Recording modes
The Recording modes card has two switches — one for screen, one for meeting audio. Each switch decides whether that channel runs and whether the resulting media is kept or thrown away after analysis.
Screen recording mode
| Value | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Record + Save | Continuously record the screen and save every segment for later review. |
| Record + Save while unproductive | Always analyse the screen, but only save the segments rated low-productivity (1–2). |
| Record Only (default) | Analyse the screen for the timeline, but don't save the video. |
| Disabled | No screen capture while user tracking is on. |
When to pick which
- Record Only is the right default for most orgs. You get a full productivity timeline, full app / site detection, and searchable text — without keeping the actual video on disk or in the cloud.
- Record + Save while unproductive is a good middle ground for managers who want playback evidence for distraction patterns without retaining hours of focused work.
- Record + Save is the maximum-visibility option. Pick it only if you actually need to play back recordings in the dashboard — e.g. for compliance audits, training material, or detailed incident review.
- Disabled turns the screen channel off entirely. Useful when you want to use ScreenJournal only for meeting transcription or audio-based productivity scoring.
The "save" variants ration disk: the tracker stores video on the employee's machine and trims it according to your retention settings.
Audio recording mode
| Value | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Record + Transcribe + Save | Record meeting audio, transcribe it, and keep the audio file. |
| Record + Transcribe | Record meeting audio only long enough to transcribe it; don't keep the audio file. |
| Disabled (default) | No microphone or meeting audio capture, period. |
When to pick which
- Disabled is the default and a safe choice for orgs that don't need meeting analysis.
- Record + Transcribe is the most common "I want meeting summaries" choice — the transcript is kept, the audio file isn't.
- Record + Transcribe + Save is for compliance-heavy or customer-support orgs that need the actual audio for playback.
Important: audio only runs in meetings
Even when the audio mode is set to Record or Record + Save, the microphone is only active when:
- A configured meeting app is in the foreground (the meeting-app allowlist lives inside the desktop app and may be locked — see Capabilities & forced features).
- The OS reports the microphone as in use.
If neither condition is true, the microphone is not opened. ScreenJournal does not record arbitrary ambient audio.
The employee sees an in-tracker indicator any time audio is being captured.
Org vs team
Like every other policy field:
- At org scope, the dropdown value is the policy.
- At team scope, the dropdown defaults to Inherit from org. Pick a different value to override; use the "Use org default" link to revert.
Related
- Privacy for employees — what the employee sees when capture is on.
- Meetings (audio) — how transcripts appear in the dashboard.
- Data retention — how long recorded media stays on the employee's device.