AI Transcription Tool Guide

You can get transcripts using Zoom while protecting your clients' privacy.

The best method is to use cloud recording with audio-only and audio transcript enabled. This generates a transcript quickly while minimizing what Zoom stores. You'll download the transcript and then immediately delete everything from Zoom's servers.

Sign in to zoom.us → Settings → Recording

In the Cloud Recording section, enable these settings:

• ✅ Cloud Recording
• ✅ Audio Transcript
• ✅ Audio only (minimizes what's stored)

In the Cloud Recording section, disable these settings:

• ❌ Automatic Recording (only record when you choose)
• ❌ Record gallery view with shared screen
• ❌ Record active speaker with shared screen
• ❌ Record thumbnails when sharing
• ❌ Save chat messages from the meeting
• ❌ Display participants' names in the recording

Still in Settings → Recording → Cloud Recording:

• ❌ Disable "Viewers can see the transcript" (you're the only one who needs it)
• ❌ Disable "Allow cloud recording sharing"

Under the Data Retention section:

• ⏳ Turn ON "Delete cloud recordings and transcripts after a specified number of days"
• ⏳ Set it to 7 days or less

Go to Settings → AI Companion:

• ❌ Turn OFF AI Companion panel in Zoom Workplace
• ❌ Turn OFF Meeting summary with AI Companion
• ❌ Turn OFF Smart recording with AI Companion

During your coaching call:

1. Click the "Record" button at the bottom of the Zoom window
2. Select "Record to the Cloud"
3. Zoom will start recording audio only (no video)
4. Click "Stop Recording" at the end of your session

After the meeting ends, Zoom will process the recording (usually takes a few minutes).

1. You'll receive an email when the recording and transcript are ready
2. Sign in to zoom.us
3. Go to Recordings → Cloud Recordings
4. Find your meeting and click on it
5. Download the Audio transcript file (.vtt or .txt)

This is the most important step for privacy!

After downloading your transcript:

1. On the recording details page, click More → Delete
2. Confirm deletion
3. Go back to Recordings and click Trash (upper right)
4. Select the recording → click Permanently Delete

Now that you have your transcript file and have deleted everything from Zoom:

1. If you downloaded a .vtt file, you can upload it directly (Coachismo accepts .vtt)
2. Or convert it to .txt if you prefer (most text editors can open and save .vtt as .txt)
3. Upload the transcript to Coachismo for analysis

Supported formats: .txt, .vtt, .docx, .rtf

Fireflies.ai can auto‑join meetings, record, and generate transcripts/summaries. For individual coaches, keep it manual and minimize retention.

Go to Settings (left sidebar) → Meeting Settings

Under "Privacy Settings":

• Set "Who can view meeting recaps by default" to Only Me
• Ensure "Public Meeting Sharing" is turned OFF

Auto-join settings:

• Toggle Auto‑join calendar events OFF
• Only invite the bot when needed by adding fred@fireflies.ai to that one calendar event

1. Go to My Meetings
2. Click on the meeting you want to download
3. At the bottom of the page, click the download icon
4. In the popup, deselect "Show speaker's name" (for additional privacy)
5. Select DOCX as your file type
6. Download the file

After downloading, delete the meeting to minimize what resides in the Fireflies cloud:

1. In My Meetings, hover over the meeting → select it → click Delete
2. Or open the meeting → ⋯ → Delete

1. Upload the exported .txt or .docx transcript to Coachismo for analysis.

Supported formats: .txt, .docx, .rtf

Granola is a desktop app that transcribes meetings and generates AI notes. Configure privacy settings before recording any coaching sessions.

