--- title: "Take notes of meetings with Notes" summary: "Start, pause and stop a note, edit the transcript, name speakers, check the summary and ask questions about the meeting." url: "https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/notes" product: "MediSync Dictate" platforms: ["windows","macos"] access: "public" updated: "2026-11-11" version: "Dictate 0.4.0-beta.6" --- # Take notes of meetings with Notes Start, pause and stop a note, edit the transcript, name speakers, check the summary and ask questions about the meeting. Notes writes down meetings and calls: team meetings, calls with colleagues, talks with suppliers. With MediSync Cloud, Dictate tells the speakers apart. After the end it writes a draft summary. The notes stay encrypted on this computer. > **Important** > Always get consent from everyone before transcribing. Dictate shows this sentence under every transcript. In the first 15 seconds of a recording it also shows **Please tell everyone in the meeting that Dictate is taking notes.** Notes is not meant for the conversation between doctor and patient. MediSync Scribe does that. ## What you need - A MediSync sign-in. Your access must include MediSync Cloud. Without it the page shows **Notes uses MediSync Cloud. Your access has no cloud transcription.** and **Start a note** is grey. - A microphone. For online meetings also system audio, so Dictate hears the others too. ## Set up Notes once The first time you start a note, **Set up Notes** opens. 1. Leave **Record system audio** on if you take notes of online meetings. For a meeting in the room the microphone is enough. 2. Click **Start note**. **Windows** Windows does not ask for permission to record system audio. **macOS** macOS asks once whether MediSync Dictate may record system audio. System audio needs macOS 14.2 or later. On older versions Notes records the microphone only. If you refused the permission, Dictate shows **macOS blocked system audio. Allow it under Privacy & Security.** Until Notes is set up, the shortcut and the Action Bar only open the **Notes** page. You find the system audio switch later under **Settings › Notes**. ## Start a note There are four ways: - On the **Notes** page, click **Start a note**. - Press `Ctrl` + `Win` + `M`. On a Mac it is `Control` + `Option` + `M`. The same keys stop the note again. - Move the mouse over the [Action Bar](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/action-bar) and click **Start taking notes**. When Dictate detects a call, the Action Bar offers this action by itself. - With a [connected calendar](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/connect-calendar), each meeting under **Today in your calendar** has **Start note**. If the meeting has a meeting link, **Join and start** opens the meeting first and then starts the note. A note gets the title of the calendar meeting that runs now. Without a meeting it is named after the detected service, for example "Teams-Meeting". You change the title at the top of the note. By default, a note started with the shortcut or the Action Bar opens beside the call. [Live notes](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/live-notes) explains this. ## While it records A note has three tabs: | Tab | What it holds | | --- | --- | | **My notes** | Your own points. Dictate saves them shortly after you type. | | **Transcript** | What is said, by speaker. | | **Summary** | The draft after the recording ends. | At the bottom of the note, **Pause** pauses the recording and **Resume** goes on. A pause does not count towards the length of the recording. If an online meeting from your calendar runs without system audio, the note shows **System audio is off. The transcript only holds what your microphone hears.** Click **Turn on**. If no sound comes from the microphone for 3 minutes, the note shows `No sound from the microphone for 3 minutes. Check mute.` Every recording has a maximum length. Two minutes before the end, the transcript shows **Ends in** with the time left. **Extend** adds 30 minutes. You set the maximum length as described in [Live notes and settings](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/live-notes). ## Stop the recording Click **Stop**, or press `Ctrl` + `Win` + `M`. Dictate shows **Preparing the summary** in two steps. Then the **Summary** tab opens. If the Dictate window is not in front, Dictate tells you **Summary ready**. - If nothing was said and nothing written, Dictate does not keep the note. You see **Nothing was said. The empty note was not saved.** - If the recording is shorter than 45 seconds and has fewer than 25 words, Dictate asks **A very short recording. Started by mistake?** **Keep** keeps the note, **Discard** deletes it. With **Resume** at the bottom of a finished note you record more into the same note later. The plus sign next to it starts a **New note**. ## Name speakers In the transcript each section starts with its speaker, for example **Speaker 2**. With system audio, your own voice shows as **You**. 1. Click the speaker's name. **Name speaker** opens. 2. Type the name, or pick a name under **From the calendar**. 