> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.ebrain.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.ebrain.ai/meetings-donna/how-donna-joins.md).

# How Donna joins your meetings

Donna is eBrain's AI meeting notetaker. She joins your online video meetings as a participant, listens, and afterwards gives you a full transcript plus AI-written meeting notes. You'll find her under **Meetings** in the sidebar, where the page header reads "Donna · Notetaker."

There are two ways to get Donna into a call: she can join **automatically** from your calendar, or you can add her **manually** to a meeting right now. This page explains both, plus which platforms she supports and how she appears to everyone else in the room.

{% hint style="info" %}
Once a meeting wraps up, Donna delivers a summary, key points, action items, and the full transcript. See [Meeting notes and transcripts](/meetings-donna/notes-and-transcripts.md) for what you get and how to read it.
{% endhint %}

## Which platforms Donna supports

Donna works with three online meeting platforms:

| Platform        | Example link                                      |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Google Meet     | meet.google.com links (and g.co/meet short links) |
| Microsoft Teams | teams.microsoft.com and teams.live.com links      |
| Zoom            | join links of the form `…zoom.us/j/<number>`      |

When you paste a link manually, eBrain checks it and only accepts Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom. If it doesn't recognize the link, you'll see: "Please enter a valid meeting link from Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom."

For automatic joining, eBrain reads the join link straight from the calendar event. All-day events and events with no online link are skipped.

## Way 1: Donna joins automatically

Once you connect a Google or Microsoft (Outlook) calendar and turn on auto-join, eBrain periodically scans your upcoming calendar (roughly every 15 minutes, looking about 7 days ahead) and schedules Donna for qualifying online meetings. There's no manual step per meeting.

There are two routes to an automatic join:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

## Turn on master auto-join

With the master auto-join switch on, Donna joins online meetings on your connected calendars according to your rules. You control the scope (every online meeting, or only meetings you organize) and other refinements in settings.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

## Or add Donna as a guest on one event

Add Donna's invite address, `donna@ebrain.ai`, as an **attendee** on a calendar event. eBrain detects her on the guest list and joins **that** meeting, even if your master auto-join switch is off.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

To use auto-join you'll need:

* A connected Google or Outlook calendar.
* Auto-join turned on, **or** Donna added as a guest on the specific event, **or** a per-meeting toggle set to join.

Donna is scheduled to join about **5 minutes before** the meeting starts, so she's waiting before the host opens the room.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Add `donna@ebrain.ai` as a meeting **guest** on the calendar event. Do not send an email to this address directly, and note that guest detection only works when the meeting is on a connected eBrain user's calendar.
{% endhint %}

## Way 2: Add Donna manually

On the Meetings page, the "Add Donna to a meeting" panel gives you two cards:

* **Join a meeting live (Realtime):** Paste a Google Meet or Teams link into the field ("Insert meeting link (e.g. <https://meet.google.com/>....)") and click **Join now**. Donna is dispatched to that call immediately. The button shows "Creating…" while it sets up.
* **Invite via calendar:** Use the **Copy** button to copy Donna's address (`donna@ebrain.ai`) and add it as a guest on a calendar event, the same as the auto-join guest route above.

You can also just ask **Tim**. Give Tim a meeting link and ask him to record or join, and he creates the notetaker for you. Tim can also list, open, and search your past meeting recordings on request.

{% hint style="info" %}
There's always only one Donna per meeting. If Donna is already heading to (or already recording) the same call, eBrain reuses that session instead of sending a second one.
{% endhint %}

## How Donna appears to other participants

Donna is a real, visible attendee. Other people in the call see her join with a **display name** (by default "Donna - eBrain") and an **in-call picture**. These are set by eBrain centrally, so you don't need to configure them.

You can also choose to have her introduce herself. If you turn on **Announce Donna at the start of the call** (off by default), she greets everyone when she joins so it's clear a notetaker is recording, for example "Hi everyone, I'm Donna from eBrain and I'm taking notes for \[your name]." When that's off, she joins quietly.

Recording is **audio-only**. eBrain never stores video.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Letting people know they're being recorded is good practice and may be required where you work. Consider turning on the announce-on-entry message, or telling attendees ahead of time, so everyone knows Donna is taking notes.
{% endhint %}

## What happens next

* Read the AI summary, key points, action items, and full transcript on the meeting's detail page. See [Meeting notes and transcripts](/meetings-donna/notes-and-transcripts.md).
* Control auto-join, per-meeting toggles, recurring series, notifications, and who can see your notes. See [Sharing notes and Donna settings](/meetings-donna/sharing-and-settings.md).

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th>Topic</th><th data-card-target data-type="content-ref">Link</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Read your notes and transcript</td><td><a href="/pages/pqaPK0l4YvDzhUiw76GL">/pages/pqaPK0l4YvDzhUiw76GL</a></td></tr><tr><td>Settings, sharing, and per-meeting control</td><td><a href="/pages/sqO68yxCJjanoVAVqCsT">/pages/sqO68yxCJjanoVAVqCsT</a></td></tr></tbody></table>


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