Teams will keep an AI memory of your meetings for five years, which is longer than most of us remember them
By Brett Gavaghan, Founder of Adaptd ·
From January 2027, Teams will save AI meeting memory files for meetings that use Intelligent Recap. They're on by default and kept for five years, so it's worth checking the setting before then.
The short version
- Teams will create AI meeting memory files for meetings that use Intelligent Recap, stored in a container your organisation owns.
- Rollout starts in early January 2027, with general availability from mid-January; files are on by default and kept for five years.
- Before January, decide whether you want meeting memory switched on and how long you want those files kept.
Most meetings are forgotten by the time everyone's back at their desk. Teams is about to remember them for five years.
What are Teams meeting memory files?
Teams meeting memory files are AI-generated records that Teams creates for meetings with Intelligent Recap turned on. They hold only AI-generated content, with no raw transcript snippets, and sit in a SharePoint Embedded container owned by your organisation rather than in anyone's own OneDrive.
Users can't open, edit, rename or move the files. Facilitator, Microsoft's AI meeting helper, will use them to answer questions about past meetings, with links to the recap or invite, and Microsoft says Copilot will use them later. Only people who had access to the meeting, in the organiser's organisation, can draw on that memory.
When does it start, and who gets it?
Teams meeting memory files start rolling out in early January 2027 for Targeted Release, with general availability worldwide from mid to late January 2027, according to Microsoft message MC1429018, updated on 30 October 2026. That's later than the November and December dates Microsoft first gave.
It affects people with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Facilitator turned on, and it's on by default. Files are deleted automatically after 1,825 days, which is five years. No files are made for meetings with encrypted sensitivity labels, end-to-end encryption or restricted copying.
What should your business do about it?
Your business should decide before January whether meeting memory suits you, because it switches on by default. The setting will appear in the Teams admin centre under Meeting Policies, about four weeks before files start being created.
My advice: five years is a long time to keep something you didn't decide to keep. If you work in a regulated field, or your client contracts say how long you can hold their information, check the retention period with whoever looks after compliance. If your team rarely uses Intelligent Recap, this barely touches you.
Either way, it might be time to retire 'this is off the record' in Teams calls.
Wondering what this means for your business?
That's exactly what the discovery call is for.