How to record video calls so you don’t miss a moment

“Please take note of that, everyone. It’s important to remember.” Have you ever heard something like this during a video call and realized you just missed some crucial information? You’re not alone. With millions of employees working from home, video conferencing is now a routine part of the workday. And it’s common for remote workers to be distracted during some online meetings.

According to a Microsoft study, in about 30 percent of all video meetings, employees interacted with their emails. In about 25 percent of meetings, they worked on files, such as Word documents. When they’re not multitasking, remote workers face countless other disruptions—from noisy traffic to barking dogs.

This is where the record button can help. Keep reading to learn why and how to record online meetings.

Six reasons to record video meetings

Master multitasking: Remote workers often juggle emails, reports, and other tasks during video calls. Recording online meetings can save busy multitaskers a lot of stress when they miss a critical statement.

Manage disruptions: Working from home comes with plenty of interruptions. Whether it’s a package delivery, a loud lawn mower, or a crying baby, these disruptions can make people miss essential information during a video conference. When you record your meetings, they’ll catch every detail.

Freshen their memory: Even if participants pay close attention during a meeting, memories fade. If they can’t recall exactly what someone said, they can roll back the recording and listen again.

Create a transcription: When you record a video meeting, it also creates a transcription. People can watch the text in real time during the meeting and read or download the transcription at any point in the future. This not only makes your meeting more inclusive to participants who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, it also allows people to search the transcript for an important detail that they might have missed.

Get everyone up to speed: After you record a meeting, you can share it with others who couldn’t attend. This is a quick and easy way to help team members catch up on what they missed.

Boost engagement: When you record a video conference, people don’t feel the need to take copious notes during the meeting. This gives them more opportunities to engage with speakers, ask questions, and connect with other team members.

How to record a video call

Whether you want to learn how to record a video call with audio or how to record meeting minutes, the process is the same—not to mention surprisingly easy. There’s a variety of video conferencing tools on the market today. While the steps vary slightly depending on which tool you’re using, the process of recording is similar across all video conferencing apps.

As an example, here’s how to record a meeting in Microsoft Teams:

1. Join or start the meeting.

Whether you’re the organizer or a participant, you can start recording as soon as you join.

2. Follow privacy rules.

Depending on your location, you may be required to get everyone’s permission to record. Make sure you understand the rules in your area before you start recording.

3. Start recording.

Go to the meeting controls and select the More options icon, which appears as three dots (∙ ∙ ∙) at the top of the Microsoft Teams window. Scroll down and select Start recording and transcription.

All participants will receive a notification that the recording and transcription have started. This notification will also appear in the meeting chat history.

Note: Only one participant can record at a time. The recording and transcription will be stored in the cloud, and all participants will have access to them.

4. View the meeting transcription in real time.

When you’re recording, participants have the option to view the transcription in real time. To view the transcription, select the More options icon (∙ ∙ ∙), and then select Show transcript. The text will appear in the transcript window, including the speaker’s name and a time stamp. If you want to hide the transcription, select the More options icon (∙ ∙ ∙), and select Hide transcript.

5. Stop recording.

When you’re ready to stop recording, click on the More options icon (∙ ∙ ∙). Scroll down and select Stop recording and transcription. This will stop recording and transcribing.

Even if the recorder leaves the meeting, the recording will continue. It automatically stops when all participants leave. (If a participant forgets to leave the meeting, it automatically ends after four hours.)

6. View the recording.

Once you stop the meeting recording and transcription, it’s immediately processed and stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.

The recording also will appear in the meeting chat history or channel conversation (if it was a channel meeting.) It never expires.

7. Share the recording.

If you were the meeting organizer or the recorder, you can share the file with people who weren’t invited. Simply locate the file in OneDrive or SharePoint and share it directly with others—or copy and share the file link.

If you weren’t the organizer or recorder of the meeting, the organizer or recorder will have to approve your share action to give others access.

Considering that 78 percent of CEOs agree remote work is here to stay, it looks like video conferencing isn’t going anywhere. Make sure your team doesn’t miss important information during a video call again. Record your meetings so people don’t miss a single detail—even when distractions arise.