Guides
Meeting notes on a Mac, explained
How to record and transcribe meetings on a Mac, what the law asks of you before you do, and how to turn a conversation into notes someone can act on. Where a guide mentions Notey, it says what Notey does and nothing more.
Bot-free meeting notes
How a notetaker can work without a participant joining the call, and when that matters.
- Bot-free meeting notesBot-free meeting notes: how they work and when you need themA notetaker can join a meeting as a participant or listen on the device you already use. What each costs in consent, IT approval and reliability.
- Bot-free meeting notesRecording an in-person meeting with a MacBookHow to record and transcribe an in-person meeting on a MacBook: where to put it, what the room does to the audio, and asking everyone first.
- Bot-free meeting notesTaking notes on phone calls from a MacHow to record and transcribe a phone call on a Mac, with the Phone app's Call Recording or a phone on speaker, and why consent matters most here.
- Bot-free meeting notesHow meeting bots work: what actually joins your callA meeting bot is a vendor-run participant that receives the call's audio and video. How it gets in, what it receives, and why it fails to join or is removed.
- Bot-free meeting notesTaking notes in confidential meetingsWhere every copy of a confidential conversation ends up, and how to keep that list short: fewer vendors, retention set in advance, audio out of backups.
- Bot-free meeting notesWhy companies block AI meeting bots, and what people use insteadSecurity teams restrict notetaker bots over unknown participants, data sent to vendors and missing consent. What a bot-free tool changes, and doesn't.
Recording meetings on a Mac
Step by step, per app: Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Slack huddles, Webex, FaceTime and the browser.
- Recording meetings on a MacHow to record a Zoom meeting on a MacThree ways to record a Zoom call on a Mac — Zoom's local recording, its cloud recording, and a two-track recorder — and what each asks of the host and of you.
- Recording meetings on a MacRecording a Zoom call when you're not the host: what's allowedZoom's host permission controls Zoom's recorder, not the law or your organisation's rules. What each decides, and how to ask to record a call you don't host.
- Recording meetings on a MacRecording a webinar or all-hands you're only listening toHow to record and transcribe a webinar, town hall or all-hands on a Mac when you never speak, and what to check in the event's terms before keeping a recording.
- Recording meetings on a MacHow to record a Webex meeting on a MacWebex lets the host or a cohost record, locally or to the cloud, if the site allows it. How each works on a Mac, and how to record a Webex call with Notey.
- Recording meetings on a MacHow to record your Mac's system audio without extra driversThree ways to record the sound your Mac plays — a loopback driver, the screen-capture APIs, and a Core Audio process tap — and what each one asks of you.
- Recording meetings on a MacHow to record and transcribe a Slack huddleSlack's AI huddle notes need a paid plan and notify everyone in the huddle. How they work, and how to record and transcribe a huddle on your Mac with Notey.
Privacy, consent and compliance
Recording laws, GDPR and professional confidentiality. Background reading, not legal advice.
- Privacy, consent and complianceIs it legal to record a meeting?Whether you can record a meeting depends on where everyone is, what law applies and your organisation's rules. The layers, explained, with primary sources.
- Privacy, consent and complianceWhere does your meeting audio go? Questions for any notetakerA checklist for any AI notetaker: where audio is transcribed, what is kept, who trains on it, which processors, and how deletion works, answered for Notey.
- Privacy, consent and complianceRecording therapy sessions: privacy questions to answer firstConsent, professional codes, health data law and where the recording goes: what a therapist should answer before recording or using AI notes for a session.
- Privacy, consent and complianceRecording meetings in Australia: state by stateWhether you can record a meeting or call you are in depends on the state. A table of each state's Act and consent rule, and the Commonwealth and privacy layers.
- Privacy, consent and complianceRecording calls and meetings in the UK: the law in plain termsWhen you can record a call or meeting in the UK: the Investigatory Powers Act, business-recording regulations, UK GDPR and the ICO's guidance, in plain terms.
- Privacy, consent and complianceRecording calls in Germany: why everyone must agreeGerman criminal law protects the spoken word, so recording a call without the others' agreement can be an offence. What §201 StGB says and how GDPR adds to it.
Transcription and on-device AI
How speech recognition on a Mac works, how accurate it is, and how to get a better transcript.
- Transcription and on-device AIOn-device transcription: how it works and what it's good forOn-device transcription turns speech into text on your own computer, with no audio sent to a server. How it works on a Mac, what it protects, and its limits.
- Transcription and on-device AIWhich languages can a Mac transcribe on the device?The ten languages Apple's on-device SpeechTranscriber supports on macOS 26, with regional variants, how dictation differs, and options for other languages.
