AI on Your Terms: Settings That Make Fellow Work for You

Every team has different expectations for how meetings should be recorded, shared, and retained. Fellow's workspace settings let admins choose which recording methods are available, manage AI features, and set rules for meeting content.

This guide covers the controls in Recordings, Content & Retention, Sharing, General, and Fellow MCP. Some settings depend on your plan or feature availability, so your workspace may not show every option described below.

Choosing how Fellow records meetings

Fellow can capture meetings with a bot or through supported apps and integrations without a bot joining the call. Workspace admins control which methods their team can use in Workspace settings → Recordings → Recording methods.

• Fellow's bot joins an online meeting as a participant to record it.

• Desktop botless recording captures computer and microphone audio through the Fellow desktop app without adding a bot to the call.

• Mobile recording uses a phone or tablet's microphone to capture in-person meetings through the Fellow mobile app.

• Zoom Native Capture records supported Zoom meetings without a bot through a connected Zoom integration. It requires an eligible plan and the appropriate Zoom permissions; it is not available for externally hosted Zoom meetings.

Admins can enable the methods that fit their team's workflow and disable the ones they don't want used. Availability depends on the workspace's plan, apps, connected integrations, and feature rollout.

The Preferred recording method setting determines which method Fellow shows first when someone starts a recording. It does not decide which meetings are automatically recorded.

Choosing which meetings get recorded automatically

Auto-record settings and rules control when Fellow joins meetings automatically. Depending on the workspace's plan and available controls, admins can set defaults and create recording or restriction rules based on criteria such as internal or external attendees, attendee count, and meeting keywords.

For example, a team can use a rule to record external meetings or restrict recording when a meeting matches a specified keyword. Choosing a preferred recording method is separate from configuring these rules.

Capturing and understanding meetings

Start in Workspace settings → Recordings to manage recording, transcription, and AI Notes.

Making hybrid and in-person meeting notes more accurate

Voice matching collects voice samples to help identify speakers in hybrid and in-person meetings. It is useful when several people speak through the same microphone. Admins control whether the workspace allows voice matching, and users can manage their own participation in their personal settings.

For remote meetings where everyone joins from a separate device, speaker identification can use information from the meeting platform. Voice matching can help identify speakers who share a device.

Managing meeting data lifecycles

Your team may need to revisit decisions long after a meeting ends without keeping the full recording. Fellow lets workspace admins set separate retention periods for recordings, transcripts, and AI Notes.

In Workspace settings → Content & Retention → Auto-deletion, you can turn on each option and choose how long to keep that content. Auto-deletion is available on plans that include this feature.

Setting separate retention periods

• Auto-delete recording removes the meeting's audio and video.

• Auto-delete transcript removes the transcript and its speaker labels.

• Auto-delete AI Notes removes the AI-generated notes and content generated from the recording, including action items.

You can give recordings, AI notes, and transcripts different retention periods. To auto-delete AI Notes, you must also enable auto-deletion for both recordings and transcripts. The AI Notes retention period must be at least as long as both of those periods.

Keeping AI Notes without keeping the full conversation

If your team needs a record of decisions and next steps, you can retain AI Notes while automatically deleting recordings and transcripts. Leave Auto-delete AI Notes off and set the recording and transcript retention periods to match your organization's needs.

Recordings and transcripts also support zero-day retention. This removes the selected content after the processing needed to generate AI Notes is complete, rather than keeping it for later playback or review. Zero-day retention does not mean the meeting is never recorded or processed.

Automatically deleting all three

To remove recordings, transcripts, and AI Notes on a schedule, enable all three controls. You can use the same retention period for each, or keep AI Notes longer than the source recording and transcript.

Managing trackers and transcription vocabulary

Deciding who can manage trackers

Trackers help teams find mentions of specific words or topics across meeting conversations. The tracker types available depend on your plan.

The Trackers setting under Recordings determines who can create and edit trackers: everyone or admins only. Deleting trackers remains admin-only. A customer success team, for example, could track mentions of feature requests, while a sales team could track competitor names.

Restricting creation and editing to admins lets your team maintain a shared set of trackers rather than relying on each person to configure their own.

Teaching Fellow your company's language

Custom vocabulary helps Fellow recognize words, phrases, and names that may be unfamiliar to the transcription system. On plans that include it, admins can add workspace vocabulary under Recordings, and members can add their own terms in their personal settings.

Add internal project names, product names, or acronyms in English, separated by commas. Company and attendee names are already included automatically. These additions help the transcription system recognize your team's terminology.

Building trust and transparency in meetings

Personalizing how the note taker shows up

In Workspace settings → General → Fellow's bot customization, admins on eligible plans can change the bot's avatar, display name, and initial chat message.

The default display name is Fellow Note Taker. The Include owner's name option lets you show who added it, such as “Emily's Fellow Note Taker.” You can also upload a custom avatar and write an initial message explaining why the bot has joined.

These settings affect the bot that joins the call. Desktop, mobile, and Zoom Native Capture recordings do not add that bot to the meeting.

Notifying attendees before recording

Recording disclosure, under Recordings, lets admins configure emails that notify attendees before a meeting is recorded. This is separate from the bot's initial chat message.

Use disclosure and meeting notices alongside your organization's recording and consent requirements. Customizing a bot's name or message does not by itself establish consent to record.

Controlling how meeting content is used and shared

Managing downloads, copying, and edits

Under Content & Retention, admins can control whether users can download recordings and AI Notes, copy meeting text, and redact content from recordings and transcripts. Other controls cover viewer stats, automatic locking of meeting notes after a meeting, and who can delete meeting content.

Availability varies by plan and workspace. Auto-locking restricts editing; it does not delete content or replace retention settings.

Setting AI notes sharing defaults

In Workspace settings → Sharing, admins can manage AI Notes public links and set defaults for who receives AI Notes by email. Users can change applicable personal defaults unless an admin has locked them.

Review sharing alongside recording settings: allowing a meeting to be recorded and deciding who can access its notes are separate choices.

Managing access through other AI assistants

On eligible plans, Workspace settings → Fellow MCP lets admins enable or disable MCP connections. These connections let supported AI assistants, such as Claude or ChatGPT, access Fellow meeting data through an authorized connection.

This is separate from Ask Fellow inside Fellow. Under Recordings, the Ask Fellow web search setting controls whether Ask Fellow can search the public web and read web pages. Web search is still rolling out, so enabling the setting does not make it available in every workspace yet.

Frequently asked questions

Can Fellow record without a bot?

Yes. Supported options include desktop recording, mobile recording for in-person meetings, and Zoom Native Capture. Each has its own app, integration, permission, and availability requirements.

Can I keep AI notes after deleting the recording?

Yes. Enable auto-deletion for recordings and, if desired, transcripts, while leaving Auto-delete AI Notes off.

Does zero-day retention mean my meeting is never processed?

No. Fellow processes meeting content to generate AI Notes before removing the recording or transcript selected for zero-day retention.

What if my company uses unique jargon or acronyms?

On plans that include custom vocabulary, admins and members can add English terms to help Fellow recognize them during transcription. Review important names and acronyms in the transcript rather than assuming every term will be captured correctly.

Where can I find Fellow's data handling information?

See Fellow's Privacy Policy and Security & Trust information for details beyond these product settings.

Review your workspace settings

Start with the recording methods your team needs, then review auto-record rules, sharing defaults, and retention periods together. Check which settings users can change themselves and which should be managed by admins.

Keeping those choices aligned helps your team capture useful meeting notes without keeping or sharing more content than intended.