Product-aware onboarding: choosing dictation, Notetaker, or both (macOS)

Last updated: October 21, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows

Choose Dictation, Notetaker, or both to tailor Flow's setup. Connecting a calendar adds upcoming meetings, reminders to join and transcribe, accurate speaker names, and richer summaries — and you can connect later instead.

Before you start

Note: Flow requires macOS 12 or later; Notetaker requires macOS 13 or later. On macOS 12, Notetaker is disabled throughout the app, including its onboarding option — you can still choose Dictation.

  • If your platform, plan, or organization settings don't allow Notetaker, setup goes straight to dictation without the product-choice or calendar steps.

  • The calendar step is skipped when your plan or organization settings don't allow any calendar provider. Only providers enabled by your organization and offered to you appear.

Choose your products

  1. Select Dictation, Notetaker, or both on "How can Flow help you?", which follows the Welcome screen.

  2. Select Continue; at least one product must be selected. Returning to this screen during setup changes your choice and updates the remaining prompts.

  3. Answer the meeting questions if you chose Notetaker or both: for "How do you currently record meetings?" select at least one answer ("I don't record meetings" can't be combined with others; Something else requires text).

  4. Complete the permission prompts. On macOS 13–14.3, restart Flow after newly granting screen-recording permission; on macOS 14.4 or later, granting System Audio Recording Only needs no restart. Windows asks only if microphone permission is missing.

Notetaker or both adds the meeting questions and calendar connection where available. Notetaker-only setup also adds Connect your apps after the calendar step when app connections are available, and skips typing questions, microphone testing, shortcuts, language selection, dictation practice, time-savings screens, and trial, referral, and team-invite offers; any required team-selection or joining step remains. Choosing both keeps full dictation setup without adding Connect your apps.

Connect your calendar or continue without one

  1. Select Connect for Google Calendar or Outlook, when offered.

  2. Complete the provider's sign-in and calendar permission prompts.

  3. Select Continue after the calendar connects.

Continue without connecting

Notetaker does not require a calendar connection. I use a different calendar stays available during provider sign-in.

  1. Expand I use a different calendar.

  2. Choose iCloud, Something else, or I don't use a calendar. iCloud shows coming-soon messaging instead of a Connect button; Outlook appears here only when it isn't yet offered as a connection and your organization permits it.

  3. Enter your calendar's name if you chose Something else — the text field is required.

  4. Select Continue to save your choice and defer connection.

Collapsing this section clears your choice, and an Outlook choice clears if that fallback stops being offered. If a connection finishes while the section is expanded, it collapses and clears — Continue then uses the connected calendar.

If the calendar connection doesn't finish

Sign-in failed or was abandoned

Try again restarts provider sign-in; Continue lets you defer connecting. If the browser never opens, Flow shows "Couldn't start connecting. Try again."

Permissions are incomplete

Use Finish connecting on the calendar row, or the "Finish connecting Google Calendar" or "Finish connecting Outlook Calendar" prompt, which can appear once per connection attempt in the main Flow window or floating notepad.

  1. Select Finish connecting, or Continue in the prompt, to reopen provider consent.

  2. Grant access: Google — Select all; Outlook — review Microsoft's requested permissions and allow calendar access.

Once connected, continue setup. If the browser cannot open, the prompt remains with "Couldn't open the browser. Please try again." — retry Continue. Dismiss closes the prompt without reopening consent or completing missing permissions.

A different recovery action appears

The action depends on the connection problem:

  • Expired or revoked access: select Reconnect.

  • Account mismatch: Open Settings opens Settings → Connectors instead of restarting sign-in.

  • Organization approval: "Your organization needs to approve {provider} before you can connect" offers no retry button.

  • Unavailable account: "This account can't be connected" offers no retry button.

Connecting your calendar later

On the Notetaker page, select Connect calendar in the Upcoming meetings section to open the connection dialog. An unsupported-calendar message still offers this button for connecting a supported provider and names your saved calendar choice when available; the whole section is hidden when calendar connection is unavailable. The homepage Notetaker widget offers the same Connect calendar action, and Settings → Connectors is another connection route.

Organization restrictions and existing connections

An administrator disabling a connector hides its connection offers, including the relevant Connect Calendar, Connect Apps, or Outlook options. Opening or refocusing Settings → Connectors refreshes organization settings, and a disabled connector may briefly appear while availability is unknown. Contact your administrator if this is unintentional.

Warning: Your organization turning off a connector does not revoke your existing connection. Disconnect it to revoke access.

A connected, organization-disabled connector stays visible in Settings → Connectors with Disconnect — but no Reconnect — in its … menu, and is hidden everywhere else in the app. Its message reads "Connected, but unavailable because your organization turned off this connector."