- Transcription and on-device AIHow to transcribe a meeting offline on a MacTranscribe a meeting on a Mac with no internet connection: what to download first, what works offline and what does not, and how to check nothing is uploaded.
- Transcription and on-device AISpeaker diarization: how transcripts work out who spokeSpeaker diarization splits a recording by who spoke when. How it works, how it differs from recognising voices, and what two tracks give you for free.
- Transcription and on-device AIWhy meeting transcripts get names and numbers wrongNames, numbers and jargon are the hard words for every speech recogniser. Why, which errors matter, and what the room and microphone change.
- Transcription and on-device AILive transcription vs transcribing after the meetingLive transcripts are fast enough to follow a meeting; a pass over the whole recording afterwards can be more accurate. Why, and what it takes to have both.
Meeting notes in practice
Templates and habits: minutes, action items, follow-up emails, 1:1s, standups, interviews.
- Meeting notes in practiceA meeting notes template that people actually readA short meeting notes template built on decisions, action items with owners and dates, and open questions, with copyable Markdown and a worked example.
- Meeting notes in practiceBuilding a searchable archive of your meetingsHow to search meeting transcripts and find what was said months later — by what was said, by time, and by project — and what to keep and delete along the way.
- Meeting notes in practiceUser research interview notes: capturing what people actually saidHow to take user interview notes that hold up in synthesis — quotes over paraphrase, the transcript as the source, and consent settled before you record.
- Meeting notes in practiceStandup meeting notes: what to write down and what to skipStandup notes should record blockers and changes of plan, not everyone's status. What to write, what to skip, and a short template for daily standups.
- Meeting notes in practiceSales call notes: a discovery call templateWhat to write down on a sales discovery call — the prospect's problem in their own words, who else decides, and the agreed next step — with a copyable template.
- Meeting notes in practiceRetrospective meeting notes: a template that leads to changesA retrospective notes template that keeps only the changes the team agreed to try, with owners, and checks them at the next retro rather than starting over.
Comparisons and alternatives
How Notey differs from other notetakers, described from their own documentation.
- Comparisons and alternativesThe best AI notetakers for Mac, sorted by how they hear your meetingA roundup of AI meeting notetakers for Mac, grouped by how they capture a meeting: a bot, the meeting app itself, or an app on your Mac, with who each suits.
- Comparisons and alternativesAn Otter.ai alternative that keeps audio on your MacOtter captures meetings with an agent that joins calls or a desktop app, and stores recordings in its cloud. How Notey differs, and who each suits.
- Comparisons and alternativesFree meeting transcription on a Mac: the optionsFree ways to transcribe meetings on a Mac: Apple's built-in features, meeting apps' transcripts, notetakers' free plans, and Notey's free plan.
- Comparisons and alternativesNotey vs Granola: two bot-free notetakers, comparedGranola and Notey both take meeting notes without a bot in the call. They differ in where transcription happens, what is kept, and which platforms they run on.
- Comparisons and alternativesZoom AI Companion alternatives for meeting notesZoom's AI meeting summary depends on the host's plan and settings and runs in Zoom's cloud. When that works well, when not, and what a Mac recorder changes.
- Comparisons and alternativesAlternatives to Copilot meeting notes in Microsoft TeamsCopilot and intelligent recap in Teams depend on licences, tenant policy and usually a transcript. When they fit, when not, and what a Mac recorder changes.
Workflows by role and team
How consultants, lawyers, recruiters, founders and small teams fit notes into their day.
- Workflows by role and teamAI meeting notes for consultantsClient IT blocks bots, contracts limit vendors, and the hour is billable. How consultants can take AI meeting notes that fit those constraints, step by step.
- Workflows by role and teamRolling out a meeting notetaker to a small teamHow a small team can adopt an AI meeting notetaker: agree a recording policy, run a short security review, decide what clients are told, pilot before paying.
- Workflows by role and teamSharing meeting notes with your teamWhat to send your team after a meeting, where to put it, what to leave out (usually the audio), and how to share from a tool with no shared workspace.
- Workflows by role and teamKeeping your meeting notes on two MacsSync your meetings between a laptop and a desktop or onto a new Mac: what travels, what stays on the Mac that recorded it, and why the recovery key matters.
- Workflows by role and teamGetting meeting notes into Obsidian or NotionHow to move meeting notes and transcripts into an Obsidian vault or a Notion page, how to organise them, and how to keep the AI-generated labels.
