In short
Notey marks a recording incomplete when your microphone or the Mac's audio stopped reaching it for more than ten seconds. The meeting says which side is missing, from when and for how long. The gap is left empty, not filled with silence, and the rest stays usable.
Notey marks a meeting incomplete when one side of the conversation stopped arriving during the recording: your microphone, or the sound your Mac was playing. The meeting then says which side is missing, from when, and for how long, in a sentence at the top. It does not fill the gap with silence, because silence would pass off a broken recording as a quiet one.
This guide lists the reasons you might see, what causes each one, and what to change before the next meeting. For a recording that has no sound at all, see meeting recording silent or transcript empty.
Find out why a meeting is incomplete
- Open the meeting. In the meeting list and on Home, an incomplete meeting has a warning mark; hover over it to read the reason.
- Read the sentence at the top of the meeting. It names the side that is missing, such as "The other people are missing from 4 min 10 s of this meeting, starting 12 min 3 s in."
- Check the capture label beside it. It says Both sides, with a gap when both sides were heard but one has a gap, or 1 side, with a gap when only one side was heard.
- Look at the whole-meeting overview. Your side is the top lane and theirs is the bottom; the gap is where one lane has nothing.
- Match the reason to the table below and make the change before the next meeting.
What each reason means
| The meeting says | What happened | What to do next time |
|---|---|---|
| Your microphone changed … in, and … of your voice is missing. | Headphones were connected or removed, or another input was chosen, and switching over took longer than ten seconds. | Connect your headset before the call. Choose the microphone in System Settings, not mid-call. |
| Your microphone changed … in and Notey could not use the new one, so your voice is missing from there to the end. | The new input could not be recorded. | Choose a working microphone, then stop and start the recording. |
| Your voice is missing from … of this meeting, starting … in. | The microphone stopped sending sound for more than ten seconds, then came back. | Check the cable or the Bluetooth connection. |
| The other people are missing from … of this meeting, starting … in. | The sound the Mac plays stopped reaching Notey, then came back. | Keep the call playing on this Mac, not on a phone or another device. |
| You were not recorded — your microphone stayed silent the whole time. | Every sample from the microphone was zero. | Check the microphone is not muted, and that Notey is allowed to use it. |
| If the other people were talking, they were not recorded — no sound came out of this Mac. | Nothing was heard from the Mac's audio for the whole meeting. | Check the call played on this Mac, through the app you expected. |
| Only your microphone was recorded — Notey could not hear the other people. | Recording the Mac's audio did not start. | Check Notey may record the Mac's audio in System Settings. |
| … but the file is gone — the folder Notey records into was moved, deleted, or disconnected during the meeting. | The recording was written, but the file was not on disk when the meeting stopped. | Leave Notey's folder in place while recording. |
| Notey stopped unexpectedly while this was recording. | Notey quit or the Mac shut down mid-meeting. | Keep the Mac on power for long meetings. |
The last reason goes on to say how much was recovered: both sides, only your voice, or only the other people.
The message about a silent other side is worded carefully on purpose. A meeting where only you spoke, such as recording yourself rehearsing, is real, and it should not be called broken.
The common causes
Your audio device changed
The most common reason is a change of microphone mid-meeting: AirPods connecting, a USB headset unplugged, or macOS switching input by itself when a device appears. Notey notices the change, moves to the new device and carries on, and anything that takes it under ten seconds is not marked. Longer switches leave a gap on your side. When your Mac switches audio devices mid-call covers why macOS does this and how to stop it.
Permission was missing or withdrawn
macOS asks separately for the microphone and for recording what the Mac plays. When the microphone is refused, macOS delivers silence rather than an error, which is why a whole recording can come out silent. When permission to record the Mac's audio is missing, only your microphone is recorded. Allowing an app to record your Mac's audio shows where each permission lives in System Settings.
The call was not playing on this Mac
If you moved the call to your phone, took it on a room system, or the call app was sending sound to a different output, the Mac had nothing to hear. Notey records what the Mac plays, so a call playing somewhere else leaves the other side empty.
Notey quit mid-meeting
If Notey quits or the Mac restarts during a recording, the next launch finishes that meeting from what reached the disk. The audio up to that point is kept, and the meeting says it was interrupted rather than presenting it as whole.
What you see while it is happening
You usually find out during the meeting rather than after it. When one side stops arriving for ten seconds, Notey shows a warning across the recording, such as "Notey has stopped hearing the other people. Take notes by hand until it comes back." Each lane of the live view also says what to check. For the Mac's audio, for example: "the sound from this Mac stopped arriving. Check the call is still playing here, and take notes by hand until it comes back."
If one side never starts, you see that too: "Only your microphone is being recorded — Notey never started hearing the other people." A quieter note, "No sound from your microphone yet. That is expected if it is muted.", appears when your side has been silent for a while and clears once you speak.
The warning watches whether sound is arriving at all, not how loud it is. A quiet room still delivers sound many times a second; a disconnected device delivers none. That is why a meeting where nobody spoke for a minute is not marked, and a meeting where the audio stopped is.
What an incomplete recording still gives you
Everything that was recorded is kept, transcribed and searchable. The transcript has lines from both sides wherever both were heard. The overview and the player line the two tracks up correctly across the gap, so clicking a line still plays that moment.
If you ask for AI notes, remember they are written from the transcript, so they cannot mention what was said during the gap. Check the notes against your own memory of that stretch before you send them to anyone.
Before your next meeting
- Connect your headset first, then join the call.
- Record ten seconds as a test before an important meeting: say something and play a video, then check both lanes moved.
- Keep the call on this Mac. Do not hand it over to your phone halfway through.
- Leave Notey running and its folder in place until the meeting has stopped.
If the problem is permissions rather than devices, the troubleshooting guides start with microphone permission not working on a Mac.
Frequently asked questions
Is an incomplete recording lost?
No. Everything that was recorded is kept and transcribed. Only the stretch the meeting names is missing, and the rest plays and searches as normal.
Why does Notey not fill the gap with silence?
Because silence would claim that nobody spoke. A missing stretch is missing, and saying so is the only way you know to check your own notes or ask someone what was said.
I swapped headphones for a second. Why is the meeting not marked incomplete?
A gap that Notey handled in under ten seconds is not marked, because there is nothing you could do about it and a warning on every meeting would hide the ones that matter. Longer gaps, and anything that ran to the end, are always marked.
Can I fix an incomplete recording afterwards?
Not the missing part. Nothing recorded it, so there is nothing to recover. You can add what you remember to the notes, and prevent the same cause next time.
What does "Notey stopped unexpectedly while this was recording" mean?
Notey quit or the Mac shut down during the meeting. The next time Notey opens it finishes that meeting from what reached the disk, and the reason says how much audio was recovered and whether both sides are on it.