Integrating Otter.ai with Microsoft Teams can revolutionize your meeting workflow, allowing you to capture conversations, generate live transcriptions, and summarize key takeaways effortlessly. This lengthy guide will walk you through the process step-by-step, ensuring you harness the full power of Otter.ai within your Teams environment.
Unleash the Power of AI for Your Teams Meetings!
Are you tired of frantically scribbling notes during important Microsoft Teams meetings, only to realize you've missed crucial details? Do you wish you could focus entirely on the discussion, knowing every word is being accurately captured? If so, you're in the right place! Adding Otter.ai to your Teams meetings is a game-changer for productivity and collaboration. Let's dive in and transform your meeting experience!
Your Step-by-Step Guide: Adding Otter.ai to Microsoft Teams Meetings
This guide will cover everything from setting up your Otter.ai account to ensuring Otter's AI Notetaker seamlessly joins your Teams calls.
Step 1: Getting Started with Otter.ai – Your Foundation
Before you can integrate Otter.ai with Teams, you need an Otter.ai account. If you already have one, feel free to skip to Step 2.
A. Creating Your Otter.ai Account
Head to the Otter.ai Website: Open your web browser and navigate to
https://otter.ai/ Sign Up: Click on the prominent "Sign Up" button. You'll typically find this in the top right corner or center of the page.
Choose Your Sign-Up Method: Otter.ai offers various options for creating your account:
Email: Enter your email address and create a password.
Google Sign-in: This is a quick and convenient option if you have a Google account.
Microsoft Sign-in: Similarly, you can use your Microsoft account for a streamlined setup.
Follow the Prompts: Complete any on-screen prompts, such as agreeing to terms of service or verifying your email. The process is designed to be quick and user-friendly.
B. Understanding Otter.ai Plans (Important for Teams Integration!)
Otter.ai offers different plans, and the features available for Teams integration can vary.
Free Plan: Provides a limited number of transcription minutes per month (e.g., 300 minutes, with a 30-minute per conversation limit). It's great for testing the waters.
Pro Plan: Offers more transcription minutes and advanced features.
Business Plan: Ideal for teams, providing significantly more minutes, administrative features, and the ability to join multiple meetings simultaneously.
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing for large organizations with enterprise-grade security and advanced deployment options.
For seamless and robust Teams integration, especially with automatic meeting attendance, a Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan is highly recommended. The free plan might require more manual intervention.
Step 2: Connecting Your Calendar to Otter.ai – The Automation Key
This is a crucial step for enabling Otter.ai to automatically join your Microsoft Teams meetings.
Log In to Your Otter.ai Account: Go to
https://otter.ai/ Navigate to Settings: Look for your profile icon (usually in the top right corner) or a gear icon (settings) and click on it.
Find "Apps" or "Integrations": Within your settings, locate a section related to "Apps," "Integrations," or "Connect calendars & contacts."
Connect Your Calendar:
You'll see options to connect popular calendar platforms like Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. Choose the Microsoft Outlook option.
Click the "Add" button next to the Microsoft Outlook option.
Grant Permissions: A pop-up window will appear, prompting you to sign in to your Microsoft account and grant Otter.ai access to your calendar events. This is a secure process that allows Otter.ai to scan your schedule for upcoming meetings that have a Teams link.
Click "Allow" or "Yes" to confirm the connection.
Verify Connection: Once connected, you should see your Microsoft account listed under "Connect calendars & contacts" in Otter.ai settings. Your upcoming Teams meetings from your connected calendar should also start appearing on your Otter.ai homepage calendar panel.
Note: The email address associated with your Microsoft account does not need to match your Otter.ai account email.
Step 3: Enabling OtterPilot for Microsoft Teams – Automatic Meeting Attendance
OtterPilot is Otter.ai's intelligent bot that can automatically join, transcribe, and summarize your meetings.
Access Otter.ai Settings Again: Log in to your Otter.ai account and go to your Account Settings.
Find "Meetings" or "OtterPilot" Settings: Within settings, look for a section titled "Meetings" or directly "OtterPilot."
