Meeting and workplace data
What video meetings leave behind
Zoom and Teams can create recordings, transcripts and AI summaries with different audiences and retention controls. Learn which records and permissions to check.
Sources checked .
A conversation can leave several different records
Zoom distinguishes live accessibility captions from a retained meeting transcript. Its May 2026 change FAQ says live captions are not a downloadable post-meeting record, while retained transcripts support later uses. The rollout was scheduled for May 24 through May 26. Existing settings could migrate, so a new default does not prove an existing account stopped saving transcripts. Zoom: May 2026 transcript changes
Zoom describes AI meeting summaries as using speech-to-text data. Its data-handling page says relevant content can be shared with third-party models to provide features, while committing not to use covered customer communications to train its or third-party models. A no-training commitment is different from a promise that no processing occurs. These are provider disclosures, not an independent audit. Zoom: AI data handling
A summary can travel beyond the meeting window
Zoom says a summary recipient can save and share it with other people or apps, and the account owner can access it. Hosts and co-hosts control in-meeting summary start and stop. Stopping still produces a summary for the portion already enabled. Its optional meeting-asset deletion excludes participants' My Notes transcripts completed before the host deletes those assets. Zoom: summary use, sharing and stopping
Summary settings separately control automatic start, automatic recipients and whether notification email contains the text or an authenticated link. Auto-start can begin when someone starts the meeting even if the host is absent. Zoom says summary auto-deletion moves the item to Trash. Do not assume disabling a future default recalls a recipient's saved copy. Zoom: summary defaults and audiences
Teams access depends on storage and meeting type
Microsoft documents ordinary meeting recordings in the organizer's OneDrive, channel recordings in the channel's SharePoint library, and one-to-one or group call recordings in the recorder's OneDrive. Missing organizer storage can trigger documented fallback locations. Channel access inherits channel permissions. Check the actual file and meeting type before describing a recording as private to its organizer. Microsoft: recording storage by meeting type
An eligible Teams organizer can set recording and transcript access before a meeting, but the option requires Copilot or Teams Premium and the specified organizer OneDrive storage. It excludes channel and ad hoc meetings. Later file permissions or sharing can override the meeting option. Third-party apps are not restricted by that option. Microsoft: meeting access choices and limits
Expiration and deletion have narrower meanings
Microsoft says recording expiration is determined by admin settings and requires edit permission to change. After expiration, the owner can have up to 90 days to recover the recording from the recycle bin. A displayed expiration date is not a guarantee of immediate permanent erasure. Microsoft also describes automatic recording notices and says permission requirements depend on region. Microsoft: recording notices and expiration
Microsoft distinguishes deleting a transcript through Teams desktop, which deletes its OneDrive and Exchange Online copies, from deleting it on the video player page, which deletes the OneDrive copy. Organizers and co-organizers have transcript deletion rights. This description does not establish that a separate recording, exported file or recipient copy disappears too. Microsoft: transcript permissions and deletion
Questions and answers
Are Zoom live captions and retained transcripts the same thing?
The May 2026 FAQ separates accessibility captions from a saved meeting transcript. Zoom: May 2026 transcript changes
Does the Teams access option also restrict third-party apps?
Microsoft says third-party app access must be managed separately. Microsoft: meeting access choices and limits
Does a no-training promise mean the content is never processed?
Zoom describes processing relevant content to provide its AI features while making a separate training commitment. Zoom: AI data handling
Sources and scope
Public Zoom and Microsoft documentation checked 10-24-2026. The guide distinguishes May 2026 transcript changes, meeting types and licensed features.
- Customize who can access a recording or transcript in Microsoft Teams. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Edit or delete a meeting transcript in Microsoft Teams. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Start, stop, and find meeting recordings in Microsoft Teams, selected privacy and expiration sections. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Teams meeting recording and transcript storage and permissions in OneDrive and SharePoint, selected storage and access sections. Checked 10-24-2026.
- How Zoom AI features handle your data, selected meeting and processing sections. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Caption and transcript settings change FAQ, rollout scheduled May 24 through May 26, 2026. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Meeting summary settings, selected personal-account and data-usage sections. Checked 10-24-2026.
- Using Meeting Summary with AI, current public help. Checked 10-24-2026.