How do I record a meeting on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet?

All three have recording built in, but who can start it, and whether it is available at all, depends on several things: your plan or edition, your licence, your role in the meeting, permission granted by the organiser, your organisation's admin policy, the meeting type, and sometimes the device you're on. Zoom distinguishes local recording from paid cloud recording; Teams can allow eligible people in the same organisation to record, not only the organiser; Meet requires a supported edition plus host or admin permission. If the control is missing or greyed out, check those prerequisites rather than assuming the feature is broken.

How do I record an in-person meeting?

A phone's voice recorder app is enough for most rooms. Place it near the centre of the people talking rather than at one end of a long table, keep it away from laptops and air conditioning, and avoid putting it where someone will tap or shuffle papers. For a larger room, two devices placed apart will capture more voices clearly than one in the middle.

Do I have to tell people I'm recording a meeting?

Tell them — both as a matter of basic courtesy and, in many places, of law. Consent rules vary: some jurisdictions require only one participant to consent, others require everyone, and your employer or client may impose stricter rules than the law does. Conferencing platforms typically display a recording notification, but treat that as notice rather than consent — it informs people, it does not by itself supply the agreement your situation may require. For an in-person meeting, saying so is entirely on you.

Can I record a meeting without the host knowing?

The platforms' own recording features notify participants when recording starts — Zoom, for instance, states that its recording always notifies participants. That doesn't make covert capture technically impossible, since someone could record externally with another device. It does mean covert recording is a choice to breach the notification the platform provides, and it may violate local law, your employer's policy, or your contract regardless of whether it can be done. If you need a record and can't record, ask for the notes or minutes instead.

What's the best way to get notes from a recorded meeting?

Transcribe the recording and work from the text. A transcript is searchable and skimmable in a way audio is not — you can find the moment a decision was made in seconds rather than scrubbing through the timeline, and each distinct voice is grouped under its own label so you can follow who said what once you've named the speakers.

Guides

How to Record a Meeting (In Person and Online)

Sarah T

2026-08-107 mins read

How to Record a Meeting (In Person and Online)

Recording a meeting is easy. Recording a meeting in a way that is useful a week later takes about two extra minutes of thought.

This covers both cases — the online meeting where recording is a button, and the in-person meeting where it is a phone on a table.

Online meetings: use the platform's own recording

Zoom, Teams and Google Meet all record natively, and where the feature is available it is almost always the best option: it captures participants cleanly, and the resulting file is well suited to transcription afterwards.

What is broadly consistent:

Participants are notified. Starting a platform recording displays a notification to the meeting. This is intentional and generally not something you can turn off.
Where the file lands varies. Depending on the platform and plan, the recording saves either locally on the recorder's machine or into the platform's cloud storage.

What varies more than people expect — and why you should check before the meeting rather than during it:

Who can start it. Often the organiser, but not always only them: Teams can allow eligible people in the same organisation to record, subject to licensing and policy. Meet requires host or admin permission on a supported edition.
Whether it's available at all. This depends on your plan or edition, your licence, your role in the meeting, your organisation's admin policy, the meeting type, and sometimes your device. Zoom in particular distinguishes local recording from cloud recording, which is a paid feature.

If the control is missing or greyed out, work through that list before concluding the feature is broken — and ask whoever administers your workspace, since it is often a policy setting rather than a limitation.

Once you have the file, we have platform-specific guides for what to do next:

A note on bots

Some tools join your call as a participant to record it. That works, but it is visible to everyone in the meeting and some organisations block it outright. If your platform already records natively, you generally do not need anything else — record with the platform, then transcribe the file afterwards.

In-person meetings: a phone is enough

You do not need equipment. You need placement.

Centre, not end. Put the recorder among the people talking, not at the head of a long table where the far end becomes inaudible.
Away from the machines. Laptop fans, projectors, and air conditioning vents are louder to a microphone than they are to you.
Nothing on top of it. Papers shuffled over a phone, or a cup set down beside it, produce sharp noises that ruin the surrounding words.
Two devices for a big room. For anything above about six people, two phones placed apart will capture far more of the room than one in the middle.

The general rule from interview recording applies here too: distance to the speaker matters more than the quality of the microphone. If one person is presenting, put the recorder near them.

Say that you're recording

For an online meeting the platform displays a notification. Treat that as notice, not consent — it tells people recording is happening; it does not by itself supply whatever agreement your law, contract, or workplace policy requires. For an in-person meeting, nobody announces anything, so it is entirely on you.

Start the recording, then say it plainly and ask: something like "recording this so we get accurate notes — is everyone okay with that?" Capturing the answer in the recording documents the consent given at that moment. That's good practice, not a guarantee, and consent can be limited or later withdrawn.

The legal position genuinely varies. Some jurisdictions require only one participant to consent; others require everyone. Many employers have their own policy on recording internal meetings, which can be stricter than the law. This is general information rather than legal advice — check what applies where you are, and take proper advice if anything turns on it.

The part most people skip: turning it into something usable

A two-hour recording nobody replays is not a record of the meeting. It is a two-hour file.

The recording becomes useful when it becomes text:

Searchable. Find the moment a budget number was agreed by searching for the number, instead of scrubbing a timeline.
Skimmable. Read an hour-long meeting in a few minutes.
Attributable. Each distinct voice is grouped under its own label, so once you've named the speakers you can follow who said what — the most useful property of a meeting transcript, and worth checking against the audio wherever a commitment matters.
Forwardable. People who will not watch a recording will read a summary.

Upload the recording — audio or video, including MP4 files straight from a conferencing platform — to our meeting transcription tool. Recordings up to five minutes are free with no signup.

If what you actually want is structured notes rather than a verbatim record, see how to take meeting notes, which covers working from a transcript rather than typing during the meeting.

Quick checklist

Online

Confirm you can record before the meeting starts, not during it
The platform notification gives notice — still say what you're recording and why, and get agreement
Note where the file saves so you can find it afterwards

In person

Recorder among the speakers, away from fans and vents
Announce the recording, with it running
Two devices if the room is large
Play back the first thirty seconds before everyone leaves

How to record an interview — one-on-one recording, in more depth
How to record a call on Android — for meetings that happen by phone
Meeting transcription — turn the recording into a speaker-labeled transcript