Activate OtterPilot for Teams:
You'll typically see options to enable OtterPilot for various platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
Toggle the switch to "On" for Microsoft Teams.
You may have options to customize when OtterPilot joins:
Meetings with a video link: Recommended for automatic joining of all calendar events with a Teams meeting URL.
Meetings where I am the host: OtterPilot will only join meetings where you are the organizer.
External meetings outside your domain/Internal meetings within your domain: (Available for Workspace users) Allows you to control joining based on participant domains.
Meetings I manually select: You'll have to manually enable OtterPilot for each meeting.
For the most hands-off experience, select "Meetings with a video link."
Review Meeting Permissions: It's essential to understand that Otter Notetaker joins your Teams meeting as a guest participant. Its display name will typically appear as "[Your Name]'s Notetaker (Otter.ai)" or "[Your Workspace Name]'s Notetaker (Otter.ai)".
Important: Ensure your Microsoft Teams organization settings allow guest participants to join meetings. If your organization has strict guest access policies, you might need to consult your IT administrator. Sometimes, meeting settings might require "Allow participants to join before host" or have the waiting room turned off for seamless joining by OtterPilot.
Step 4: Joining a Teams Meeting with Otter.ai – The Live Experience
With your calendar connected and OtterPilot enabled, Otter.ai is ready to jump into action.
A. Automatic Joining (Recommended)
If you've followed Step 2 and 3 correctly, OtterPilot should automatically join your scheduled Microsoft Teams meetings a few minutes after the meeting starts (or when you join). You'll see "Otter.ai Notetaker" appear in the participant list.
Once Otter.ai joins, it will begin transcribing the conversation in real-time. You'll see the live transcript appearing on your Otter.ai dashboard (if you have it open) and often directly within the Teams meeting chat or a separate browser window (depending on your Otter.ai and Teams settings).
B. Manually Adding Otter.ai to a Teams Meeting
Sometimes, you might need to manually invite Otter.ai, especially for ad-hoc meetings or if automatic joining faces issues.
Get the Teams Meeting URL:
In your Microsoft Teams meeting invitation, locate the "Join Microsoft Teams Meeting" link.
Right-click on the link and select "Copy link" or "Copy link address."
Open Your Otter.ai Dashboard: Go to
https://otter.ai/ Paste Meeting URL to Record:
On your Otter.ai homepage, you'll see a prominent "Record" button or a field labeled "Paste meeting URL to record."
Paste the copied Teams meeting URL into this field.
Click "Join" or press Enter.
Otter.ai Joins: Otter.ai's Notetaker will then attempt to join your Microsoft Teams meeting as a participant. It might take a few moments. Once it joins, it will start transcribing.
C. Live Transcription within Teams
While Otter.ai provides its own web interface for viewing transcripts, some integrations might offer live transcription directly within the Teams meeting chat or a dedicated tab, though this can depend on specific Otter.ai features and your Teams version.
Step 5: Post-Meeting Management and Collaboration with Otter.ai
The real power of Otter.ai comes after the meeting.
A. Accessing Your Transcripts
Otter.ai Dashboard: All your transcribed meetings will be stored in your Otter.ai account. Log in to otter.ai and navigate to your "My Conversations" section. You'll find a list of your recorded meetings.
Search and Playback: You can search the transcript for keywords, highlight important sections, and even listen to the audio playback synchronized with the text.
Speaker Identification: Otter.ai attempts to identify different speakers, making the transcript even more valuable. You can also manually correct speaker attribution.
B. Leveraging Otter.ai's AI Features
Meeting Summaries: Otter.ai automatically generates summaries of your meetings, highlighting key points, action items, and decisions. This is incredibly useful for quick recaps.
Action Items: You can easily add and track action items directly within the transcript.
Otter AI Chat: (Available on higher-tier plans) This feature allows you to interact with your meeting transcripts using AI. You can ask questions about the meeting content, get clarification on specific points, or even generate follow-up emails based on the discussion. This can be used during or after the meeting.
