Microsoft has added meeting recap settings to the new Outlook for Windows and web. These settings control whether meeting attendees see a recap email and where the recording, transcript, and summary appear after a meeting ends. The location of these settings is not obvious because they appear inside the meeting invitation itself rather than in the main Outlook Options menu. This article explains where to find the meeting recap settings in new Outlook, what each toggle does, and the practical limits of what you can control.
Key Takeaways: Meeting Recap Settings in New Outlook
- Meeting invitation > Meeting Options > Automatically show meeting recap: Controls whether the recap email is sent to attendees and appears in the calendar item after the meeting.
- Meeting invitation > Meeting Options > Record automatically: Turns on automatic recording for Teams meetings created from Outlook, but only for users with the correct Teams license.
- Meeting invitation > Meeting Options > Allow meeting chat: When disabled, the meeting recap will not include a chat transcript, even if chat was active during the meeting.
Where Meeting Recap Settings Are Located in New Outlook
The meeting recap settings are not in the main File > Options menu. They are embedded inside each meeting invitation. You must open an existing meeting or create a new one to see them. The settings appear in a pane called Meeting Options, which is a side panel that opens when you click the Meeting Options button in the ribbon.
To find the Meeting Options button, open a calendar item and look in the ribbon under the Meeting or Event tab. On a new Outlook for Windows or Outlook on the web, the button is labeled Meeting Options and sits near the other meeting settings like Response Options and Scheduling Assistant. Clicking it opens a panel on the right side of the screen.
Inside the Meeting Options panel, the meeting recap settings are grouped under the heading Meeting recap. Not all options appear for every meeting type. For example, meetings that are not Teams meetings will not show the record automatically toggle. The settings are saved per meeting, not globally. You must set them for each meeting you create.
What Each Recap Setting Does
Automatically show meeting recap
This setting controls whether a meeting recap is generated and sent to attendees after the meeting ends. When turned on, Outlook sends an email to all attendees with a link to the recording, transcript, and AI-generated summary if available. The recap also appears inside the calendar item itself under a Recap tab. When turned off, no recap email is sent, and the Recap tab does not appear in the calendar item. Attendees can still access the recording from the Teams meeting history, but they will not get the automated email or the in-calendar summary.
Record automatically
This setting appears only when the meeting is a Teams meeting created from Outlook. When turned on, Teams starts recording the meeting as soon as the first participant joins. The recording is saved to OneDrive or SharePoint and linked in the meeting recap. When turned off, the meeting is not recorded unless the organizer or a presenter manually starts recording during the meeting. This setting requires a Teams license that includes recording. Users with Microsoft Teams Essentials or Microsoft 365 Business Basic do not have automatic recording.
Allow meeting chat
This setting controls whether the meeting chat is included in the recap. When enabled, the recap includes a link to the chat transcript. When disabled, the chat is not included in the recap even if participants sent messages during the meeting. The chat itself still exists in Teams, but the recap email and the calendar item will not show a link to it. This setting is useful for meetings where the chat contains sensitive information that should not be distributed in the recap.
Practical Limits of Meeting Recap Settings
No global default for recap settings
Outlook does not provide a way to set a default recap behavior for all meetings you create. You must toggle the settings manually for each meeting. If you create many recurring meetings, you have to open each series and set the recap options individually. There is no PowerShell cmdlet or group policy to set a tenant-wide default for recap settings in new Outlook as of early 2025.
Recap only works for Teams meetings
The meeting recap feature requires a Teams meeting. If you create a regular Outlook meeting with no Teams link, the recap settings do nothing. The Automatically show meeting recap toggle may appear, but no recap will be generated because there is no recording or transcript to pull from. The setting is effectively disabled for non-Teams meetings.
Recap is not retroactive
Changing the recap settings after a meeting has ended does not generate a recap for that meeting. The settings only apply to future instances. If you forgot to turn on automatic recording before a meeting, you cannot go back and enable it after the fact. You must rely on manual recording or the meeting recording history in Teams.
Attendees cannot opt out of receiving the recap
When the organizer enables Automatically show meeting recap, all attendees receive the recap email. There is no setting for attendees to block the recap from being sent to them. If an attendee does not want the recap, they must either ignore the email or set up a rule in Outlook to delete it. The organizer cannot exclude specific attendees from receiving the recap.
Recap includes AI summary only with Copilot license
The AI-generated meeting summary that appears in the recap requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Without Copilot, the recap includes the recording link, transcript link, and chat link, but no summary. The Automatically show meeting recap setting still works, but the content is limited to the raw media files and text.
If the Meeting Recap Settings Are Missing or Grayed Out
Meeting Options button is not visible
The Meeting Options button appears only when you are the meeting organizer. If you are an attendee or delegate who does not have organizer permissions, the button is hidden. To see the recap settings, you must open a meeting you created or ask the organizer to change the settings. Delegates who have editor permissions can also see the button if the organizer has granted them the right to modify meetings.
Record automatically toggle is grayed out
This toggle is grayed out when the meeting is not a Teams meeting or when your Teams license does not support automatic recording. To enable it, convert the meeting to a Teams meeting by clicking the Teams Meeting button in the ribbon. If the toggle remains grayed, check your Microsoft 365 license. Users on Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 F3, or Office 365 E1 do not have automatic recording. Upgrade to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 E3, or a higher tier to unlock this feature.
Automatically show meeting recap toggle is missing
This toggle appears only in new Outlook for Windows version 1.2024.12.100 or later and in Outlook on the web. If you are using classic Outlook for Windows or an older version of new Outlook, you will not see the recap settings. Update Outlook to the latest version through the Microsoft 365 Apps update channel. On the web, the settings appear automatically after the feature rolls out to your tenant.
New Outlook vs Classic Outlook: Meeting Recap Settings
| Item | New Outlook (Windows and Web) | Classic Outlook |
|---|---|---|
| Location of recap settings | Meeting Options panel inside each meeting invitation | Not available — recap settings do not exist in classic Outlook |
| Automatic recap email control | Toggle Automatically show meeting recap per meeting | No control — recap behavior is managed in Teams admin center only |
| Automatic recording control | Toggle Record automatically per meeting | No per-meeting toggle — recording is controlled by Teams meeting policy |
| Chat inclusion control | Toggle Allow meeting chat per meeting | No per-meeting toggle — chat is always included if available |
| Global default setting | Not available | Not available |
Classic Outlook for Windows does not include any meeting recap settings. All recap behavior for classic Outlook meetings is controlled by Teams meeting policies set in the Teams admin center. The new Outlook per-meeting toggles give organizers more granular control without requiring IT admin intervention.
Conclusion
You can now find the meeting recap settings in new Outlook by opening a meeting and clicking Meeting Options in the ribbon. The settings control automatic recap email delivery, automatic recording, and chat inclusion, but they apply only to Teams meetings and must be set per meeting. For recurring meetings, you must configure each series separately. If you need global defaults for recap settings, consider requesting a feature update from Microsoft or use Teams meeting policies in the admin center as a workaround.