Getting started with Notetaker
Last updated: November 4, 2026
Available on: Mac (macOS 13 or later) and Windows, subject to account and organization access.
Notetaker records meetings and creates transcripts and summaries. Grant its audio permissions before your first recording. It is available even if you chose dictation during onboarding, and a calendar connection is optional — record an unscheduled meeting now and connect later.
Before you start
Important: Ask participants for consent before recording. Read our privacy policy.
Meeting transcripts and summaries are stored in Wispr's cloud, with no setting to opt out of that storage. Improve the model for everyone (shown during onboarding as Don't use my data for training) controls only whether Notetaker and dictation content may be used to improve Wispr's models — on by default for Free and Pro, off for Enterprise. Turning it off does not stop the cloud processing or storage needed to provide Notetaker. You can change it in settings later, and HIPAA or organization policy can lock it off.
Open Notetaker
Open Wispr Flow.
Select Notetaker in the sidebar.
Start a note for an unscheduled meeting, or press ⌘N on Mac / Ctrl+N on Windows while on the Notetaker tab.
Tip: You can also start a note from the Notetaker widget on the Flow homepage, using the start button beside its More menu. The widget appears only when Notetaker is available to your account.
Complete recording setup
If you see Complete setup to start Notetaker, recording has not started. Bring the recorder window forward and finish its checklist, which lists only missing requirements: Enable Microphone captures your voice, Enable System Audio captures other participants, and recording stays disabled until both are confirmed. On Mac, allow microphone access through Enable Microphone; it takes effect without restarting.
Mac: macOS 14.4 or later
Click Turn on beside Enable System Audio if the prompt has not appeared.
Choose Allow. No restart is required.
Click Turn on again if permission was denied or no prompt appeared; System Settings opens.
Enable Wispr Flow under System Audio Recording.
Return to Flow to recheck permission.
Mac: macOS 13 through 14.3
System-audio setup requires restarting Flow, even when permission is already granted.
Click Turn on beside Enable System Audio. Device-management restrictions open System Settings directly; already-granted permission goes straight to the restart step.
Allow access in the macOS Screen Recording prompt or System Settings — the restart row also offers Open Settings.
Click Restart Wispr Flow after allowing access.
Windows
Windows has no separate Flow setup step for System Audio, and microphone problems can surface when recording starts rather than as a blocked checklist row. Open Settings during onboarding, or Turn on beside Enable Microphone if shown, opens microphone privacy settings.
Important: Flow captures other participants from the Windows default output device only, with no separate output picker in Notetaker. Audio sent to a different output — for example a headset chosen only inside Teams, or a device you switch to mid-call — is not recorded, and output changes made after recording begins are not picked up.
Open Windows Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
Enable Microphone access.
Enable Let desktop apps access your microphone.
Set your meeting app (Teams, Zoom, and similar) to play through the Windows default output device.
Select that output device before you start recording.
Returning from System Settings while a request is pending rechecks it immediately; if permission remains ungranted, Turn on becomes available again after about 30 seconds. If permission is later revoked, setup can reopen while the recorder is idle without losing existing notes or transcripts. Back or Escape closes setup and the recorder without starting a recording or deleting notes.
Record and review
Important: Closing the Notetaker window does not stop a recording in progress — it continues behind the Flow Bar pill, and your notes are kept when you reopen it. Starting a new note during another recording asks Stop Notetaker? before switching.
Complete any remaining permission prompt, then confirm recording has started.
Type your own notes in My thoughts during the meeting. They stay separate from the generated summary and are excluded when you share the note.
Click Stop in the meeting window footer when finished.
Open the meeting's Summary and Transcript tabs after saving and processing finish.
An ended meeting opens on Summary. If it shows Not auto-generated, click Generate summary; if generation cannot start, use Retry when offered. Very short meetings show Transcript too short to meaningfully summarize, meetings without usable audio show No meaningful audio recorded, and a meeting that cannot be processed at all ends with We couldn't process your meeting. A meeting that already has a real summary keeps it even if it is processed again.
If a recording resumed after it stopped
When you resume the same meeting, Flow uploads the full recording and replaces the earlier summary and transcript with complete ones — as long as you haven't edited the summary and the resumed part added a meaningful amount of audio. The earlier summary stays on screen until the new one is ready. If you edited the summary, Flow keeps your edits; click Update Summary to regenerate from the full recording, which replaces your edits.
If recording is blocked
Account and organization restrictions appear separately from the setup checklist; completing permissions does not remove them.
Account or organization access
If Notetaker is missing from the sidebar, hub, tray, menus and homepage widget, your plan does not include it or your organization has turned it off. Business and Enterprise access depends on organization and account permissions, and an account grant overrides organization disablement. Members cannot override organization-wide restrictions: ask your admin to review access, since organization admins can enable it in the admin portal. Re-enabling removes the organization-wide restriction, but account revocations still apply; existing meetings are never deleted.
On unsupported Macs, System audio not available has no enable button and the Notetaker page shows Notetaker blocked.
Privacy and HIPAA BAA restrictions
Notetaker works alongside a signed personal or organization BAA, so you do not need to revoke your BAA to record meetings. For an organization with a BAA, an administrator turns Notetaker on in the admin portal.
Under a BAA, recording, transcription, summaries, notes, in-app sharing links and meeting chat still work. Automatic meeting titles, meeting suggestion chips (such as Ask chips and follow-up email), the manual Add Summary action and meeting chat all work under a BAA; their text is only ever processed by AI providers covered by Wispr's BAA. Pre-meeting briefs, reporting a meeting to Wispr, email invitations and automatic sharing, and transcript access outside the app are also unavailable.
Weekly recording limit
The default cap is 50 recordings weekly for Basic and other non-paying users; paid plans have a higher cap, and limits reset weekly. Only meetings lasting at least 5 minutes, including pauses, count; imports do not count, and discarding returns the slot.
With one or no recordings left, Notetaker shows a banner with the reset date. At the cap, new recordings are blocked and the homepage widget's start button is unavailable. Upgrade appears only for non-paying users and opens Settings → Plans and Billing.
If audio is missing
If your microphone or the system audio stops delivering sound — at the start of a recording or part-way through — Flow restarts that source and keeps trying for about half a minute. If sound does not return, the Flow Bar shows Notetaker isn't getting any audio with a Restart Flow button and a Dismiss option. The card stays until audio returns, the meeting ends, or you dismiss it.
On Mac, denying system audio at recording start stops capture and reopens setup without leaving an empty meeting entry. Complete the setup steps above before trying again.
On Windows, Flow restores participant audio automatically during the same recording if it drops out mid-meeting — you do not need to stop and start again — filling the gap with silence so the recording stays in sync and later transcript lines keep their correct times. If no speaker or output device is available, Flow keeps retrying until one returns. If participant audio cannot be restored, you'll see System audio capture stopped; confirm your meeting app is playing through the Windows default output device, then start a new recording.
If someone is missing from the transcript, follow the recording and audio troubleshooting guide. If transcription fails mid-meeting, the local recording remains saved.
Still need help?
Contact support if setup still blocks recording after you complete the checklist, or audio remains missing after troubleshooting. Include your platform, OS version, microphone, plan, exact message, and steps tried.