from the Verli guides
How to transcribe a Zoom meeting
Zoom can transcribe meetings itself, but the built-in options depend on the host's plan and settings, which is no help when you are a guest in someone else's call. Here is the built-in way and the works-anywhere way.
Built-in: Zoom's captions and cloud transcript
For live text during the meeting, Zoom's automated captions are available on all plans; the host enables them under Settings > Meeting > Automated captions, and each participant turns them on with the Show Captions button. The Full Transcript side panel, which lets you read and save the running text, requires the host to enable Save Captions.
For a transcript file afterwards, paid plans can record to the cloud with Audio transcript enabled (Settings > Recording), which produces a VTT file alongside the recording. Local recordings do not get a transcript from Zoom.
Works anywhere: transcribe from your side
- Join the Zoom meeting in your browser, or use the desktop client with Verli's Mac app (it captures system audio).
- In the browser case, open verli.app in another tab, start a session, and share the Zoom tab with audio.
- The transcript scrolls live during the call. If the meeting is in another language, Verli translates it at the same time.
- Save the session at the end for the full text and an AI summary.
If you are not the host, cannot change settings, or the plan does not cooperate, transcribe the audio you already hear. Nothing joins the meeting and nobody has to approve anything.
A note on recording etiquette and consent
Rules about recording calls vary by place and company. A live transcript for your own notes is the same category as taking notes by hand, but if you save or share the content, treat it like a recording: tell people, and follow your local rules and workplace policy.