Free meeting minutes template

# Meeting minutes

_Replace the gray text and delete the optional sections you do not use._

## Meeting details

**Group or organization:** _Name of the group_

**Type of meeting:** _Regular, special, committee or team_

**Date:** _Day of the meeting_

**Start time:**

**Location or video link:**

**Chair:** _Who presided_

**Minutes taken by:**

## Attendance

| Name | Role | Present, absent or excused |
| --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |

**Guests:**

## Quorum optional

**Quorum present:** ☐ Yes ☐ No

## Previous minutes optional

**Minutes of the previous meeting were:** ☐ approved as read ☐ approved as corrected ☐ not taken up

## Agenda

1. First agenda item
2. Second agenda item
3. Third agenda item

## Summary

_Two to four sentences: the purpose of the meeting and its main outcome._



## Discussion and outcomes

| Agenda item | Discussion summary (optional) | Outcome |
| --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |
|   |   |   |

_Record what was decided or done. Summarize the discussion only for informal meetings; formal minutes record motions and decisions, not debate._

## Decisions

| Decision | How it was made (vote, consensus or chair) |
| --- | --- |
|   |   |
|   |   |
|   |   |

## Motions and votes optional

| Motion (exact wording) | Moved by | Result (adopted or failed) | Vote count, if counted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |

## Action items

| Action | Owner | Due date | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |

## Open questions

- First open question
- Second open question

## Next meeting

**Date:**

**Time:**

**Location:**

## Adjournment

**Meeting adjourned at:**

## Approval optional

Secretary: ______________

Chair: ______________

Date approved: ______________

Template from hushscript.com

What to include in meeting minutes

Minutes answer three questions for people who were not there: who met, what was decided, and what happens next. The template follows that order.

• Details and attendance. The group, date, time, place, chair, who took the minutes and who came.
• Agenda and outcomes. One row per agenda item with its outcome, plus a discussion summary if the meeting is informal.
• Decisions. What was decided, and how: vote, consensus or the chair’s call.
• Action items. The action, its owner, a due date and its status.
• Next meeting and adjournment. When you meet again and when this meeting ended.

The W3C’s tips for taking minutes reduce the job to four things to capture: discussion topics, action items, decisions and announcements. If you want an example of minutes of meeting before you start, the preview above shows every section in order, ready to fill in. For a formal body the Robert’s Rules of Order FAQ is blunter: “Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said.” The format is plain: short entries, neutral wording, one decision per row.

How to take minutes with this template

1. Before the meeting. Copy the template. Fill in the group, date, chair and the agenda items, and list the people invited in the attendance table.
2. During the meeting. Write the outcome of each agenda item, not each remark. Note each decision as it happens. When someone takes an action, write their name and the due date on the spot.
3. Right after. Tidy the entries while you still remember the room, then send the draft to the chair.

If you are the secretary, the empty rows are there so you only type what happened. Cut rows you do not use.

Meeting minutes with action items

Action items are often read without the rest of the minutes, as the W3C tips note, so word each action to stand on its own. Start with a verb, name one owner and give a date: “Send the revised budget to finance. Owner: Priya. Due: Nov 14.” Track the status in the last column, and carry open items into the next meeting’s minutes. The template also has an Open questions list for what nobody could settle yet.

Board, nonprofit and HOA meeting minutes

Formal groups record more. The optional sections cover them:

• Quorum. Under Robert’s Rules, substantive business cannot be transacted without a quorum, so formal bodies note that one was present.
• Previous minutes. Record whether the last minutes were approved as read, approved as corrected, or not taken up.
• Motions and votes. The exact wording of each motion, who moved it, the result and the vote count if it was counted.
• Approval. Signature and date lines for the secretary and the chair.

Use them for a board of directors, a nonprofit board, an HOA board, a corporate or LLC meeting, a committee, a PTA, a church or a club. Which of these your group must record, and in what form, is set by your bylaws, operating agreement or other governing documents. Check them before you rely on any template.

Meeting notes or meeting minutes?

Minutes are the shared record of a meeting. Meeting notes are a lighter working record for you or your team. Both fit this template. For team, weekly, project or business meeting notes, and for a one-on-one, drop the optional sections. Keep the details, summary, decisions, action items and open questions. That leaves a short, simple set of minutes. For a board or committee meeting, keep the formal sections.

Use it in Word, Google Docs or Notion

• Word. Open the downloaded .docx and replace the gray text. Delete the optional sections you do not use.
• Google Docs. Upload the .docx to Google Drive and double-click it to open it in Google Docs. Google describes the steps on its Office files help page.
• Notion. Notion imports Markdown files, so import the .md download. See Notion’s import help.
• On paper. Use the Print button on this page, or print the Word file, for a printable meeting minutes template with empty rows to write in.

The template is free to use, copy and edit, and no attribution is required.

Fill the minutes from a recording

If everyone in the meeting agreed to a recording, upload it to meeting transcription. Full transcription needs an account and minutes. Eligible personal accounts get 30 free minutes once, after card verification or with the first purchase. You get an editable transcript with speaker labels and timecodes, so you can check who agreed to what.

The first optional Insights generation per transcript is free. It creates a meeting-minutes export with a summary, decisions and action items. Treat it as a draft: check each line against the transcript, then add attendance, owners, due dates, motions and approval yourself. No recording yet? The free voice recorder records on your device.

Updated: November 1, 2026