Taking notes during meetings can be distracting, inconsistent, and time consuming. It splits your attention, reduces your ability to fully engage in the conversation, and often results in messy or incomplete notes. Worse yet, important action items and decisions can easily be missed or misremembered later.
Adoption of AI-powered meeting notetakers has grown rapidly in recent years, with tools like Supernormal, Otter.ai, and Fireflies seeing widespread usage.
“...unlike 5 years ago, it feels totally normal for AI to handle daily tasks like note taking, task assignment, and meeting prep.” - Colin Treseler, CEO at Supernormal
If you’ve ever:
- Struggled to both participate in meetings and take accurate notes at the same time
- Left a meeting unsure of who was doing what
- Spent time after every call manually typing up summaries
- Missed key decisions because you were multitasking or distracted
…then AI notetaking is for you.
But if you landed here, you're likely not just looking for a list of AI tools. You're asking: how does it actually work? What does a good setup look like? What can you expect from an AI notetaker?
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use AI to take notes in your meetings and what to look for in a notetaker.
Step-by-Step: How to Use AI to Take Meeting Notes
Choose an AI Notetaker That Works With Your Tools
Make sure the AI tool supports the platforms you use most - Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, etc. There are plenty of AI notetakers and meeting recording tools on the market, and the right one depends on your tools, workflow, and preferences. Look for a product that supports your preferred meeting platform, integrates with your calendar and documents, and gives you control over privacy and sharing.
For the rest of this walkthrough, we’ll focus on how to take meeting notes using Supernormal - one of the most seamless options available today.
Setting Up Your AI Notetaker
Depending on which platform you use for meetings, setup steps vary slightly. Once you've created an account, here’s how to get started:
For Google Meet:
Install the Supernormal Chrome extension to enable transcription and recording. Find Supernormal in the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome. Then, allow microphone and camera access. Once installed, the extension will appear automatically when you open a Google Meet.
For Zoom:
Connect Supernormal to your Zoom account via the Account Settings in your Supernormal dashboard. Select Integrations, toggle Zoom on, and log into your Zoom account. This will allow Supernormal’s bot to join meetings you host without needing manual approval. Note: if you're not the host, the host must still approve recording permissions.
For Microsoft Teams:
To automatically capture and transcribe your Teams meetings, go to your Account Settings and under "Automatically join calendar events," choose Calendar events with a meeting link. This ensures Supernormal will automatically join any Teams meeting on your synced calendar.
Alternatively, you can manually invite Supernormal to a Teams call by adding norma@supernormal.com as a participant before or during the meeting.
Join Your Call and Let the AI Do the Work
Once you're set up, Supernormal runs on autopilot. It syncs with your calendar and joins meetings based on the preferences you’ve selected:
- Join all events with a meeting link
- Join only meetings you’ve created
- Join only when you explicitly invite norma@supernormal.com
These options give you finer control over when Supernormal is active. You can also choose whether to record audio and video, or just generate notes.
During the meeting, Supernormal captures your conversation in real time. It uses advanced AI to identify who’s speaking, summarize key points, and extract action items with impressive accuracy.
Get and Share Your Notes Automatically
After your meeting ends, Supernormal delivers a structured summary within seconds. Your notes include clearly labeled sections like "Decisions Made," "Action Items," and "Meeting Summary."
You can choose how your notes are shared:
- Automatically with internal attendees (based on email domain)
- Via public link, viewable by anyone with access
- With specific individuals using an invite-only setting
These preferences can be managed in your Account Settings under Sharing, giving you flexibility over privacy and visibility.
To Bot or Not to Bot: Should Your AI Notetaker Join the Meeting?
One big question when choosing an AI notetaker is whether it should join the meeting as a visible participant - often referred to as a "bot" - or work silently in the background.
Bot-Based Notetakers (like a virtual participant on Zoom or Google Meet) have the advantage of being visible to all attendees, which clearly signals that the meeting is being recorded. This can be helpful for transparency, especially in external calls or cross-functional settings.
Bot-Free Notetakers integrate with your calendar and tools to join and record meetings silently in the background. This is ideal for internal meetings or fast-paced teams that want automation without extra friction. It also helps avoid disrupting the participant list or drawing attention during sensitive discussions.
Pros of Bots:
- Clear indication that note-taking is active
- Often include live transcription
- Can be manually summoned or dismissed
Cons of Bots:
- Adds another "attendee" to your meetings
- May feel invasive or confusing to guests
- Not ideal for stealthy or automated workflows
With Supernormal, you get the best of both worlds: bots where needed, and automation where it makes sense.
In fact, with Supernormal, bots are only required in some situations - for example, to capture meetings on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, or to record video on Google Meet. In those cases, Supernormal deploys a bot to ensure the highest quality transcription and video recording. For transcription-only needs on Google Meet, however, a bot is not necessary.
This hybrid model balances transparency, compliance, and user control, and helps ensure your notes are accurate no matter the platform.
Why Supernormal Stands Out
- Zero effort required - no recording buttons or reminders needed
- Structured, shareable summaries - clear highlights, action items, and context
- Works with your stack - native integrations with platforms and meeting tools such as Google Meet, Zoom, and more
- Enterprise-grade security - SOC2 Type II compliant
Supernormal isn’t just another notetaker. It’s an AI assistant that makes your meetings instantly more productive - and your follow up work a whole lot easier.
Ready to Try It?
Start using Supernormal for free and experience the easiest way to take meeting notes