If Vinyl didn't join your Zoom meeting, don't worry, this is almost always caused by one of a few settings, and most take a minute to fix. Work through the checks below in order.
Start here: the most common causes
In most cases, one of these is the reason Vinyl didn't join:
Vinyl was left in the Zoom waiting room. If your meeting has a waiting room, Vinyl waits to be admitted just like any other participant. Keep an eye on the participants list at the start of the call and admit your Vinyl bot when it appears (you or the host can do this). It shows under your bot name, which is Vinyl Recorder by default, and waits 10 minutes before leaving. If it isn't admitted, it can't record, and the meeting will show an error in Vinyl.
Vinyl was waiting for approval to record. On Zoom, the host or a co-host has to approve Vinyl's request to record. Vinyl waits up to 10 minutes. If nobody approves it, for example because the host hasn't joined, Vinyl leaves without a recording.
You're reusing the same personal Zoom link for different meetings. If several calendar events share one personal meeting link, Vinyl may treat later ones as duplicates and only join the first. See "Using a personal or recurring Zoom link" below.
The meeting was booked through a scheduling tool (Acuity, Calendly, etc.) and has no Zoom link on the calendar event. Vinyl reads the calendar event, not the booking tool. If the link only lives in the booking confirmation, Vinyl has nothing to join. See "Meetings booked through a scheduler" below.
Check Vinyl is set to record this meeting
Vinyl joins automatically while Automatic recording is on in Settings › You › Meetings. It's on by default, but it's worth a quick look.
Open Upcoming in the left sidebar and check the notetaker hasn't been switched off for that meeting.
Check the meeting is in your calendar
Vinyl only joins Zoom meetings that appear in your connected calendar.
Check Upcoming in the left sidebar. If the meeting isn't listed there, Vinyl didn't see it and couldn't join.
If you created the meeting in Zoom but didn't add it to your calendar, Vinyl won't detect it.
Check your calendar isn't showing Reconnect needed on the Integrations page. If your calendar card says Reconnect needed, click Reconnect. Note: reconnecting fixes future meetings, but it can't recover one that has already happened.
Using a personal or recurring Zoom link
If you use the same personal Zoom link (for example a "meet with me" link) across multiple meetings, Vinyl can see those events as duplicates and skip joining after the first one. There's a dedicated guide for this: Vinyl isn't joining my recurring Zoom meetings (same personal Zoom link).
Best option: let each calendar event generate its own unique Zoom link instead of reusing your personal link.
If you need to keep the same link: add Vinyl to that specific meeting manually. On Home, paste the Zoom link in New Meeting and click Start Capturing. If Vinyl asks whether to record this call as a separate meeting, confirm. Learn how to record a meeting that's not in your calendar.
Meetings booked through a scheduler (Acuity, Calendly, and similar)
Booking tools like Acuity or Calendly sometimes add the meeting to your calendar without putting the Zoom link on the calendar event itself. The link only appears in the booking confirmation email. Because Vinyl joins based on the link attached to the calendar event, it can't join if the event has no link.
To fix this:
Open the calendar event and confirm the Zoom join link is in the event's location or description. If it's missing, add it.
In your scheduler's settings, enable the option that adds the video conferencing link directly to the calendar event.
As a one-off, you can always add Vinyl to the call manually: on Home, paste the Zoom link in New Meeting and click Start Capturing.
Review your Zoom security settings
Passcode required: make sure the passcode is included in the calendar invite.
"Only authenticated users can join" is on: this can block Vinyl. When scheduling, open Security and uncheck it, or ask your Zoom admin to disable it under Zoom Admin Portal → Account Settings → Security.
Local recording permission is off: if local recording is enabled globally but participants aren't allowed to record, Vinyl can't start. Enable recording permissions for both internal and external participants.
Still not working? We're happy to look into it
If you've checked the above and Vinyl still isn't joining, start a chat with us and include:
The title of the affected meeting(s), sharing 2 to 3 examples helps a lot
The date and approximate start time
Whether the meeting was booked directly, via a personal link, or through a scheduler like Acuity or Calendly
We'll take a look at your calendar connection and figure out exactly what's needed. We usually reply within a couple of hours.