Skip to main content
How your Zoom Notetaker works
James Graham avatar
Written by James Graham
Updated in the last hour

Setting Up Your Zoom Notetaker

Follow these steps to set up and configure the Notetaker:


Step 1: Grant Permissions

The following settings should be set by your organization’s Zoom admin so we can ensure all your meeting are recorded automatically:

  1. In Zoom, go to Account Settings > Recordings.

  2. Make sure Record to computer files is toggled On.

  3. Make sure in the section Who can request host permission to record? all of the following are toggled On.

    1. Internal meeting participants: Allow internal users to start computer recording automatically.

      • Auto approve their permission requests

    2. External meeting participants: Allow external users to start computer recording automatically.

      • Auto approve their permission requests

  4. To prevent all users in your account from changing this setting, click the lock icon, and then click Lock to confirm. If the settings are not locked then you need to ensure that all Jiminny recorders also have them enabled.

​Important note: Automatic approval to record calls only applies to calls set up by people in your organization.

Step 2: Scheduling meetings

This is super simple, just schedule a meeting in your Calendar like normal, and make sure your Zoom meeting details are added. Then the Jiminny.ai Notetaker will join at the scheduled start time of the meeting.

*Please schedule your meetings a minimum of 15 minutes before, to make sure they have time to import to your Jiminny Dashboard to be recorded.

How the Notetaker Works

You will notice a participant in your meetings called the Jiminny.ai Notetaker (although it may also be branded with your company’s name). When it joins, Zoom will display a message and play a sound indicating, 'This meeting is being recorded.' A red dot will appear, signalling that the meeting is being recorded.

The maximum length for a single meeting recording is 10 hours.

Which Zoom meetings will be recorded?

Both scheduled and instant meetings will be recorded. You can also control which one of them you want to record or not from your Dashboard at any point in time. If you have internal recording turned off, the Notetaker will only join scheduled meetings that have someone external joining (i.e not with your company email domain).

You can also invite the Zoom Notetaker using instant invite options from the Dashboard or Sidekick.


How do I stop recording?

While your meeting is in progress:

During the meeting, you can stop recording anytime by removing Jiminny.ai Notetaker as a participant from the meeting. Please note that if you remove the Jiminny.ai Notetaker, the recording would be stopped and saved (if it is longer then 10min) or deleted (if it is shorter than 10min). This behaviour can be controlled from the Organisational Settings.

Turning off my recording permanently:
This is controlled in your Jiminny profile. Just go to recordings to toggle recording off.
*Please note this option is exposed and controlled by your Jiminny admin.


Troubleshooting & FAQs

1. Why is my notetaker leaving the meeting without recording?

*Ensure all required permissions are granted - see section 'Grant Permissions' above.

  • If Record to computer files setting is not toggled On for the organisation and the Host then the notetaker won't be able to record

  • If Only users in your account can request to record to computer files setting is toggled On for the organisation or the Host then the notetaker will not be able to join the meeting and record

  • If Internal and External meeting participants options are not enabled, the Notetaker will leave and not record the meeting.

  • If Internal and External meeting participants are enabled (but not the auto approve options) the host will be shown the consent pop up and will have 1 minute to allow the recording of the meeting. If not allowed the Notetaker will not record the meeting.

* If everything is setup correctly on an Account level then make sure the host hasn't overridden any of the setting in his profile.

*If all of the above are correct then ensure the host has joined the meeting with a different zoom user then the one who created the meeting.

2. Why does Jiminny’s Notetaker require the meeting’s host to have 'Record to computer' permission?

Due to Zoom’s recording policy, Jiminny’s Zoom Notetaker must use the Zoom Meeting SDK to obtain permission to save the call recording on the local computer from the meeting host. If we don't comply with their policy we risk getting our Notetaker banned from the Zoom store.

3. If Jiminny’s Notetaker needs record to computer permission, why do I need to give that permission to all of my Zoom users?

The Jiminny Notetaker only needs the Hosts can give meeting participants permission to record to their computer permission. However, Zoom puts this permission in the Record to computer files section, and so there’s no way to enable this setting without enabling local recording as well.

4. Can I give the Jiminny Notetaker record to computer files permission instead of all of my users?

Unfortunately no. As Jiminny’s Notetaker is not a user in your organization’s Zoom account it must ask for Record to computer files permission from the meeting’s host.

5. Are calls automatically downloaded to users’ computers if they have Record to computer files permission?

No. Zoom’s Record to computer files permission means that a user is allowed to download a recording but it doesn’t automatically trigger it.

6. We only use Jiminny’s Notetaker to record calls scheduled by our customers (externally-organized calls). Do I need to make this change?

No. Your Zoom settings do not apply to users outside your organization. Jiminny’s Notetaker will ask the meeting host for permission to record the call, and if given, the call will be recorded.

If the host is not in the meeting, the Notetaker will attempt to ask for recording permissions and never receive permission to record, resulting in the Notetaker not recording the meeting.

7. If I invite the Jiminny Notetaker to record a call scheduled by our customer (externally-organized call) would it record the meeting?

The behaviour of the Jiminny Notetaker will be based on the Zoom settings of the meeting host's Zoom Account (see details of FAQ #1):

  • If Record to computer files setting is not toggled On for the organisation and the Host then the notetaker won't be able to record

  • If Only users in your account can request to record to computer files setting is toggled On for the organisation or the Host then the notetaker will not be able to join the meeting and record

  • If Internal and External meeting participants options are not enabled, the Notetaker will leave and not record the meeting.

  • If Internal and External meeting participants are enabled (but not the auto approve options) the host will be shown the consent pop up and will have 1 minute to allow the recording of the meeting. If not allowed the Notetaker will not record the meeting.

Important note: The first 3 from the list have a default state that would allow a Notetaker to record the meeting. However the Zoom Admin on the host's side might have decided to change them to prevent such recordings.

8. When the waiting room is used, why does the Notetaker join together with the host and not wait in the waiting room?

This is defined by Zoom. The Jiminny Notetaker joins the meeting together with the host.

9. What happens if there is a password on the Zoom meeting?

If there is a password on the meeting, it should be embedded in the meeting URL as a query parameter by default. For example, a meeting URL with an embedded password might look like this: https://zoom.us/j/123?pwd=abc. Everything after the pwd=in the URL is the password, which the Notetaker will use to join the call.

If the password is not in the query parameter, the Jiminny Notetaker will not be able to join the call.

10. Does the Zoom Client version have any impact on the notetaker functionality?

No. The Jiminny notetaker won't get impacted from the Zoom Client version.

11. Does the bot need to be let in every time?

The Notetaker will go into the waiting room only if there is a waiting room enabled.

Think about the Notetaker just like a normal participant. If there's a waiting room enabled, then it will go into the waiting room with other participants.

If there is no waiting room enabled, then it will skip the waiting room and join the meeting directly, just like other participants.

12. Which Zoom client does the host need to be on to receive the recording permission pop up?

The host must use the Zoom Desktop app (on Windows, Mac, or Linux). The host should not join Zoom through the web, because the recording permission pop up is not supported on the web.

We have checked with our contacts at Zoom and although it is on their radar, there doesn't seem to be a concrete timeline to fix this.

Did this answer your question?