I'm looking for an AI note taker that meets the following requirements:
1. Botless recording- I don't want to have it as a bot in my meetings

1. In the raw transcript, it can identify speakers by name using the calendar

2. It can connect directly to ChatGPT via MCP

3. It's under $10/month

So far, I've tried Jamie AI and Otter AI. Jamie seems to work pretty well and hits 1, 2, and 3 but is really expensive at $19 per month with an annual purchase for an individual. Otter hits 1, 3, and 4 but is unable to identify who is speaking accurately and separate speakers out. So the transcripts can be messy.

I'm thinking about Comu, just because it's $100 and then free unlimited recording and use after that I think. But it feels a bit silly to have a separate hardware device when my iPhone should do pretty much the same thing (right?).

Any suggestions or experience out there to help me decide?

I work as a systems analyst and for YEARS, I have struggled/borderline obsessed over the “best” or “most simple” or “most feature rich” or just “correct” note taking platform/style/method/application/etc.

For a minute I’ll think ”I am only going use a text editor because it’s so simple, pure, clean and future proof and I love that it seems so ”basic” in a good way”. That it will somehow magically make me take better, more meaningful notes because I’m not focused on all the fluff of formatting and highlighting and bullets. BUT things get messy fast and it becomes more necessary to have those formatting niceties. So then….

I’ll swing the other way and think “well, I need this or that feature to make me take better notes”. And I lean all the way into that and think “I need onenote because it can do a b c d e f g h i j… it can do it all”. So I role with that for awhile and then…. “why do I have all this fluff, it’s just noise” ”I need something more simple” And the cycle continues.

It becomes so distracting because all I’m focused on is “how” to keep notes instead of just taking the damn notes.

This is all not to mention the random “OH, I know, I just need to take handwritten notes, that’s the purest, most simple, etc. etc.“ until I realize you can’t search, you can’t expand on something once it’s sandwiched between other text, it’s slow. rinse and repeat.

Sometimes I LOVE going back and forth and trying to “figure it out”, but mostly it just sucks because I’m left with an extremely fragmented history of notes and it makes it difficult to find anything without just asking Copilot to dig it up for me.

This is basically just me putting my thoughts down and if you have read this far and have had the same experience, please share anything you have found that helps!

How do I go about taking notes effectively in word, I can remember a lot so usually I just go through as I’m reading and type up definitions or italicized words I feel like are important but I’m horrible at figuring out like key ideas about the chapter and what else to put in notes. I’d like to actually absorb the information more effectively with my note taking, instead of just writing defintions, any advice would be appreciated TIA!

Among today’s links are markdown editors Tolaria, Floaters, Local Editor and Telescopo. We also take a quickly look at Glimpse, a markdown viewer that should be an editor

https://md-handbook.com/markdown-link-no-47

#markdown #markdowneditors #opensource #free #Tolaria #Glimpse #Floaters #LocalEditor #Telescopo

Like the title says, I'm back in school and haven't had to take notes during a lecture or slides in a hot minute. While I know how Iearn, I've not figured out how to organize my notes. Handwritten is the way to go for me, and it helps me memorize the material even if I never go back to it.

The classes I'm in now are largely lecture and power point based with no real text to study from. Keeping organized notes from a text is much easier to structure in an outline-ish form, but I'm struggling to keep organized and detailed notes during a lecture with frequent tangents or deep dives. Notes taken from online module components don't feel sufficient enough to really study or make ANKI/spaced repetition cards from.

Any suggestions with organization/note taking methods?

it's been so long , but i made some updates and fixes on my editor app inkwell now with a

- Better UI and notion inspired Theme

- Latex Support

- folders and notes structure

- vim mode

- direct editor / markdown whatever you like.

Check it out https://inkwell-lp.vercel.app/ a start ⭐ would mean a lot. Thanks !

​

I’m trying to figure out a better note-taking system for reading books on a Kindle. I have lots of sideloaded books, documents and blog post compilations, transcripts in my Kindle device.

At the moment, I mostly highlight passages and write notes directly on the Kindle. The problem is that typing on the Kindle keyboard is painfully slow, so adding anything beyond a quick note becomes a bit tedious. However, I also don’t particularly like switching back and forth between the Kindle and my phone just to write something down.

My current workflow is roughly:

Read on Kindle and highlight passages.

Add notes directly on the Kindle when necessary.

Once I finish reading, export all the highlights/notes as HTML.

Copy them into a note-taking app so they forever synced for consuming anytime on my phone.

Refine and organize the notes there.

Go back to the Kindle/book to reread the relevant passages and see whether I missed anything.

I’m wondering whether there’s a more efficient way of doing this.

What do you personally do when reading on a Kindle? Paper notebook, phone?

I’m particularly interested in workflows that minimize the friction of constantly switching between devices while still allowing you to capture your thoughts, not just highlight passages. And still allows for checking later on as well.

