I recently started using Fireflies AI for my work meetings, but I’m unsure how to effectively use it to capture meeting notes. I’d like to keep everything organized and make sure I don’t miss important details. Any tips or step-by-step guidance would be really helpful. Thanks!
Alright, here’s how Fireflies AI can make your meeting life a little less chaotic (in theory, anyway). First, just get Fireflies connected to your calendar and where you host calls—Zoom, GMeet, whatever. Fireflies will jump into every meeting you want it to (even some you forget you invited it to, beware) and start recording, transcribing, and making what it calls “notes.” In practice, those “notes” are just sections of the transcript with some highlights pulled out.
For actual organization: after your meeting, log into your Fireflies dashboard. There’ll be a list of your recordings and transcripts. You can relisten, but honestly, who has the time? Use the “Smart Search” to find key topics (Fireflies uses AI to tag stuff like “Action Items,” “Questions,” etc., but it sometimes confuses ‘Actions’ with ‘Random Comments’—so double check). You can also manually highlight parts of the transcript, add comments, or assign tasks to people if you want to feel like you’re running a Fortune 500 company and not just wrangling a team of three.
If you’re sharing with teammates, Fireflies will let you email the notes, or export them to CRMs or project management tools if you want to get fancy. Just… don’t expect it to turn your hour-long meeting into a bite-sized TL;DR without some manual work. The tech’s good, not magic. I suggest: Block off five minutes after every meeting to clean up the AI’s attempts, organize the action items, and maybe delete that bit where someone spent ten minutes talking about their cat (unless that’s relevant).
TL;DR: Fireflies can handle the bulk data, but for decent organized notes, spend a few minutes curating after. It’s a tool, not a mindreader.
Honestly, people treat Fireflies AI like it’s Moses descending from the mountain with stone tablets, but it’s more like a Roomba for your meetings—it’ll suck up every crumb, but sometimes bounces off walls and gets stuck under your furniture. You mentioned wanting things organized and not missing details: totally doable IF you ditch the “hands-off” fantasy.
Unlike what @voyageurdubois said, I don’t bother connecting Fireflies to every calendar event automatically because it’s gotten me in trouble before (yep, it joined a 1:1 with my boss where we roasted upper management… not ideal). Instead, I add it manually to the meetings where notes actually matter. It saves you from the “accidental transcript of lunch” situation.
Once you have your transcript, Fireflies’ AI “highlights” are a good starting point, but don’t trust them blindly. The so-called “Action Items” tab is notorious for tagging anything starting with “I think…” or “Maybe…” as urgent to-do’s. I actually create a custom tag for every meeting—literally just typing [ACTUAL TASK] before major points, either live while the AI’s taking notes or right after while the memory’s fresh.
For staying organized: Instead of using the dashboard’s cluttered list view, I export the transcript to Notion or OneNote and THEN slice & dice it into my own template: Action Items, Open Questions, Decisions, and Oddball Comments (usually worth a laugh). Email features are fine, but unless your team religiously checks them, consider a shared doc or Slack integration.
A little controversial take: let Fireflies run for the ENTIRE meeting instead of pausing when convo strays. Sometimes, the best insights are hidden in those tangents that AI would otherwise cut as “irrelevant.” And not to be a conspiracy theorist, but if you’re dealing with sensitive stuff, double check your org’s policy before recording.
If you’re hoping for a set-it-and-forget-it magic note-taker, disappointment awaits. But if you treat Fireflies as a mediocre intern you have to check up on, it can totally handle the grunt work while you focus on organizing actual insights.
Let’s unpack meeting notes with Fireflies AI, and let’s be honest—neither a holy grail nor just busywork: actual value depends on how you wrangle it. You’ve got people above talking up the AI highlights, and sure, they help, but anyone who’s sat through an hour-long brain-melt knows the real meat ends up buried in offhand comments or half-baked plans. Fireflies AI transcribes pretty well, but context? Still a bit wonky.
Want practical? Here you go:
Pros:
- Fireflies AI integrates easily with most tools (Zoom/MS Teams/Google Meet) and calendar setups.
- Auto-transcribes everything, even weird jargon or crosstalk.
- Highlights “Action Items” and “Questions”—useful, but sometimes too enthusiastic (flagging “we should someday…” as urgent).
Cons:
- The “Action Items” filter can clutter with maybe-tasks or jokes; always skim/cleanup.
- Dashboards get messy REALLY quick if you have recurring meetings or lots of invites.
- Privacy’s a legit concern: Automating it across calendars feels risky (seen a few close calls like accidental HR meeting joins).
- For the best notes, manual involvement is unavoidable.
Comparing those takes: One method is hands-on, meticulously tagging and exporting. The other wants you trusting the AI-threadbare summarization. Middle path? Use Fireflies for capture, but build a NOTES PROTOCOL. For me, that means:
- Let Fireflies run in all “official” meetings—private/side chats, exclude.
- Immediately after, open that transcript, ctrl+F for key phrases or project codes (AI alone misses nuance).
- Create a meeting summary in a shared doc (mine’s Google Docs), organized as: Agenda, Key Decisions, Tasks (with owners), Oddballs/Follow-Ups. Paste actual transcript sections for reference, not just links.
If you’re balancing privacy and not missing gold nuggets, I’d say: Select meetings manually (don’t auto-add; avoided so many awkward moments this way). For capturing actionables, cross-check Fireflies’ AI picks with your memory/notes. It’s not “set and forget,” but neither’s any AI under the sun.
Fireflies AI’s direct competitors—Otter.ai and even MS Teams’ own note feature—each have strengths. Otter has solid live collaboration; Teams is just more ‘corporate default.’ But Fireflies’ ability to integrate with multiple calendars and CRMs, and its export options, still make it a personal favorite for actionable notes, IF you’re willing to wrangle, review, and organize them post-meeting.
If you want “perfect” summaries, you’ll still have to bring your own brain. Fireflies is less a magic notetaker, more a very enthusiastic assistant needing supervision.