Transcribe a meeting recording

Zoom

A recording saved to your computer goes to a Zoom folder in Documents: C:\Users\[you]\Documents\Zoom on Windows, /Users/[you]/Documents/Zoom on a Mac. It converts when the meeting ends; if it has not, Zoom shows Convert next to the meeting. Zoom’s staff say the audio-only file is an M4A and the video an MP4. A cloud recording sits in the host’s Zoom account, and the host can download it from there.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft says a meeting recording is saved to the organizer’s OneDrive, in the Recordings folder, even if the organizer was not there. A channel meeting’s recording goes to the team’s SharePoint site, in a Recordings folder for that channel. Recordings expire after 120 days by default, so download the file before then. Admins can block downloads; if you see no Download option, ask the organizer.

Google Meet

Google says recordings are saved in the meeting organizer’s Google Drive, in the Google Meet folder, with a sub-folder for each meeting. The organizer and whoever started the recording get an email with the link. Open it in Drive and choose Download. Recording is only on some Google Workspace plans and Google One plans with 2 TB or more, and a recording stops after 8 hours.

Zoom, Teams and Meet can all make their own transcripts on some plans, if someone turns it on before or during the meeting. If yours did, download that. This page is for the times it did not happen:

• You recorded the Zoom meeting to your computer rather than the cloud. Zoom does not transcribe computer recordings.
• Someone else hosted, and you only have the recording they shared.
• Nobody switched transcription on, or your company plan does not include it.
• You want a transcript without a note-taker bot sitting in the participant list.

Each voice is labelled Speaker A, Speaker B, Speaker C, with a new paragraph whenever the speaker changes. It works from the sound of the voices, so it does not know names. On a free transcript, find and replace the labels. With an hour pack, the transcript page asks who each speaker is, shows a line each one said so you can tell them apart, and puts the names into the Word file and every download. You can also move a paragraph to the right speaker if two voices were mixed up.

It is least accurate where people talk over each other. For the decisions and numbers that matter, check the transcript against the recording.

Tell people you are recording, and follow your company’s rules on recordings and outside services. Agreeing to be recorded is not the same as agreeing to the file going to another company, so for a client or HR meeting, ask first. More on how files are handled is in our privacy policy.