Bot capture sends the Grain notetaker into your meeting as a participant. It records the full session and generates a transcript and AI notes when the meeting ends. Bot recordings include video and are shared with your team according to your auto-share settings.
Supported platforms: Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex.
Why use Bot Capture
Video recording: produces a full MP4 video recording alongside the transcript and AI notes
Post-meeting automation: meetings automatically sync to your CRM and other integrations
Sharing & collaboration: meetings captured with the Grain bot are shared with your team automatically based on your auto-share rules
Bot capture & Desktop capture: quick comparison
Feature | Bot capture | Desktop capture |
Bot joins meeting | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Media file saved | ✅ Yes (MP4 video) | ❌ No |
AI notes & transcript | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Works with all meeting types | ❌ No; Supported platforms only (Zoom/Meet/Teams/Webex) | ✅ Yes |
Meeting access | Follows auto-share rules | Private by default |
Bot capture set up
The Grain bot is ready to go once you sign up for Grain. All you need to do is configure which meeting types the Grain bot should join automatically. See Bot capture settings for more information.
Alternatively, you can have the Grain bot join meetings manually. Follow the steps below to invite the Grain bot to a meeting:
Go to your ’Meetings’ page and click ’+ New’ in the top right corner.
Select ’Bot recording’
Paste the meeting link or ID and select ‘Capture’
The bot joins immediately. You can also add the bot from the upcoming meetings list on your Meetings page by clicking the record dropdown to the right of a scheduled meeting. See setting capture for upcoming meetings for more information.
During a meeting
The Grain bot joins your meeting as a visible participant. Other participants can see it in the participant list.
Inactivity timeout: If the meeting becomes silent or inactive for an extended period, the bot will automatically leave rather than continue recording an empty room. The inactivity timeout is as follows:
Free plan: 10 minutes of inactivity
Paid plans: 30 minutes of inactivity
Bypass waiting room (Google Meet): When enabled, the bot is added as a calendar attendee to meetings you organize and joins automatically without waiting to be admitted. Configure this in ’My Meetings’ settings.
After a meeting
When the meeting ends, the bot leaves and Grain begins processing the recording. Once ready, the recording appears under ’Meetings’ → ’My Meetings’ with the full video, transcript, and AI notes.
Bot recordings follow your team auto-share settings and are shared with your workspace automatically based on whether the meeting was internal or external. See ’My Meetings’ to configure auto-share rules.
From the recording page you can:
Watch the full video recording
Review and edit AI-generated notes and action items
Create and share video clips
Send a follow-up email (external meetings only)
Use AI Transcript Actions to send the transcript to Claude or ChatGPT
Trigger CRM and integration automations
See more about all the things you can do with a recording here.
Customize the bot
You can change how the Grain bot appears in meetings, including its display name, the message it posts in the meeting chat, and its video tile. Configure this in ’My Meetings’ settings under ’Bot display settings’. See more about bot customization here.
Supported languages
Bot Capture supports 100+ languages for transcription and AI notes. Languages are grouped into two tiers:
Common: highest accuracy for word detection, punctuation, proper nouns, and speaker changes: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Finnish, Korean, Dutch, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Other languages: accurate word detection with potentially lower accuracy for punctuation and proper nouns: 80+ additional languages including Arabic, Hebrew, Swedish, Thai, and more
The transcription language is set by your workspace admin under ’Workspace settings’ → ‘Meeting language default’. See more about language controls in Grain here.
Privacy and consent
The Grain bot is visible to all participants in the meeting. They can see it in the participant list. However, you are still responsible for ensuring that all participants have provided appropriate consent before recording, as required by local laws.
Consent requirements vary by location:
United States: requirements vary by state; some require only one-party consent, others require all-party consent
European Union and other regions: similar all-party consent requirements generally apply
Best practices:
Inform participants at the start of the call that you are transcribing using Grain
Respect any participant who declines to be recorded
Obtain fresh consent from participants who join mid-call
Use transcriptions only as disclosed
Note: This section is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. You are responsible for ensuring your use of Grain complies with applicable laws.
FAQ
Does Bot Capture work without the Grain desktop app? Yes. Bot Capture works entirely through the browser and does not require the desktop app.
Can participants see the Grain bot? Yes. The bot appears as a named participant in the meeting. You can customize its display name in Bot display settings.
What happens if I use both Bot Capture and Desktop Capture for the same meeting? Grain is designed to prevent both methods from running simultaneously via a settings-level confirmation modal.
Does the bot capture screen share? Yes. Bot recordings capture the full meeting including screen share as part of the video. Make sure you have your settings set to capture screen share in Workspace settings → My Meetings → Bot display settings → Screen share recording.
What file format is the video recording? MP4.