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Meeting notes in Obsidian, automatically: Markdown with frontmatter, written on your Mac

By Marco Tissen — developer of Voxdrop · Last updated: October 2026 · 6 min read

Obsidian works because your notes are plain files you own. Most meeting tools do the opposite: the notes live in their cloud, and you get them out by copy-paste or through an API. Voxdrop records and transcribes calls on your Mac anyway, so since version 2.3 it simply writes each meeting into a folder of your choice, as a file that Obsidian – or any other editor – can read.

How do I export meetings to Obsidian automatically?

1. Open Voxdrop → Settings → Integrations → Export.
2. Turn on Export meetings automatically and choose a folder, e.g. Meetings inside your vault. Voxdrop checks right away that it can write there, so macOS asks for access now rather than after your next call.
3. Optional: Also as JSON.
4. Optional: Export earlier meetings writes the meetings that are already in Voxdrop.

From then on, each meeting lands in the folder as soon as Voxdrop has finished its summary and to-dos.

What does an exported meeting look like?

The file name starts with date and time, so files sort chronologically: 2026-10-20 14.05 Sprint planning API v2.md. Characters that Obsidian links or the file system don't like are removed. Inside (made-up example, shortened):

---
type: meeting
schema: "voxdrop.meeting/1"
id: "8c1e4d2a-5b7f-4e0a-9d3c-2f6b1a7e9c40"
title: "Sprint planning API v2"
date: "2026-10-20T12:05:00Z"
duration_min: 32
app: "us.zoom.xos"
language: "en"
speakers: ["Me", "Others"]
todos_open: 2
tags: [meeting, voxdrop]
---

# Sprint planning API v2

October 20, 2026 at 2:05 PM · 32 min

## Short summary

- Rate limit for the public API moves to 100 requests per minute.
- …

## Summary

- …

## To-dos

- [ ] Update the OpenAPI spec — Me (due Friday)
- [ ] Write the postmortem — Jonas

## Transcript

**Me** (0:12): …

Headings and the default speaker names follow the meeting's language: a German call gets “Kurzfassung”, “Zusammenfassung” and “Transkript”, a French one “Résumé”. To-dos are real Markdown checkboxes, with the person and the due date if one was said.

Can I query my meetings in Obsidian?

Yes. Obsidian reads the frontmatter as properties, so both the core plugin Bases (since Obsidian 1.9.10) and the community plugin Dataview can use it. A table of all meetings with Bases – sort it by date in the view's Sort menu:

```base
filters:
  and:
    - 'type == "meeting"'
views:
  - type: table
    name: Meetings
    order:
      - title
      - date
      - duration_min
      - todos_open
```

Meetings that still have open to-dos, newest first, with Dataview:

```dataview
TABLE date, duration_min, todos_open
WHERE type = "meeting" AND todos_open > 0
SORT date DESC
```

What happens when I edit an exported file?

Voxdrop keeps a small ledger with a checksum of every file it wrote:

• You edit the file: Voxdrop leaves it alone from then on, even if the meeting changes in Voxdrop.
• You delete the file: it stays deleted. Voxdrop does not recreate it.
• You haven't touched it and something changes in Voxdrop – a to-do checked off, the meeting renamed: Voxdrop updates the file and follows a new title with a new file name.

Your edits always win. The price: once you have edited a file, later changes in Voxdrop don't reach it.

What is the JSON export for?

With Also as JSON, a .json file with the same meeting sits next to each .md file, in a fixed schema (voxdrop.meeting/1): title, start time, duration, language, speakers, transcript segments with timestamps and speaker, summary, short summary, and to-dos with owner, due date and status. It is meant for automations – a folder watcher in n8n or Make, or a script that files your to-dos in a task manager. Version 1 only ever gains fields; existing ones keep their meaning.

How does this compare to other ways of getting meeting notes into Obsidian?

(Disclosure: Voxdrop is our app.) Other local tools get you there too: Minutes writes Markdown with frontmatter, and Superwhisper and MacWhisper can hand notes to Obsidian. If you'd rather ask an AI tool about your meetings than browse files, the local MCP server reads the same data.

Honest caveats

• One-way. Checking a box in Obsidian doesn't check it in Voxdrop – and it counts as an edit, so Voxdrop stops updating that file.
• Meetings only. Dictations aren't written to the folder; you get them via Shortcuts, MCP or the terminal.
• Your sync, your call. If the vault syncs through iCloud, Obsidian Sync or Git, the transcripts travel with it.
• Deleting a meeting in Voxdrop doesn't delete the file. It's your copy.

FAQ

Read next

• Meeting action items on the Mac, without a bot in the call
• Ask Claude about your meetings: a local MCP server
• Apple Shortcuts for meeting notes