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Write, manage, and edit meeting minutes

  • Updated

When a meeting moves into the minutes stage, the items build upon the agenda with additions for minutes notes, decisions, and tasks. This guide explains how to write minutes notes, add and reorder items, preview the document, and use extra features such as PDF export and change history.

Tips for faster minute-taking:

  • Expand all items: Click the Expand/collapse all button at the top to avoid opening one item at a time.
  • Use standard phrases and hashtags: Insert preset formulations via the paragraph symbol (§) or type # to automatically retrieve names for roles such as #chairman and #secretary.

Table of contents

1. Write minutes notes, decisions, and tasks

First, expand the relevant item by clicking the arrow to the left of the item number. When writing minutes, you have access to the following fields to document the meeting:

  • Minutes notes: Document what was discussed under the item here. (If you prepared draft text using "Prepare minutes notes" in the agenda, it will already appear here.)
  • Add decision: Click the Add decision button to record a formal decision. You can assign a responsible person, set a deadline, and link the decision to specific projects. Multiple decisions can be linked to the same item, and Boardeaser automatically tracks them for future follow-up.
  • Add task: Click Add task to assign an action item to a person with a deadline. You can choose whether the task should also be printed in the finalized minutes or only appear under Tasks in the left menu.
Edit minutes notes, add decisions, and assign tasks within a minutes item

2. Other properties in a minutes item

In addition to the note fields, each item includes the following settings:

  • Item number: Numbered automatically starting from 1. Under Settings > Advanced settings, you can enable continuous numbering across the fiscal year. Learn more in our guide on Administer organization.
  • Title: The heading of the item. This is the only mandatory field for an item.
  • Presenter: Displays or lets you assign who is presenting or responsible for the item.
  • Item type: Defines the nature of the item (e.g., Decision item, Discussion item, Information item, or Follow-up item). Learn more in our guide on Item types in agenda and minutes.
  • Item description: The text carried over from the agenda. If your organization has enabled the setting "Include item description in meeting minutes", it can also be edited here and included in the PDF minutes.
  • Delete item: Click the red cross button (×) to remove the item from the minutes.

3. Add or reorder a minutes item

  • Add a new item: Need to record an additional topic that was not on the original agenda? Click the Add item button and enter a title.
  • Reorder an item: Click and hold the six-dot handle on the far left of the item, then drag and drop it up or down to the desired position.

Watch the video on how to move an agenda item.

4. Attach files and preview the minutes

  • Attachments: You can upload or drag and drop supporting documents directly into the attachments box under each item. Learn more about controlling which attachments are merged into the final document in our guide on Add and include attachments to the minutes.
  • Preview minutes: Click the Preview tab at the top to see exactly how the finalized PDF minutes will look before sending them out for comments and review.

5. Additional features

By clicking the three dots icon (···) in the upper right corner of the minutes view, you can access the following options:

Once the minutes are complete, proceed to the next step in the meeting workflow to send them out for comments and review.