Set Up Fathom for Microsoft Teams & Troubleshoot Join Failures

Fathom records Microsoft Teams meetings by joining them as the Fathom Notetaker.

This article covers how to make sure you're configured for a successful recording, and how to fix the most common reasons Fathom doesn't join or record.

New to the Teams integration? For the basics of connecting your calendar and having Fathom join a call, start with Using Fathom with Microsoft Teams. Come back here when you want to confirm you're set up for success or to troubleshoot a join failure.

A few things to know up front:

• Microsoft Teams is recorded by the Fathom Notetaker joining the call. It isn't yet part of Fathom's bot-free recording experience.

• Fathom may not automatically detect impromptu or unscheduled Teams calls. If the meeting provides a valid Teams web join link, you can paste it into Add to Meeting. If there’s no usable web join link, create a scheduled standard Teams meeting instead.

• "Connected" isn't the same as "ready to record." Your Teams integration can show as enabled in Fathom while a Microsoft meeting or organization policy still stops the notetaker from joining, getting past the lobby, or recording. The checklist below helps you confirm you're actually set up for a successful capture — not just technically connected.

Run through this once when you set up Teams, and again any time Fathom doesn't join as expected. Several of these depend on Microsoft 365 settings your admin controls, so you may need to loop them in.

The Fathom Notetaker joins as an external/anonymous participant, so the meeting organizer's policy has to allow that type of participant.

• For now, the organization-wide Anonymous users can join a meeting setting must be on, and the organizer’s assigned meeting policy must allow Anonymous users can join a meeting unverified. Microsoft has announced that the organization-wide setting is going away, but it remains applicable today.

• Quick self-test: open the Teams join link in a private/incognito browser window. If Teams forces a Microsoft sign-in and offers no anonymous join option, Fathom will likely be blocked the same way.

Teams can require anonymous or untrusted participants to pass a verification check (a CAPTCHA-style challenge). An automated notetaker can't complete a human-verification challenge.

• Ask your M365 admin to review the organizer's join verification policy. If verification is required for this meeting, Fathom won't be able to enter.

If anonymous participants are sent to the lobby, someone with permission needs to admit Fathom Notetaker manually.

• Depending on the organizer’s lobby and external-bot policies, someone may need to admit Fathom Notetaker manually.
  Even when ordinary anonymous participants are allowed to bypass the lobby, Microsoft may identify an external meeting assistant as a bot and require explicit approval before it can join. If Fathom is waiting in the lobby, the organizer—or another participant with permission—must admit it.

End-to-end encrypted Teams meetings cannot be recorded by the Fathom Notetaker. The organizer must disable E2EE before the meeting when Fathom recording is required.

Before the meeting, the organizer should check:

1. Open Calendar in Teams.

2. Select the meeting and choose View event.

3. Select Options.

4. Under Advanced protection, check whether End-to-end encryption is turned on.

During the meeting:

1. Look for the encryption indicator in the Teams meeting controls.

2. Select it to view the meeting’s 16-digit encryption code.

3. Every participant should see the same code.

4. Teams’ built-in recording, transcription, and live captions are also unavailable when E2EE is enabled. Their absence alone doesn’t confirm E2EE, so check the encryption indicator or ask the organizer to review the meeting options.

Admins can restrict or flag third-party meeting bots. A few things to keep in mind:

• Fathom may appear as Unverified in Teams. On its own, this can just be a Microsoft display/security signal — it doesn't necessarily mean the recording failed.

• If Fathom is sent to the lobby, admit it manually.

• If it's blocked before it even reaches the lobby, ask your M365 admin to review external-bot and meeting policies. (Microsoft documents how to enable or disable these controls in Manage external apps and bots in Microsoft Teams.)

• Disabling external-bot detection applies broadly to third-party meeting bots, not only Fathom. Microsoft recommends keeping When detected, require approval before joining for balanced security, so any change should go through the organization’s security review.

• Install and update the Fathom desktop app.

• Make sure it's open and signed in before the meeting starts.

• If Fathom didn't detect the meeting, open the app and add it manually with the meeting link using Add to Meeting.

Fathom needs a web join link that begins with:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/...

Don't use app deep links that start with msteams:/, microsoft-teams:/, or teams:/. For scheduled meetings, make sure the connected calendar event actually contains the web join link. If the event only shows "Microsoft Teams Meeting" with no usable link, Fathom may not detect or join it correctly.

Fathom is built for standard Teams meetings. These types may be unsupported or blocked by their own rules:

• Teams Live Events

• Webinars

• Breakout Rooms

• Impromptu or unscheduled calls that don’t provide a valid Teams web join link

• Meetings that require registration

• Channel meetings with strict organization or guest restrictions

• Meetings that require every participant to sign in

• Government or sovereign-cloud meeting links (different access rules)

• Very large meetings (people who leave and rejoin may be counted again toward participant limits)

• Create a new standard Teams meeting on the calendar you've connected to Fathom.

• Make sure it includes a valid Teams web join link.

• Join the meeting with the Fathom desktop app open.

• Confirm the Fathom Notetaker appears — admit it if it lands in the lobby.

• Speak for a few minutes, then confirm the recording processes successfully afterward.

Why does Fathom show as “Unverified”?

Microsoft is labeling a third-party meeting bot.

What to try: the label by itself isn't a recording failure — check whether Fathom was actually admitted or blocked. Keep your security controls at the level your organization prefers.

Why didn’t Fathom join my Teams meeting? 

Common causes: the desktop app is closed, outdated, or signed out; auto-record is off for that meeting type; the meeting is on a secondary or unconnected calendar; the event has no valid web link; or it's an impromptu meeting with no link added manually.

What to try: open and update the desktop app; check your recording preferences and connected primary calendar; join from the Fathom desktop app or paste the web link into Add to Meeting.

Why did a teammate's Fathom record instead of mine? 

Your organization may have "limit to a single bot per meeting" enabled, or recording may be limited to the organizer or first eligible teammate.

What to try: find the recording in that teammate's account and ask them to share it; ask your Fathom admin to review the single-bot setting; agree on one recorder per meeting to avoid duplicates.

Can Fathom rejoin after the host removes it? 

The organizer or another attendee removed the notetaker, and the missing portion can't be recovered. Fathom may not be able to rejoin the same meeting link or recurring meeting ID after removal — create a new meeting link if you need to.

Why did Fathom disconnect or record no audio? 

The meeting may have been very short or had little audio; the mic or meeting audio was muted or undetected; a long silent stretch triggered a reconnect that left Fathom in the lobby; or the meeting exceeded supported size/resource limits.

What to try: confirm the meeting ran several minutes with audible conversation; check lobby admission and participant count; if it keeps happening on normal meetings, send Support the details in the last section.

Why is a shared document missing from my Fathom recording? 

Content shared through Teams' built-in Office sharing may not be captured correctly.

What to try: open the file in its desktop app (PowerPoint, Word, etc.) and share the application/window instead of using the built-in sharing flow.

Can Fathom record webinars, live events, or registration meetings? 

These meeting types use different join flows or stricter participant rules.

What to try: recreate it as a standard Teams meeting when you need Fathom to capture it.

Can Fathom record government or sovereign-cloud (GCC, GCC High, DoD) meetings? 

These environments use different domains and stricter anonymous/external access rules, so compatibility isn't guaranteed.

What to try: run a test first. If the standard checklist doesn't work, contact Support with your exact Teams environment and join link.