How to Record a Meeting Without a Bot with Bluedot for Free

What you need before you start

• A Bluedot account and a workspace. A free plan exists and is described as free forever.
• The Bluedot browser extension installed and pinned, because the bot free path records from your own browser.
• An up to date Chrome if you plan to capture system audio on a Mac. The help center states that system audio capture on Mac needs a recent Chrome version.
• A decision on the recording type: video and audio, audio only, or transcript only. The company notes that the plan can limit what you may record.
• For an online call, the ability to join from the browser. This is what lets you record a tab, a window, or the whole screen.
• A decision on participant notification. You can notify participants, or turn the notification off.
• If you need a bot that joins the call and records while your laptop is closed, a bot based note taker such as tl;dv or Fireflies.ai is the closer fit.

How the job is done with Bluedot

Bot free recording means you record from your own machine, with no bot joining the call.

1. Start from the extension. Click the Bluedot extension icon and select Start Recording. On Windows you can also press Ctrl and Shift and S. You can choose whether the camera is on, and drag the camera circle so it does not block the screen.
2. Choose what to share. In the screen share picker, stay on the Entire Screen tab, toggle on Also share system audio, and click Share. These three actions are how you capture the voices of other participants, and they matter even more when you wear headphones.
3. Or record only the meeting tab. For a Google Meet or Microsoft Teams call in the browser, record the meeting in a tab or window. You can then mute your computer sound and the audio is still captured in the recording.
4. Record an in person meeting. The help center lists three ways. With the mobile app, which is built for in person meetings. With the browser extension, which records through your device microphone: open your browser, click the Bluedot extension icon, and click Start Recording. With the desktop app: open the app, toggle Capture anything, and click Start recording. The desktop method for in person meetings always records audio only.
5. Set your recording preferences. Click the Bluedot icon in your browser extensions, then the three dots in the right corner of the window. From there you can set Video Quality to 720p or 1080p, set the Recording type to video and audio, audio, or transcript only, and choose where a recording is stored while it is processed: Cloud, Local, or Auto. The same menu holds the recording notification, the meeting recording control, and the screen recording control.
6. Optional auto recording. For Google Meet you can auto record with the extension: in the same settings, set the recording type to Audio only or Transcript only, then toggle Auto-recording.
7. Know the bot path for comparison. A bot joins the call at the scheduled time and shows up as your name plus AI NoteTaker, and you click Admit to let it in. It records even if your computer sleeps. Setting it up means connecting a calendar under Automation, then Integrations, then enabling Meeting Bot under Automation.

What to check in the result

• The recording lands in your workspace with a transcript, notes, and action items. The company also describes syncing notes to a CRM or an ATS.
• Listen for the other participants, not only yourself. If you recorded a desktop call, or wore headphones on a Mac, this is where a missing system audio share shows up.
• Check the recording type against your plan. Basic is audio only. Video recording and unlimited duration sit on Pro.
• If you shared a screen in Google Meet, confirm the shared content is in the recording.

Where it usually goes wrong

• Other voices are missing. The system audio toggle was not turned on in the screen share picker, or Chrome on Mac was not up to date.
• A Google Meet screen share is missing from the recording. Google Meet can move the call to a floating Picture-in-Picture window, and Bluedot records the main tab. Fix it by opening Meet, clicking the three dots menu, then Settings, then General, then Automatic picture-in-picture, and selecting Never automatically show. If the floating window is already open, click Back to tab first. Chrome also has a global setting under Privacy and security, then Site settings, then Additional permissions, then Automatic picture-in-picture.
• Your laptop was closed. Extension and desktop recordings need the machine open and awake. Only the bot and background transcript processing survive a closed laptop.
• You canceled the subscription. The pricing page states that you lose access to your recordings, and that you have one month to restore before they are permanently deleted.

What the plan allows

Prices are per user per month, shown for annual and monthly billing.

• Free: zero dollars, described as start free forever.
• Basic: 14 dollars per user per month on annual billing, 18 on monthly. This includes unlimited meetings in audio only, and unlimited storage.
• Pro: 20 dollars per user per month on annual billing, 25 on monthly. This adds video meetings, unlimited recording duration, and custom note templates.
• Business: 32 dollars per user per month on annual billing, 39 on monthly. This adds custom data retention and unlimited audio and video imports.

The page states that you are only charged for users who record meetings. Paid users added mid cycle are billed at a prorated price. The page gives an example: a Pro license taken on May 1 at 25 dollars, then a second license on May 15 billed at 12.50 dollars for the half cycle, and the full price for both on June 1.

What we did not do

We have not used Bluedot. No meeting was recorded, the extension was not installed, and system audio capture was not tested on any machine. The steps above come from the Bluedot help center, read on 3 October 2026. We did not check audio quality, transcript accuracy, note quality, or how the free plan behaves across a full month. We did not test the bot path either. Treat the labels as the company’s own names as of that date.

Sources

• help.bluedothq.com article How to Record the Screen Through the Browser, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article Recording Settings Overview, updated 12 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to Record Your Screen with Participant Audio on Mac, updated 27 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to Record Your Entire Screen with System Audio on Windows, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to Record an In-Person Meeting, updated 24 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article Can I Mute a Meeting and Still Record It, updated 12 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article Can I Close My Laptop While Bluedot Is Recording, updated 24 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to Turn Off the Recording Notification, updated 12 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to record screen share in Google Meet, updated 24 August 2026, read 3 October 2026.
• help.bluedothq.com article How to Record Meetings with a Bot, read 3 October 2026.
• bluedothq.com pricing page at https://www.bluedothq.com/pricing, read 3 October 2026.

Update log

• 3 October 2026: first version. Steps and labels built from the Bluedot help center. No hands on test.