Before recording coaching sessions, configure these privacy settings:

Settings → General:

- Set "Default link sharing settings" to Private

- Disable "Use my data to improve models for everyone"

Settings → Labs:

- Enable "Let others know you're using Granola" to automatically post a notice in chat when you start transcribing

Settings → Calendars:

- Turn off all visible calendars (Calendar integration automatically captures the full names of all call participants, which violates client privacy)

1. Open Granola
2. Select "New Note" to start a recording before you start your call
3. Start your coaching session - Granola automatically transcribes as you speak

If you enabled the Labs setting, a message will automatically post in the chat notifying participants that transcription is active.

1. After your session, click on the meeting in your Granola dashboard
2. Click on the circle button on the lower left next to the chat box to display the transcript
3. Hit the copy button on the upper right of that pop-up window
4. Paste the transcript from your clipboard into a new Word, Google Doc, or text document
5. Save as one of our supported file formats (.txt, .docx, or .rtf)

Upload the transcript file you saved to Coachismo for analysis.

Supported formats: .txt, .docx, .rtf

If you must use Otter.ai, follow the privacy‑first setup below and minimize retention by exporting your transcript and deleting the cloud copy promptly.

Sign in to otter.ai (web) and configure these settings before recording any coaching session:

Settings → General:

• ✅ Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information — turn this ON (opt‑out).

Settings → Meetings (a.k.a. Notetaker/Sharing defaults):

• ✅ Default audience for shared notes: Don’t share – keep my notes private.
• ✅ Default permission level: Viewer (not Collaborator).
• ❌ Allow collaborators to share: OFF.
• ❌ Auto‑share notes for calendar events: OFF.
• ⚙️ Otter Notetaker auto‑join: set to Only join meetings I manually select (avoid auto‑joining all meetings).

Data use / AI features:

• ❌ Disable/opt‑out of features like Otter Chat/Topics if available to reduce secondary processing.

Revisit Settings → Meetings before sensitive calls:

• Confirm Don’t share – keep my notes private is selected.
• Confirm Allow collaborators to share is OFF.
• Keep Otter Notetaker auto‑join on manual.

If you manage a workspace, set a short data‑retention policy:

• Workspace → Manage Workspace → Settings → Data Retention: Set the minimum permissible retention window (e.g., 24 hours) for conversations and audio.

This helps ensure transcripts/audio are auto‑purged on a schedule.

Record live in Otter.ai (with manual Notetaker join) or upload an audio file for transcription. Avoid auto‑joining all meetings.

Go to My Conversations and open the session you just recorded or imported.

1. Click the three‑dot menu (⋯) → Export.
2. Select Text (.txt) or Word (.docx).
3. Store locally on an encrypted drive, then upload to Coachismo for analysis.

After exporting, promptly remove cloud copies:

1. In the conversation view, click (⋯) → Delete.
2. Open Trash and choose Permanently Delete to bypass Otter's default trash retention.

Coachismo accepts: .txt, .docx, .rtf

Before using any AI transcription tool, take these privacy-first steps:

• Set sharing/visibility to Private by default.
• Disable any "Improve our models" or "Share data for research" options.
• Opt out of auto-join bots and auto-share features.
• Turn off bundled AI assistants/summaries unless required.
• Prefer local storage; if cloud is required, set a short retention window.

Most tools support exporting transcripts. Look for:

• An Export or Download button in the transcript view
• Menu options like Export transcript / Save as text
• Context menu (⋯) with Export choices

1. Go to the Coachismo upload screen.
2. Select your exported transcript file and upload.

Tip: Keep client identifiers anonymized before upload when possible.

After confirming your upload, remove cloud copies in the third‑party tool:

1. Open the conversation/meeting in the tool and click Delete.
2. Empty the tool’s Trash/Recycle Bin to permanently remove it.

Coachismo accepts the following text formats:

• .txt - Plain text (most common)
• .docx - Microsoft Word document
• .rtf - Rich Text Format

If your tool doesn't support export, you can copy and paste the transcript text into a new .txt file on your computer, then upload it to Coachismo.

If you're using a transcription tool that's not listed here, please contact us at support@coachismo.com and we'll be happy to add instructions for it!