What you need to know
- Google Meet audio and video call service get new abilities.
- The calls can now be transcribed into text and saved in Google Docs.
- The transcribed file can be further protected in Google Drive.
Google kickstarted its Cloud Next ’22 event early this week and made some new announcements about its popular video and audio call service. Google Meet calls can now be transcribed into text, and users can further save them in a Google Doc format, the company mentioned in an accompanying Workspace blog post. The saved file can be additionally accessed from Google Drive.
Google Meet is one of the most popular apps, especially after replacing the Google Duo app for iOS and Android devices. However, Google has stated the new feature can be accessed in Google Meet for desktop or laptop clients and is available only for the English language. Google says the transcribed file can be stored in the same “Meeting Recordings” folder of the Google Meet app from the accompanying Google Drive storage.
Before joining the Google Meet call, attendees will be notified that the call is being transcribed. These transcripts are intended to capture the meeting’s discussion, serves as a record, and is helpful as a follow-up to attendees or host if they want to recall a particular segment or point in the whole discussion.
Meetings involving around 200 invitees, including the meeting host, co-hosts, and the transcript initiator, are said to be receiving the link of the transcription document to their respective emails. Another nifty feature here is that the “transcript will automatically be attached to the associated calendar invite for the meeting.”
And for meetings involving more than 200 attendees, the transcribed file will be shared with meeting organizers, hosts, co-hosts, and individual users who initiated a transcription. Google says new transcription documents will be created along with the calendar invite if users are often into recurring meetings.
The transcribe feature will be turned on by default and “can be configured at the group, domain, or OU level.” In the Google WorkSpace Education suite, consumers with a teaching license can turn on the feature, while users with a student license cannot.
The new feature is expected to roll out starting October 24. It will be available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers. Personal Google account users, amongst other Workspace users, are not eligible to utilize the new feature.
