To transcribe a Google Meet meeting to text, turn on transcripts in Meeting tools: they work in Spanish and save a Google Docs document in the organiser's Drive. They are only in some paid Google Workspace editions. Without them, use an extension or transcribe a recording of the meeting on your computer.
The ways to turn Google Meet into text and the account each one needs
Google Meet has two features of its own for getting text out of a meeting, and outside Google there are two more routes. This is how they compare, according to their official sources as of 22 October 2026:
| Meet transcript | «Take notes for me» (Gemini) | Extension (Tactiq) | Recording transcribed on your computer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | The text of what is said, with the list of attendees | A summary with decisions, action items and details, not the verbatim text | Live transcript, with who is speaking and timestamps | The transcript of the video or audio file |
| Account needed | Some paid Google Workspace editions | Workspace editions with Gemini, or Google AI Pro or Ultra | Any; free plan with 10 transcripts a month | One that allows recording in Meet, or an app that records on your computer |
| Where the text ends up | Google Docs document in the organiser's Drive | Google Docs document in the organiser's Drive | In your Tactiq account | On your computer |
| Spanish | Yes, among eight languages | Yes, among eight languages | Yes | Depends on the program |
According to Google Meet Help, transcripts are available in these Google Workspace editions: Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus and Workspace Individual. Neither free personal accounts nor Business Starter appear on that list. With a free account, you are left with the two routes outside Google: the extension, or recording with an app on your computer.
How to turn on transcription in Google Meet
Meet transcription is turned on during the meeting, from the Meeting tools menu. First, check four requirements set out in Google's help:
- Device. It only works on a computer or an Android device.
- Language. It is available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
- Storage. Both the host's Drive and the organisation's need free space.
- Permission. With «Host management» turned off, anyone in the host's domain can start it; with it turned on, only the host and co-hosts.
The steps:
- Start the Google Meet meeting from your computer, or join it.
- At the bottom right, click Meeting tools and then Transcripts.
- Choose Start transcription and, in the pop-up window, Start.
- Check that the transcription icon appears at the top right; it is shown to all participants.
To stop it, go back to the same menu and choose Stop transcription. It can't be paused: every time you start it, Meet creates a separate file, and it stops on its own when everyone leaves. So you don't have to remember, when you create the meeting in Google Calendar open Video call options, go to Meeting records and tick Transcribe the meeting; it will start when the host or a co-host joins from the web.
The transcript only captures what is said: the chat is not included and, to keep it, Google says you need to record the meeting.
Where the Google Meet transcript is saved and how to get it into Word
The Meet transcript is saved as a Google Docs document in the Drive of whoever organised the meeting. It is in the «Google Meet» folder, inside a subfolder for each meeting. Earlier ones are not lost: since July 2026, the former Meet Recordings folder has been renamed to mark it as old recordings and sits inside «Google Meet».
There are two other places to find it:
- Email. When the meeting ends, the host, the co-hosts and the person who turned on the transcript receive a link to the document.
- The Google Calendar event. The transcript is attached to the event and guests from the host's organisation can open it. If there are more than 200, only the host, the co-hosts and whoever turned it on.
It won't be ready when you hang up: according to the admin help, it usually takes a few hours and can take up to 24, longer for long meetings. The document includes the list of attendees.
To get it into Word, open the document and choose File, Download and Microsoft Word (.docx). If you then want to complete that document by speaking, our guide to voice typing in Google Docs explains how Voice typing works.
«Take notes for me»: Gemini's notes are not a transcript
«Take notes for me» is the Gemini feature in Meet that summarises the meeting in a notes document. It doesn't reproduce what was said word for word. The document has two tabs: quick notes, with the essentials and the action items, and full notes, with the summary, decisions, action items and details.
According to Google's help, the feature is in the Workspace editions Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Frontline Plus and, for personal accounts, in the Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra plans. It supports the same eight languages as transcripts, Spanish included, but only one per meeting: Google warns that it doesn't work yet when languages are mixed.
It is turned on with the Take notes for me button, at the top right of the meeting, or when creating the event in Calendar with the Take notes with Gemini box. Google recommends it for meetings of 15 minutes to 8 hours and warns that the summary may come out incomplete or inaccurate, for example if there were connection drops or the meeting lasted less than 15 minutes. The notes are saved, like the transcript, in the «Google Meet» folder of the organiser's Drive. Under the same conditions, it also works for an in-person meeting: from meet.google.com, with the computer close to the people speaking. How to record and transcribe an in-person meeting with any tool, we explain in taking notes in in-person meetings.
How to download the Meet recording and transcribe it on your computer
The recording of a Meet meeting is an MP4 file that is saved in Drive and can be downloaded. Recording also requires a particular account: according to Google's help, Workspace editions such as Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials, those in the Enterprise range or Workspace Individual, and Google One subscriptions with 2 TB or more. Business Starter and free accounts are not on the list either.
- In the meeting, from your computer, click Meeting tools and then Recording. If you want the video to have captions, choose their language.
- Click Start recording and confirm with Start.
- To finish, go back to the same menu and choose Stop recording. If nobody stops it, it stops on its own after 8 hours or when everyone leaves.
- When it is ready, open the «Google Meet» folder in the organiser's Drive (a link also arrives by email), select the file and choose More and Download.
