Using Otter Live Notes – Help Center

Otter Live Notes provides real-time transcription and live captions for Zoom meetings you host, making conversations more accessible and easier to follow. Once enabled, Otter automatically captures spoken content during your meetings so you, your participants, and collaborators can stay engaged, review key points, and reference the transcript as the meeting happens.

Managing the automatic live transcription

As the meeting host, you can start, stop, or restart the live transcription at any time.

Note: Zoom’s UI may change over time. Refer to Zoom’s documentation for their most up-to-date steps and screenshots.

Start the Otter live transcription

When you start a meeting you host, a recording indicator appears in the upper-right corner with a link to the Otter conversation. Zoom will also notify all participants that the meeting is being recorded.

Note: If you do not see the recording indicator, ensure your microphone is not muted. The Live Notes will not begin transcribing until there is audio. Additionally, you can review your setup to ensure your settings are correct.

Stop the Otter live transcription

If there are parts of the meeting you don’t want recorded, the host can stop the live transcription at any time. There are multiple ways to stop the transcript.

Expand the Otter.ai (click here to open live transcript) menu and click Stop.
Click Livestream and select Stop Live Stream.

Note: You will not be able to stop the live transcript from Otter's side in the browser when using Live Notes. The live transcript can be stopped through the methods above or when the meeting ends.

Restart the live transcription

If you stop live transcription, you can restart it at any time during the meeting. Transcription will continue in the same conversation URL for the remainder of the meeting. No new conversation will be created.

Click Livestream and select Live on Custom Live Streaming Service.

Access the live transcript

All meeting participants can access the live transcript through the link. Expand the Otter.ai (click here to open live transcript) menu and click the link.

Mobile

Otter Live Notes also works on the Zoom mobile app. Starting a Zoom meeting on iOS or Android will prompt the live transcript.

All meeting participants will be notified by Zoom that the meeting is being livestreamed for Otter Live Notes.

Hosts and participants can open the Otter Live Notes transcription by tapping Live and then tapping the provided URL.

Known Limitations

For participants using Zoom on Chromebooks, there is no red LIVE icon. As a workaround, the host can copy the link to Otter Live Notes and paste it into Zoom's chat, so all participants can access it there.
Otter Live Notes does not work in breakout rooms. As a workaround, you can utilize [[NOTETAKER]] to send to a breakout room, or one person in each breakout room can do a side-by-side recording.

FAQs

Who can stop the Otter Live Notes live stream recording?

Only the Zoom host and co-hosts can stop the Otter Live Notes live stream. This is due to Zoom’s permission model, which restricts live streaming controls to hosts and co-hosts only. Otter follows Zoom’s access and permission rules and cannot override these settings.

Can I stop the live stream from Otter’s side?

No. The live stream must be stopped by the Zoom host or co-host directly in Zoom. This is a limitation of Zoom’s permissions, and Otter cannot stop or control the live stream independently.

Tip: For more granular control over recording behavior, including when recordings start and stop, check out Otter Notetaker.

If you have any questions or require further assistance, contact our Otter Support Team.

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