Zoom transcription without a bot: upload the recording instead

Yes, you can transcribe a Zoom recording without a bot. sAInote, an AI voice-to-text app, works from the file your conferencing tool already saved — it has no Zoom integration, cannot log into your account and cannot pull recordings on its own. You record the meeting with Zoom's own recording feature, then upload the MP4 or M4A afterwards. Nothing extra appears in the participant list, nobody is asked to approve a third-party guest, and no administrator has to install an app on your workspace. Up to 20 minutes is processed immediately on every plan; 20 minutes to 2 hours runs in the background on Pro.

Upload a recording 15 minutes free as a guest, one time — no account and no install needed.

What you get from a meeting recording

Nothing joins the call: sAInote never appears in the participant list, so no one is asked mid-call to approve a third-party guest, and you never hand a third party access to your conferencing account or its stored recordings.
MP4 and M4A upload directly: Conferencing tools usually save MP4 or M4A, and both are accepted as they are. WAV, MP3, WebM, OGG and Opus work too. The upload limit is 64 MB per file.
Speaker separation on long recordings: Long recordings get speaker separation and hierarchical summarisation, so the discussion is split by voice and detail from the last ten minutes survives as well as the first ten.
Two hours per recording: Up to 20 minutes is processed immediately on every plan. From 20 minutes to 2 hours, processing runs in the background on Pro — close the app and come back. Over 2 hours is rejected.
Your own minutes format: Pro Assistant lets you write and save your own instruction — action items first, decisions in a list, whatever your team actually reads — and apply it to any recording. Saved instructions sync to your account.
Attendee names spelled right: Special Names is a personal spelling glossary on Pro that keeps client, colleague and product names spelled the way you spell them. It is a spelling reference only and never rewrites what was said.

How to transcribe a Zoom recording without a bot

1

Record with your own tool

Start the recording feature built into Zoom, Teams, Meet or Webex, or record the room on a phone or laptop. Nothing from sAInote takes part in the call.
2

Save or download the file

When the meeting ends, save or download the recording your tool produced. You need the file itself — MP4 and M4A are the usual results, and both upload without conversion.
3

Upload it to sAInote

Open sAInote in a browser or on iPhone, iPad or Mac and upload the file. Keep it under 64 MB and under 2 hours, or split the recording before uploading.
4

Pick a processing mode

Choose Quick Note for a verbatim transcript, Smart Summary for cleaned prose with headings and lists, or a Pro Assistant if you saved your own minutes instruction.
5

Find it again later

Sign in so the note lands in your history. Search matches both the transcript and the processed output, across your devices. Guests get no history, so nothing is kept.

Why Zoom transcription without a bot works differently

Most meeting transcription tools work by adding a participant. You connect the tool to your conferencing account, it joins the call as a guest, and it records from the inside. That model is convenient, but it has costs: an unfamiliar name shows up in the participant list, everyone notices it, someone usually asks what it is, and in many companies the connection itself needs an administrator to approve an app on the workspace.

sAInote works the other way round. It has no Zoom integration at all — it cannot log into your account, cannot browse your cloud recordings, and cannot fetch a file on its own. It only ever sees a file you hand it. You record the meeting with the recording feature your conferencing tool already has, then upload the resulting file afterwards.

The trade is straightforward and worth stating plainly. You do one manual step, the upload, and in exchange nothing joins your call, no third party holds credentials to your meeting account, and there is no app to get approved. If you need a transcript to appear while the meeting is still running, sAInote is the wrong tool: it works on recordings after the fact, and a network connection is required when you upload.

Teams, Google Meet, Webex and room recordings use the same flow

Because sAInote only ever receives a file, the tool that produced it does not matter. A recording from Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Webex uploads exactly like a Zoom one. So does a voice memo from a phone left on a conference table, a laptop recording of an in-person meeting, or a webinar you saved locally.

The step in the middle is deliberately generic: save or download the recording your tool produced. Each platform moves that button around and renames it from one release to the next, so check your tool's current documentation rather than a screenshot on a page like this one. What matters on sAInote's side is the result — a file in WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4, WebM, OGG or Opus, under 64 MB.

To be explicit about what is not happening: there is no integration with any of these platforms. No connected account, no marketplace listing, no folder sync, no calendar hook, and no bulk queue that pulls a week of meetings in one go. If your workflow requires files to arrive automatically, sAInote does not provide that.

