Minutes Ago

Minutes Ago Guide

How to use Minutes Ago, the menu bar app that keeps the last stretch of your meetings on this Mac so you can save it after the fact. Coming soon to the Mac App Store. About Minutes Ago

• 01Getting StartedRequirements, installing, the first-run guide, microphone permission, starting to record, reading the menu bar, the Dock icon, and the Settings window.
• 02Saving, Recordings & MinutesSave the Last, how far back you can go, pausing and erasing live audio, the Recordings & Minutes window and its File menu, playing lines, editing and deleting lines, search, markers, meetings and pausing them, screenshots, saved recordings, exporting transcripts as subtitles or Markdown, and the microphone.
• 03Importing Audio FilesImport an audio or video file of a meeting you didn't record. It becomes a saved recording, transcribed on this Mac with the model you choose, and you identify speakers, write minutes and export it like any other recording. A Minutes Ago Pro feature (a license in the direct version), not covered by free tries.
• 04Transcription and ModelsLive transcription and speech detection, the transcription models (Apple, Whisper large-v3-turbo, Parakeet TDT (Japanese), Cohere Transcribe (Beta)), downloading them in Settings › Models, transcribing a range, a saved recording or a file again with another model, and keeping a transcript for each model.
• 05Speakers and MinutesIdentify speakers and name them, generate minutes with presets and providers (Apple Intelligence on this Mac, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini or your own server), minutes with screenshots, the replacement dictionary, and accuracy.
• 06App AudioRecord a meeting app's sound as a second track (App Audio): choosing the app, the permission, which sound is captured, the status, the input level dot and orange lines, recording without the microphone, exports, and known limitations.
• 07Agents and ShortcutsGet transcripts, audio, minutes and saved recordings out through AI agents on this Mac (such as Claude), Shortcuts, or the command-line tool of the direct version, start, pause and stop meetings, add markers and screenshots, and set keys that work from any app. For advanced users.
• 08Data and PrivacyWhere data is stored (live audio, saved recordings, screenshots, downloaded models), retention and automatic deletion, Erase Live Audio…, deleting saved recordings, lines and models, the Keychain, the connections off your Mac (seven for the App Store version, eight for the direct version), withdrawing permissions, uninstalling, and checkpoints for IT administrators.
• 09Troubleshooting and FAQWhat to check when something doesn't work, and frequently asked questions.