Recording

There are two ways to record: yourself, from the Record Meeting window, or automatically, when MacParsley notices a call in Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex or Slack.

Recordings go through the same steps as imports: transcript, voices named, title, summary, mind maps. See Getting started.

Permissions

MacParsley asks for three permissions. Settings → Recording → Permissions shows each with a green check (allowed) or a red cross (not yet), and a button to allow it or open System Settings.

Recording other people can require their consent where you live. Meeting apps don't announce a recording that MacParsley makes.

The Record Meeting window

Choose Record Meeting in the toolbar (⇧⌘R, or Meeting → Record Meeting…).

While it records, the window shows the time, the levels, the live transcript and Pause and Stop & Save. To change device mid-recording, click the microphone's or the output's name under its level and choose another; the recording carries on (a moment of silence at the switch).

Your choices are remembered for next time. Only one recording can run at a time.

Settings → Recording is described in full in The Recording tab.

Changing the microphone during a recording

In either recording window (the Record Meeting window, or the small window for an automatic recording), the microphone's name under its level is a menu: click it and choose another microphone. The recording carries on, with a moment of silence at the switch. In the Record Meeting window the output's name works the same way.

For an automatic recording, MacParsley picks the microphone by itself and keeps following the meeting app (see What it records). Once you choose one yourself, that choice stays for the rest of the meeting: MacParsley stops switching microphones automatically until the call ends. The next meeting starts with automatic choice again.

The live transcript

The words shown while you record are a quick, temporary transcript, made as you speak by Apple's on-device speech recognition so you can follow along. It isn't saved. When the recording ends, MacParsley makes the meeting's real transcript from the full recording, more accurately and with the speakers separated and named, using the transcription engine you chose in Settings → Summaries (Apple's speech recognition, a Whisper or Parakeet model on your Mac, or a service such as Plaud or Pocket). So don't worry about mistakes in the live view: they don't end up in the meeting.

Automatic call recording

MacParsley watches whether Zoom, Teams, Webex or Slack is in a call. It looks only at whether the app is using audio, and it never listens until you say so.

Choose what happens

Settings → Recording:

The small window that stays on top while a call is recorded:

What it records

• Both sides, always: the meeting app's audio, and you. Your side starts on the microphone the meeting app has open (an external one if it has several), so a USB headset chosen in Teams is normally the one recorded. If the meeting app hasn't opened one yet, MacParsley uses one another app has open, then the one that worked last time for that app, and only then the Mac's default input.
• You can choose the microphone yourself. In the recording window, click the microphone's name under You and pick another. From then on that call stays on your choice: MacParsley stops following the meeting app and stops checking by sound until the call ends (see Changing the microphone during a recording).
• It follows the meeting app all call long. If you pick another microphone in Teams, or plug in a headset and Teams moves to it, the recording moves too, within about ten seconds. If the microphone being recorded is unplugged, it moves at once to another working one.
• Checking by sound. A meeting app can hold more than one microphone open (Teams keeps the Mac's default open beside the one chosen in its settings), and macOS doesn't say which one it's really using. MacParsley starts on an external one, then listens to each of them for a few minutes. If the one being recorded hears nothing while another hears you, it moves to that one. It doesn't swap one working microphone for another: a webcam that removes background noise itself can sound "clearer" than a far better microphone, so the meeting app's choice is the better guide. Other microphones are only considered if the meeting app has none open, or none of its microphones hears anything. Only levels are measured; nothing from the other microphones is kept. Bluetooth and iPhone microphones that nothing is using are never opened (that would put AirPods into their low-quality call mode), and a closed MacBook's microphone is never chosen. Every switch is noted in the meetings log (~/Library/Application Support/MacParsley/meetings.log).
• It starts when you actually join the call, not at the waiting or settings screen, and stops when you leave.
• It also stops by itself if both sides stay silent for about 90 seconds, or after 6 hours.
• A recording shorter than about 20 seconds is thrown away as a false start.
• About 30 seconds into a call, if the other side has been talking but your microphone has heard nothing, MacParsley checks again which microphone the meeting app uses and switches to it. If it can't find a better one, it tells you during the call ("MacParsley can't hear your microphone"), so you can fix it while there's still time. A closed MacBook's own microphone hears nothing, so this is the usual cause.
• If your microphone was still almost silent at the end of a long call, MacParsley notifies you ("Your voice may be missing").

The menu bar item

The icon changes while a call is being recorded. Its menu offers:

• Show Recording Window and Stop and Save Recording while recording;
• Record the (app) Meeting and Not Now when a call is waiting for your answer;
• Meeting Apps (what to do for each), Notice When a Meeting Starts, Open MacParsley, Meeting Settings… and Quit MacParsley.

If a call is recorded but you can't find it, look in the folder chosen under Recording → Save to. If that folder was deleted, the meeting is filed at the top level instead.

After a recording

When a recording is saved you get a notification, and the meeting appears in its folder. Once the transcript or summary exists, a written title replaces the one it was saved with.

← Sharing and printingThe Recording tab →