How to record a Google Meet meeting without a bot

Why not just use Google Meet's own recording?

You can, and if it works for you it is free. The friction is that recording is limited to certain Workspace plans, and guests usually cannot start one. Then there is the question of getting the file out, how long it stays, and whether you get a transcript with it.

Recording from your own machine sidesteps all of that. The file is yours, on your disk, the moment the call ends.

Why not a notetaker bot?

Bot-based tools like Otter, Fireflies and tl;dv join the call as a visible participant. Three problems come with that.

• Your client sees it. On a first call with someone who is already unsure, an unexplained robot in the attendee list is not what you want to be discussing.
• It can be blocked. A growing number of companies block outside meeting bots, and when that happens the recording does not exist.
• Several of them join every calendar meeting automatically until you turn that off, which is a poor default for anyone taking sensitive calls.

The system audio problem

This is the part worth understanding, because it is where most DIY setups fail.

Your microphone records you. It does not record the other people, because their voices are not in the room, they are coming out of your speakers as audio your computer is playing. Capturing that is called system audio or loopback capture, and it is a different thing from recording a microphone.

Plenty of basic screen recorders capture the screen and the microphone only. You get a perfect recording of your own half of a conversation. People usually discover this after the call that mattered.

A tool built for meetings captures both, and the good ones keep them as two separate tracks. That separation is useful later: everything on the microphone track is you, everything on the system track is everyone else, which is how the notes later know which commitments were yours.

Step by step with Jotted

• Open Jotted before the call. There is nothing to add to the meeting and no link to paste.
• Pick what to record. A whole display is the usual choice and the most reliable one.
• Tell the people on the call you are recording. Four seconds, and it settles the consent question.
• Press Record and run the meeting in Google Meet exactly as normal.
• Watch the two audio meters while you talk. One moves when you speak, the other moves when they do. That is live proof both sides are being captured.
• Press Stop. The transcript is generated on your own computer, and on the paid plan the summary and action items are written and the recording is backed up.

Is this allowed?

Recording without a bot is not the same as recording without permission. The law cares about consent, not about whether a robot was visible. Some places require everyone on the call to agree. Tell people. More detail here.