Copilot in Teams Guide (2026): Meetings, Recap, Turn Off

Copilot in Microsoft Teams can summarise a meeting while it’s still running, catch you up on a chat you missed, and run a meeting agenda for you. In late 2026 it also gained a Meeting AI switch, video recaps, and recaps that work without saving a transcript.

This guide covers every Copilot feature in Teams: meetings, chats, channels, Facilitator and recaps. It also explains the licences, the admin settings, and how to turn it off.

TL;DR

In meetings: click Copilot in the meeting controls and ask questions about what’s been said. Transcription is needed to use it after the meeting.
In chats and channels: click Open Copilot at the top right. It looks back 30 days by default.
New in 2026: the in-meeting Meeting AI toggle, Facilitator proactive web answers, AI video recap, and Intelligent Recap without saving a transcript.
Licence: Copilot Business ($21/user/month annual) or Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30/user/month annual) for the meeting features.
Turn off: organizers set Copilot to Off in meeting options. Admins use the Copilot setting in Teams meeting policies.

All Copilot Features in Teams

Feature	What it does	Where
Copilot in meetings	Private chat about what’s been said, live or afterwards	Meeting controls
Late join catch-up	Offers a summary if you join more than 5 minutes late	Notification in the meeting
Facilitator	Tracks the agenda, takes notes in Loop, captures action items, runs timers	Meeting options and chat
Facilitator proactive search	Answers unanswered factual questions with a web search card	Meeting chat (off by default)
Meeting AI toggle	Turns Copilot and Facilitator on or off mid-meeting	Meeting toolbar
Intelligent Recap	Summary, decisions, action items and highlights after the meeting	Recap tab
AI video recap	Narrated highlight reel of a recorded meeting	Recap tab
Copilot in chats and channels	Summaries and answers from conversation history	Open Copilot, top right
Summarize thread	One-click summary of a long channel thread	More actions menu
Queues app recaps	Summary notes and Q&A for recorded queue calls	Teams Phone Queues app

Which Licence You Need

Licence	Price	What you get in Teams
Copilot Chat (free with work account)	No extra charge	Web-grounded chat; not the meeting and chat features
Copilot Business add-on	$21/user/month (annual)	Copilot in meetings, chats and channels for small businesses
Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on	$30/user/month (annual)	Full Copilot in Teams, including AI video recap
Teams Premium	Separate add-on	Intelligent Recap without a Copilot licence

Prices are the US annual-commitment prices and vary by country. I explain the plans in more detail in my Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint guide.

Note: Copilot won’t work in meetings hosted outside your organisation. If a partner company runs the meeting, you can’t use your Copilot in it.

Copilot in Teams Meetings

Check the meeting options. When scheduling, open Meeting options, then Copilot and other AI, and set Allow Copilot and Facilitator.
Start transcription if you want history. With the During and after setting, Copilot starts when someone begins transcribing.
Open Copilot. Select Copilot in the meeting controls. A private panel opens; others don’t see your prompts.
Ask a question. Pick a suggested prompt or type your own, such as ‘Where do we disagree on this topic?’
Export long answers. Answers over 1,300 characters can open in Word, and tables can open in Excel.
Use it after the meeting. Open the meeting chat and select Open Copilot at the top right, or use the Recap tab.

If you join more than 5 minutes late and Copilot is running, Teams offers a catch-up summary. Copilot can also include up to 24 hours of meeting chat from before the meeting when transcription is on.

Warning: in a recurring meeting, earlier Copilot conversation history disappears if a later meeting in the series is transcribed. Save anything you need to Word or Loop.

During and After vs Only During the Meeting

The organizer picks one of three values for Copilot in Meeting options. This choice decides whether anything is saved.

Setting	Needs transcription?	Available after the meeting?
During and after the meeting	Yes; Copilot starts when transcription starts	Yes, from the chat and Recap tab
Only during the meeting	No; uses speech-to-text that isn’t saved	No; data is gone when the meeting ends
Off	Not applicable	Copilot, recording and transcription are all off

Tip: use Only during the meeting for sensitive calls where you want live help but no saved transcript. Copilot will ask you to choose the spoken language first.

The Meeting AI Toggle

After user complaints, Microsoft added a Meeting AI switch to the meeting toolbar of scheduled meetings. It rolled out from July 2026 and is now in Teams desktop, web and mobile.

Who can use it: organizers and presenters with a Copilot licence, where meeting policies allow Meeting AI.
Turning it off: Copilot and Facilitator stop responding, Copilot stops making notes, and recording and transcription stop. Content made earlier stays.
Everyone can see it: a status indicator shows all participants whether Meeting AI is on.
Linked to transcription: turning Meeting AI on starts transcription, and starting transcription turns Meeting AI on.

Note: to keep AI out of a meeting completely, both Meeting AI and transcription must stay off.

Facilitator: Agenda, Notes and Proactive Answers

Facilitator works like a virtual meeting chair. It tracks agenda items, writes live notes in Microsoft Loop, captures action items and runs countdown timers for each segment.

In September 2026 Microsoft added proactive search. Facilitator spots an unanswered factual question, runs a web search and posts a short answer card in the meeting chat.

Turn it on. The organizer enables Facilitator proactive search in Meeting options, before or during the call. It’s off by default.
Ask directly. Anyone can @mention Facilitator in the meeting chat to ask a question.
Check the answer. Answer cards are visible to everyone, including guests without a Copilot licence.

Microsoft limits proactive answers to about once per meeting, so the chat doesn’t fill up with cards.

