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How to Use Otter.ai for Automatic Meeting Transcription

Follow these steps in order to get started with Otter.ai.

  1. Let Otter automatically join your video calls

    With your calendar connected, Otter's notetaker bot automatically joins Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams meetings to record and transcribe the conversation. You can remove any meeting you don't want it to join ahead of time from your meeting list.

  2. Follow along with a live transcript

    While the meeting is happening, spoken conversation appears on screen as live text, broken out by speaker so you can see who said what. You can highlight key moments or add your own notes during the meeting.

  3. Review the automatic summary afterward

    Once the meeting ends, Otter generates a summary of the key points along with action items, available right away by email or in the app. You can edit the summary before sharing it with teammates.

  4. Search past meetings by keyword

    Since every saved transcript is searchable text, typing a keyword instantly surfaces which meeting it was mentioned in and exactly when. That saves a lot of time compared to scrolling back through old meetings to find one detail.

  5. Keep an eye on your free plan's usage limit

    The free plan includes a limited number of transcription minutes each month, so if you're in a lot of meetings, check your usage regularly and consider a paid plan if you're close to the limit.

Stop choosing between taking notes and actually listening

It's hard to stay focused on a discussion while also trying to write everything down. Automatic transcription lets you search and organize what was said after the meeting instead, so you can put your full attention on the conversation while it's happening.

Pair it with an AI writing assistant for shorter recaps

A full transcript is thorough but long. Pasting it into an AI writing tool and asking for just the key points and action items can turn a lengthy transcript into a two-minute read, which is especially useful when you need to share a recap with people who weren't in the meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Otter.ai work well in languages other than English?

English gets the highest accuracy, and other supported languages generally work too, though accuracy can vary depending on accents, background noise, and specialized terminology.

I'm not comfortable having a bot join my meeting β€” is there another way?

Yes β€” the desktop app can capture your computer's audio directly and transcribe it without inviting a separate bot into the meeting.