Dictating during a meeting with Notetaker
Last updated: September 19, 2026
Available on: Mac, Windows
Dictate into a text field without stopping Notetaker. Other participants remain in the meeting transcript; your dictated words don't.
Start the meeting, then dictate
Complete setup before recording, including after reinstalls, setup resets or device changes. Otherwise, “Finish setup to use Notetaker” opens setup. Grant microphone access, then bring Flow to the foreground — no restart needed.
Notetaker never auto-starts. When it detects a meeting, it shows “Transcribe this meeting with Wispr?” with Yes and Another time; recording begins only when you choose Yes.
Note: System audio must be enabled to capture other participants. If it isn't, a “System audio turned off” notice appears with Turn on system audio. In the meeting banner, choose Turn on, then restart the meeting to capture others.
Finish any active dictation.
Start Notetaker by choosing Yes.
Select your destination text field.
Dictate using your dictation shortcut.
Stop or cancel dictation when finished.
Notetaker and dictation take turns using the mic without ending the meeting. A Dictated marker marks your speech gap, even after reopening. Flow returns the mic when dictation stops, cancels or errors—unless capture fails.
Dictation waits for the mic handoff but can't start if Notetaker still holds it. Meeting starts wait for dictation to finish stopping; otherwise, “Microphone is busy with dictation” appears. Finish dictating first, then start the recording.
Flow bar controls stop/cancel dictation while you're dictating; otherwise, Stop Notetaker ends meeting recording, like Notetaker's Stop, adding a Paused marker.
Dictation has a 20-minute limit; a warning appears under a minute beforehand, followed by “Transcription session ended.” with Recover text.
If your mic doesn't resume after dictating
Warning: If your microphone fails to resume when dictation ends, the meeting records system audio only, your own voice may be missing from that stretch of the transcript, and a “Microphone unavailable — stop and resume the meeting to retry” notice stays on screen.
Notetaker uses the system-default mic, independently of Flow's dictation preference. Brief AirPods or dock switches aren't treated as leaving the call.
Flow attempts automatic mic recovery, waiting until dictation releases it. Failures can also occur without dictation.
Select Stop in Notetaker.
Select Resume in the same meeting. The error clears only when microphone audio returns.
Review that part of the transcript for gaps in your own speech.
Resume can be hidden for deleted transcripts, exhausted recording length, or missing, empty, unreadable or expired local audio. The default window is 7 days. A hard “Couldn't resume: …” refusal offers Record as new meeting for 10 seconds.
Mic audio warnings
“Notetaker isn't hearing audio from your mic” names the input after a minute of continuous near-silence. Choose Microphone settings to check input and mute state, or Ignore for the rest of the meeting. If it persists, it escalates to “Still there? Notetaker isn't hearing anything”.
After about a second of sustained audio, the warning clears without re-arming. Earlier speech transcribed from that mic suppresses it; switching devices resets this check. Dictation can dismiss and re-arm an unanswered warning.
Separate dictation alerts for revoked permission, a missing mic or an unavailable device notify on the first failure.
If recording stops
Meeting-end checks pause during dictation, others' speech and startup (except near the scheduled end), then resume. Length limits and device events still apply.
Notetaker stopping: The meeting app released the mic. Keep going cancels only this countdown; Stop or no response ends recording. Hovering pauses it.
Do you want to stop the meeting? This silent prompt offers Stop; no response keeps recording.
Meeting still going? Silence warning: Stop or no response ends recording. Keep going or newly transcribed speech cancels it, resetting the silence clock.
Notetaker stopped: Resume continues the same meeting; after dismissal, use Notetaker's Resume, subject to restrictions above. Recovery allows two resumes per stop episode and 20 seconds' protection against another drop; later stops begin new episodes.
“Notetaker stopped when your Mac went to sleep” offers Resume under the same restrictions.
Length limit: 30 minutes, 1, 2 or 3 hours, even with auto-end off. “Approaching time limit” offers Yes → “Change auto-end time?” → Save to extend and save your setting. At 3 hours, “Transcription will end soon” offers no extension.
Connection and capture problems
Flow retries network interruptions, but sign-in or service errors can end live transcription. Longer outages can cause transcript gaps; captured text is saved.
Connection lost: Without an open meeting window: “We lost the connection. Your audio was saved.” Otherwise, a persistent in-window message appears.
Live transcript unavailable: Record offline saves audio locally for transcription when online; Cancel declines. This replaces the failed-start error only for initial connection failures—not quota or prerequisite blocks or intentional stops.
Couldn't start recording: “We couldn't capture any audio, so nothing was saved.” If a resumed meeting or a new meeting with typed notes was retained: “We couldn't start live transcription. Your audio was saved on this device.” Try again reopens retained meetings; otherwise, it starts fresh.
Warning: Discard deletes newly created meetings retained after failed starts. For resumed meetings—or when nothing was retained—it only dismisses the notice and closes the meeting window.
Access, limits and privacy
Access messages can reflect account, plan, organization policy or Mac system-audio restrictions; shortcuts don't bypass them.
Windows mic access opens Windows Settings. On Mac, follow System Audio or Screen Recording instructions; Quit & Reopen may be required. Unsupported Macs cannot complete system-audio setup.
If Flow can't post required organization consent, post it yourself, then start Notetaker again. Dictation during pending consent neither starts meeting capture nor adds a Dictated marker.
Private Cloud Sync is required unless an organization exception applies; exceptions never override signed HIPAA BAAs. If you disabled Private Cloud Sync yourself, enable Private Cloud Sync in your settings.
Revoke a personal HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) in Settings → Data and Privacy to unblock recording. Organization HIPAA or Cloud Sync restrictions require an admin through the Admin Portal; members can Request access. Admins can disable Notetaker organization-wide or block meetings by attendee domain/email.
Weekly quotas affect new meetings, not resumes. Warnings show limits and reset dates at one or zero remaining; the banner isn't always visible. “You have no meeting notes left this week” offers Upgrade only to non-paying users.
Notetaker supports 21 languages. “This sounds like a language we don't support yet” offers Got it and Learn more; unsupported-language transcripts may contain errors.
Warning: Retention permanently deletes transcripts and audio; summaries, My Notes, tasks and the meeting remain.
By default, transcripts are never deleted. You can choose 1, 7, 30, 90, 180 or 365 days; shortening retention requires confirmation. An organization's retention policy overrides yours and disables the control; your control is also disabled when Cloud Sync is off. Organization retention applies regardless of Cloud Sync or HIPAA. Daily deletion uses meeting creation dates; other devices update after syncing.
Still need help?
Contact support if Stop → Resume doesn't restore your voice. Include platform, microphone, exact message and attempted steps.