Length, size and plan limits for meeting recordings

A recording up to 20 minutes is processed immediately, on every plan including guests. Between 20 minutes and 2 hours, processing moves to the background and requires Pro: you can close the app or the browser tab and come back for the result. 2 hours is the hard cap per recording, and anything longer is rejected, so a three-hour workshop has to be split before uploading.

The upload limit is 64 MB per file, and it is separate from the length limit. Video files from conferencing tools can reach that ceiling well before the two-hour mark, so exporting or converting to an audio-only file is often the difference between a rejected upload and an accepted one.

Usage is counted in minutes of audio. A 40-minute meeting costs 40 minutes whichever mode you pick. Guests get 15 minutes once, not monthly. A free account also gets 15 minutes once, plus searchable history across devices. Pro gets 360 minutes — 6 hours — every month, along with background processing for long recordings, Pro Assistant, Special Names and priority support.

Consent and policy: check before you record

Recording a meeting is not automatically permitted. Depending on where you and the other participants are, recording a conversation may require notifying everyone or obtaining their explicit consent, and your employer or client may have its own policy about which meetings may be recorded and where the files may be stored. Rules differ between countries, and sometimes between regions of the same country.

This page cannot tell you which rules apply to you, and nothing here is legal advice. Check your organisation's policy and, when a meeting involves people outside it, the applicable local rules — before the recording starts rather than after it has finished.

What sAInote can tell you is how the file is handled once it arrives. Uploaded audio sits in private cloud storage: never public, never indexed by search engines, never shareable by URL, and cleaned up on a schedule after processing. You can delete your account from inside the app, and deletion anonymises the associated data.

Zoom recording to text: common questions

Does sAInote join my Zoom meeting as a bot?

No. Nothing from sAInote joins your call. There is no bot, no extra name in the participant list, and no moment where someone has to approve a third-party guest mid-meeting. You record the meeting with Zoom's own recording feature and upload the resulting file to sAInote afterwards.

Can sAInote connect to my Zoom account and import recordings automatically?

No. sAInote has no Zoom integration — no connected account, no marketplace app, no login flow and no automatic sync of cloud recordings. It never holds credentials for your conferencing account. Every recording reaches sAInote because you uploaded the file yourself, from the web app, iPhone, iPad or Mac.

What file formats and sizes can I upload?

WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4, WebM, OGG and Opus, up to 64 MB per file. MP4 and M4A are what conferencing tools usually produce, so most meeting recordings upload without conversion. If a video file is larger than 64 MB, converting it to an audio-only file usually brings it under the limit.

How long can a meeting recording be?

Two hours is the hard cap per recording, and longer files are rejected. Up to 20 minutes is processed immediately on every plan, including guests. From 20 minutes to 2 hours, processing runs in the background and requires Pro, so you can close the app and come back for the result.

Can I transcribe a Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Webex recording?

Yes. sAInote only ever sees a file, so the tool that produced it makes no difference. Save or download the recording your tool created and upload it exactly like a Zoom file. A phone or laptop recording of an in-person meeting works the same way, with the same limits.

Does sAInote transcribe live during a call?

No. There is no live transcription, no real-time captions and nothing listening while the meeting runs. sAInote works on a finished recording after the call ends. Processing happens in the cloud, so a network connection is required — there is no offline or on-device mode.

Does it separate who said what?

Yes, long recordings get speaker separation, and hierarchical summarisation keeps detail from the end of a long meeting rather than only the opening. That combination is what makes a two-hour discussion readable instead of collapsing into a summary of the first few topics.

Do I need IT or admin approval to use it?

No. Nothing installs on your conferencing workspace and no app is connected to your meeting account, so there is no administrator approval step on that side. You upload a file you already have. Your organisation may still have its own policy on recording meetings and on which tools handle those files.

Can I try it without an account?

Yes. As a guest in the browser you get 15 minutes of audio, one time, with Quick Note and Smart Summary. Guests get no history, so nothing is saved. A free account also gets 15 minutes once — not monthly — plus searchable history. Pro adds 360 minutes every month.

Start with the file you already have

The recording from your last meeting is already saved somewhere. Upload it, pick Quick Note for the verbatim transcript or Smart Summary for readable minutes, and read the result — no bot, no connected account, no admin ticket.

Upload a recording