What This Guide Covers
Marloo's meeting bot joins your client calls on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other platforms to record and transcribe them for you. Sometimes the bot can't get into the meeting, or leaves early. This guide walks you through the most common issues and exactly how to fix them.
Quick Reference
What's happening | Most likely cause | What to do |
Bot won't join a Teams meeting at all | Your organisation's IT settings are blocking it | Send the IT admin instructions below to your IT team |
Bot is sitting in the Teams lobby and no one lets it in | The meeting host needs to admit it | See Teams lobby fix |
Bot shows "Unverified" next to its name in Teams | Normal — this is how Teams labels external participants | Nothing to do. It still works fine. See details |
Bot can't join a Zoom meeting | The meeting link is missing the password | |
Bot left the meeting early | It timed out — silence, waiting room, or no one else joined | Click Send Marloo Now to re-invite it. See why the bot leaves |
Two bots joined the same meeting | Two advisers in your practice both have auto-join on | See two bots fix |
Microsoft Teams
The bot is stuck in the Teams lobby
This is the most common Teams issue. When the bot joins your meeting, Teams treats it like any other external guest — it lands in the waiting room (lobby) and waits for someone to let it in.
If you are the meeting host:
Look for the notification in Teams that says someone is waiting in the lobby.
Click Admit to let the bot into the meeting.
The bot will begin recording once it's in the meeting.
If you are NOT the meeting host (for example, you're attending a client's meeting):
You may not be able to admit the bot yourself — only the host or co-organiser can.
Let the host know ahead of time that your notetaker will try to join, and ask them to admit it from the lobby.
If the bot isn't admitted within 5 minutes, it will leave the lobby automatically. You can click Send Marloo Now to send it again.
Want the bot to skip the lobby entirely? Ask the meeting host to change their lobby setting before the meeting starts:
Open the meeting in the Teams calendar.
Click Meeting options (or Options > More options).
Find the setting called "Who can bypass the lobby?"
Change it to Everyone.
Click Save.
This lets the bot (and all other participants) join the meeting directly without waiting.
The bot can't join the Teams meeting at all
If the bot doesn't even appear in the lobby, your organisation's IT settings are probably blocking external participants from joining meetings. This is different from the lobby issue above — the bot is being blocked before it can even reach the waiting room.
What you need to do:
Forward the instructions for IT admins at the bottom of this section to your IT team or managed service provider.
Ask them to check the three settings described below.
After they make changes, wait 30 minutes for the settings to take effect.
Test by creating a new meeting and clicking Send Marloo Now.
The bot shows "Unverified" next to its name
You might see the bot appear in your Teams meeting as something like "Marloo Notetaker (Unverified)". This is normal. Since February 2024, Microsoft Teams adds this label to any participant who isn't part of your organisation or a trusted organisation. It does not mean anything is wrong — the bot will still record and transcribe as expected.
If you'd prefer the label to say "External" instead of "Unverified", your IT admin can add Marloo's domain (gomarloo.com) as a trusted organisation in your Teams admin settings.
Instructions for IT Admins (Forward This Section)
If Marloo's meeting bot cannot join Teams meetings in your organisation, please check the following three settings. All three must be enabled.
Setting 1 — Allow anonymous users (organisation level):
Go to admin.teams.microsoft.com.
In the left menu, go to Meetings > Meeting settings.
Under Participants, find "Anonymous users can join a meeting".
Set it to On.
Setting 2 — Allow anonymous users (policy level):
In the Teams admin centre, go to Meetings > Meeting Policies.
Open the relevant policy (usually the Global policy).
Under Meeting join & lobby, find "Anonymous users can join a meeting".
Set it to On.
Setting 3 — Let anonymous people join (this is the most commonly missed one):
Still in Meetings > Meeting Policies, open the relevant policy.
Find "Let anonymous people join a meeting".
Set it to On.
Also check:
Guest Access: Go to Users > Guest access and confirm "Allow guest access" is set to On.
External Access: If your external access policy is set to "Allow only specific external domains", add gomarloo.com to the allowed list.
