tl;dv Tutorial

Step 1: Sign Up and Install the Extension

First, head to tldv.io and click 'Sign up free.' I always use Google or Microsoft SSO for speed. Once your account is created, you'll be prompted to install the browser extension. This is non-negotiable—tl;dv needs it to join your calls. Click 'Add to Chrome' (or your browser). After installation, pin the extension to your toolbar. You'll see a small tl;dv icon. Click it and log in with your new account. A permissions pop-up will ask for access to microphone and camera; you must allow this for recording. Finally, it will ask to connect your calendar. I highly recommend doing this now—it lets tl;dv auto-join scheduled meetings. What surprised me was how seamless this setup was; it took me under two minutes.

Step 2: Start Your First Recording

Now for the magic. Join your Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams call as usual. Once in, look at your browser's address bar and click the pinned tl;dv icon. A panel will open. Click the big 'Record Meeting' button. You'll get a visual confirmation that recording has started—usually a red dot or a small tl;dv overlay on the call screen. I tested this extensively, and it works silently in the background; other participants won't know you're recording unless you tell them. Proceed with your meeting normally. You can even leave the call early if you want; tl;dv will stay and record until the meeting ends. After the meeting concludes, give it a minute, then check your email or the tl;dv dashboard. Your recording, full transcript, and AI summary will be waiting.

Step 3: Navigate the Dashboard & Review Your Summary

After your meeting, go to app.tldv.io. This is your command center. You'll see all your recordings in a list. Click on your latest one. The interface has three key panels: the video player, the full transcript on the right, and the AI-generated summary at the top. The summary is the star. I was initially skeptical, but in my experience, the AI is scarily good at pulling out decisions, action items, and key points. Scroll through the transcript—it's speaker-separated and searchable. Click any sentence in the transcript, and the video jumps to that moment. What surprised me was the automatic chaptering; the AI breaks the meeting into logical sections like 'Introduction,' 'Project Update,' 'Q&A,' which makes review a breeze.

Step 4: Create and Share Custom Video Clips

This is my favorite feature. You don't need to share a whole 60-minute meeting. To create a clip, go to your recording's transcript. Highlight the section you want to clip by clicking and dragging over the text. A 'Create Clip' button appears. Click it. You can now trim the exact start and end times visually. Give your clip a title and description. When you save, tl;dv generates a short, focused video file. You can share this via a direct link, embed it in Notion or Confluence, or download the MP4. I use this daily to send product feedback clips to engineers or highlight customer praise for the sales team. The process is intuitive and takes under 30 seconds once you get the hang of it.

Step 5: Manage Action Items and Collaborate

tl;dv isn't just a recorder; it's a collaboration hub. In your meeting summary, review the auto-extracted action items. You can edit these, assign them to teammates (if they're on your tl;dv team plan), and set due dates. I found this transforms meetings from talk shops into accountable workflows. You can also add comments to specific parts of the transcript to ask follow-up questions. To share the entire meeting, click the 'Share' button at the top. You can control permissions—view-only, comment access, or editor access. I typically send view-only links to stakeholders who couldn't attend. The entire meeting becomes a living document that your team can reference, which has eliminated countless 'what did we decide?' follow-up emails for me.

Step 6: Explore Integrations and Settings

To make tl;dv a seamless part of your workflow, explore its integrations. Go to 'Settings' > 'Integrations.' I immediately connected Slack and Notion. With Slack, I get a notification with the summary when a recording finishes. With Notion, I can automatically push summaries and clips to a designated page. Also, check the 'Preferences' tab. Here, you can set recording quality, enable auto-join for meetings from specific calendars, and customize the AI summary focus (e.g., emphasize action items). In my testing, setting the AI to 'Focus on Decisions' for leadership syncs yielded the best results. Don't sleep on the mobile app either; it lets you review transcripts and summaries on the go, though recording must start from the desktop extension.