Grain gives you two powerful ways to capture meetings — depending on whether you want the recording media saved or AI notes and transcripts only.
Bot Capture: Grain notetaker joins your meeting as a participant and records it
Desktop Capture: Grain captures audio directly from your computer and generates AI notes (no bot required)
Both options generate AI notes and transcripts after your meeting. The key differences are how the meeting is captured—whether a bot joins or audio is captured directly from your computer—and what gets saved: a video file versus notes only.
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 |
Notes:
1. Bot Capture works best with scheduled meetings, but you can also manually add the bot to ad-hoc meetings by pasting the meeting link in the 'Enter meeting link or ID' field on your Grain Calendar page, or by clicking 'New' in your Meeting library.
2. AI notes from desktop capture are currently generated in English only. Support for more languages is coming soon.
1. Bot Capture (Meeting Bot)
Best for: Scheduled meetings where you want a full video recording to review later or share with your team.
How it works
Grain joins your meeting as a participant and records it. After the meeting, you get:
Saved video recording (mp4 file)
AI generated notes and Transcript
This is ideal when you need to review the recording later, create clips to share, or have meeting data automatically sync to your CRM.
Requirements
Meeting must be scheduled on your connected calendar and appear on your Grain Calendar page.
Auto-record settings must be enabled for the bot to automatically join and record.
Supported platforms
Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Webex
How to set it up
Go to Workspace settings → Account → My Meetings
Configure Auto-Record rules (All meetings, Internal participants only, External participants only or Don't auto record)
Learn more: How Grain Records Your Meetings
2. Desktop Capture (No Bot)
Best for: Any meeting type where you want AI notes without the bot joining, including Slack huddles, ad-hoc calls, or in-person meetings.
How it works
Grain's desktop captures automatically transcribes and generates AI notes for any meetings by capturing audio directly from your computer.
Requirements
Grain Desktop App installed. Desktop capture currently works only on Mac Apple Silicon; Windows coming soon!
Enable auto-capture defaults in Workspace settings → Account → App.
Check your computer's system settings to make sure all relevant permissions are toggled on for the Grain desktop app.
What can be captured
Scheduled meetings
Unscheduled (ad hoc) meetings
Slack huddles
In-person meetings
Where can I find the captured notes?
Desktop capture notes are saved in your Meeting library and appear with a distinctive notes-only icon.
How to set it up
Download the Grain Desktop App here
Grant necessary permissions including microphone + screen recording permissions
Configure auto capture defaults
External Meetings
Internal Meetings
Unscheduled meetings
You can choose to enable auto-capture for all meeting types or only specific ones.
Can I manually start a new capture?
Yes! Just head over to your Meeting library and click 'New' in the top right corner
Learn more: AI Notes for Every Meeting with Desktop Capture
Common usage scenarios:
I want to highlight key moments and share them with my team → Use Bot Capture
I want AI notes and a transcript without a bot joining my meeting → Use Desktop capture
I need to record a Slack huddle → Use Desktop capture
I want to set up an automation with my CRM → Use Bot capture
Need more help? Contact our support team