Hi everyone! I’ve been spending a lot of time learning from long-form YouTube tutorials—typically 30–90 minutes—covering Python, JavaScript, and data structure topics.
I used to struggle with:
- Watching the video and forgetting key concepts within a day
- Ending up with scattered bullet-point notes or screenshots
- Spending too much time rewinding to find useful code or tips
What I Tried First
- Pausing every few minutes to type a summary (interrupts flow)
- Dumping auto-transcripts into Google Docs (hard to navigate)
- Taking screenshots of code snippets (context often missing) None of these felt efficient or reusable.
The Workflow That Changed the Game
I built a lightweight tool (based on speech-to-text + heuristic logic) to automate note structuring from YouTube videos:
- Paste the video link into the tool
- It transcribes and auto-segments the content into sections
- Outputs a structured markdown outline:
- Section titles
- Key takeaways
- Timestamps
- Code snippets or concept highlights Now I can focus on learning, and later review using a clean, navigable document.
Why It Matters
- Makes it far easier to review and revisit
- Reduces cognitive load while watching
- Helps me build a mini Zettelkasten for code + concepts
- Ideal for students, self-learners, or content creators who deal with long videos
Have any of you tried something similar when learning from YouTube? What tools or methods worked best for organizing your notes? Would love to hear your workflow!
Top comments (1)
Cool. I also tried some transcription tools before but the ads always annoy me. This will help.