If you’re tired of meetings eating your day, but still need a record of what happened, you’ve probably heard about AI note-takers. This guide is for folks who actually want their meeting tools to do something—sync up with their Google Calendar, show up when they’re needed, and stay out of the way otherwise. Specifically, we’ll walk through how to integrate Fireflies—one of the better-known meeting transcription bots—with Google Calendar for smarter, less stressful scheduling.
This isn’t a sales pitch. You’ll get honest pros, cons, and a step-by-step walkthrough, so you can decide if this is worth your time. If you’re a manager, consultant, founder, or anyone who lives by their calendar, read on.
Why Bother Integrating Fireflies with Google Calendar?
Let’s keep it simple: Fireflies is an AI assistant that automatically joins your meetings, records them, transcribes the conversation, and can even summarize it for you. The Google Calendar integration means:
- Fireflies knows exactly when your meetings are.
- You don’t have to manually invite the bot each time.
- Recordings and notes get linked to your calendar events.
- You can set rules (e.g., “only join meetings with more than 2 people”).
Who’s this for? If you run a lot of virtual meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, and you’re tired of juggling invites or missing key details, this setup saves real time. If you rarely meet online, it’s probably overkill.
Step 1: Get Your Accounts Ready
Before you jump in, you’ll need:
- A Fireflies account (free accounts are fine for basic features; paid plans unlock more)
- A Google account with Calendar enabled
- Admin access to your Google account, if you want to connect on behalf of a team
Pro Tip: If you use multiple Google accounts (say, one for work, one for personal), make sure you’re signed into the right one in your browser before starting. Otherwise, you’ll end up connecting the wrong calendar, which is a pain to fix.
Step 2: Connect Fireflies to Google Calendar
- Log in to Fireflies: Go to the Fireflies web dashboard.
- Head to ‘Integrations’: Find this in the left sidebar (usually under ‘Settings’). If you’re on your main dashboard, look for a plug icon or the word “Integrations.”
- Find Google Calendar: You’ll see a list of apps—click on Google Calendar.
- Click ‘Connect’: A popup will ask you to sign in with Google. Make sure you pick the account with the calendar you want Fireflies to access.
- Grant Permissions: Fireflies asks for several permissions—reading your events, creating and editing, etc. It needs these to add itself to meetings and write notes back. If you’re not comfortable with this level of access, stop here. There’s no way to do a “read-only” integration.
- Confirm Connection: You should see a green checkmark or a “Connected” status.
Heads-up: The connection is all-or-nothing. If you’re worried about privacy, remember Fireflies will see your calendar event titles, guests, and sometimes even the meeting links. It doesn’t read your emails or files, but if that’s a dealbreaker, skip the integration.
Step 3: Set Your Recording Preferences
Now, let’s decide when Fireflies should join your meetings. This is crucial—otherwise, you’ll either have a bot in every single event (awkward) or miss important ones.
- Open ‘Auto-Join Settings’: Still in the Fireflies dashboard, look for meeting settings or “Auto-join.”
- Choose Your Rules:
- All meetings: Fireflies will join everything with a conference link.
- Only meetings I host: Good if you don’t want the bot popping up in someone else’s event.
- Only meetings I’m invited to: Useful if you’re not always the host.
- Filter by keywords: You can tell Fireflies to only join events with certain words in the title or description, like “review” or “client.”
- Set Exclusions: If you have private or recurring events you never want recorded (“Lunch with Mom,” “Therapy”), add those keywords or set up exclusions.
Pro Tip: Start with “Only meetings I host.” You can always loosen the rules if you want more coverage.
Step 4: Test the Integration
Don’t trust that it’ll just work—run a test.
- Create a test event: Schedule a quick meeting in Google Calendar using your usual video platform (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.).
- Invite yourself or a dummy participant: Add your email and a test participant, or just yourself.
- Add a conference link: Make sure there’s a Zoom or Meet link in the event.
- Wait for Fireflies: When the meeting starts, Fireflies should automatically join as a participant (usually named “Fireflies.ai Notetaker” or similar). You’ll get an email or dashboard notification when the recording is ready.
- Check the Fireflies dashboard: After the meeting, log in and see if the recording and transcript show up, linked to your test event.
If it doesn’t work, double-check:
- The Google Calendar event had a conference link.
- Your Fireflies and Google accounts are actually connected.
- Your auto-join settings aren’t too restrictive.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with manual invites unless you have a specific, one-off meeting. The whole point is to automate this.
Step 5: Tweak Notifications and Privacy
Fireflies can bombard you with emails and notifications if you let it. Here’s how to tame them:
- Notification settings: In Fireflies, look for “Notifications” or “Email Preferences.” Turn off what you don’t need (e.g., “Meeting summary” if you prefer to check the dashboard).
- Team privacy: If you’re using Fireflies in a shared workspace, double-check what’s being recorded and who has access. This avoids awkward surprises later.
Reality check: No AI note-taker is perfect. Sometimes Fireflies will join meetings it shouldn’t, or miss one because of a weird calendar setup. Don’t trust it blindly—especially for sensitive conversations.
Step 6: Use Fireflies-Generated Notes in Your Workflow
Here’s where the integration pays off:
- Linked notes: Meeting recordings and transcriptions show up in Fireflies, linked to your calendar event. You can search by event title or date.
- Summaries: Fireflies tries to auto-summarize meetings. Sometimes it’s useful, sometimes it’s generic fluff. Use your judgment.
- Sharing: You can share recordings, transcripts, or highlights with teammates. Useful for folks who missed the meeting.
- Exporting: Download transcripts or send them to tools like Slack, Notion, or your CRM—if you’re on a paid plan.
Don’t get sucked in: The real value is not in reading every transcript. Use summaries to jog your memory, and only dive in if you need specifics.
Honest Pros and Cons
Let’s be real—here’s what actually works, and what doesn’t:
What works: - Saves you from manually inviting a bot every time you need notes. - Automatically links meeting notes to your calendar, so nothing gets lost. - Frees up your brain so you can focus on the meeting, not the logistics.
What doesn’t: - Fireflies sometimes joins the wrong meeting (especially if you have overlapping events). - Transcriptions are good, not flawless—accents, crosstalk, and bad audio will trip it up. - Privacy: Having an AI bot in every meeting can weird people out, especially with external clients. - On free plans, you’ll hit limits fast (number of recordings, storage, integrations).
What to ignore: - Don’t expect magical insights or “AI-powered action items”—the summaries are hit-or-miss. Use them as a starting point, not gospel. - Slick marketing about “100% accurate” transcription—no service nails this yet.
Troubleshooting: Common Problems and Fixes
- Fireflies didn’t join my meeting: Double-check conference link, calendar connection, and auto-join rules. Try reconnecting your Google Calendar if it keeps failing.
- Wrong calendar synced: Disconnect and reconnect, making sure you’re signed into the right Google account first.
- Too many notifications: Adjust Fireflies’ email settings—don’t just delete the emails, fix the source.
- Colleagues don’t want to be recorded: Always ask before you automate recordings, especially in sensitive contexts.
Keep It Simple—Iterate as You Go
Don’t over-engineer. Start with basics: connect Fireflies to Google Calendar, set it to join your own hosted meetings, and see how it fits your workflow. If it saves you time and hassle, great—expand from there. If not, remove the integration and move on. There’s no “one best way,” so make it work for you, not the other way around.
Happy scheduling.