Bot-Free Recording is Notta Desktop's core feature. It records your meetings without sending a bot into the meeting room — capturing audio directly on your device using the operating system's native audio APIs.
Prerequisites for using this feature
Plan: Available on all plans
Role: Available to all roles
Platform: Notta Desktop App
How It Works
When you start a Bot-Free recording, Notta captures two independent audio channels:
- Microphone — your voice
- System audio — everything playing through your device, including other participants' voices
Both channels are processed separately, which improves speaker identification in the final transcript. Built-in echo cancellation and noise suppression are applied automatically.
Because recording happens locally on your device, no bot appears in the participant list. Other attendees have no indication that the meeting is being transcribed.
Requirements by macOS Version
| Operating System | System Audio Support |
|---|---|
| macOS 14.4+ (Sonoma) | Yes — Only System Audio Recording permission is required |
| macOS 13.0–14.3 (Ventura / early Sonoma) | Yes — Screen Recording permission is required |
| macOS 11–12 | Microphone only — System audio recording is not supported |
| Windows 10+ | Yes — no additional permissions required |
For macOS permission setup instructions, see "System Audio Setup for Notta Desktop".
Works with Any Meeting App
Bot-Free Recording works with any meeting software: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and browser-based meetings. On macOS, meeting detection supports 26+ apps, including FaceTime; on Windows, 17+ apps are supported.
Three Ways to Start Recording
Tips:
- System audio captures all sounds played on your computer—not just meeting audio, but also music, notifications, and other sounds. We recommend closing other audio sources during meetings.
- Using headphones can significantly reduce echo and improve recording quality.
Option 1: Meeting Detection
When Notta Desktop is running, it automatically detects when you join an online meeting and displays a notification (pop-up) on your screen. Simply click Start transcribing to start recording right away. System audio is enabled by default.
Option 2: Manual Start
- Open the recording settings using one of the following methods:
- From the Home Screen: Open the Notta desktop app and click Record a meeting on the Home screen, and then choose Bot-free.
- From the Icon: Click the Notta icon in the Menu Bar (macOS) or System Tray (Windows) and select Record a meeting > Bot-free.
- Select the recording source: Screen & audio or Audio only.
- Choose whether to record microphone audio.
- If you want to record microphone audio, turn on the Record microphone audio toggle and select the microphone you want to use. If not, turn off the toggle.
- Select the transcription language and click Transcribe now to begin.
Microphone controls during recording:
You can turn the microphone on or off at any time during recording by clicking the microphone icon in the bottom-left corner of the relevant transcription screen in Notta Desktop. If you are viewing another screen, you can also use the control bar displayed on the screen to turn the microphone on or off.
Option 3: From a Calendar Event
If you've connected your calendar, open Notta Desktop and click Instant record on an upcoming event. Recording will start immediately with system audio enabled.