Once a meeting's recording is uploaded and processed, two AI features become available on the Media tab: transcripts (a full written transcript of everything said in the meeting) and timestamps (clickable bookmarks that map specific moments in the video to specific agenda items or sections). Both are powered by Govinity's AI integration, both are optional, and both are dramatically useful for making long meeting recordings actually navigable.

This article walks through generating, viewing, and managing both. The recording itself — getting it uploaded and processed — is covered in Recordings: Upload and Processing.

In the playback view on the Media tab, two sub-tabs appear above the main content: Transcript and Timestamps. The video player stays visible in the right sidebar; the sub-tabs control what fills the left content area.

[IMAGE: The Media tab playback view with the Transcript and Timestamps sub-tabs across the top]

You'll only see these sub-tabs once a recording exists and has finished processing (no recording → no playback view → no sub-tabs).

The Transcript sub-tab is the natural starting point. If no transcript has been generated yet, the panel shows a zero state:

[IMAGE: The Transcript sub-tab showing the No Transcript zero state with the Generate Transcript button]

Title: "No Transcript" Description: "Generate a transcript from this recording using AI." Button: Generate Transcript (with Sparkles icon)

Click Generate Transcript and:

Transcript generation runs asynchronously on Govinity's AI backend. Typical timing:

The page polls for completion; once the transcript is ready, the sub-tab switches automatically to the Transcript Editor view.

Transcripts can fail to generate for a few reasons — typically audio quality issues, unsupported language detection edge cases, or transient backend issues.

[IMAGE: The transcript generation failed state with a Retry button]

When this happens, you'll see:

Click Retry to attempt generation again. If it keeps failing, the source recording may have unusual properties (very quiet audio, heavy background noise, non-English speech without language hints). Reach out to Govinity support and they can investigate.

Once a transcript is generated, the Transcript Editor takes over the sub-tab.

[IMAGE: The Transcript Editor showing the segmented transcript with speaker labels and click-to-seek timestamps]

What you see:

AI-detected speaker labels are generic by default (Speaker 1, Speaker 2). You can rename them to actual people's names using the speaker labeling form on the editor.

[IMAGE: The speaker labeling form showing how to rename Speaker 1 to a real name]

Common patterns:

The renames apply across the entire transcript. Anywhere "Speaker 1" appeared, it'll show as "Mayor Smith" after the rename.

There's also a speaker management panel for bulk operations — useful when you have a meeting with many speakers and want to organize the labels in one pass.

Each transcript segment is editable inline. Click a segment to edit:

Edits save automatically. There's no separate "Save" button — the changes commit as you finish editing.

The Transcript document has a publish state separate from the agenda's publish state. When you're satisfied with the transcript's accuracy:

Publish/unpublish controls live in the Documents tab where the transcript is stored as a Meeting Document (type: Transcript). See Auto-Generated Meeting Documents for the document-level workflow.

Timestamps are a second AI feature, distinct from transcripts. Where the transcript captures what was said, timestamps capture when each agenda item or section was discussed — turning the recording into a clickable index.

Timestamps work in two source modes, chosen automatically based on what your meeting has:

The Timestamps sub-tab automatically picks the mode based on what's available. If you have both a finalized agenda and an outline PDF, System mode wins.

For System mode: - The agenda must be finalized (so Govinity knows the section structure). - A transcript must be complete (timestamps are derived from where in the transcript each agenda item is discussed).

For Document mode: - An agenda outline PDF must exist in the Documents tab. - A transcript must be complete.

If either prerequisite is missing, the Timestamps sub-tab shows a prompt explaining what's needed.

Once prerequisites are met, click Generate Timestamps.

[IMAGE: The Timestamps sub-tab with the Generate Timestamps button visible]

What happens:

If generation takes longer than 90 seconds and the timestamps haven't appeared, the panel marks generation as timed out — usually the AI returned zero matches (the recording may not have included clear references to agenda items) or there's a backend issue.

A toast appears: "No matches found. AI could not match any agenda items to the transcript."

You can retry generation or fall back to manual timestamp creation.

Once generated, the timestamps appear as a list in the sub-tab:

[IMAGE: The Timestamps List showing rows for each agenda item with start time and click-to-seek]

Each row shows:

For System mode, timestamps are organized in the same hierarchy as your agenda (sections at the top, items nested under their sections). For Document mode, timestamps are a flat list.

Each row supports editing:

Above the timestamp list, dropdown menu options:

You can also create timestamps manually:

This is the fallback when AI generation isn't producing useful results, or when you want to add timestamps for moments the AI missed.

When the transcript and timestamps are published (via the Documents tab), citizens viewing the meeting's recording on the public portal see:

This is a dramatically better experience than scrubbing a 3-hour video to find the one moment a specific item was discussed.

For private meetings, transcripts and timestamps are stored but not exposed publicly. Only staff with access can use them.

A few patterns that come up:

"I want the transcript to be polished before citizens see it." Generate the transcript. Use the Transcript Editor to fix transcription errors, re-label speakers, and clean up. Once it looks right, publish the Transcript document (in the Documents tab).

"I want a clickable index of the meeting so citizens can jump to specific items." First, finalize the agenda. Generate the transcript. Then generate timestamps. The result is a list of agenda items mapped to recording times — exactly the clickable index you want.

"The AI didn't generate the timestamps correctly." Re-run with Regenerate. If it still doesn't match what you want, fall back to manual creation — playing to a moment and clicking Set to capture timestamps one at a time.

"I have a 4-hour meeting and the AI generated 50 timestamps — I only want the major sections." Open the Timestamps list, delete the ones you don't want, keep the ones you do. The remaining set is what citizens see.

"I want to redo just the transcript without losing my timestamps." Currently, timestamps depend on the transcript — regenerating the transcript may affect timestamp mapping. If you need to redo the transcript, be prepared to also regenerate timestamps afterward.

How accurate is the AI transcript? Highly accurate for clear audio in English. Accuracy drops for poor audio, heavy accents, technical jargon, or names. Plan to spend 15-30 minutes polishing the transcript for a typical 2-hour meeting if accuracy matters.

Can I download the transcript as a text file? The Transcript document appears in the Documents tab as a generated meeting document (type: Transcript). Download it from there. See Auto-Generated Meeting Documents.

What about closed captions? Govinity doesn't currently generate closed captions as a separate output. The transcript is the closest equivalent — and citizens can use the public portal transcript while watching the recording. True closed captions baked into the video would be a future feature.

Does the AI know speaker names automatically? No. The AI detects different speakers and assigns generic labels (Speaker 1, Speaker 2). You manually rename them.

What languages are supported? The AI is optimized for English. Other languages may work with reduced accuracy. Reach out to Govinity support to confirm support for languages other than English.

Can I generate transcripts for multiple recordings at once? No — transcripts are per-meeting. For a batch of recordings, you'd generate each separately.

Are AI features included in my subscription? Yes for governments with the Recording module. Generation has reasonable usage limits — heavy use across hundreds of meetings would be subject to fair-use review. Reach out to Govinity if you have unusual volume needs.

If transcript generation fails repeatedly, the source recording's audio quality may be the issue — try retrying after the recording has been re-processed. If timestamp generation produces no results, double-check that the agenda is finalized and the transcript is complete. For anything else, reach out to Govinity support.