If you’ve ever spent hours cleaning up a messy Google Doc after a meeting—or, worse, tried to piece together everyone’s memory of what was said—you know the pain of bad meeting notes. This guide is for anyone who wants to make meeting notes less of a headache, especially if you’re curious about using Letsdive to take notes together, in real time, while you meet.
Whether you’re leading a team, wrangling your first project, or just tired of “who wrote this?” moments, you’ll find straight answers here. No hype—just what works, what doesn’t, and how to get moving fast.
Why Bother With Real-Time Collaborative Notes?
Let’s get real: most meetings end with a vague list of “action items” that nobody owns, or a jumble of half-finished notes that never see the light of day. Real-time collaboration means:
- Less backtracking after the meeting.
- More accountability (everyone sees who wrote what).
- Fewer “wait, did we talk about that?” moments.
- Notes that actually make sense—because you wrote them together.
If you’re not already using something like this, you’re probably burning more time than you think.
Step 1: Set Up Letsdive for Your Team
First off, if you’re not set up on Letsdive, you’ll need to get your team in. It’s built for collaborative meetings, so it’s not just another doc tool.
- Sign Up or Log In
- Go to Letsdive and create an account, or log in.
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If you’re just trying it out, the free version is fine for most small teams.
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Create or Join a Workspace
- You’ll need a workspace for your team. If you’re the first one in, you’ll be the “admin” by default. (Don’t let that go to your head.)
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Invite your teammates by email—no need to overthink permissions yet.
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Connect Your Calendar (Optional, but Worth It)
- Letsdive can sync with Google Calendar or Outlook. This means meetings show up automatically, and you can attach notes to actual calendar events.
- If privacy is a concern, just sync only the calendar you need.
Pro tip: Don’t invite everyone in your company unless you want a flood of random meetings in your workspace. Start with your immediate team.
Step 2: Schedule or Import Your Meeting
Letsdive works best when you use it before the meeting starts—not just as an afterthought.
- Create a Meeting
- Hit “New Meeting” and fill in the basics: title, time, attendees.
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If you connected your calendar, you can import existing events.
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Add an Agenda (Optional, But Seriously Helpful)
- Add agenda items directly in the meeting. Each item becomes a section for notes.
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You can assign owners, set time limits, or just keep it simple.
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Share the Meeting Link
- Send out the Letsdive meeting link with your invite. This is the link everyone will use to join the notes in real time.
- If your team is stubborn about “just using Zoom,” don’t worry—you can still use Letsdive for notes while on any video call.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time customizing the meeting background or fiddling with integrations until you’ve run a meeting or two. Focus on getting the basics right.
Step 3: Take Notes Together—In Real Time
Here’s where the magic happens. This is what sets Letsdive apart from dumping stuff in a doc nobody reads.
- Open the Meeting in Letsdive
- When your meeting starts, open the Letsdive meeting from your calendar or the dashboard.
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You’ll see the agenda and a shared notes section, side by side.
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Start Typing—Everyone Can Edit
- Anyone in the meeting can add notes, comments, or action items as you go.
- You’ll see each person’s cursor and changes in real time.
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Formatting is simple: bold, italics, bullets, checkboxes. No need to learn Markdown or fight with weird formatting.
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Highlight, Comment, and Assign
- Highlight text to leave a comment or tag someone for follow-up.
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Assign action items directly to teammates—they’ll get notified (no more “who’s doing this?”).
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Use Shortcuts, but Don’t Stress
- There are keyboard shortcuts, but honestly, just typing is good enough for most.
- Don’t overdo it—focus on capturing what matters.
Honest take: Real-time editing sounds great, but it can turn into chaos if everyone’s typing over each other. If your team is new to it, assign a “notes driver” to steer the ship, and let others chime in with comments or clarifications.
Step 4: Keep Notes Organized (And Actually Useful)
A shared note is only as good as what you do with it after the meeting ends.
- Review and Clean Up Together
- Before you all hang up, glance through the notes. Fill in any blanks, clarify action items, and cut the rambling stuff.
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If something’s unclear now, it’ll be even fuzzier tomorrow.
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Assign Action Items Clearly
- Use Letsdive’s built-in task feature to assign and track action items.
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Each task links to the person responsible—no more “who’s got the ball?” confusion.
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Share the Final Notes
- You can export notes to email, Slack, Notion, or just copy-paste them anywhere.
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If the meeting was important, pin the notes in your project channel or share the Letsdive link.
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Keep All Your Past Notes in One Place
- Letsdive saves all your meeting notes by default—you can search them later.
- No more digging through old email threads or random Docs.
What doesn’t work: Don’t just let notes pile up in Letsdive and hope people will read them. If something is critical, surface it somewhere your team actually checks.
Step 5: Make Real-Time Notes a Habit, Not a One-Off
It’s easy to do this once and then fall back to old habits. Here’s how to make it stick:
- Set the Tone: If you’re running the meeting, start each call in Letsdive and open the shared notes right away.
- Rotate the Scribe: Don’t make one person always take notes. Rotate the job so everyone gets comfortable editing live.
- Review Action Items Next Time: Start your next meeting by glancing at last time’s notes. This keeps everyone honest.
- Keep It Simple: Don’t try to record every word. Focus on decisions, action items, and important questions.
- Don’t Force It: If your team hates the tool after a few tries, talk about why. Maybe real-time notes aren’t for every group—and that’s fine.
Pro tip: Turn off notifications for non-essential stuff in Letsdive. Otherwise, you’ll get swamped with “so-and-so edited this” emails nobody wants.
FAQs and Honest Gotchas
Q: Do I need to use Letsdive for video calls, too?
Nope. Use whatever video platform you want—Zoom, Teams, Google Meet. Letsdive is for notes and collaboration, not video.
Q: Can guests or clients join a meeting and take notes?
Yes, but you’ll need to invite them by email. Some features may be limited for guests, but basic note-taking works.
Q: Is it secure?
Notes are private to your workspace. Still, if you’re sharing super-sensitive stuff, check your company’s policy before relying on any SaaS tool.
Q: What about integrations?
Letsdive integrates with Slack, Notion, Google Calendar, and others. They work, but don’t get distracted by connecting everything at once—start simple.
Q: What if someone deletes notes by accident?
There’s basic version history, but it’s not as detailed as Google Docs. If you’re paranoid, export important notes after big meetings.
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple and Iterate
Collaborating on meeting notes in real time can save you a lot of pain—if you keep things straightforward and don’t overcomplicate it. Start small: try Letsdive for your next team meeting, see what sticks, and tweak as you go. If you find yourself fighting the tool, talk about it as a team.
At the end of the day, the best notes are the ones you actually use. Don’t chase perfection. Just get started, keep it clear, and make it work for your team.