How to record a Google Meet meeting

To record a Google Meet meeting, join from a computer, open the Activities panel (or the record control in the toolbar), choose Recording, and select Start recording. Google saves the file to the meeting organizer's Google Drive and emails a link when processing finishes. The option appears only if your account type, your organization's admin settings and your role in the meeting all allow recording. If you don't see it, one of those three is usually the reason.

Who can record a Google Meet call

Built-in recording is not available on every Google account. It is generally tied to certain paid Google Workspace editions and some individual subscriptions, and free personal accounts typically do not include it. In work or school accounts, an administrator must also allow recording. Within a meeting, recording is usually limited to the host and co-hosts, or to people in the host's organization, depending on the host's settings. This guide could not confirm which plans currently include recording, so check your plan details or Google's Meet help pages.

Before you start

• Use a computer with a supported web browser. Built-in recording is started from the desktop version of Meet.
• Sign in with the account that has recording access, not a personal account that happens to be signed in alongside it.
• Make sure the meeting organizer has free Google Drive storage, because the recording is saved there.
• Tell participants you plan to record. Meet shows its own notice, but consent rules for recording vary by location and workplace.
• Check your camera and microphone before the meeting starts (see below).

Meet's pre-join preview and its audio and video check show that the browser can access your camera and that your microphone is detected and picking up sound. That does not confirm how clearly others hear you or how you will look in the saved file. The only way to check that is a short test: start a meeting, record a minute of talking, stop, and play the file back.

Steps to record a meeting

• 1. Start or join the meeting in your browser.
• 2. Click the Activities icon, usually near the bottom-right corner, then choose Recording. In some layouts, a record button sits directly in the top or bottom toolbar instead.
• 3. If offered, choose any options you want, such as including captions in the recording.
• 4. Click Start recording, then confirm in the dialog that reminds you to get participants' consent.
• 5. Wait a few seconds for the recording indicator to appear near the top of the meeting window.
• 6. To finish, open the Recording option again, choose Stop recording and confirm. Recording also stops when everyone leaves the meeting.

How to tell it worked

• During the meeting: a recording indicator stays visible to you and to participants.
• Right after stopping: Meet says the recording is being saved or processed.
• After processing: the organizer and the person who started the recording receive an email with a link. Longer meetings take longer to process.
• In Google Drive: the file appears in the organizer's Drive, normally in a folder named Meet Recordings.
• In Google Calendar: if the meeting came from a calendar event, the recording link is usually added to that event.
• Final check: play part of the recording to confirm that both video and audio were captured.

Recording from the Google Meet app on a phone or tablet

The Meet mobile apps let you join calls and show when a meeting is being recorded, but they don't offer a control to start or stop Meet's built-in recording. If you're on a phone, ask the host or a co-host on a computer to record, or join from a computer yourself. Your device's own screen recorder is an alternative, but it may not capture other participants' audio on every device, and the same consent obligations apply. Tell everyone before using it.

If the Record option is missing

• You're signed in with an account or plan that doesn't include recording.
• Your organization's admin has turned recording off.
• You aren't the host or a co-host, and the host's settings limit recording to those roles.
• The meeting belongs to another organization whose settings don't let you record.
• You're using the mobile app instead of a computer browser.
• The organizer's Drive storage is full. This can stop the file from saving even if the button appears.

What the recording shows

A Meet recording mainly captures the active speaker and anything being presented, so it may not show every participant's video at once. It records the video each person sends, so a participant using a virtual background or blur effect appears that way in the file, while someone without effects shows their real surroundings. To control how you appear, set your physical background or Meet's background effect before you start recording.