8.1.3. Real-Time Catch-Up and Intelligent Recap
💡 First Principle: Missing part of a meeting is a context problem, and the fix depends on timing. If you're late, you need the gist now so you can contribute. If you missed it entirely, you need a navigable record afterwards. Copilot offers a catch-up for the first and Intelligent recap for the second.
During the meeting. With Copilot active, you can ask questions about the discussion as it happens:
| Ask | Example use |
|---|---|
| "What has been discussed so far?" | Getting oriented quickly |
| "What are the different perspectives on the budget proposal?" | Facilitating a debate |
| "What decisions have been made so far?" | Making sure commitments are captured |
| "What questions haven't been asked yet?" | Moderating |
Real-time catch-up: if you join more than 5 minutes late with Copilot active, Copilot offers to catch you up (select Open Copilot). Copilot responses over 1,300 characters can be exported to Word, and tables to Excel.
The meeting's Copilot setting decides what's available afterwards. The organizer's Allow Copilot and Facilitator option has three values:
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| During and after | Transcription is required, and Copilot can answer questions after the meeting |
| Only during | No transcript is retained, so Copilot data isn't available after the meeting |
| Off | Copilot is off, and recording and transcription are also disabled |
Intelligent recap. The meeting Recap includes the recording, transcript, shared files, notes, agenda and follow-up tasks. Intelligent recap adds AI-generated notes and tasks, chapters and topics, a speaker timeline, name-mention markers, screen-share markers and personalized timeline markers.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| License | Teams Premium OR a Microsoft Copilot (formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot) license (either one) |
| Meeting | Recorded or transcribed, and 5 minutes or longer |
| Access | Only invited people in the same organization. For webinars and town halls, only organizers, co-organizers and presenters |
⚠️ Exam Trap: Intelligent recap licensing is Teams Premium or a Copilot license, so answers that say "Teams Premium only" or "Copilot only" are both wrong. And if a meeting ran with Only during, nobody can ask Copilot about it afterwards, because no transcript was kept.
Reflection Question: A colleague missed a 45-minute meeting that was held with Copilot set to "Only during" and no recording. She asks Copilot for the decisions the next day. What will she find, and what should the organizer change for future meetings?
