Recording a Meeting — Quill Documentation | Quill

Quill can record your meetings in two ways: automatically (when it detects a meeting from your calendar) or manually (when you start it yourself).

The Recording Bar

A small toolbar, the Live Meeting Bar, appears during a meeting.

From here you can:

• See that recording is active (a red dot or indicator)
• Stop the recording, or independently mute your mic or system audio from the audio popover
• Add a quick note to yourself mid-meeting, mark a moment as particularly important, or take a screenshot

Automatic Recording (Recommended)

Quill can detect when a meeting is about to start and ask if you want to record it.

How it works:

1. When you join a call with video conferencing software like Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or Slack, Quill detects it and starts recording. This can be disabled in Settings.
2. If you have connected a calendar, Quill can auto-start 30 seconds before each meeting starts regardless of whether it uses video conferencing software.
3. You'll see the Live Meeting Bar appear on screen to confirm whether you want to record.

Tip: If you don't want a specific meeting recorded, you can dismiss the prompt or stop the recording at any time.

Manual Recording

You can start a recording at any time, even if it's not a scheduled meeting (a phone call, an in-person conversation, or a brainstorm).

To start recording manually, do any of:

• Click the Quill icon in your menu bar (Mac) or system tray (Windows).

• Click the orange Start button (mic icon).

• Press your configured keyboard shortcut.

The Live Meeting Bar will appear confirming recording has started.

To stop recording:

1. Click Stop in the Live Meeting Bar, or
2. Click the Quill icon and select Stop Recording.

Adding Notes During the Meeting

You don't have to wait until after the meeting to jot things down. The Live Meeting Bar includes a quick-note pad where you can type notes while the meeting is happening. These notes are timestamped and correlated with whatever you were discussing at that moment.

What Quill Captures

• Your microphone (your voice)
• System audio (the voices of other participants through your speakers or headphones)
• Meeting context (if connected to your calendar, Quill also captures the meeting title, attendees, and description)

Note: Quill does NOT record video.

During the Meeting: Live Transcript and Minutes

As the meeting progresses, Quill builds a live transcript and minutes in real time.

You can use these to check what was said moments ago. The transcript is typically 30-60 seconds behind real-time for best accuracy. Minutes are updated every 3-6 minutes and are a detailed, topic-based summary of the important points from your conversation.

After the Meeting

When you stop recording (or the meeting ends), Quill will:

1. Save the audio file on your computer
2. Finish transcription (this takes a minute or two depending on meeting length)
3. Allow you to generate AI notes
4. Show the completed meeting in your meeting list

Notes are usually ready within a few minutes.

Supported Meeting Platforms

Quill works with every source of audio on your computer, so it works great for in-person meetings, for any meeting platform (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Slack Huddles, WebEx, WhatsApp, and others), or even for transcribing videos as you watch them.

Recording Tips

• Use headphones during calls. Quill handles echo well, but headphones give the cleanest input and the best transcription accuracy.
• Stay close to the microphone for the best voice capture.
• Quiet environment = better transcription accuracy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will other people on the call know they're being recorded?
It's your responsibility to inform meeting participants that the call is being recorded, as required by law in many regions. Quill does not add bots to meetings.

Q: Can I record a meeting that isn't on my calendar?
Yes, use Manual Recording at any time.

Q: What happens if I forget to stop the recording?
Quill detects when a video call ends and can automatically stop the recording. It will also warn you if no speaking has been detected for 5 minutes. Otherwise, you can stop it manually.

Q: Can I record in-person meetings?
Yes, start a manual recording and place your computer near the conversation. Quill will use your microphone to capture the room. You can also use the Quill Companion mobile app to capture in-person meetings. Phone microphones are often optimized for noisy environments.

Q: Can I import audio files from other sources?
Yes, do this from the Meetings homepage. We support importing individual audio files, bulk importing a folder of audio files, or importing transcripts from text or SRT documents.