If Drive shows «Still processing», you won't be able to watch it online yet, but you can download it. If it was shared with you and you can't download it, the owner has to allow it in the sharing settings.
With the MP4 downloaded, you can upload it to an online service (we compare the most used ones, and what they do with the file, in transcribing audio to text in a law firm) or transcribe it with an app that works inside your computer.
That second option is what ablalo does with its Hearings tab: it transcribes the Meet MP4 on your own computer, without uploading the file to any server. It tells the speakers apart so you can name them, keeps the text in sync with the video and lets you mark notes (important, contradiction, favourable, review) at the exact second. When you finish, it exports to Word the transcript with timestamps or just the notes. On Windows and on Mac (macOS 14.2 or later) it can also record the meeting, with the microphone and the computer's sound, even if your Google account doesn't include recording.
Extensions like Tactiq: transcribing Meet from the browser
Tactiq is a Chrome extension that transcribes Google Meet, Zoom and Teams meetings live. According to its website, its help and its Chrome Web Store listing, as of 22 October 2026:
- It works inside the browser, in Chrome or Edge: no bot joins the call and you don't need to record.
- It doesn't record the audio. It saves only the text, with the person speaking and the timestamp on each line.
- It transcribes more than 30 languages and, in Google Meet, they include Spanish from Spain and Mexican Spanish. It uses one at a time, and it is best to choose it in its panel before you start: changing it doesn't correct what has already been transcribed.
- The free plan includes 10 transcripts a month. The paid plans remove that limit.
- It exports to Google Docs, Notion, Word or PDF.
Before installing it in a law firm, bear in mind that with an extension the content of the meeting goes through a third party. Tactiq saves the transcripts in your account on its service and, according to its own listing, its AI summaries and answers use models from other companies. If a meeting contains client data, read its privacy policy first.
Zoom and Teams also have their own transcription features, with different requirements: we explain them in how to turn a Zoom meeting into text and in the equivalent guide for Teams.
The limits of each option and when Google's is enough
Google's transcription is enough if your edition includes it and the meeting has no sensitive information. It is the shortest route: you install nothing and the document appears in Drive. These are its limits and those of the other options:
- Meet transcript. It isn't automatic: someone has to start it or schedule it. It doesn't include the chat and the text stays in Google's cloud.
- «Take notes for me». It summarises, and Google acknowledges it may come out incomplete or inaccurate. It is useful for remembering agreements, not for quoting sentences.
- Tactiq and other extensions. They depend on the browser, the free plan stops at 10 transcripts a month and the text is saved on a third party's service.
- Recording transcribed on your computer. It requires having the recording and downloading it, and the result depends on the audio: overlapping voices or a distant microphone make any transcript worse. Also, if the recording is from Meet, it is already in Drive: transcribing it on your computer avoids one more service, but it doesn't take the meeting out of Google's cloud.
Whichever route you take, check proper names and any sentence you are going to quote in a document against the audio.
In short
Google Meet transcribes meetings into a Google Docs document, in Spanish and seven other languages, if the account belongs to a Google Workspace edition that includes it, such as Business Standard, Business Plus or Enterprise Standard. It is turned on in Meeting tools, Transcripts, and the document ends up in the «Google Meet» folder of the organiser's Drive. «Take notes for me», with Gemini, gives a summary, not the transcript. With a free account, you are left with an extension like Tactiq, which saves the text on its service, or transcribing a recording of the meeting on your computer.
Sources: Google Meet Help, Use transcripts with Google Meet, Record a video meeting, Troubleshoot meeting recordings, «Take notes for me» in Google Meet and Use «Take notes for me» in in-person meetings. Google Workspace Admin Help, Turn meeting transcription on or off. Google Docs Help, Get started with Google Workspace with Gemini. Google Drive Help, Download files. Google for Developers, Work with artifacts (Google Meet API). Tactiq, home page, pricing, What languages does Tactiq support?, Change the transcription language during a meeting and its Chrome Web Store listing. Checked on 22 October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does Google Meet transcribe for free?
Not with a free personal account: Meet transcripts come with some paid Google Workspace editions, such as Business Standard. Without paying, there are extensions with a free plan, such as Tactiq, which as of 22 October 2026 includes 10 transcripts a month.
Does Google Meet transcribe in Spanish?
Yes. Meet transcripts are available in Spanish and seven other languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese. «Take notes for me» supports the same eight.
Where is the Google Meet transcript saved?
In the organiser's Drive, as a Google Docs document, in a subfolder for the meeting inside the «Google Meet» folder. A link also arrives by email and it is attached to the Calendar event.
What AI does Google Meet have for transcription?
Meet has two features: transcripts, with the text of what is said, and «Take notes for me», with Gemini, which summarises the meeting. Gemini's notes are not the verbatim text and require a compatible Workspace edition or a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan.
Does Tactiq transcribe Google Meet and Zoom?
Yes. Tactiq is an extension for Chrome and Edge that transcribes Google Meet, Zoom and Teams live; in Zoom and Teams, only if you join the meeting from the browser. It saves the text in your account on its service, so the meeting goes through a third party.
How do I transcribe the audio of a Google Meet recording?
Download the MP4 from Drive (select the file, More, Download) and transcribe it with an online service or with an app that works on your computer, with which the file never leaves it.