Before you send me that summary…

Send a summary, not a grenade.

If someone sent you this page, they read your summaries closely. That's a good sign. Here are five rules and a free check, so the next one is work you can stand behind.

Unedited AI output has a name: AI slop. Hand it off unread and it becomes a grenade, because whoever gets it has to defuse it. These rules move that work back to the sender, who has the transcript.

The five rules

TL;DR first. Put the outcome in the first two lines.
Clear and concise. Say what was decided. Cut “the team discussed.”
Bullets where they help: decisions, owners, due dates.
Text only. Delete the source links, footnote numbers and attachment lists your AI tool added. They tell the reader a tool wrote it.
Know where every number came from and how current it is. Every decision and action item should trace back to who said it. You check, so your reader doesn't have to.

To spot the classic tells in any draft, try the AI slop checker. It runs in your browser.

Run the free check

Paste the check into Copilot, ChatGPT or Claude, along with your draft and the meeting transcript. You get back:

A tighter summary that follows rules 1 to 4
Every decision, action item and number, with who said it in the transcript

Anything it can't find in the transcript is marked “Not found in transcript.” Read the result before you send it.

Use the AI tool your company approves for meeting content.

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Sharpwork makes toolkits for legal, project management, PR, accounting and sales work, built on the same habit: check where every fact came from before it goes out. See the membership

Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude are trademarks of their respective owners. Sharpwork is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by them.

I'm about to send a meeting summary. Check it against the meeting transcript first. I've pasted both below, or attached them. If you can't see both my draft summary and the transcript, ask me for the missing one and stop.

The rule that matters most: use only what is in the transcript. Don't look anything up in my email, other files or the web. Do not guess or fill in any decision, action item, owner, date, number or name. Don't total, round or estimate numbers, and don't turn "Friday" into a calendar date. If something in my draft is not in the transcript, leave it out of Part 1 and mark it "Not found in transcript" in Part 2. Never make up a timestamp, a quote, or words the transcript marks as inaudible. If the transcript names a speaker only by a label like "Speaker 2," use that label. Do not guess who it is. Keep placeholder names in square brackets, like [Client] or [Project], exactly as written, even if the transcript uses a real name. They count as found. (Footnote numbers like [1] are not placeholders. Remove them.)

Give me two parts.

PART 1: THE SUMMARY TO SEND
Rewrite my draft to follow these rules, using the transcript to fix it:
1. TL;DR first. One or two sentences with the main outcome, built only from the decisions and action items below.
2. Clear and concise. Keep what was decided, agreed or left open. Cut lines that only say a topic "was discussed." If something was talked about but not settled, it is not a decision. Put it under Open questions. Make the summary shorter than my draft, not counting any "not found" flags.
3. Bullet points where they help: Decisions, Action items (owner, task, due date in the speaker's words) and Open questions. Use sentences everywhere else.
4. Text only. No links, footnote numbers, citations, source lists or attachment names, and don't add any of your own. Do not add references to the files I attached. Use plain text and basic bullets so it pastes cleanly into an email or chat.
If the transcript shows a decision or action item my draft missed, include it. An owner is the one named person who said they'd do it. If nobody did, or it was "we" or "someone," write "Owner: not found in transcript." If there's no due date, write "Due: not found in transcript." If the transcript says when a number was current (a quote date, an "as of" date), keep that date next to the number.

PART 2: WHO SAID IT (for me to check, not for sending)
List every decision, action item and number in Part 1. For each one, give:
- Who said it, using the name or label in the transcript
- Where: the timestamp if the transcript has one, and a short quote copied word for word
- For numbers: the date or "as of" the speaker gave, or "As of: not found in transcript"
- Status: Found, or Unclear (for example, two people gave different figures, or you had to infer who said it). Say why. Keep unclear details out of Part 1, and put conflicting figures under Open questions.
Then list two more groups. "Added from the transcript": anything in Part 1 that wasn't in my draft. "Removed": anything from my draft that isn't in Part 1, with the reason, such as "Not found in transcript."

Before you answer, check your own work. Every decision, action item, name, date and number in Part 1 must appear in the transcript. If one doesn't, take it out of Part 1 and list it under Removed as "Not found in transcript."

End with one line that starts "Check before you send:" and lists every Not found, Unclear, Added, missing-owner and missing-date item. If there are none, write "Check before you send: nothing. Every item traced to the transcript."

MY DRAFT SUMMARY:
[PASTE YOUR DRAFT SUMMARY HERE]

THE TRANSCRIPT:
[PASTE THE TRANSCRIPT HERE]

I'm about to send a meeting summary. Check it against the meeting transcript first. I've pasted both below, or attached them. If you can't see both my draft summary and the transcript, ask me for the missing one and stop.

The rule that matters most: use only what is in the transcript. Don't look anything up in my email, other files or the web. Do not guess or fill in any decision, action item, owner, date, number or name. Don't total, round or estimate numbers, and don't turn "Friday" into a calendar date. If something in my draft is not in the transcript, leave it out of Part 1 and mark it "Not found in transcript" in Part 2. Never make up a timestamp, a quote, or words the transcript marks as inaudible. If the transcript names a speaker only by a label like "Speaker 2," use that label. Do not guess who it is. Keep placeholder names in square brackets, like [Client] or [Project], exactly as written, even if the transcript uses a real name. They count as found. (Footnote numbers like [1] are not placeholders. Remove them.)

