Granola works with Zoom without joining the meeting as a bot. The desktop app captures your microphone and the computer's system audio, sends that audio to cloud transcription providers, and creates notes in Granola. There is no separate Zoom Marketplace app to install for basic transcription.
The setup is short, but the capture model creates a few details worth understanding before an important call.
Set up Granola for a Zoom meeting
1. Install the desktop app
Install Granola on macOS or Windows and sign in with your Google or Microsoft account. Connect the calendar that contains your Zoom events. Calendar access gives Granola the title, time, and attendee context used to create the meeting note.
2. Grant audio permissions
On macOS, allow Microphone and Screen & System Audio recording. On Windows, allow microphone access for desktop apps. Granola needs both sides of the audio path: your microphone for your voice and system audio for the people speaking through Zoom.
3. Match your audio devices
Zoom and the operating system should use the same default microphone and output device. A mismatch is the most common reason Granola captures only one side of a call. Check the Zoom audio settings and the system sound settings before the meeting.
4. Open the meeting note
Granola begins transcription after you click its meeting notification, open the meeting note after the scheduled start, or create a Quick Note. If you open an upcoming meeting note before the start time, it can begin transcribing when the calendar event starts.
Look for Granola's active transcription indicator. A calendar connection alone does not mean every Zoom call will be captured automatically.
5. Obtain consent
Tell participants before transcription starts. Granola offers an optional Zoom consent-message helper on macOS, but it has practical limits: the Zoom window must be focused, the chat composer must be empty, and another participant must have produced audio before the message is sent.
Use the helper as a disclosure aid rather than proof of consent. Your organization remains responsible for deciding what consent is required and documenting it when necessary.
6. End the note when the call ends
Granola tries to detect when the meeting is over, using audio activity, the call application, and the calendar end time. Detection can fail when Zoom keeps the microphone active or when meetings run back to back. Click Stop at the end of important calls so two meetings do not become one transcript.
Once those devices and permissions are set, test Granola with a short Zoom call and confirm that both sides appear before relying on it with a client.
What you see during the call
Granola can show a live transcript panel while the meeting is running. On macOS, its current Zoom speaker-tags setup uses Accessibility permission to read display names and the active-speaker indicator from the Zoom Workplace desktop app. It does not use the Granola browser extension. Zoom speaker tags are not currently available on Windows or in the Zoom web client; without them, the transcript separates your microphone from system audio as "Me" and "Them." Shared room devices and overlapping speech can still produce missing or incorrect names.
You can type brief notes during the call. Granola combines those notes with the transcript and calendar context when it generates enhanced notes. Short headings or reminders are more useful than trying to type a second transcript.
What happens after the call
Review the generated note before sharing it. Check names, dates, numerical commitments, and action owners against the transcript. Granola does not retain an audio or video recording, so the transcript is the detailed source available for review.
Notes can be shared directly or sent to supported destinations such as Slack, Notion, HubSpot, Attio, Affinity, Zapier, MCP clients, and the Granola API on eligible plans. The Granola integrations guide separates those outbound connections from Zoom capture. Test any automation with low-risk meetings before letting it update a CRM or team channel.
If that reviewed note is more useful than a Zoom recording library, use Granola on the recurring meeting you already know well and compare the follow-up time afterward.
Troubleshooting missing Zoom audio
If Granola captured only you:
- confirm Zoom's speaker matches the operating system's default output;
- avoid routing the meeting through an unselected USB or virtual audio device;
- verify Screen & System Audio permission on macOS;
- restart Granola after changing permissions;
- test with built-in speakers and microphone to isolate Bluetooth or mixer problems.
If Granola captured only other participants, verify the operating system microphone permission and Zoom's selected input device.
If transcription never started, confirm that the meeting note was open and that the active transcription indicator appeared. For an unscheduled Zoom call, use Quick Note.
Granola versus Zoom's own meeting summary
Zoom's built-in AI meeting summary is managed inside Zoom and can be enabled by the host or administrator on eligible plans. It is a natural choice when the organization wants Zoom-native controls, sharing, transcripts, and summaries.
Granola is useful when you want the same personal note-taking workflow across Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack calls, and other desktop audio. It also lets your own typed notes influence the enhanced result. The tradeoff is another cloud vendor and a separate set of retention, sharing, and consent decisions.
My recommendation
Use Granola with Zoom when cross-platform, bot-free capture and private working notes matter more than keeping the entire meeting record inside Zoom. Run a short test call first, confirm both audio channels, and establish consent before the first real meeting.
Discussion
Giscus