Recording a meeting with Notetaker

Notetaker records a meeting, shows a live transcript, and produces a summary afterward. Follow the conversation in the notepad and type your own notes.

Before you record

Ask participants for consent before transcribing, and complete Flow onboarding before starting a recording. Microphone access captures you on both platforms; Mac also requires system-audio access to capture other participants, while Windows has no separate system-audio permission step.

“Complete setup to start Notetaker” means recording has not started. If “Notetaker isn't recording yet” appears, choose Finish Setup to continue or Close Notetaker to leave without recording.

1. Click Turn on for each permission requested in setup.

2. Allow access in the permission dialog or the system settings opened by the action.

3. Restart using Restart Wispr Flow only when setup requests it.

On Macs that show “Restart Wispr Flow to apply changes,” a new system-audio grant requires that restart before recording works; Open Settings remains available to adjust access. Without a restart instruction, new access takes effect immediately. If Turn on becomes available again, retry. “All set!” confirms setup is complete.

An unsupported Mac instead shows “System audio not available” or “Notetaker blocked,” with no permission action that enables recording. On Macs supporting an automatic system-audio prompt, it can appear when setup opens for an eligible meeting only if access has not been allowed or denied; it does not open System Settings.

Revoking microphone or system-audio access can reopen setup while the meeting is idle, not during recording or on a read-only shared note. See Getting started with Notetaker for setup help.

Start a recording

1. Open the Notetaker hub.

2. Choose New note or Start Notetaker for an in-person or unscheduled meeting; the start action's label varies between installs.

Recording starts once setup and access requirements are satisfied.

For a scheduled meeting, choose Join + Start on its upcoming-list row. If you are already in the call, the event has no conference link, or it clashes with another meeting, start recording without joining: use Start Notetaker in the caret menu, or the record-only button on a row without a joinable link.

⌘N on Mac or Ctrl+N on Windows starts a new recording in the Notetaker list, except while typing in a text field. The separate, rebindable start/join shortcut is Opt+M on Mac or Win+Alt+M on Windows. To customize it, stop recording first, then open Settings → Notetaker → Keyboard shortcut → Change shortcut (the action is Join meeting / start Notetaker).

In eligible Business or enterprise organizations with the consent-chat policy enabled, each recording computer can post a consent notice. Where your organization suppresses duplicates for the same calendar event, a notice from you or a colleague can prevent or delay another, and resuming or joining through Wispr Join can skip the repeated notice and manual prompt. The notice is posted as usual if Flow was restarted since, the calendar event has already ended, or your organization can't be reached to check.

Start automatically (optional)

Auto-start is off by default and applies separately to each computer.

1. Open Settings → Notetaker → Meeting detection.

2. Enable Automatically detect any call.

3. Enable Start Notetaker automatically, directly below it.

With detection off, auto-start is disabled and reads “Turn on “Automatically detect any call” to use this”; your choice is retained.

An eligible “Meeting detected” card starts recording after a countdown: 10 seconds by default, bounded to 5–60 seconds. Only the front eligible card can start one; scheduled reminders and Join + Start cards have none.

• Start now: click Start Notetaker to bypass the countdown.

• Pause: hover, hide or drag the card. An unfocused, collapsed or parked card also pauses; it resumes with the remaining time and cancels after 60 seconds without being presented.

• Cancel: open the caret menu or choose Snooze for 2 min; that card then requires a manual start.

• Decline this call: click X, press Esc, or join without Notetaker. The card stays suppressed for that call; rejoining later shows it again.

Auto-start can be refused before or after the countdown if you are actively working in the notepad, another recording is in progress, setup, permissions, consent, account access or an organization policy prevents recording, or Flow cannot confirm an eligible ongoing call. A notepad left open behind your meeting window does not block it.

Sleep, screen lock, switching Mac users, quitting Flow, losing the meeting signal, a system-clock change, a delayed start, or changed settings or access cancels the countdown, so check that recording actually starts.

If the notepad is open but you are not typing in it, Flow saves your unsaved edits and switches it to the new meeting's note; the earlier note reopens from the hub.

While recording

Closing the notepad does not stop recording. Click the Flow Bar's recording pill, or reopen the active meeting from the hub, to return to the same transcript and notes; when the notepad is in front, use its in-window recording control.