Intelligent Recap and AI Video Recap

Intelligent Recap

After the meeting, the Recap tab shows a summary with key decisions, action items and highlights. Since October 2026, organizers with a Copilot licence can turn on recap without saving a transcript.

Intelligent Recap is included with Microsoft 365 Copilot and also with Teams Premium. Microsoft has separated it from Copilot, so Copilot users can choose whether recap starts when Copilot is turned on.

AI video recap

Added in September 2026, this makes a narrated highlight reel from a recorded meeting. It includes key points, screen shares and PowerPoint Live segments, with timestamp links to the full recording.

How: open the Recap tab in the meeting chat or calendar event and click Video recap. You can also ask Copilot Chat for it.
Needs: cloud recording and auto-transcription, and a meeting length of 10-90 minutes.
Works on: Teams for Windows, Mac and web, in 23 languages. It isn’t on Teams mobile yet.
Licence: Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Copilot in Chats and Channels

Open a chat. Go to Chat in the left pane and open a one-to-one or group conversation.
Select Open Copilot in the upper-right corner.
Pick a prompt. Use a suggestion under the compose box, or select Show more.
Set the time range. Copilot looks at the last 30 days by default. Name another period in your prompt, like ‘last month’.
See more. If the answer is cut short, select Generate next response.

For channels, open a post, expand its replies, then select Open Copilot. For a quick summary, use the More actions menu (the three dots) and choose Summarize thread.

Note: a thread needs at least 1,000 characters of text for Summarize thread. Copilot can’t summarise images, Loop components or files shared in the chat.

Copilot can also help in the compose box, rewriting your message or changing its tone before you send it.

Best Prompts for Teams

Where	Prompt
Meeting, live	Summarise the last 10 minutes and list open questions.
Meeting, live	Where do we disagree on this topic?
Meeting, live	Create a table of the ideas discussed with pros and cons.
After a meeting	List every action item with the owner and due date.
After a meeting	Draft a follow-up email to the attendees.
Chat	Summarise what I’ve missed.
Chat	What links were shared this week?
Channel	What decisions were made in this thread?

For drafting the follow-up email, my Copilot in Outlook guide shows how to finish and send it from Outlook.

Admin Settings and PowerShell

Admins control the default in the Teams admin center under Meetings > Meeting policies > Recording & transcription > Copilot.

Admin center value	PowerShell value	Organizer default
On	Enabled	Only during the meeting; organizers can change it
On with saved transcript required (default)	EnabledWithTranscript	During and after; locked, organizers can’t change it
On with transcript saved by default	EnabledWithTranscriptDefaultOn	During and after; organizers can change it
Off	Disabled	Off; organizers can switch it on

With PowerShell, use the Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy cmdlet and the -Copilot parameter. For example: Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity Global -Copilot EnabledWithTranscriptDefaultOn

Transcription is a separate setting, -AllowTranscription, on the same cmdlet.

How to Turn Off Copilot in Teams

For one meeting (organizer): Meeting options, Copilot and other AI, set Allow Copilot and Facilitator to Off. This also turns off recording and transcription.
During a meeting: organizers and presenters switch Meeting AI off in the toolbar, and keep transcription off.
For a whole organisation (admin): set the Copilot meeting policy to Off. This only sets the default: organizers can still switch Copilot back on for their own meetings.
Remove the licence: admins can unassign the Copilot licence from users in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

To remove Copilot from Windows itself, follow my turn off Copilot in Windows 11 guide.

Troubleshooting

I don’t see the Copilot button in a meeting

Check that you have a Copilot licence and that the organizer didn’t set Copilot to Off. Also check the meeting isn’t hosted by another organisation.

Copilot says there’s nothing to summarise after the meeting

The meeting probably used Only during the meeting, or nobody started transcription. Use During and after next time.

Video recap is missing

The meeting must be recorded and transcribed and last 10-90 minutes. It also doesn’t show on Teams mobile.

Summarize thread is greyed out

The thread is shorter than 1,000 characters. Open Copilot and ask about the chat instead.

Copilot history vanished in a recurring meeting

That happens when a later meeting in the series is transcribed. Export important answers to Word or Loop after each meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Copilot in Teams free?

No. The meeting and chat features need a Copilot Business or Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on. The free Copilot Chat doesn’t summarise your meetings.

Does Copilot in Teams need transcription?

Not to use it live. You need transcription to use Copilot after the meeting or to see your Copilot history.

Can other people see my Copilot prompts in a meeting?

No. Copilot opens a private chat. Facilitator answer cards in the meeting chat are visible to everyone.

How do I turn off Copilot in a Teams meeting?

Set Allow Copilot and Facilitator to Off in Meeting options, or switch Meeting AI off in the toolbar during the meeting and keep transcription off.

What is the Meeting AI toggle in Teams?

A switch in the meeting toolbar that lets organizers and presenters turn Copilot and Facilitator on or off while the meeting is running.

How do I get a video recap of a Teams meeting?

Record and transcribe a 10-90 minute meeting, then open the Recap tab and click Video recap. It needs Microsoft 365 Copilot.

How far back can Copilot read a Teams chat?

It uses the last 30 days by default. You can ask about another period by naming it in your prompt.

Final Thoughts

Copilot is most useful in Teams for catching up: on a meeting you joined late, a chat you missed or a long channel thread. Facilitator and video recaps add real value for teams with lots of meetings.

Set the meeting options with care, because they decide what gets saved. For the rest of Microsoft’s AI updates, see my Copilot November 2026 update.