First-time setup guide

This covers everything from installing the desktop app to being ready to take notes in your first meeting. Work through the five steps — install, launch, sign in and calendar permissions, audio permissions, and a check that it works — and setup is complete. For an overview of the app as a whole, see Pulse basics.

#What you need, and what can be recorded

Pulse runs as a desktop app on macOS and Windows, connected to a Google or Microsoft account. On macOS it requires macOS 14 or later. The web version you open in a browser is for viewing and editing notes you already have; recording and transcription happen in the desktop app.

In the desktop app, the following audio can be transcribed and summarised:

• meetings in whichever tool you use — Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and so on
• voice memos to yourself
• audio playing on your computer, such as a podcast or video

No recording participant joins on the meeting tool's side. The app captures the audio your computer is playing and your microphone audio directly.

#1. Install

For what to watch out for when IT distributes the app in bulk through a device management tool, see Bulk installation and updates for admins.

#2. Launch

Start the app from the Applications folder or the Start menu. You may see a prompt such as “This app was downloaded from the internet. Are you sure you want to open it?”, which is expected. It is fine to open it.

#3. Sign in

You sign in with a Google or Microsoft account. No other sign-in method is supported. Use a Google Workspace account, a personal Google account, or a Microsoft account.

When you click sign in, a new tab opens in your default browser and authentication finishes there. Choosing the same account your usual meetings are in means less to configure afterwards.

#Calendar permissions

Partway through signing in you will see a prompt about calendar permissions. Select every item and continue. What we are asking for is permission to read your calendar events and to retrieve their basic details — attendees, start time, date and title.

If you grant only some of the permissions, events may not appear or attendees may not be imported. You can revisit this later from the calendar settings screen. For details, see Connect your calendar.

#Signing in with a Microsoft account

Signing in with a Microsoft account follows the same flow as Google. Choose your Microsoft account on the authentication screen, approve calendar access, and you are returned to the app. Depending on your organisation's settings, administrator consent may be required. The detailed steps are in Sign in with Microsoft.

#4. Grant microphone and audio permission

Once you have signed in, you will be asked about audio permissions. If you do not grant them, the app cannot capture meeting audio and the transcript stays empty.

For narrowing down cases where audio cannot be captured, see Transcription problems.

#5. Check that it works

The first time you sign in, a demo meeting is prepared for you so you can see the basics. It plays a short piece of audio, shows the transcript appearing, and takes you through to the note being created after the meeting ends. The demo is shown only once.

After the demo, your home screen shows your next events together with the note the demo created.

#Once setup is done

Doing these three things first will get you a genuinely useful note from your very first real meeting.

1. Set your language — the setting differs depending on whether your meetings are mainly in Japanese or mix Japanese and English. See Multi-language support.
2. Fill in your profile — recording your role and responsibilities angles summaries towards what you care about. See Profile and preferences.
3. Register company and department names — add proper nouns that are easily misheard in advance. See Customising transcription.

#If something is not working