3. Click **Change everywhere**, or only **Only this section**. The name is used for copying, questions and the next summary. **Remove name** brings the number back. ## Edit or delete a section Move the mouse over a section of the transcript. - **Edit section** opens the text. Change it and click **Save**. The section gets the mark **Edited**. A click on the mark brings back the recognised text (**Restore original**). - **Delete section** removes the section. For six seconds the bottom shows **Section deleted.** with **Undo**. Above the transcript, **Search the transcript** finds words and the arrows jump from match to match. The icon next to it is **Copy transcript**. ## Translate the transcript Click **Translate** above the transcript and pick a language: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian or Arabic. A line under the bar names the language and says **A draft, please check it.** The translation is a draft. **Original** shows the recognised text again. ## Check the summary The summary is a draft. Dictate writes above it **Draft. Please check it before you pass it on.** Read it before you share it. - **Create again** writes the summary once more, for example after you named speakers or edited sections. If the transcript changed, Dictate tells you. - **Copy summary** puts only the summary on the clipboard. - If there is no summary, click **Create summary**. - **Share in Slack** sends it to Slack after you checked it. See [Connections and Slack](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/connections-and-slack). ## Ask about the meeting At the bottom of every note is the field **Ask about this meeting**. When you click into it, Dictate shows **Suggestions** and your questions under **Asked before**. The suggestions are **Follow-up e-mail**, **Tasks and owners**, **Decisions** and **Open questions**. A question has at most 500 characters. Dictate answers from the transcript only. Each answer shows **Answer from the transcript. A draft, please check it.** While it records, **Discussed so far** sums up the last five minutes. ## Copy a note **Copy** at the top right puts the whole note on the clipboard: title, date, summary, your notes and the transcript with speakers and times. ## Put notes in folders On the **Notes** page you switch between **All notes** and **Folders**. 1. Open a note. 2. Under the title, click **Add folder**. 3. Pick a folder. For a new folder, type its name into **Find or create a folder** and click the line that creates it. If a folder fits the title, it shows at the top as **Suggested**. A note can be in more than one folder. **Remove from folder** takes it out. Under **Folders**, **New folder** creates a folder with a name and an optional description. The description helps Dictate suggest folders. When you delete a folder, the notes in it stay. ## Search and filter notes Click the magnifier icon **Search**. Dictate searches titles, transcripts, summaries and your own notes. Two filters narrow the list: - **Time**: **Any time**, **Today**, **Last 7 days** or **Last 30 days** - **Folder**: one folder or **All folders** If you have no note yet, **Open the example note** opens a note to try things out. ## Delete a note In the note, click the bin icon **Delete** at the top right. Then click **Delete?** once more. This cannot be undone. You cannot delete a note while it records. You set how long Dictate keeps notes under **Settings › Privacy › Keep notes**. ## Report a problem with a note 1. In the note, click **More actions** at the top right, then **Report a problem**. 2. Pick the **Kind of problem** and describe it under **What happened?**. 3. Click **Send**. We get your description, numbers about the note and a technical report. No audio and no transcript. You must be signed in for this. ## Cloud or Local Speech recognition follows the setting under **Settings › General › Processing**: | Processing | What happens | | --- | --- | | MediSync Cloud | Speech recognition tells the speakers apart. The recording counts towards your cloud minutes. | | MediSync Local | Speech recognition runs on this computer, without speaker separation. With system audio, Dictate still tells your turns from the others'. | If MediSync Cloud cannot be reached during a recording and MediSync Local is installed, Local writes on. The note then shows **No connection to the MediSync server. MediSync Local writes on, on this computer.** More in [Cloud or Local](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/cloud-or-local). ## What needs a sign-in The notes themselves are encrypted on this computer. These features go through MediSync's servers and need a sign-in: - starting a note - the summary and **Create again** - questions with **Ask** and **Discussed so far** - the translation with **Translate** - the report with **Report a problem** Signed out, the question field shows **Asking needs a MediSync sign-in.** If asking is not in your plan, it shows **Asking is not part of your plan.** To bring in notes from Granola, Otter or files, see [Import notes](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/import-notes).