How To Record a Zoom Meeting If You’re Not a Host

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It’s official: knowing how to record a Zoom meeting can help you save any working day, especially given that 89% of Zoom users use it for business meetings.

Why? Because when you’re in meetings that heavily rely on disseminating information or decision-making, you need ulterior access to that data to put it to good use.

In other cases, you may need to share the knowledge from your meetings with other team members and don’t have the time to write a 10-page summary explaining the how’s and the why’s of everything that you discussed or every decision that was made.

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If you want to learn how to record, save, share, and access your Zoom meetings when you’re not the host, you’re in the right spot. Read on to find out how to take your meetings to the next level!

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Can You Record a Zoom Meeting?

We’re all familiar with this scenario: you’re in a Zoom meeting, and you want to remember all the details or perhaps share them with colleagues who couldn’t attend. But how do you do this if you’re not the host? Is it even possible?

The answer is YES. As a host, you can use the integrated recording features to capture your session. If you’re not a host, things can quickly become more challenging, especially if you haven’t done it before. 

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Whatever the scenario may be, when it comes to recording Zoom meetings, the appropriate steps you’ll need to take can vary depending on certain factors.

For instance, although free users can record Zoom meetings using the video conferencing tool with permission from the host, local recordings take up precious space, and it is not possible to record meetings directly from a phone. 

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Having a paid account doesn’t help much in terms of the permissions required to record your meetings. This option, however, provides you with Cloud storage where you can access your Zoom recording, and the possibility to record straight from your mobile device.

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What is there to be done? You can always record a Zoom meeting with a third-party screen recorder, such as MeetGeek. 

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How to Record a Zoom Meeting if You Are Not the Host?

First, it’s important to understand the basics of how Zoom meetings work. Zoom is a web-based video conferencing platform that enables users to host virtual meetings, seminars, classes, and other events for both personal and professional use. 

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Method #1: Recording a Zoom Meeting Manually

To record a Zoom meeting manually, you will need to use Zoom's recording in-built features. 

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The Local Recording option allows you to record the meeting directly on your device, while the Cloud Recording option records the meeting on Zoom's servers and then allows you to download it after the meeting has ended. The latter, however, is only available to paid users.

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Here’s the catch: when you want to screen record Zoom meetings, and you’re not the host, it is necessary to have the host's permission to record the meeting.

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Once the host has granted you permission to capture the meeting, you can proceed by clicking the recording icon.

You can opt to record both the video and audio or just the meeting audio. Your Zoom screen recording will be stored as an MP4 video file or as an audio-only M4A file on your computer after you end your Zoom call. 

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The advantage of this approach is that when recording locally, you’ll be able to record multiple audio files. Afterward, you can share only the relevant audio files from your Zoom recordings with other participants if you need to. 

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Method #2: Recording a Zoom Meeting Automatically

If you’re looking for an easier way to automatically record any Zoom meeting for free even when you're not the host, a virtual AI meeting assistant like MeetGeek is exactly what you need.

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MeetGeek is a cloud-based meeting assistant that helps you successfully manage and record Zoom meetings with very little to do on your part. 

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How so? Not only does MeetGeek capture your Zoom meetings automatically, but it also offers features like transcribing, summarizing, analyzing, and sharing meeting highlights with others.

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Here's what the process of recording a Zoom meeting whether you’re a host or not looks like with MeetGeek, the virtual meeting assistant that seamlessly integrates into your meetings in just a few clicks!

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Step 1: Create an Account

To record a Zoom meeting with MeetGeek, you’ll need to create a MeetGeek account first. This is a free and simple process that only takes seconds. All you need to do is to connect with your Google account or with your Microsoft account. 

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Step 2: Sync Your Calendar

Once you connect your calendar with MeetGeek, all scheduled and upcoming events from your calendar will appear in the app. You can always select which meetings you want to be recorded. This way, your MeetGeek Assistant will know which meetings to join and which ones to skip.

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If your meeting is spontaneous, or if you can only join the meeting via a conference link, MeetGeek allows you to do that as well. Just paste the link into the Add to live ad-hoc meeting' bar and you're set.

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Step 3: Join Your Zoom Meeting

Once your meeting begins, your MeetGeek Assistant will automatically join and start recording, but only after the meeting host is notified and accepts the request. The advantage is that the meeting host can do this in one click, without any additional steps.

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While you focus on having meaningful meetings and engaging conversations with your team, your MeetGeek Assistant will be joining the call as a participant, with the only role of taking notes and recording your Zoom meetings.

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Step 4: Share Your Zoom Meetings

After your meeting is over, just sit back, relax, and watch the magic happen. Shortly after the meeting ends (5-10 minutes), participants will receive an email with the meeting summary, automatically captured by MeetGeek’s AI algorithms. The video recording of your meeting will be automatically saved to your MeetGeek account and can be accessed anytime you need it.

