> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.stenoai.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How to take notes in an in-person meeting on a Mac

> Record and summarize in-person meetings on macOS with Steno. Your Mac's microphone captures the room; transcription and notes are generated on-device.

To take notes in an in-person meeting on a Mac, use Steno with your microphone: it records the room through your Mac's mic, then transcribes on your device and summarizes locally by default. There is no meeting app and no bot involved — just the microphone — so it works for any face-to-face discussion.

## Steps

1. Install Steno and grant microphone permission (see [Installation](/getting-started/installation)).
2. In Steno, make sure the **Record system audio** toggle is off (microphone recording is always on), then click **New note** to start.
3. Place your Mac where its mic can hear the room clearly.
4. When the meeting ends, click **Stop**. Steno transcribes the recording and generates notes automatically.

## Speaker labels in person

Speaker labels (`[You]` / `[Others]`) come from recording your microphone and system audio as separate channels. An in-person meeting is captured on the microphone only, so it does not produce speaker labels — the transcript is a single stream. See [Speaker labels](/features/speaker-labels).

## Getting a clean transcript

Room audio can be noisier than a call. For in-person recordings where accuracy matters, the [Whisper engine](/models/transcription-models) can be a good choice. Position the Mac close to the speakers and minimize background noise where you can.

***

<Accordion title="Can Steno tell individual people apart in the room?">
  Not today. In-person audio is a single microphone stream, so it is transcribed as one channel. Multi-speaker diarisation (identifying individual speakers by voice) is on the roadmap.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Is the recording uploaded anywhere?">
  No. In-person recordings are transcribed and summarized on your Mac. No meeting content is uploaded unless you have configured an optional cloud summarization model. The app does send anonymous usage analytics by default (no meeting content), which you can turn off in **Settings → Advanced**. See [How on-device processing works](/privacy/how-on-device-works).
</Accordion>