- Workflows by role and teamAI meeting notes for lawyers: what to check firstBefore a lawyer uses an AI notetaker on client meetings: confidentiality, privilege, professional guidance, consent and retention, as questions to answer.
Troubleshooting on macOS
Microphone permissions, audio devices, echo, and what to check when a recording is silent.
- Troubleshooting on macOSMac microphone permission not working? What to checkAn app cannot hear you on a Mac, or never asked for the microphone. The System Settings switch, resetting it, and unsigned builds.
- Troubleshooting on macOSHow much disk space meeting recordings take on a MacAn hour of meeting audio takes from about 15 MB to over 600 MB depending on format. Rough sizes, where to look, and how to free space.
- Troubleshooting on macOSMeeting recording silent or transcript empty? How to fix itA recording of the right length with nothing on it: a permission, the wrong input, a muted device or a Bluetooth switch. How to tell which.
- Troubleshooting on macOSWhy your notetaker didn't notice a call startingA desktop notetaker spots a call by watching which apps use audio. Why it can miss one, and what to do instead of waiting for it.
- Troubleshooting on macOSWhen your Mac switches audio devices in the middle of a callAirPods jumping to your iPhone, a headset reconnecting, a display taking the microphone: what each does to a call and a recording.
- Troubleshooting on macOSCan you transcribe meetings on the device on an Intel Mac?Notey needs Apple silicon and macOS 26, so it does not run on Intel Macs. What an Intel Mac can still do for meeting transcripts, and the trade-offs of each.
Meetings by type
Agendas and notes for all-hands, QBRs, sprint planning, critiques, classes, community meetings and appointments.
- Meetings by typeTypes of meetings, and the notes each one needsThe common types of meetings at work, what each is for, what its record should contain, and whether recording it is usually appropriate, in one table.
- Meetings by typeHow to record a remote podcast interview on a MacHow to record a remote podcast interview on a Mac, get a transcript for show notes and quotes, and get your guest's agreement and release first.
- Meetings by typeHow to record an online class on a MacHow to record and transcribe an online class on a Mac, in Zoom or a browser, after checking the school's policy and keeping other students' voices private.
- Meetings by typeHow to record a lecture on a Mac: permission firstHow to record and transcribe an in-person lecture on a MacBook, starting with the lecturer's permission and your institution's rules, then placement.
- Meetings by typeHow to record a doctor's appointment: ask first, then keep your own notesHow to record a doctor appointment with the clinician's agreement, what to say at the start, how to handle a no, and how to turn it into your own notes.
- Meetings by typeRunning a quarterly business review: agenda and notesHow to run a quarterly business review meeting with a customer — results against last quarter's goals, their plans in their words, and commitments.
Fewer, better meetings
Fewer meetings, shorter ones, and written updates where a meeting was not needed.
- Fewer, better meetingsHow to have fewer meetings without losing trackHow to reduce meetings in five steps - audit the recurring ones, replace status meetings with writing, shorten the rest, and keep a record people can skip to.
- Fewer, better meetingsWhat a meeting costs, and how to work it outA meeting cost calculator you can do by hand: attendees times hours times hourly cost, with a worked example, a spreadsheet formula and what it misses.
- Fewer, better meetingsTalk-to-listen ratio: measuring how much you spokeWhat a talk to listen ratio is, how tools measure it by time or by words, what can make the number wrong, and how to use it without chasing a target.
- Fewer, better meetingsNo-meeting days: how teams make them stickHow to set up no meeting days that last: choosing the day, blocking calendars, agreeing the exceptions, and replacing the meetings you moved.
- Fewer, better meetingsA meeting agenda template, and how to write oneA copyable meeting agenda template that starts with the outcome, lists items as questions with owners and time boxes, and says what to read beforehand.
- Fewer, better meetingsHow long should a meeting be?How long should a meeting be? Suggested lengths by meeting type, why shorter defaults help, and the Google Calendar and Outlook settings that end them early.
AI summaries and notes
How AI meeting summaries are made, how to check them, and how to label them when you share them.
- AI summaries and notesHow AI meeting notes are made, step by stepHow AI meeting notes work - audio, transcript, a language model reading the text, then notes. Where each step runs, and what that means for privacy and errors.
- AI summaries and notesSending AI meeting notes to clients: a checklistBefore sending AI meeting notes to clients, check them against the transcript, label them, remove what was said off the record, and send text rather than audio.
- AI summaries and notesMeeting transcript vs summary: when you need whichA meeting transcript is the evidence; a summary is one reading of it. Which to keep, which to share, which to quote, and when a summary alone is not enough.
