#Export & Share Meetings

Save your meetings as files for archiving, sharing with others, or importing into other tools. Clearminutes supports Markdown, plain text, and direct integrations with Outline and other platforms.

#Quick Export

Export a meeting in 3 clicks:

1. Open a meeting (click to view transcript)
2. Click Export button (top-right of detail view, or in toolbar)
3. Choose Copy to Clipboard or Save to File
4. Done — file is ready to share or archive

[SCREENSHOT: Export button and dropdown menu in meeting detail]

#Export Formats

Clearminutes supports two export formats. Choose based on where you're using the file:

#Markdown (.md)

Best for: Publishing, note-taking apps, web content, version control

Markdown is a simple, universal format that converts beautifully in most tools.

Example output:

# Team Standup
2025-01-24 | 45 minutes | 3 participants

## Transcript

[00:00:15] Alice
"Good morning everyone, thanks for joining."

[00:01:02] Bob
"Thanks for having us. Let's dive in."

## Summary

### Key Points
- Discussed Q4 roadmap priorities
- Engineering needs approval for 3-month database refactor
- Product team requesting 2 additional developers

### Action Items
- [ ] Send database spec to engineering — Alice
- [ ] Schedule follow-up with product team — Bob  
- [ ] Review budget proposal — You

### Topics Covered
- Q4 roadmap
- Database performance
- Hiring timeline

## Metadata
- Date: 2025-01-24 10:30 AM
- Duration: 45 min 32 sec
- Speakers: Alice, Bob, You

Markdown advantages:

• Clean, readable formatting with headers, bold, italics
• Imports into Notion, Obsidian, Confluence, wikis
• Can be published on GitHub, blogs, or websites
• Works with static site generators (Hugo, Jekyll)
• Small file size despite rich formatting
• Universally supported (open standard)

Use Markdown when:

• Sharing with teams (via email, Slack, wiki)
• Publishing to web (blog, documentation site)
• Importing into note-taking apps (Notion, Obsidian, OneNote)
• Long-term archival (widely supported format)
• Collaborating (merge-friendly for version control)

#Plain Text (.txt)

Best for: Simple sharing, accessibility, lightweight archival

Plain text is the simplest format — no formatting, just words.

Example output:

TEAM STANDUP
2025-01-24 | 45 minutes | 3 participants

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:15] Alice
Good morning everyone, thanks for joining.

[00:01:02] Bob
Thanks for having us. Let's dive in.

SUMMARY

Key Points
- Discussed Q4 roadmap priorities
- Engineering needs approval for 3-month database refactor
- Product team requesting 2 additional developers

Action Items
- Send database spec to engineering — Alice
- Schedule follow-up with product team — Bob  
- Review budget proposal — You

Topics Covered
- Q4 roadmap
- Database performance
- Hiring timeline

METADATA
Date: 2025-01-24 10:30 AM
Duration: 45 min 32 sec
Speakers: Alice, Bob, You

Plain text advantages:

• Simplest format — works everywhere (email, SMS, terminal)
• Smallest file size
• Fastest to load
• No formatting issues (no broken links, missing styles, etc.)
• Maximum accessibility (screen readers, old systems)
• Easy to edit (plain text editor on any device)

Use plain text when:

• Sending via email (no formatting needed)
• Quick lightweight sharing
• Compatibility with old systems
• Accessibility is critical
• Long-term archival where formatting might become obsolete

#What's Included in Exports

Both Markdown and plain text exports include the same content:

Not included:

• Original audio file (WAV, M4A) — only transcript
• Audio waveform or spectrogram
• Processing logs or edit history
• Internal Clearminutes metadata
• Your private notes or comments

#PDF Export (Pro)

Export meetings as formatted PDF documents:

1. Open a meeting
2. Click Export
3. Select PDF from the format options
4. Choose layout options (include transcript, summary, or both)
5. Click Export

PDF exports include formatted headers, speaker labels, and timestamps — ready to share or archive.

#Export Methods

Choose how to get your file:

#Copy to Clipboard

Fastest method — export directly to clipboard for pasting:

1. Open a meeting
2. Click Export
3. Choose format: Markdown or Plain Text
4. Click Copy to Clipboard
5. Paste into:
   • Email message
   • Chat app (Slack, Teams)
   • Note-taking app (Notion, OneNote, Apple Notes)
   • Document (Google Docs, Word, etc.)
   • Code editor

Advantage: No file to manage; content is ready to paste immediately.