After making changes:
Wait 30 minutes for the settings to take effect.
Ask the adviser to create a test meeting and use Send Marloo Now.
Confirm the bot appears in the lobby or joins the meeting directly.
If the settings were already on, try toggling each one off and back on again.
If the issue persists after 24 hours, contact Marloo support.
Zoom
The bot can't join a Zoom meeting
The most common Zoom issue is password-protected meetings. The bot needs the password to be included in the meeting link itself — it can't type in a password manually.
How to check if your link has the password embedded:
Look at your Zoom meeting link.
A working link looks like this: https://zoom.us/j/123456789?pwd=abc123 — notice the ?pwd= part.
If your link ends right after the numbers (for example, https://zoom.us/j/123456789) with no ?pwd=, the password is not embedded and the bot won't be able to join.
How to fix this for all future meetings:
Log in to your Zoom account at zoom.us.
Go to Settings.
Search for "Embed passcode in invite link for one-click join".
Turn it On.
All new meeting links you create will now include the password automatically.
Zoom waiting room
If you have a waiting room turned on for your Zoom meetings, the bot will land in the waiting room — just like a client would. You'll need to admit it before it can start recording.
When the bot joins, you'll see a notification that someone is in the waiting room.
Click Admit to let the bot in.
If no one admits the bot within 5 minutes, it will leave. Click Send Marloo Now to try again.
Why Did the Bot Leave My Meeting?
There are a few reasons the bot might leave a meeting before it ends. Here's how to tell what happened and what to do about it.
It wasn't let in from the waiting room
If the bot sat in the lobby and no one admitted it, it leaves after 5 minutes. This is a short window, so it's important to let the host know in advance that the bot will be joining.
What to do: Click Send Marloo Now to send the bot again, and make sure someone admits it this time.
The meeting went silent for a long time
If there's a long period of silence in the meeting (for example, everyone goes on a break), the bot may assume the meeting has ended and leave.
What to do: When the meeting resumes, click Send Marloo Now to re-invite the bot.
No one else joined the meeting
If the bot joins but no other participant ever shows up, the bot will leave on its own after a while. This usually happens when a meeting has been cancelled but the calendar event wasn't deleted.
What to do: Check your calendar. If the meeting is still going ahead, click Send Marloo Now once participants have joined.
Two bots joined the same meeting
If two advisers in your practice are both invited to the same client meeting, and both have auto-join turned on, each adviser's Marloo bot will try to join separately. This means two bots in one meeting.
How to avoid this:
Before the meeting, agree with your colleague on who will have their bot record.
The other adviser can deny the bot from the waiting room, or turn off auto-join for that meeting in Settings > Meetings.
Frequently Asked Questions
My IT admin hasn't approved the app and Marloo can't join meetings.
Marloo can't resolve this for you — your IT admin needs to approve the Marloo OAuth app. You'll find an approval link on the connection page in your Marloo settings. Send that link to your IT admin along with the IT admin instructions above.
I've asked my IT admin to update the settings but it's still not working.
Settings changes in Teams can take up to 30 minutes to take effect. If it's been more than 30 minutes, ask your IT admin to try toggling each setting off and then back on. If it's still not working after 24 hours, contact Marloo support and we'll help troubleshoot.
The host didn't see the bot in the lobby.
Teams lobby notifications can be easy to miss, especially if the host is presenting or sharing their screen. The bot only waits 5 minutes before leaving, so timing matters. Ask the host to check the Peoplepanel on the right side of the Teams window — the bot will appear under a "Waiting in lobby" section. If the bot has already timed out and left, use Send Marloo Now to send it again.
Can I stop the bot from joining a specific meeting?
Yes. You have two options:
When the bot appears in the waiting room, deny it entry.
Turn off auto-join in Settings > Meetings so the bot only joins when you click Send Marloo Now.
Why does the bot show "Unverified" next to its name in Teams?
This is a Microsoft Teams label applied to all external participants who aren't from a trusted organisation. It doesn't affect how the bot works. If you'd like it to say "External" instead, your IT admin can add gomarloo.com as a trusted organisation — see the IT admin instructions above.