Highlights and Comments: Collaborate with teammates by highlighting important sections and adding comments directly to the transcript.
Share Conversations: Share your meeting transcripts with colleagues directly from Otter.ai via a link or by inviting them to view the conversation.
C. Exporting Your Transcripts
Otter.ai allows you to export your transcripts in various formats for further use:
TXT: Plain text file.
DOCX: Microsoft Word document.
PDF: Portable Document Format.
SRT: SubRip Subtitle format, useful for adding captions to video recordings.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
While Otter.ai integration with Teams is generally smooth, you might encounter some hiccups.
Otter Notetaker Not Joining:
Check Calendar Connection: Ensure your Microsoft Outlook calendar is correctly connected in Otter.ai settings.
OtterPilot Enabled: Verify that OtterPilot is toggled "On" for Microsoft Teams in your Otter.ai settings.
Meeting URL Validity: If manually adding, ensure the Teams meeting URL is correct and active.
Teams Meeting Settings: Confirm that your Teams meeting settings allow external guests to join and that there's no waiting room enabled, or that participants can join before the host. Your IT admin might need to adjust organizational policies.
Otter.ai Service Status: Check the Otter.ai status page for any reported outages.
Microsoft Teams Service Status: Similarly, check Microsoft's status page for any Teams outages.
Poor Transcription Accuracy:
Audio Quality: Ensure clear audio in the meeting. Background noise, multiple people speaking at once, or poor microphone quality can affect accuracy.
Speaker Clarity: Encourage participants to speak clearly and at a moderate pace.
Accents/Jargon: AI transcription can sometimes struggle with strong accents or highly technical jargon.
Otter Notetaker Leaves Meeting Early:
Otter Notetaker might leave if prolonged silence (e.g., 12 continuous minutes, or 5 minutes if the meeting runs beyond schedule) is detected.
10 Related FAQ Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about adding Otter.ai to Microsoft Teams meetings, with quick answers:
How to create an Otter.ai account?
You can create an Otter.ai account by visiting
How to connect my Microsoft Teams calendar to Otter.ai?
Log in to Otter.ai, go to Account Settings > Apps (or Integrations) > Connect calendars & contacts, and select "Microsoft Outlook" to link your calendar.
How to make Otter.ai automatically join Teams meetings?
After connecting your calendar, navigate to Account Settings > Meetings (or OtterPilot) in Otter.ai and enable OtterPilot for Microsoft Teams, ensuring you select the appropriate auto-join settings.
How to manually add Otter.ai to an ongoing Teams meeting?
Copy the Teams meeting URL, go to your Otter.ai dashboard, paste the URL into the "Paste meeting URL to record" field, and click "Join."
How to view Otter.ai transcripts after a Teams meeting?
All transcribed meetings are saved in your Otter.ai account under "My Conversations." Simply log in to the Otter.ai website to access them.
How to share Otter.ai transcripts with other Teams participants?
From your Otter.ai conversation page, you can click on the "Share" option and invite others via email or generate a shareable link.
How to ensure Otter.ai has permission to join Teams meetings?
Otter.ai joins as a guest. Ensure your Microsoft Teams organizational settings and individual meeting settings allow external guests to join and that waiting rooms are not preventing its entry.
How to get a summary of my Teams meeting from Otter.ai?
Otter.ai automatically generates a meeting summary and highlights key takeaways, which you can find within the transcribed conversation on your Otter.ai dashboard.
How to resolve issues if Otter.ai Notetaker isn't joining my Teams meeting?
Check your Otter.ai calendar connection, OtterPilot settings, the validity of the meeting URL, and your Microsoft Teams meeting permissions (allowing guests, disabling waiting room).
How to get live captions from Otter.ai during a Teams meeting?
While Otter.ai provides live transcription on its own platform, direct live captions within the Teams interface (similar to Teams' native captions) might require specific Otter.ai integration features or depend on your plan. You can always view the live transcript in your Otter.ai web browser.