[SCREENSHOT: Export dialog with "Copy to Clipboard" button]

#Save to File

Save to disk for archiving or sharing:

1. Open a meeting
2. Click Export
3. Choose format: Markdown or Plain Text
4. Click Save to File
5. A file dialog appears:
   • Choose location (Desktop, Documents, custom folder, etc.)
   • Filename appears (e.g., "Team Standup - 2025-01-24.md")
   • Edit filename if desired
6. Click Save
7. File is saved to your chosen location

Default filenames:

• Markdown: Team Standup - 2025-01-24.md
• Plain text: Team Standup - 2025-01-24.txt

Edit the filename before saving if you want a different name:

Original:  Team Standup - 2025-01-24.md
Custom:    2025-01-24 Team Standup - Final Notes.md

Organize exported files:

• Desktop: Quick access, but desktop gets cluttered
• Documents: Standard, organized location
• Custom folder: Create ~/Clearminutes Exports/ for centralized storage
• Cloud drive: Store on Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox for backup and sharing
• External drive: Keep large collections on USB or external SSD

#Export to Outline (Pro)

Push meeting notes directly to your Outline knowledge base (no file needed):

#Setup Outline Integration (One-Time)

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Outline
2. Enter your Outline URL (e.g., https://outline.mycompany.com or https://app.getoutline.com)
3. Enter your API Token (from Outline → Settings → API Tokens)
4. Click Connect
5. Outline is now connected

#Export to Outline

1. Open a meeting
2. Click Export
3. Select Outline from the options
4. A dialog appears: "Choose collection and parent document"
   • Collection: Which Outline collection to save to (e.g., "Meetings", "Q4 Planning")
   • Parent Document: Where to nest it (optional — creates folder structure)
5. Click Export
6. Meeting is created as a new Outline document within seconds

What gets created in Outline:

• Title: Meeting name + date (e.g., "Team Standup - Jan 24")
• Sections:
  • Transcript (full text with speaker labels)
  • Summary (Key Points, Action Items, Topics)
  • Metadata (date, duration, speakers)
• Formatting: Markdown is converted to Outline's native formatting (headers, bullets, etc.)

See Integrations: Outline for detailed setup and troubleshooting.

#Export Tips & Best Practices

#Organize Your Exports

1. Create a folder structure:

   ~/Clearminutes Exports/
   ├── 2025/
   │   ├── Q1/
   │   │   ├── Team Standup - Jan 24.md
   │   │   ├── Engineering Sync - Jan 31.md
   │   └── Q2/
   │       ├── Product Planning - Apr 15.md

2. Consistent naming: [YYYY-MM-DD] [Type] [Topic].md

   • 2025-01-24 Team Standup - Q4 Roadmap.md
   • 2025-01-24 1-on-1 with Alex.md
   • 2025-01-24 Client Meeting - Acme Corp.md

3. Use cloud backup: Store in Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive for automatic syncing

#Before Exporting

1. Edit transcript — Fix errors, correct speaker labels (see Edit Transcripts)
2. Verify summary — Ensure it matches your edits (regenerate if needed)
3. Check export preview — Some apps show a preview before you click Export (review it)

#Sharing Tips

Sharing via email:

• Use Copy to Clipboard + Markdown — paste directly in email body
• Keep it under 2 MB (most email providers limit attachments)
• For large meetings, use Save to File + attach or link to cloud drive

Sharing via chat (Slack, Teams):

• Copy to Clipboard → paste in message
• Or save as file and upload
• Slack/Teams will render Markdown formatting nicely

Publishing to web:

• Export as Markdown
• Copy content into your blog/wiki editor
• Add frontmatter (title, date, tags) if needed
• Most platforms auto-format Markdown

#Archive Important Meetings

Before you enable auto-delete:

1. Filter by project/date range (see Organize Meetings)
2. Bulk select all meetings from that period
3. Export as zip archive
4. Store on external drive or cloud
5. Safely delete from Clearminutes (Storage shows freed space)

#Troubleshooting Exports

#File Won't Save

Problem: "Permission Denied" or "Cannot save file"

Solutions:

1. Try saving to Desktop or Documents instead
2. Check that the folder exists and is writable
3. Ensure you have disk space available
4. Try a shorter filename (very long names sometimes fail)
5. Restart Clearminutes and try again

#Special Characters Show as ???

Problem: Non-ASCII characters (é, ü, 中文, etc.) appear as ??? or garbage

Solution:

• Export as Markdown instead of Plain Text (Markdown supports UTF-8 better)
• When opening the file, ensure your text editor is set to UTF-8 encoding
• If pasting into another app, ensure that app supports UTF-8

#File Is Too Large

Problem: Export file is >5 MB or won't open in some apps

Causes:

• Very long meeting (2+ hours) with huge transcript
• Outlook/Gmail blocking large files

Solutions:

1. Export as Plain Text instead of Markdown (slightly smaller)
2. Split the meeting into sections:
   • Manually edit the exported file, cut into multiple documents
   • Or export only the transcript (not the audio)
3. Compress the file: Use zip to reduce size
4. Use cloud drive: Store on Google Drive/OneDrive instead of emailing

#Markdown Formatting Looks Wrong in Some Apps

Problem: Headers, bullet points, or links don't render correctly

Causes:

• The app you're using doesn't support Markdown (Word, certain email clients)
• Formatting was lost during paste/import

Solutions:

1. Open in a Markdown-aware app:
   • VS Code, Obsidian, Notion, Typora
   • GitHub, GitLab (web-based rendering)
2. Paste as Plain Text, then apply formatting manually
3. Use the app's native format:
   • For Word: Save as .docx, open in Word, manually format
   • For Notion: Use Notion's markdown importer or paste + auto-format

#Outline Export Fails

See Integrations: Outline Troubleshooting

#Related

• Organize Meetings →
• Edit Transcripts →
• Outline Integration →
• TickTick Integration →