In this guide
Guide
Meeting Notes Tools: What Gets Transcribed vs. What Gets Kept
Quick answerTranscription and storage are two different promises. A tool can transcribe everything you say and still let none of it leave — or export the transcript but drop the recording. Check `data_export` for meeting tools the same way you'd check it for anything else: what actually leaves the tool if you stop paying for it.
What “transcribed” doesn’t tell you
Most meeting tools advertise transcription accuracy — word error rate, language support, speaker labels. None of that tells you what happens to the transcript after the meeting ends. Some tools keep it forever on a free plan. Some purge it after 30 days unless you’re on a paid tier. Some transcribe live but only let you export a summary, not the full text.
Three things to check before you rely on a tool for meeting records
- Does the transcript survive if you cancel? (
data_export) - Does the recording export too, or only the text?
- Is there a retention window — and does it apply to free plans specifically?