trepil. Download it for Mac or use it in your browser.
Set it up once
trepil needs your microphone and permission to hear system audio. The Zoom guide covers each step.
Add your work account to the Mac in System Settings, Internet Accounts, and turn on Apple Calendar in trepil. trepil then knows your Teams meetings: a reminder 10 minutes before, with Join and take notes to open the meeting and start recording together, and the attendees’ names ready for the transcript.
Record, then stop
Start from the reminder, or start a meeting in trepil once you have joined. If Teams starts using your microphone first, trepil offers to record.
When the meeting ends, press Stop. If you forget, trepil stops on its own once the call has ended, after a 10 second countdown you can cancel.
What you get
The summary, the decisions with their times, and who does what, with an owner on every to-do. Tick them off in trepil on the Mac or the web, or ask what is still open for you across every meeting.
Your organisation’s rules
In a company, recording a meeting can be covered by internal policy as well as the law. Check it, and tell the people in the meeting that you are taking notes with a notetaker. It takes a sentence, and most people are glad someone is.
Quick answers
Will Teams show a recording banner? No. Teams’ own recording isn’t used and nothing joins, so there is nothing for Teams to announce. Telling people is up to you.
Does it work if bots are blocked in my organisation? Yes. trepil isn’t a participant, so there is nothing to block.
Does it work with Teams in the browser? Yes, and in the desktop app. It records the sound, not the app.