Give me two parts.

PART 1: THE SUMMARY TO SEND
Rewrite my draft to follow these rules, using the transcript to fix it:
1. TL;DR first. One or two sentences with the main outcome, built only from the decisions and action items below.
2. Clear and concise. Keep what was decided, agreed or left open. Cut lines that only say a topic "was discussed." If something was talked about but not settled, it is not a decision. Put it under Open questions. Make the summary shorter than my draft, not counting any "not found" flags.
3. Bullet points where they help: Decisions, Action items (owner, task, due date in the speaker's words) and Open questions. Use sentences everywhere else.
4. Text only. No links, footnote numbers, citations, source lists or attachment names, and don't add any of your own. Use plain text and basic bullets so it pastes cleanly into an email or chat.
If the transcript shows a decision or action item my draft missed, include it. An owner is the one named person who said they'd do it. If nobody did, or it was "we" or "someone," write "Owner: not found in transcript." If there's no due date, write "Due: not found in transcript." If the transcript says when a number was current (a quote date, an "as of" date), keep that date next to the number.

PART 2: WHO SAID IT (for me to check, not for sending)
List every decision, action item and number in Part 1. For each one, give:
- Who said it, using the name or label in the transcript
- Where: the timestamp if the transcript has one, and a short quote copied word for word
- For numbers: the date or "as of" the speaker gave, or "As of: not found in transcript"
- Status: Found, or Unclear (for example, two people gave different figures, or you had to infer who said it). Say why. Keep unclear details out of Part 1, and put conflicting figures under Open questions.
Then list two more groups. "Added from the transcript": anything in Part 1 that wasn't in my draft. "Removed": anything from my draft that isn't in Part 1, with the reason, such as "Not found in transcript."

Before you answer, check your own work. Every decision, action item, name, date and number in Part 1 must appear in the transcript. If one doesn't, take it out of Part 1 and list it under Removed as "Not found in transcript."

End with one line that starts "Check before you send:" and lists every Not found, Unclear, Added, missing-owner and missing-date item. If there are none, write "Check before you send: nothing. Every item traced to the transcript."

MY DRAFT SUMMARY:
[PASTE YOUR DRAFT SUMMARY HERE]

THE TRANSCRIPT:
[PASTE THE TRANSCRIPT HERE]

I'm about to send a meeting summary. Check it against the meeting transcript first. I've pasted both below, or attached them. If you can't see both my draft summary and the transcript, ask me for the missing one and stop.

The rule that matters most: use only what is in the transcript. Don't look anything up in my email, other files or the web. Do not guess or fill in any decision, action item, owner, date, number or name. Don't total, round or estimate numbers, and don't turn "Friday" into a calendar date. If something in my draft is not in the transcript, leave it out of Part 1 and mark it "Not found in transcript" in Part 2. Never make up a timestamp, a quote, or words the transcript marks as inaudible. If the transcript names a speaker only by a label like "Speaker 2," use that label. Do not guess who it is. Keep placeholder names in square brackets, like [Client] or [Project], exactly as written, even if the transcript uses a real name. They count as found. (Footnote numbers like [1] are not placeholders. Remove them.)

Give me two parts.

PART 1: THE SUMMARY TO SEND
Rewrite my draft to follow these rules, using the transcript to fix it:
1. TL;DR first. One or two sentences with the main outcome, built only from the decisions and action items below.
2. Clear and concise. Keep what was decided, agreed or left open. Cut lines that only say a topic "was discussed." If something was talked about but not settled, it is not a decision. Put it under Open questions. Make the summary shorter than my draft, not counting any "not found" flags.
3. Bullet points where they help: Decisions, Action items (owner, task, due date in the speaker's words) and Open questions. Use sentences everywhere else.
4. Text only. No links, footnote numbers, citations, source lists or attachment names, and don't add any of your own. Use plain text and basic bullets, with no headings or bold, so it pastes cleanly into an email or chat.
If the transcript shows a decision or action item my draft missed, include it. An owner is the one named person who said they'd do it. If nobody did, or it was "we" or "someone," write "Owner: not found in transcript." If there's no due date, write "Due: not found in transcript." If the transcript says when a number was current (a quote date, an "as of" date), keep that date next to the number.

PART 2: WHO SAID IT (for me to check, not for sending)
List every decision, action item and number in Part 1. For each one, give:
- Who said it, using the name or label in the transcript
- Where: the timestamp if the transcript has one, and a short quote copied word for word
- For numbers: the date or "as of" the speaker gave, or "As of: not found in transcript"
- Status: Found, or Unclear (for example, two people gave different figures, or you had to infer who said it). Say why. Keep unclear details out of Part 1, and put conflicting figures under Open questions.
Then list two more groups. "Added from the transcript": anything in Part 1 that wasn't in my draft. "Removed": anything from my draft that isn't in Part 1, with the reason, such as "Not found in transcript."

Before you answer, check your own work. Every decision, action item, name, date and number in Part 1 must appear in the transcript. If one doesn't, take it out of Part 1 and list it under Removed as "Not found in transcript."

End with one line that starts "Check before you send:" and lists every Not found, Unclear, Added, missing-owner and missing-date item. If there are none, write "Check before you send: nothing. Every item traced to the transcript."

MY DRAFT SUMMARY:
[PASTE YOUR DRAFT SUMMARY HERE]

THE TRANSCRIPT:
[PASTE THE TRANSCRIPT HERE]