Sessions overview
A session is one recorded meeting, call or conversation. TalkBar records the audio, writes a transcript by speaker while people talk, keeps a running timeline, and writes a summary when the session ends. Your sessions are stored on your computer; only the AI providers and channels you choose to set up receive any of it.
New to recording? Start with Your first session.
What a session contains
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Transcript | What was said, split by speaker, with times. |
| Timeline | Short AI notes written every few minutes while you record. |
| Summary | The final write-up, organized into the sections of the session's template. |
| Notes | Your own rich-text note for the session. |
| Action items | Tasks, follow-ups, questions and decisions from the session. |
| Documents | Files you attached for reference. |
| Knowledge | Knowledge cards attached to the session or that came up in it. |
| Audio | The recording itself, unless you delete it. |
The Sessions list
Open Sessions from the sidebar. The page lists every session in the current workspace.
The header has buttons for the other session pages, plus the primary action:
- Upcoming opens your calendar of scheduled sessions. See Scheduling and preparing.
- Series opens your session series.
- Prepare lists the sessions you are preparing for.
- Start session opens the New session window. See Starting a session.
Below the header, the Up next strip shows your scheduled sessions for the coming week. A session that starts within a few minutes gets a Start button.
Views
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| All sessions | Every session that is not in Trash. |
| Pinned | Only the sessions you pinned. |
| Trash | Sessions you moved to Trash. |
In All sessions, the list is grouped:
- the session that is recording now, at the top;
- Continue where you left off: sessions you stopped but have not completed yet;
- Pinned, when Pinned on top is turned on;
- then one group per day (Today, Yesterday, then dates).
Sort, filter and search
- Sort: Session date (the default), Recently updated or Title. Reset goes back to the default.
- Filters: Filter by series, Filter by project, Filter by topic and Filter by keyword. Active filters show as chips above the list; click a chip's × to remove it, or Clear filters to remove them all.
- Search matches words in the session title, project, series, keywords and speaker names. Every word you type must match. When a match comes from something the row doesn't show, the row says where, for example With a speaker's name.
Row actions
Click a row to open the session. The ⋮ menu on each row offers:
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Share | Completed sessions only. See Share links. |
| Export session | Completed sessions only. See Exports. |
| Open | Opens the session. |
| Pin / Unpin | Pinned sessions appear in the Pinned view. |
| Add to series… / Move to series… | Puts the session in a series. |
| Remove from series | Shown when the session is in a series. |
| Move to Trash | Not available while the session is recording. |
Sessions that are stopped but not completed show Continue and Complete buttons right on the row.
Session statuses
A session moves through a few states. The list shows a badge for each state except Completed.
| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| Recording | The session is recording now. Only one session can record at a time. |
| PAUSED | Recording is paused. Nothing is captured until you resume. |
| On hold | Every audio stream is muted or unavailable, so nothing is being captured. |
| Importing | TalkBar is building the session from an audio file. |
| In progress | You stopped recording but have not completed the session. You can still Continue recording into it. |
| Interrupted | Recording stopped unexpectedly, for example when TalkBar or your computer shut down. See Interrupted sessions. |
| (no badge) | Completed. The session is finished and opens on its details page. |
When you click Stop, the session becomes In progress: TalkBar writes the summary, and you can still record more into the same session. When you click Complete session, it is finished for good. A completed session can't be reopened, but you can record a linked follow-up. See After you stop.
Pinned sessions
Pin a session from its row menu to keep it at hand. Turn on Pinned on top in All sessions to list pinned sessions above the rest, or switch to the Pinned view to see only them. Pinned sessions are never moved to Trash by automatic session retention.
Trash
Move to Trash asks you to confirm, then moves the session to Trash. You can restore it from there.
In the Trash view:
- Restore puts the session back in your list.
- Delete removes one session for good, after you confirm.
- Empty Trash permanently deletes every session in Trash.
Permanent deletion removes the transcript, audio, session files and session-only data. It keeps the session's knowledge cards, action items and drafts to review; they just lose their link to the session.
Two settings in Settings → General handle this for you:
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Trash cleanup → Automatically empty Trash | Permanently deletes sessions and notes that have been in Trash longer than Keep Trash items for. | On, 30 days |
| Session retention → Automatically move old sessions to Trash | Moves sessions to Trash by count (Keep at most) or age (Move sessions older than). Pinned sessions and active recordings are never moved. Runs for each workspace when TalkBar starts. | Off |
Plan limits
On the Free plan:
- A workspace can hold up to 20 sessions; TalkBar starts warning you at 15. Sessions in Trash don't count, so moving an old session to Trash frees a slot. When you reach the limit, you can't record or import a new session, but your existing sessions stay fully available.
- Each session can record up to 30 minutes. TalkBar warns you before the limit, then stops the recording and saves the session with its summary.
Paid plans have no limit on stored sessions or recording length. See Plans and license.
Related
Importing recordings
Create a session from an existing audio or video file. TalkBar transcribes it on your computer, separates speakers and writes the summary.
Recording a session
The live recording screen and its panels, pausing and stopping, what happens after you stop, and how TalkBar recovers an interrupted recording.