# Free Meeting Minutes Template

Source: https://lessmeeting.com/tools/meeting-minutes-template/

A free meeting minutes template, plus a worked example: what to include, how detailed to be, and who takes them. Download a fillable or printable PDF.

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A free, no-signup meeting minutes template that starts from your agenda. Fill in the meeting details, attendees, goals and a time for each topic, then download a fillable PDF or a printable one with ruled space to write. The PDF has discussion notes under each topic, an apologies line, a parking lot, a decisions section, an action-item table (what / who / by when) and a next-meeting line.

The builder itself is an interactive tool; use it at [/tools/meeting-minutes-template/](/tools/meeting-minutes-template/). Opening it with `?agenda=<slug>` loads one of the [free meeting agenda templates](/tools/meeting-agenda-templates.md) as a starting point.

## What to include in meeting minutes

1. **Meeting name, date and time**, plus the location or video link. Minutes get read months later, out of context.
2. **Attendees and apologies.** A present list and an apologies list. This is the line people go back to when a decision gets questioned.
3. **Agenda topics as headings**, so the minutes have the same shape as the meeting.
4. **Short discussion notes.** A line or two per topic, recording where the conversation landed. Nobody rereads a transcript.
5. **Decisions**, written so somebody who missed the meeting can't read them two ways.
6. **Action items with an owner and a date.** One line each: what, who, by when.
7. **When you're meeting next**, and anything carried forward to it.

## How to take minutes

- **Before:** start from the agenda so you're filling in a structure rather than inventing one live. Put the attendee list in before anyone arrives.
- **During:** write the owner and date at the moment someone agrees to something, while the room can still correct it.
- **After:** email the minutes within 24 hours, and close with a line inviting corrections.

## FAQ

**How detailed should meeting minutes be?** Aim for the conclusion of each topic rather than the conversation that got there. A line or two per agenda item, then the decisions and commitments in full.

**Who takes the minutes?** Whoever isn't leading the discussion. On a recurring meeting it's worth rotating the role.

**How soon should minutes be sent out?** Within 24 hours, while people still remember agreeing to things.

**What should a meeting minutes email template include?** The meeting name and date in the subject line. In the body, the decisions and every action item with its owner and due date first, then a link to or attachment of the full minutes, and a date for corrections. See [the follow-up email to send after every meeting](/blog/followup-action-items.md).

**What's the difference between meeting minutes and an agenda?** The agenda is written before the meeting and lists what will be covered, with a time limit per topic. Minutes are written during or just after and record what was said, decided and assigned. In practice the agenda is the page the minutes get written onto.

**Can I download the template as a PDF or Word doc?** The builder produces a fillable PDF and a printable one. For Word or Google Docs, use Copy as text on any of the [agenda templates](/tools/meeting-agenda-templates/) and paste it in, then add Decisions, Action items and Next meeting headings. The printable layout started life as a nod to David Seah's [Printable CEO](https://davidseah.com/) paper forms.

**Do meeting minutes have to be formally approved?** For a board or any meeting with a legal or fiduciary record, yes: minutes are circulated with the next agenda and approved as the first item. For an internal team meeting, sending them and inviting corrections is enough.

**Does anything join the call to record it?** No. Nothing joins the meeting and nothing is recorded or transcribed. Notes are written by the people in the room, encrypted, and shared only with the attendees you choose.

On paper, someone copies last week's unfinished action items across by hand. In Less Meeting, open action items move into the next occurrence on their own until they're closed, and the whole team edits the notes together in real time.