Guides / Automatic Call Recording
How do I record a Slack huddle on a Mac?
Record it from your own Mac. Capture your microphone and the huddle's audio together, start when your mic goes live, and keep the file on your machine. Recording at the system level means no bot has to join and nobody else has to do anything. Tell the other people in the huddle that you are recording before you start.
Why huddles slip past most recording setups
A huddle is the opposite of a scheduled meeting. Someone clicks the headphones icon, you hop in, and ten minutes later you have agreed on something that matters. There was no invite and no calendar event.
That is the problem. Any tool that waits for a scheduled meeting never fires, and by the time you think "I should have recorded that", the only record is your memory.
So the thing to look for is a recorder that reacts to the call itself, not to the calendar.
The manual options and where they fall short
- QuickTime audio recording captures your microphone. It will not capture what the other people say unless you route system audio through a virtual audio device, which is fiddly to set up.
- Screen recorders can capture system audio with some extra setup, and you have to remember to press record every single time.
- Slack's own huddle features vary by plan and workspace settings, so check what your workspace actually offers before you rely on them.
All of these share one weakness. You have to remember to start them, usually before you know the huddle is going to matter.
How to record a Slack huddle automatically with Donna
Donna is a Mac menu-bar assistant that detects when a call starts and records it locally, capturing your mic and the call audio. Slack huddles are on her list, along with Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Discord and Webex.
- Download Donna for Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple silicon or Intel) and let her sit in the menu bar.
- Subscribe to Pro, the plan that includes recording. Details are on the pricing page.
- Start or join the huddle in Slack the way you always do.
- The moment your mic goes live, Donna starts recording. There is no calendar event to set up and no record button to press.
- End the huddle. The recording is already saved on your Mac, and the transcript and summary follow.
The same detection works for other calls. If you also live in Zoom, see how to record a Zoom call on Mac without a bot.
What you get after the huddle ends
A recording on its own is just a file you will never replay. Donna turns it into something you can use.
- A transcript made by Whisper on your Mac, live as you talk and polished after the call. Click any line to hear that moment.
- A summary written automatically by a local model once the transcript settles: what the huddle was about, key points, decisions, and action items with owners.
- Questions about the huddle. Open the recording and ask "what did we decide?" or "what did Priya promise?" and Donna answers from that transcript.
A huddle has no invite to pull names from, so label each voice yourself once. Donna recognizes it in future meetings, relabels past transcripts, and rewrites the summary so the right person gets credit.
Live in-call captions need macOS 26. On earlier versions, the full transcript is ready right after the call.
Consent, privacy and where the audio lives
No bot joins, nothing appears in the participant list, and nobody gets a "recorder has joined" notice. That keeps huddles feeling like huddles, but it also means nobody is told for you. Donna reminds you to get consent where it is required, so say it out loud at the start: "I'm recording this one."
Recording, transcription, speaker matching and summaries all run on your Mac. Audio and transcripts are never uploaded. You can also pick a schedule for old audio to be deleted automatically.
If you stop subscribing, everything already recorded stays on your Mac and stays viewable. Donna just stops recording new calls until you subscribe again.
A tip if you run huddles in Chrome
If you use Slack in Chrome and the macOS input volume slider drifts during a huddle, that is Chrome's automatic gain control at work. Donna never changes your mic input volume.
- Open chrome://flags and search for "input volume".
- Set "Allow WebRTC to adjust the input volume" to Disabled.
- Relaunch Chrome.
- If the flag is missing in your version of Chrome, go to chrome://settings/content/microphone and revoke mic access for sites that do not need it.
Try Donna. Records, transcribes and summarizes your meetings on your Mac, with nothing sent to a server.
Frequently asked questions
Can I record a Slack huddle that was never on my calendar?
Yes. Donna starts recording the moment your mic goes live, so spontaneous huddles and other ad-hoc calls are captured just like scheduled ones.
Will the other people in the huddle see that I am recording?
No. There is no bot, nothing shows up in the participant list, and nobody gets a notice. That is why you should tell people yourself, and Donna reminds you to get consent where it is required.
Is recording Slack huddles free?
Recording is part of Pro, which is $8 per month or $80 per year. The Free plan covers the calendar features and the private on-device chat but does not record calls.
Does it work on Windows or only on a Mac?
Only on a Mac for now, running macOS 13 or later. Windows is coming soon, with no date yet.