How to use My Notes before, during and after a meeting

You're typing while a client explains their timeline. By the time you look up, you've missed the part where they named a deadline.

Or it's Thursday and you have 3 back-to-back meetings. In one of them you promised a revised proposal. Which one?

My Notes lets you take notes during the conversation and, with transcription on, adds an AI summary with key takeaways and action items afterward. The My Notes user guide walks you through it in 3 phases, with click-through screens of the Zoom Workplace app so you can see where everything is before your next call.

My Notes summaries are AI-generated and may be incomplete, inaccurate, or require correction. Review them before acting on them or sharing them with others.

Who it's for

Anyone with My Notes turned on in their Zoom account. If you don't see the My Notes icon in your meeting window, your admin may not have enabled it yet. Point them to the My Notes Admin Deployment Guide.

Before a meeting

Set it up once, then use past notes to prepare. Quick actions you can take before a meeting to help make the most out of My Notes.

• Auto-start My Notes. Open Zoom Settings and search "My Notes." Turn on Auto-start My Notes so it opens automatically when you join a Zoom meeting.
• Voice activity reminders. Get a prompt to open My Notes when your microphone turns on.
• Reminders in other apps. Extend that reminder to supported apps such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet (in Chrome), Webex, and Slack.
• Find past notes. Select My Notes in the left nav of the Zoom desktop app, or open a past meeting card and go to its My Notes tab.
• Prep with ZoomMate. Before a recurring meeting, ask ZoomMate something like "What action items do I have open from my last team standup?"

During a meeting

Click the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the Zoom meeting window. The guide explains each control you'll see:

• Use meeting transcript. Keep this on. It's what powers the AI summary after the meeting.
• Auto-start My Notes for future meetings. Turn it on once.
• Rename the note before the meeting gets busy, so it's easy to find later.
• Put the transcript side by side with your notes so you can reference it while you write.
• Set the transcription language before you start. Audio that's already been captured can't currently be re-transcribed.

Tip from the guide: let the transcript capture the conversation. Use your typed notes for the things that need your judgment: what was decided, who owns what, and what's still open.

After a meeting

Your summary can include sections such as key outcomes, decisions, open questions, and action items. From there, the guide shows how to:

• Create a Canvas doc from a note, such as an exec summary or action tracker.
• Build a slide draft in Zoom Slides by attaching one or more notes as context.
• Ask ZoomMate questions across your notes, or have it draft a follow-up email or task list from them.

Some of these depend on your plan, license, and AI credit balance. If an option doesn't appear, check with your Zoom admin.

Good to know

• Your notes are personal to you by default. They aren't shared automatically with the host or other participants. Your admin controls sharing and retention settings for your account.
• In Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or in person, pause from My Notes. My Notes uses your device's microphone there, so muting inside the other app may not stop transcription. Pause or stop it in My Notes.
• My Notes is separate from Meeting Summary. Meeting Summary is the host's recap of the whole meeting. My Notes combines what you typed with the transcript, so it can reflect what you focused on.

Try this in your next 3 meetings

1. Turn on Auto-start My Notes in Zoom Settings.
2. During the meeting, type only decisions and owners. Let the transcript handle the rest.
3. The morning of your next recurring meeting, ask ZoomMate what's still open from the last one.

Open the full walkthrough: My Notes user guide. For an overview of features, see Zoom's My Notes: smarter meeting notes for every Zoom user. For setup details, see Zoom Support: My Notes.

Features and capabilities are subject to applicable usage limits, availability, and AI credit balances. Certain functions may require additional subscriptions or credits.

 

For additional technical insights tailored to IT admins and decision makers, visit the Zoom Technical Library.

Written by Karim Sehaqui, Product Adoption Expert, Zoom AI & ZoomMate. For questions about this article or Zoom Scheduler, reach out via the Zoom Community or your Customer Success team.