Starting a Meeting

Groupthink captures your meetings and turns them into notes, transcripts, and recaps. You can have the notetaker join automatically based on your calendar, or start it yourself for a specific call. This guide covers every way to get the notetaker going.

Heads up: Adding the Groupthink notetaker to a meeting requires an active trial or paid plan. Without one, the notetaker will not start.

Overview

There are two ways the notetaker gets into a call:

• Automatically, based on your calendar and your attendance setting
• Manually, when you want notes for a specific call

The notetaker can either join as a visible participant in your Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams call, or record privately through the Groupthink desktop app so other participants do not see it.

Before You Start

To use calendar-based and automatic features, connect your Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar. This lets Groupthink see your meetings and the conferencing details attached to them.

You can still capture an impromptu call without a calendar connection by pasting its link, as described below.

Start the Notetaker from a Meeting

When you are looking at a meeting in Groupthink, use the Start Notetaker button to begin capturing it.

1. Open the meeting and click Start Notetaker
2. Choose how you want the notetaker to work:
   • Public with Bot sends the Groupthink notetaker into the call as a visible participant to take and present notes
   • Private with App records the call locally through the Groupthink desktop app, with nothing visible to other participants
3. If you chose Public with Bot and the meeting already has a conferencing link, the Start the Notetaker window opens with the link filled in, titled for the platform (for example Start the Notetaker in Zoom). Click Start Notetaker. If there is no link yet and you use Google Calendar, Groupthink creates a new Google Meet and adds the notetaker for you
4. If Groupthink needs a link, the Start the Notetaker window opens. Paste your call link into the Meeting URL field and click Start Notetaker

The Private with App option needs the Groupthink desktop app. On the web, choosing it opens a prompt to download the desktop app, because the web app cannot record privately. If you already have the app, open it and start the meeting there. See Private Desktop Recording for setup and troubleshooting.

Start a Meeting from the Sidebar

At the top of the left sidebar, next to the capture box, there is a solid + New button. Everything you can start from the sidebar lives in its menu.

New Google Meet

Choose New Google Meet to start a fresh call right away. Groupthink creates a new Google Meet, opens it in a new tab, and adds the notetaker so your conversation is captured from the start.

This item always creates a Meet. To start a Zoom or Teams call, create it in that app and use Join by link… below.

Join by link…

Use Join by link… to add the notetaker to a call that is already happening or already scheduled.

1. Open + New in the sidebar and choose Join by link…
2. In the Start the Notetaker window, paste your call link into the Meeting URL field (it accepts Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams links)
3. Click Start Notetaker
4. If your call uses a lobby or host admission, admit the Groupthink notetaker when it requests to join

If the call is on one of your connected calendars and starts within an hour, the meeting is named after the event and its guests are linked to it. If it is not, the recap page asks Who was this with? so you can link the people the notetaker saw on the call. See Add Groupthink to Specific Meetings.

Record on this Mac

In the Groupthink desktop app, the menu also offers Record on this Mac for a private local recording. On the web the same row reads Get the desktop app to record, because a browser cannot record. See Private Desktop Recording.

Add the Notetaker to a Calendar Event

When your calendar is connected, your scheduled meetings appear on Today. Each meeting that does not have Groupthink on it yet shows an Add Notetaker dropdown. Today's meetings are the cards under Prep for today, and each later day lists its events.

1. Go to Today in the sidebar. For a meeting on a later day, use the › arrow to step forward to that day
2. Find the meeting you want to capture
3. Open its Add Notetaker dropdown
4. Choose Add followed by your notetaker's name and your conferencing provider (for example Add Dana Lee's notetaker to Zoom; the name is set under Settings, Meetings, Bot identity) to send the notetaker into the call as a visible participant, or Add Invisible Note Taker to take notes privately through the desktop app

Groupthink will then attend that specific event when it starts.

For a meeting today, you can also click Open agenda on the meeting's card on Today, then use Start Notetaker as described above.

Auto-join Settings

You can have Groupthink attend your meetings automatically so you never have to start the notetaker by hand. Your attendance setting lives in Today > Calendar & booking, under How should Groupthink attend your meetings? It is a single choice that applies to all of your future meetings.

Option	What it does
Privately Take Notes	Groupthink records privately through the desktop app. No bot joins the call and other participants do not see Groupthink.
Automatically Join All Meetings	The Groupthink notetaker joins your meetings as a visible participant and shares notes with attendees.
Let Me Choose Each Time	Nothing joins automatically. You add the notetaker to specific calls yourself when you want notes.

For the full walkthrough of how to fine-tune which meetings Groupthink attends, see Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar.

Unanswered invites from people you do not know

Groupthink waits on a calendar invite when both of these are true:

• You have not answered it.
• Nobody else on the invite is a member of your workspace or one of your contacts.

While it waits, Groupthink does not create an agenda for the event, the notetaker does not join, and the people on the invite are not added to your contacts. This keeps a spam invite from turning into a meeting and new contacts.

Accept the invite in your calendar, or answer maybe, and all of that happens with no extra step. If you want notes without answering, add the notetaker to that event yourself. See Add Groupthink to Specific Meetings.

Meetings you organize are never held. Unanswered invites that include a coworker or a contact work as before.

Task blocks on your calendar

A block on your calendar that only you are on, and that you made, is a task, not a meeting. See Task blocks for how Groupthink tells them apart.

The notetaker does not join a task block on its own, whatever your attendance setting, even Automatically Join All Meetings. A video link on the block does not change this. Google Calendar adds a Meet link to many events you make, so a to-do block often has one.

If you want notes on a task block, add the notetaker to that event yourself. See Add the Notetaker to a Calendar Event. A block someone else is on is a meeting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a paid plan to start a meeting?

Yes. Adding the Groupthink notetaker to a meeting requires an active trial or paid plan. If your trial has ended, upgrade from your settings to keep capturing meetings.

What is the difference between Public with Bot and Private with App?

Public with Bot sends the Groupthink notetaker into the call as a visible participant, and notes can be shared with everyone. Private with App records the call locally through the Groupthink desktop app, so nothing joins the call and your notes stay private to you.

Can I capture a call that is not on my calendar?

Yes. Click Start Notetaker and choose Public with Bot, or open + New in the sidebar and choose Join by link…, then paste the call link into the Meeting URL field. The call does not need to be on your calendar.

Which video platforms work?

Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. You can paste any Meet, Zoom, or Teams link when you start the notetaker manually.

Why did the notetaker not join my scheduled meeting?

Check that your calendar is connected, that your attendance setting allows the notetaker to join that meeting, that the event has a conferencing link, and that your workspace has an active trial or paid plan. The notetaker also waits on an invite you have not answered when nobody else on it is a coworker or a contact. See Unanswered invites from people you do not know. It also does not join a task block, a block only you are on that you made, even when the block has a video link. See Task blocks on your calendar.

If the notetaker reached the call but was left waiting outside it, see The Notetaker Was Not Admitted to Your Meeting.

Do I have to admit the notetaker to the call?

If your call uses a lobby or host admission, yes. Admit the Groupthink notetaker from the lobby when it requests to join, the same way you would admit any other guest. This is the single most common reason a meeting comes back with nothing on it, so it is worth watching for at the start of the call. See The Notetaker Was Not Admitted to Your Meeting.

Getting Help

Questions about starting a meeting? Email support@groupthink.com.