Microsoft Teams adds meeting timer, voice isolation and live transcription

Microsoft Teams, which the company says counts more than 320 million monthly active users, keeps gaining tools that many people never notice, according to Engadget. The publication has highlighted four of them for workers who rely on the platform for messaging and video calls.

One is a countdown timer that arrived in the middle of 2025. A presenter opens the More menu in the top toolbar, chooses Timer, and sets a limit of up to 100 minutes. The clock appears in the upper left of the meeting, turns red near the end and flashes when time runs out, and other attendees with presenter rights see it too. The timer only applies to scheduled meetings, not live events, webinars or impromptu calls, and it can be adjusted or cancelled after it starts.

Another option is voice isolation, which relies on AI to cut background noise while someone is talking on a call. Users first build a voice profile by opening the settings menu through the three dots in the toolbar, selecting Recognition and then Create a voice profile. They record themselves reading a short passage. During a call, the feature can be switched on or off from the dropdown beside the microphone button.

Teams also offers live transcription, introduced in 2021, so people can read back what was said. Microsoft describes it as working in near real time, and the transcript stays available after the meeting ends. It can tell speakers apart, and Microsoft has said it does not keep the data or use it to train its AI models.

If an administrator permits it, the organizer or a presenter can start transcription from the three dots in the toolbar, and everyone in the meeting is told. Participants can also stop it on their side.