Below are five meeting notes templates you can copy and paste: a general meeting, a 1:1, a daily standup, a client call and a project kickoff. Each one includes an action-items checklist written in Markdown task-list syntax (- [ ]). It works in most Markdown editors and still reads cleanly as plain text in an email or chat message.

At the end we show how to turn those action items into checkboxes you can tick in Gubb, the notes app we make. The templates themselves work anywhere.

What good meeting notes include

Meeting notes have one job. Someone should be able to read them a week later and know what was decided and who is doing what. Every section in the templates below supports that job.

  • Date and attendees. Without them, notes from a recurring meeting blur together.
  • Purpose. One line saying why the meeting happened.
  • Decisions. Put them in their own section, separate from the discussion. This is the part people look for later.
  • Action items. Each one needs an owner, a task that starts with a verb, and a due date. "Look into pricing" is vague. "Sam: send revised pricing to Acme by Friday" tells a person exactly what to do.
  • Open questions. Things that were raised but not settled, so they don't get lost.
  • Next meeting. The date, if there is one.

Keep the discussion section short. You are recording outcomes, not writing a transcript. Write down decisions and action items during the meeting, while everyone can still correct you.

General meeting notes template

Use this for any meeting that doesn't fit the formats below.

# Meeting: Topic
Date: 
Attendees: 
Purpose: 

## Agenda
1. 
2. 
3. 

## Discussion
- 

## Decisions
- 

## Action items
- [ ] Owner: task, due date
- [ ] Owner: task, due date

## Open questions
- 

## Next meeting
Date:

1:1 meeting notes template

For recurring 1:1s, keep one running note per person and add each new meeting at the top. Last week's action items then sit right below this week's, so you can check them off before you start.

# 1:1: Name / Name
Date: 

## Follow-up from last time
- [ ] 
- [ ] 

## Their topics
- 

## My topics
- 

## Wins since last time
- 

## Blockers and concerns
- 

## Feedback (both ways)
- 

## Growth and goals
- 

## Action items
- [ ] Name: task, due date
- [ ] Name: task, due date

Standup meeting notes template

Standups are short, so the notes should be short too. Record blockers and anything that needs follow-up. You don't need a word-for-word log of what everyone did.

# Standup: Team
Date: 

## Updates
### Name
- Yesterday: 
- Today: 
- Blockers: 

### Name
- Yesterday: 
- Today: 
- Blockers: 

## Blockers to resolve
- 

## Action items
- [ ] Owner: task, due date

If your team only cares about blockers, delete the per-person section and keep the last two.

Client call notes template

On client calls, write down requirements in the client's own words. Scope arguments often start when someone paraphrased a requirement. Split follow-ups into what you owe the client and what they owe you, so nothing stalls while each side waits for the other.

# Client call: Client name
Date: 
Client attendees: 
Our attendees: 
Purpose: 

## Their goals
- 

## Requirements (their words)
- 

## Budget and timeline
- Budget: 
- Deadline: 

## Concerns raised
- 

## Decisions
- 

## We owe them
- [ ] Owner: task, due date
- [ ] Owner: task, due date

## They owe us
- [ ] Contact: item, due date

## Next call
Date:

Project kickoff notes template

A kickoff sets the ground rules for a project. The most useful lines are usually "out of scope" and "decision maker", because those are what people argue about three weeks later. For a fuller plan after the kickoff, see our project outline template.

# Kickoff: Project name
Date: 
Attendees: 

## Goal
One sentence: what does done look like?

## Scope
- In scope: 
- Out of scope: 

## Roles
- Owner: 
- Decision maker: 
- Contributors: 

## Milestones
- Milestone, date, owner
- Milestone, date, owner

## Risks
- 

## How we'll communicate
- Updates: 
- Check-ins: 

## Action items
- [ ] Owner: task, due date
- [ ] Owner: task, due date

Turning action items into a checklist

- [ ] is the task-list syntax from GitHub-flavored Markdown, and - [x] marks an item done. GitHub and many Markdown editors show these lines as checkboxes. Apple Notes doesn't use Markdown, so you add checkboxes there with the app's own checklist button instead. Our Markdown checklist syntax guide covers the variations.

Make tickable action items in Gubb

Gubb turns a Markdown marker into a formatted block when you type the marker at the start of a line and press Space. That lets you type a template's structure live during a call. Checkboxes work slightly differently from standard Markdown: in Gubb you type [ ] (or []) with no dash in front.

  1. Hover over the top of the Gubb window and click + (Create New Note).
  2. On the first line, type the meeting name and date as plain text, for example Acme call Nov 18. Gubb names each note after the first 30 characters of its first paragraph, so this is the name you'll see later in Notes History.
  3. Type ##, press Space, and type a section name such as Decisions. Press Return to go back to normal text.
  4. Under your action items heading, type [ ], press Space, then type the task, for example Sam: send revised pricing, Friday.
  5. Press Return to start the next checkbox. Press Return on an empty item to end the list.
  6. Click a box to tick it. Checked items are struck through.
    A few more typing shortcuts help with these templates:
  • - then Space starts a bulleted list.
  • 1. then Space starts a numbered list.
  • ⌘1 to ⌘6 toggle heading levels.

Gubb notes don't support tables, which is why the kickoff template lists its milestones as bullet points. The Markdown cheat sheet covers the rest of the syntax.

During a video call, keep the note above the call window. Move the pointer to the right edge of the note to show the button column, then click Pin window on top. If you also use Gubb's break reminders, check the pin after a break, because a break turns it off.

Send the notes after the meeting

To share a Gubb note:

  1. Press ⌘⇧C (Command-Shift-C) in the note. This copies the whole note to the clipboard as plain text.
  2. Paste it into an email or chat.

List items come out as "• " lines, and links come out as "text (url)". Check the pasted text once before you send it, so you can see how your checklist reads in plain text.

Track action items with due dates

For a task list with dates and priorities, type gubb@todo (or /todo) on a line by itself. That line becomes a to-do block. You can add tasks in the Add a task... field, or click + for a form with Due Date, Priority (None to Urgent), notes and subtasks. The block groups tasks into sections such as Overdue, Today and Upcoming.

Check these limits before you switch to it:

  • The note gets renamed. Its title becomes "Todo List", with the time added if that name is already taken. Your meeting name no longer shows in Notes History.
  • Tasks live inside the block. Add your action items there, not as [ ] lines.
  • Due dates are basic. They have no time and no reminders.
  • Keep the trigger alone on its line. If gubb@todo sits inside other text, the note can open in an older to-do view where ticking and deleting tasks may not work.

What to know before using Gubb for meeting notes

  • It doesn't record or transcribe meetings. You type the notes yourself. Speech to Text can dictate a short summary into the note after the call, once you've downloaded a Whisper model in Settings ▸ Voice to Text. Local models are English-only and transcribe only the first 30 seconds of each recording.
  • Notes stay on that computer. They are stored in a local database, with no account and no sync. To read them on another device, paste them into something that syncs.
  • Deleting a note can't be undone. Notes History deletes a note without asking for confirmation, and there is no trash.

If you're still deciding where to keep your meeting notes, we compare the options in meeting notes apps for Mac. You can try Gubb with a 7-day free trial for Mac.