Follow Transcript or write in My thoughts. Your typed notes are separate from the AI Summary, are not rewritten by summary generation, and are excluded when you share the note.

Stop recording and review

1. Click Stop Notetaker in the recording pill or meeting window; capture ends immediately, even mid-sentence.

2. Wait for audio saving to finish.

3. Open the meeting's Summary and Transcript tabs from Past notes.

Start and Resume can be unavailable while audio saves, for up to 15 seconds, and Stop is unavailable during wrap-up. Flow saves the words captured up to your Stop click above the pause divider, even if you quit immediately afterward.

Without an existing summary, meetings with five minutes or less of total recorded audio — including earlier segments — or meetings stopped by switching Mac users wait for Generate summary or automatic processing after 24 hours. Other meetings process after stopping when connectivity and account access permit.

A very short or silent recording can show “The meeting was too short to summarize.” or “No transcript or audio available for a summary.” If “We hit a snag processing your meeting” appears, use Retry when offered. “We couldn't process your meeting” means no further attempt will run; “The full recording is no longer available to retry” means the saved audio cannot support another attempt.

Your audio stays on the device until the stop has been saved. If Flow quits, crashes or fails to save while a recording is stopping, the recording is picked up and finished the next time you open Flow, including audio captured after a resume. With Notetaker cloud sync turned off, meetings stay on your device and are picked up for processing once you turn sync on.

Automatic stops and recording limits

Settings → Notetaker → Stop Notetaker when a call ends controls end-of-call stopping. Recordings finish shortly after you leave, once Flow has seen a few seconds of silence; other participants' speech can add a wait of up to 30 seconds. Live calls, browser lobbies before joining, reconnecting, dictation and app startup can suppress or delay stopping, but not the recording-length limit.

Prompts appear next to the Flow Bar, with Stop available while you decide:

The silence warning follows ten continuous minutes without transcribed speech after earlier speech was captured, while capture and live transcription are working. When enabled, “Still taking notes” appears once 10 minutes past the calendar end and once after an hour of recording. Keep going or Keep recording answers only that prompt; later automatic stops remain active. Hovering “Notetaker stopping” pauses its countdown, but does not cancel the stop or postpone it indefinitely.

After an automatic — not manual — stop, “Notetaker stopped” can offer Resume, and anything said during the short stop is still captured. Resume continues the same meeting.

Maximum recording length

Settings → Notetaker → Maximum recording length offers 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours or 3 hours; the default is 2 hours. The longest option stops at approximately 2 hours 58 minutes. All recorded segments count, so stopping and resuming does not reset the limit.

A warning appears two minutes before the 30-minute limit or five minutes before longer limits. To extend when offered:

1. Choose Yes.

2. Select a longer duration.

3. Click Save before the deadline.

Alternatively, choose End recording. At the longest setting, “Transcription will end soon” offers no extension. Dismissing or ignoring the warning does not prevent stopping, even with end-of-call stopping off.

Connection, sleep and storage interruptions

If the upload doesn't finish

Your recording is saved, and the meeting card and Summary tab explain upload delays.

A finished meeting that cannot be sent shows Waiting for a connection in the recorder window and the Notetaker hub and stays listed until it uploads. A meeting you stopped while offline completes on its own once your connection returns or your computer wakes — no relaunch needed. If it remains stuck, use the retry control labelled Retry processing; this waiting state does not show the text button used for the other upload warnings.

Resume or recover a meeting

1. Open the saved meeting from the Notetaker hub.

2. Click Resume to append another recorded segment.

Resume waits for the meeting's unfinished save; if saving takes too long, it can refuse until saving finishes. When another meeting is recording, continuing a different saved meeting can require confirmation to switch; otherwise Resume is refused and the active recording continues. Choose Record as new meeting when recovery is unavailable and that action is offered.

Automatic stopping remains active after Resume, although Flow temporarily limits repeated early stops, and automatic recovery attempts are not unlimited.

Still stuck?

For permission errors, missing audio, failed starts, or unavailable Resume, see Troubleshooting Notetaker recording and audio. When contacting support, include your platform, meeting app, exact message and what you tried.