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MeetGeek will also summarize the contents of your meeting, so you can skip certain parts and go back only to the important ones. You can also share the recording with anyone you choose, so you’re in charge of who has access to your meeting data.

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Can You Record a Zoom Meeting Without Permission?

While there are ways to record Zoom meetings secretly, that may have serious legal consequences in certain parts of the world, as it can result in civil damages or, in some cases, criminal penalties. 

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In the US, several states require ‘all-party consent’, while EU states rely on GDPR to enforce personal data protection. 

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Before going ahead with recording a Zoom meeting, it is mandatory to ensure that you have the right permissions and that all participants know the meeting will be recorded. 

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The easiest way to do so is to notify the other participants in advance that you’re planning to record the meeting and how you’re planning to use the Zoom recording.

It may be a good idea to explain once again at the very start of the Zoom meeting how recording the conversation and having it automatically transcribed will be beneficial to the entire team. If you’re not sure how to do this, we prepared these 15 ready-to-use disclaimers to help you introduce your MeetGeek note-taker.

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Once they understand the benefits of Zoom recordings, and how they can leverage the information captured to promote transparency and knowledge-sharing, they are likely to quickly get on board with the idea.

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In fact, 45% of employees feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings they have to attend, so preventing unnecessary meetings where you have to discuss a topic all over again just because there is no record of it anywhere is highly desirable. 

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Do More With MeetGeek

Now that you know how to record a Zoom meeting even if you’re not the host, it’s time to explore the added benefits of using MeetGeek, the virtual AI meeting assistant that seamlessly integrates into your daily work life! 

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Meeting Templates & Meeting Agenda

The Meeting Templates feature automatically identifies and categorizes every segment of your Zoom meeting, based on any keywords you provide MeetGeek with.

This way, you won't have to spend time after the meeting rewatching the entire Zoom recording, because you can go straight to the parts that you need — hassle-free!

Additionally, you can use this feature to add your meeting agenda to the mix, so all the information you need is available in one place!

Repository Of Conversations

MeetGeek allows you to search through your meeting archives to find any information that you may have missed, or just to refresh your memory before your next meeting to ensure you are fully prepared. 

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You also have the option to share the recording of any meeting with other team members automatically, whether they were a part of the meeting or not.

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Being able to revisit your previous conversations can help to prevent any friction between you and your team. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for countless knowledge-transfer sessions just to share information or get a point across.

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Automated Meeting Notes

MeetGeek provides AI Meeting Minutes with several features, such as:

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• a summary of key topics sent to your inbox after every conversation

• transcripts of the call with timestamps to easily identify speakers

• integration with other tools (Notion, Slack, HubSpot, etc.)

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Meeting Insights

Feeling in control during meetings is essential, so you need to know how to prepare for future meetings by assessing your current meeting performance. 

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That’s not an easy task to complete, and that’s why we provide Meeting Insights after each Zoom meeting. This feature allows you to objectively know how well you and your team are performing in meetings.

FAQs About Recording Zoom Meetings

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How Do I Share a Zoom Recording?

If you have made a local recording, you can share it by sending it via email or using a cloud-sharing service like Dropbox. 

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Paid Zoom account users can choose to share their Zoom meeting with a link to the Cloud recording they will receive via email. If you missed the email, simply log into Zoom and go to the 'My Recordings' section. 

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From there, you can click on the 'Share' button next to the recording you would like to access and obtain a link from the pop-up window. 

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With MeetGeek, things are easier. Go to your Past Meetings, select the meeting you want to share, and press the Share Meeting button to decide who gets to gain access to the meeting recording and its transcription.

Where Can I Access My Previous Zoom Meetings?

To see all of your previous Zoom meetings, you have to be logged into your Zoom account. You will be directed to the ‘Meetings’ tab, which you can find at the top of the page.

There, you will be able to access all of your past meetings. If you have plenty of meetings, and finding the one you need seems impossible, you can simply search for the meeting in the search bar.

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With MeetGeek, things are just as easy. You can go to the Past Meeting section, where you’ll have the records of your Zoom meetings stored in chronological order. 

Will Other Participants Know I’m Recording the Meeting?

Regardless of how you choose to record your Zoom meetings and whether it involves a record button or not, your other teammates will — and should — know that you’re recording the meeting. 

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Both the Zoom app and your MeetGeek assistant automatically send a recording disclaimer in the Zoom chat, so you don’t have to worry about that on top of your other meeting responsibilities! 

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Start Using MeetGeek Today for Seamless Meetings!

Recording your meetings is the best way to make sure that your team meetings are efficient and effective. 

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Once you have successfully incorporated a virtual AI assistant such as MeetGeek into your daily meetings, you won't need to  return to the traditional way of doing things. 

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The MeetGeek AI assistant handles all your meeting recording and note-taking responsibilities automatically, allowing you to concentrate on being fully present and engaged in your meetings.

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