- AI summaries and notesPrompts for a meeting summary that stick to the transcriptA prompt for a meeting summary that asks for decisions, owners and dates, and says when nobody committed. Copyable prompts, and what to check before you paste.
- AI summaries and notesHow to label AI-written meeting notes you shareHow to label AI-generated content in meeting notes you share, with wording for email, documents, wikis and tickets, and a way to mark what a person checked.
- AI summaries and notesAsking questions about a meeting transcriptHow to ask questions about a meeting transcript with AI and get answers you can rely on, why answers should come from that meeting only, and how to check them.
Mac audio for calls
Microphones, headsets, Bluetooth, audio interfaces and macOS audio settings for calls.
- Mac audio for callsSetting up your Mac's audio for video callsMac audio setup for video calls: input, output, headphones or speakers, where Zoom, Teams and Meet override macOS, and what to check before a call.
- Mac audio for callsUsing a USB microphone for calls on a MacHow to set up a USB microphone for calls on a Mac: kinds of microphone, placement, choosing it in System Settings and in Zoom, Teams or Meet, and testing it.
- Mac audio for callsUsing an audio interface for video calls on a MacHow to use an audio interface for video calls on a Mac with an XLR microphone: gain, phantom power, direct monitoring, and which input channel the call hears.
- Mac audio for callsUsing AirPlay speakers during a call on a MacAirPlay audio during a call on a Mac arrives late and fills the room, where your microphone hears it. How to send a call to a HomePod, and what works better.
- Mac audio for callsMac microphone too quiet? How to fix itIf your Mac microphone volume is too low on calls, check the input device, Input volume, the call app's own level, distance, and Bluetooth mode, in that order.
- Mac audio for callsMic modes on a Mac: Voice Isolation, Wide Spectrum and StandardWhat the Mac mic modes Voice Isolation, Wide Spectrum and Standard do, where to change them from the menu bar, and why the option is missing in some apps.
Accessibility and languages
Captions, transcripts and notes for people who need them, and transcribing meetings in other languages.
- Accessibility and languagesLive captions for meetings on a Mac: the options comparedLive captions for meetings on a Mac: macOS Live Captions, captions in Zoom, Teams and Meet, a notetaker's live transcript, and when to book a human captioner.
- Accessibility and languagesTranscribing a meeting in Spanish on a MacTo transcribe a Spanish meeting on a Mac on the device, set the Mac's language to Spanish and record. The four variants Apple lists, the steps and the limits.
- Accessibility and languagesMeeting transcripts as a workplace accommodation or adjustmentHow asking for meeting transcripts as a reasonable accommodation works under the ADA and Britain's Equality Act, and why others must know it is recorded.
- Accessibility and languagesTranscribing a meeting in Japanese on a MacTo transcribe a Japanese meeting on a Mac on the device, set the Mac's language to Japanese and record. The steps, and where names and kanji need checking.
- Accessibility and languagesTranscribing a meeting in German on a MacTo transcribe a German meeting on a Mac on the device, set the Mac's language to German and record. The steps, the three variants and German recording law.
- Accessibility and languagesTranscribing a meeting in French on a MacTo transcribe a French meeting on a Mac on the device, set the Mac's language to French, record, and check the transcript. The steps, variants and limits.
Sync, backup and your data
Sync between your own Macs, backups, recovery keys, retention and deleting what you recorded.
- Sync, backup and your dataA meeting recording retention policy: how long to keep each partHow long to keep meeting recordings, transcripts, notes and voiceprints, why audio usually goes first, and how to write a retention schedule people will follow.
- Sync, backup and your dataLost your recovery key? What you can and cannot get backIf you lose Notey's recovery key, meetings already on your Macs are untouched, but the encrypted synced copy cannot be opened. What that means and what to do.
- Sync, backup and your dataEnd-to-end encrypted meeting notes: what it should meanWhat end-to-end encrypted meeting notes should mean, what to ask a vendor about keys and metadata, and exactly what Notey's sync encrypts and what it does not.
- Sync, backup and your dataSubject access requests for meeting recordingsA subject access request can cover meeting recordings and transcripts. What a person can see, handling other speakers, deadlines, and the ICO and EDPB views.
- Sync, backup and your dataHow to recover meeting recordings from a lost MacLost or stolen Mac? Transcripts and notes come back through sync with your recovery key. Recordings never leave their Mac, so only a disk backup has them.
- Sync, backup and your dataA laptop and desktop workflow on a Mac for meetingsA laptop and desktop workflow on a Mac for meetings: record on one, write up on the other, and know what each Mac shows for a meeting recorded elsewhere.