Help Center · Capture

Windows, Mac, and Linux

Desktop capture is a local agent. The website remains the product UI. The agent records microphone and system audio and uploads to your account so you can take notes in the browser (or in the Windows / Mac / Linux product window).

Phone recording + laptop notes in one meeting: open that same meeting here and type in My notes — do not start a second recording. See One meeting, two devices. Reopen after Stop to see Processing / Ready and phone photos (the Windows photo strip does not poll during recording).

Windows native app

SHIPPED 2026-09-21 at v1.0.0 as a native WinUI 3 / Windows App SDK client - not a WebView wrapper. The same ss-capture.exe agent handles recording. Current channel: beta. Unsigned builds may show a SmartScreen warning on first run - choose More info → Run anyway.

Install from summitscribe.app/beta/windows. Download the newest installer from that beta page each time you update. The installer bundles the capture agent + ffmpeg.exe - no manual dependencies.

Daily loop:

1. Launch SummitScribe from the Start menu.
2. The Home dashboard opens - Notes / Recordings (including Unfiled), Search / Ask, Study, Settings, and About. Sign in is once via the browser-connect flow (Settings → Sign in). JWT paste is never required.
3. Press Ctrl+Alt+R to start or stop recording from anywhere. Ctrl+Alt+P pauses and resumes, Ctrl+Alt+M marks a moment in your notes, and Ctrl+Alt+S takes a region screenshot. Settings is Ctrl+, (inside the app). The search box at the top of every page (Ctrl+K, or Ctrl+E outside a text field) finds meetings by title. Press Enter to search everything. While you record, a pill on the right of that bar shows the time and a Stop button. If you connect Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook (Account settings on the web, or the Connect button on Home), Home shows Coming up: your next three meetings today with a Record button and an Auto-record switch for each. A minute before a meeting with a call link, you get a reminder with Record and Not now. Calendar access is read-only, and Disconnect deletes it.
4. Meetings open in the app with four tabs: Notes, Transcript, Ask, and Graph (Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+4). Photos sit in a strip at the top of Notes, and the View menu there switches to your own notes or a role view. When a meeting has audio, a player sits under the header. Click the status chip to see processing details, and use Share for the link, clips, and notebooks. On the Transcript tab, press Ctrl+F to find words (Enter for the next match, Shift+Enter for the previous one), pick speakers to show only their lines, and click a chapter to jump there and play. On Ask, type anything and press Enter to get an answer with numbered sources (click one to play that moment), with matching moments underneath. The scope button next to the box limits the answer to a folder or a date range, and its menu has "Show matching moments only" for plain search. Items waiting for your OK are under Needs review on the Knowledge graph. During recording you can pick a folder and template. The graphical mind map runs natively (Win2D). Light and dark themes are both available.
5. Close the window while recording → the shell hides to the tray and capture continues. Quit (System tray → Quit) finalizes capture and exits cleanly.

Closing the window and the tray

Closing the window keeps SummitScribe running in the system tray, even when you're not recording, so it can catch your next meeting. The first time you close it, a short note says so, with OK and Quit instead. To quit, right-click the tray icon and choose Quit. To make closing the window quit every time, go to Settings → Meeting detection → When I close the window and choose Quit.

Meeting detection

When Teams, Zoom, Webex, a Slack huddle or a call in your web browser (Google Meet, for example) starts using your microphone, SummitScribe shows a notification: "Meeting started in Teams. Record it?" (for a browser, "Meeting in browser? Record it?") with Record and Not now. It shows once per call and only if you aren't already recording. A call has to run for 10 seconds first, so quick mic tests don't trigger it.

• SummitScribe only checks which app is using the microphone. It doesn't read window titles, browser tabs or web addresses. Nothing is recorded or sent until you choose Record.
• If an app SummitScribe doesn't recognize is using the microphone, its program name (like example.exe, never the folder) is written once to SummitScribe's log on your PC, so meeting apps it misses can be added. The log stays on your PC.
• In Settings → Meeting detection, each app (calls in a browser are the Browser calls row) can be Off, Remind me (the default for meeting apps) or Record automatically. SummitScribe never records automatically unless you turn that on for an app. If you're signed in but haven't agreed to AI processing yet, Record automatically shows the reminder instead. Voice Recorder and Discord are Off by default.
• Detect meetings turns it all off; then SummitScribe doesn't check the microphone at all. It's not available in Remote Desktop sessions or on Windows builds without the microphone-usage list; Settings says "Not available on this PC" there.
• During first run you can also choose Start SummitScribe when I sign in to Windows, so detection is ready when your first meeting starts. It's off unless you tick it, and you can change it in Settings → General.

System audio uses Windows loopback (WASAPI). Meeting apps often play call audio on the communications device (headset). The agent prefers that endpoint when it differs from speakers.

If you start recording before anyone is speaking, the app may briefly show microphone-only, then flip to system audio once sound actually plays (up to a bounded wait). If both endpoints are silent at start, it defaults to the console (speakers) device you are likely listening to.

This is a beta client, not a production-signed release. Always grab the newest installer from the beta page - do not rely on an in-app Updates tile for this channel.

If you previously installed the Tauri-based Windows shell: the new package uses the same app.summitscribe.desktop AppUserModelID so taskbar pins + jump lists survive the upgrade. The two shells can coexist during the transition; uninstall the Tauri build once you're settled on the new one.

Mac

The Mac app is the Tauri product window: it loads live summitscribe.app and records microphone plus system audio (ScreenCaptureKit). Min macOS 13.

1. Open the app. Use Connect in this window - do not finish only in Safari.
2. After Connect, tap Record. Capture starts from the signed-in session on this Mac.
3. macOS may ask for Screen Recording (audio from other apps) and the microphone. Allow both for duplex.
4. Stop from the title bar. Take notes in the same window.

The capture helper does not bounce a second Dock icon. Region screenshot uses the system interactive select (not a silent fullscreen grab).

The Mac Tauri shell is SHIPPED (soak PASSED 2026-09-11). A separate native Mac shell is not yet shipped - the Tauri shell remains the production Mac client.

Linux

Linux uses the Tauri product shell: ss-capture plus a tray. Install with the .deb, .rpm, or AppImage from the desktop package docs. Distro ffmpeg and PipeWire are expected. A native Linux shell is not yet shipped - capture and upload already work.

Sign in (do not paste tokens)

1. Start the desktop app / tray.
2. Choose Sign in or Connect. A browser or in-window Connect flow opens.
3. Log in on summitscribe.app.
4. The session is posted to the local app. You should never copy a JWT or set an environment token.

On Mac, Connect stays in the product window.

During capture

• The agent creates the meeting at start so you can open notes on the web without starting a second browser recorder.
• Meetings stamped as desktop capture skip the website microphone.
• Take notes in the web meeting, or in the offline notes editor if you are disconnected.
• Region screenshot (not a silent fullscreen grab) attaches a picture when you need a slide or window.

Offline

Audio, notes, and images sit on disk first (under your user data directory). The agent retries upload when you are online, about every 15 seconds, and you can run a manual sync. See Offline.

Website button

On Home, Record with desktop app appears next to browser Start Recording when you are on a computer. If the tray is off, the button still shows and explains that the app is off. The website does not hide browser recording just because the tray exists.

Billing

Video calls on an iPhone

If you are already in Webex, Zoom, or Teams on an iPhone, that phone cannot capture the call. Put the meeting on this computer and Record here. See iOS app.