How do you take notes when learning from a video?

Question

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I keep finding myself in the same situation. I’m watching a YouTube video—could be a podcast, an inspiring talk, or something educational—and then... I hear this one sentence or idea that really hits me. I want to save it, write it down, remember it later.

So I either:

Rewind and try to catch the start of the sentence (probably missing it and doing it all over again xD),

Or I go digging through the transcript to find the exact wording.

Both options totally kill the flow for me.

Does anyone know of a simple way to just grab those key sentences or ideas at the moment you hear them, and come back to them later.

Does anyone else deal with this problem? Have you found a solution that works? I think something like this is a total game-changer (ugh, I know, we all hate that word… but you get what I mean!) for anyone who loves learning from videos but hates stopping every 5 minutes to take notes.

I’d love to hear all of your thoughts and what’s worked for you!!

Prateek · Accepted Answer

I’ve been in the same boat! Here's what works for me:

Use Timestamped Notes: I use apps like Notion or Google Docs and quickly note down the idea with a timestamp from the video. That way, I can go back to it later without interrupting the flow.
Speech-to-Text Tools: Some tools like Otter.ai can transcribe videos in real-time, making it easier to grab key points without rewinding.
Browser Extensions: Some extensions let you bookmark video moments directly (e.g., Glasp or YouTube’s built-in feature), so you can revisit them later.

Yolanda Zul Imatufarikh · Answer

Structure Your Notes:

- Headings and Subheadings: Break down topics as they appear in the video.
- Bullet Points: Use bullet points for key ideas, facts, and examples. This keeps your notes concise.

Timothy Bramlett · Answer

I don't TBH. But I really should

Nigel Yong · Answer

create this app!

Edna Philippa O'Callaghan · Answer

Glasp Web Highlighter: PDF & Web Highlight https://glasp.co/youtube-summary Glasp YouTube Summary with ChatGPT & Claude is a free Chrome Extension that lets you quickly access the summary of both YouTube videos and web articles. Can use multiple AI models - Choose from ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, and Mistal AI to summarize video transcripts How to Use Glasp: ### Adding Glasp to Chrome - Click “Add to Chrome” - Log in to Glasp from the extension menu ### Using Glasp in Chrome - Select the text you want to highlight using your mouse or trackpad - Select the highlight color from the Glasp pop-up highlighter tool ### Using Your Highlights - View you highlights on your Glasp Profile Page - Tag your highlights, make notes, summarize your highlights with a page comment, and share your highlights and notes by creating links or directly copy and pasting into other apps. It’s that easy. To see a tutorial of how to use the Glasp Chrome Extension, please click the link to see a demonstration video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgbszoeokv4 ### Pro Tips / Troubleshooting: - Adding tags to saved content will help you organize your interests. - If you can’t highlight on a web page, try switching tabs or refreshing the page. - For more details, please check out the FAQs page ;) https://blog.glasp.co/faqs/ Occasionally takes two tries to get the transcript summary (ChatGPT & Gemini): 1. Open a youtube video. 2. Click "Summarize Video (new tab)" 3. IF new chat tab opens, but no prompt submitted, i.e. no results... 4. Go back to youtube video (still open) 5. Click "Summarize Video (new tab)" a second time. 6. Another new tab opens, prompt is submitted and result produced.

How do you take notes when learning from a video?

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