How to transcribe a Google Meet meeting

Google Meet's transcription feature turns your spoken words into text during meetings, making it easier to capture important information without taking manual notes. This article explains who can use this feature, how to enable it, and tips for getting the most accurate transcriptions. We'll also look at how tools like Circleback can enhance your meeting documentation beyond basic transcription, helping you track action items and key decisions.

Understanding Google Meet transcription

Google Meet can turn your conversations into text automatically. This helps teams keep track of what was discussed without the distraction of note-taking.

The tool works in eight languages:

• English

• French

• German

• Italian

• Japanese

• Korean

• Portuguese

• Spanish

This makes it useful for teams working across different countries.

Availability and requirements

Not everyone can use this feature. Here's what you need:

• Subscription: You need one of these Google Workspace plans:

  • Business Standard or Plus

  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, or Plus

  • Teaching & Learning Upgrade

  • Education Plus

  • Workspace Individual

• You can only use transcription on computers, not phones or tablets.

• You need enough free space in both your organization's Google Drive and the meeting host's Drive.

• The feature is turned on by default for most plans, except for students using Google Workspace for Education.

How to enable transcription in Google Meet

Turning on transcription is simple:

1. Join or start your meeting from a computer

2. Click "Activities" at the bottom right

3. Select "Transcripts"

4. Click "Start Transcription" then "Start"

Everyone will see a Transcripts icon at the top left when recording is on.

Managing transcription during the meeting

You have control over the process while your meeting happens. You can stop transcription anytime by clicking Activities > Transcripts > Stop Transcription > Stop.

If you need to transcribe just parts of your meeting, you can stop and restart as needed. Each time you do this, you'll get a separate transcript file.

The system automatically stops transcribing when everyone leaves the meeting.

One limitation: there's no pause button. If you need to pause, you must stop and restart, which creates a new file.

Example scenario

Picture a product team meeting. Emma, the project manager, starts Google Meet and turns on transcription. The team discusses their new product launch, agreeing to spend $28,000 on ads for the first month.

As they talk, they assign tasks: Nick needs to send materials to a journalist, and Emma must review ad designs and confirm colors. Instead of writing everything down, Emma can focus on the discussion while the system captures all these details.

Accessing your transcript after the meeting

After you finish:

The system emails a transcript link to:

• The host

• Any co-hosts

• Whoever started the transcription

The file also saves to the organizer's Google Drive.

For longer meetings, be patient. It may take time to process before you get your email.

Enhancing your meeting documentation

Google Meet's built-in transcription works fine, but tools like Circleback can do more. Circleback works with Google Meet to:

• Organize notes by topic automatically

• Identify and assign action items

• Pull out key insights

• Connect with your other productivity tools

• Support over 100 languages with better accuracy

For example, after a budget meeting, Circleback wouldn't just give you a transcript—it would highlight that "$25,000 was approved for UI/UX improvements starting December 1st" and automatically create tasks for team members.

Best practices for Google Meet transcription

To get better transcripts:

1. Tell everyone at the start that you're recording

2. Ask people to speak clearly and not talk over each other

3. Have speakers say their names first in larger meetings

4. Review the transcript soon after while the meeting is fresh in your mind

5. Share the transcript with people who couldn't attend but need the information

Limitations to keep in mind

The system isn't perfect:

• It only captures spoken words, not chat messages

• Accuracy depends on sound quality, accents, and background noise

• You need to use the separate recording feature if you want to save chat messages