How to take meeting notes on a video call

Way 1: by hand

Still the most common, and it works on any platform and any plan. The trick is not to write faster, but to write less.

1. 1Prepare a page. Open a notes page with the agenda as headings before the call starts.
2. 2Mark lines as you go. Start each line with D (decision), A (action) or Q (open question).
3. 3Catch owners and dates. For every A line, write a name and a date, or ask for them.
4. 4Clean up after the call. Turn the marked lines into decisions, action items and open questions within the hour.

Put the meeting window and your notes side by side, not in tabs: switching away makes you miss the moment a decision is made. If you share your screen, share only the meeting content window, so your notes stay yours. A shared page in Google Docs or a wiki is fine; so is paper.

The catch: while you write, you are not really in the conversation. If you also need to speak, your notes will have holes exactly where you talked.

Way 2: the AI built into the platform

All three big platforms now have their own AI notes. All three need a paid plan or an extra licence, and usually the host or the organisation has to turn the feature on. You cannot add it as a guest.

Microsoft Teams. The AI notes, tasks and chapters after a meeting are called intelligent recap. Microsoft's admin page says users need a Teams Premium licence or a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence on top of Teams, and transcription must be turned on. Copilot in a meeting can also answer questions about the meeting; Microsoft's guide explains when it needs the transcript.

Zoom. Meeting summary with AI Companion is included for licensed users on Zoom Workplace Pro and higher plans. Only the host and co-host can start or stop it, and the support page lists the Zoom desktop and phone apps as the clients that support it.

Google Meet. “Take notes for me” by Gemini needs an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan. It supports English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. The organiser and participants from the host's organisation can start it, and the notes are saved as a Google Docs file in the organiser's Drive.

The catch: the notes belong to the organiser's account and the organiser's plan. If you are a guest, a freelancer or a client, you get what the host shares with you, if anything.

Way 3: a browser extension

An extension runs in your own browser, so it does not care who hosts the call or which plan they pay for. Some extensions read the captions the platform shows on screen; others listen to the sound of the browser tab. Either way, it only works when the call is open in the browser, not in the desktop app.

The catch: you need the browser version of the meeting. On Google Meet that is the only version anyway. For Zoom, use “Join from your browser”; Teams opens in the browser from the meeting link.

Side by side

So the honest answer: if your company already pays for Copilot, AI Companion or Gemini and you host the meetings, use it. If you are a guest, work across all three platforms, or meet in a language the built-in tool does not support, by hand or an extension is the realistic choice.

From notes to minutes

Whatever way you choose, raw notes are not minutes. Turn them into decisions, action items and open questions on the same day: how to write meeting minutes. Then send a short follow-up email.