How to Take Meeting Notes in Teams (Collaborative Notes, Agenda and Follow-up Tasks)
Minutes typed in Word and emailed three days later get read by nobody. Notes written in the meeting, by everyone, with the tasks already assigned, get acted on. That's what the Notes button in Teams does.
Add an agenda before the meeting
1. Open the meeting in your Calendar.
2. Click into the Notes section at the bottom of the invite (or the Notes tab).
3. Type agenda points under Agenda. Everyone invited can see and add to it before you start.
2. Click into the Notes section at the bottom of the invite (or the Notes tab).
3. Type agenda points under Agenda. Everyone invited can see and add to it before you start.
Take notes during the meeting
1. In the meeting, click Notes in the toolbar.
2. A panel opens with three sections: Agenda, Meeting notes and Follow-up tasks.
3. Type under Meeting notes. Everyone in the meeting can type at the same time; you'll see their cursors.
2. A panel opens with three sections: Agenda, Meeting notes and Follow-up tasks.
3. Type under Meeting notes. Everyone in the meeting can type at the same time; you'll see their cursors.
The notes are a Loop component, so formatting, checklists and tables work, and nothing needs saving.
Keyboard shortcut: none, but the panel pops out with the pop-out icon so it can live on your second screen.
Assign follow-up tasks
Under Follow-up tasks, type a task, press @ to assign a person, and set a due date. The task appears in that person's Planner and To Do automatically, and they're notified. No more "I didn't know that was mine".
Find the notes afterwards
• Open the meeting chat and click the Notes tab (or Recap > Notes).
• Open the meeting in your Calendar and scroll to Notes.
• Notes are saved in the organiser's OneDrive under Meetings, and in the Loop app under Apps.
• Open the meeting in your Calendar and scroll to Notes.
• Notes are saved in the organiser's OneDrive under Meetings, and in the Loop app under Apps.
The notes stay editable, so you can tidy them up or add decisions made later.
Combine with Recap and transcripts
If the meeting was transcribed, the Recap tab also offers an AI summary and the full transcript (and Copilot, if licensed). Use the notes for decisions and tasks, and the transcript for who said exactly what.
Older alternative: OneNote
Prefer OneNote? Add it as a tab in the channel, or open ⋯ More > Apps in the meeting and add OneNote. Notes go into a notebook page rather than a Loop component.
Troubleshooting
The Notes button isn't there. Collaborative notes are only in the new Teams desktop app and need Loop enabled for your organisation. In the browser or on mobile, add notes from the calendar invite instead.
Someone can't edit the notes. Guests from outside the organisation can view but not always edit. Give them edit access from the share settings on the notes, or assign someone inside to type.
Follow-up tasks didn't appear in Planner. The person must be inside your organisation. Guests see the task in the notes only.
Wrapping up
Add an Agenda in the invite, click Notes in the meeting and type together, and put every action under Follow-up tasks with a name on it. The notes are waiting in the meeting chat afterwards, already read by everyone who helped write them.