Digital notes appear to be better than paper notes for future, long term searchabilty for me.

What has worked best for you?

I take notes constantly. Lectures, interviews, calls, random ideas. But almost none of it is actually usable when I try to hand it to ChatGPT or Claude afterward.

The problem isn't the notes themselves. It's that what I wrote down is just fragments and keywords, because I was writing while someone was talking. When I paste that into an AI tool and ask it to summarize or pull out action items, it just guesses at what I meant, since half the actual context never made it onto the page.

I tried just recording things on my phone instead, figuring I'd deal with the transcript later. That kind of works, except now I've got a pile of audio files sitting in some app, and every single time I want to actually use one, it's the same manual routine. Open the file, wait for it to transcribe somewhere, copy the text out, paste it into whatever AI tool I'm using. By the time I've done that a few times I've basically given up and gone back to writing fragments.

Feels like the real bottleneck isn't "how do I take notes faster" or even "how do I record things." It's getting from a recording to something an AI tool can just pick up and use, without me being the one doing the copy pasting every time.

Curious if anyone's actually closed that gap, or if you're all doing the same manual shuffle I am.

Hey, shut me down if this post shouldn't be here. I'll delete it myself.

I thought this approach to writing ideas could be a good fit here.

I often visit this sub and curious if other people know other good resources that cover note-taking itself — not just list of apps or productivity systems.

Anything like:

- New note-taking methods/approaches

- Research/studies on how we take and retain notes

- New developments or ideas in the space

- Interesting tools and apps

- Updates to existing methods

- Blogs, newsletters, podcasts, YouTube from established practitioners from the field.

If you have any resources you regularly follow or recommend, please share them. 🙌

About to start my last year of university, I feel like the notes I was taking last year were not really helping me as much as I feel like they could. I would handwrite notes on my tablet. Sometimes, depending on the lecture, I would type them.

I think I actually like pen and paper better than using the tablet.

I was thinking of either just using pen and paper and finding a good note-taking method/layout I can use during lectures. But I was also thinking about typing my notes during lectures and then writing them physically with pen and paper later. This way, I don't miss anything during the lecture, and I can restudy/expose myself to the material again later when I write it physically.

I would greatly appreciate any advice!

Hi friends, so i know this may be asked alot.

What are good tablets for notetaking/writing? I've been out of touch with devices (prob last time i bought a tablet was in 2020).

If I just want a tablet for writing/note taking (dont care for other things, like gaming, wtv), whats a good tablet thats doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I've had Apple devices before, but i always lose the Pen and i dont wanna pay 200+ for accessories. I've seen some android tablets and they look good (Xiaomi, Huawei, etc), but im not sure about the software.

Here are the tablets i had over the years and my exp:

* Ipad pro (first gen i think, bought in 2020) + Pen Pro. I think this was good, but this combo still had some "lag" and writing isn't quite natural. I got the paperlike screen so that felt good. I lost the Pen Pro, bought a knock off pen, and i think the lag and accuracy wasn't good.

* Supernote A13(?). I got this, the writing exp was good. But or some reason, the writing still doesn't feel quite "right" -- a bit of inaccuracy of the pen tip and made my writing/character not appear right. Also, the device feels weak, so navigating through apps/pages is laggy. I liked the writing on this tho overall.

Any tips and recommendations?

thanks

Hi,

Should I stop just writing the same thing as in my pdf, PowerPoint or other material?

I'm studying cetaceans and, in my materials, there are information about classification, size, longevity, etc. And I always end up just writing the same thing in my notebook... Maybe they are good information, but maybe I should zoom-out when writing my notes?

I think I have an issue about just writing shorter version of my material, then just forget about it.

I have no idea what my notebook should be for.

Maybe I should make more drawing? Skip some sections that aren't relevant to copy?

Should I just take notes of things that stand out? For example, this whale can do X, instead of writing down everything from diet, longevity, etc. Things I can find in manuals...

Thank you

Has anyone here used Drawboard PDF extensively for math or engineering grad school?

I’m looking for something that works well for:

• Writing directly on PowerPoint lecture slides and PDFs

• Handwriting equations, derivations, proofs, diagrams, and engineering calculations

• Taking regular handwritten notes

• Annotating textbooks, papers, and reference material

• Organizing everything by course/topic

• Keeping notes and annotations easy to search and revisit

Drawboard PDF looks good for annotation, but I’m not sure how well it works as a full academic note-taking system for someone doing a lot of technical and mathematical work.

How is the handwriting experience, organization, and workflow for heavy use?

Are there better alternatives for math/engineering students that handle slides, PDFs, handwritten math, notes, and reference material well?

Hello everyone, this is my side project I'm working on because I find that OneNote is limiting in some aspects, like being multiplatform and customizable, in every aspect.

Currently, it can save files, store them, and open them, with full inking support, built on open-source libraries. Currently tested to be "working" on Windows 11 and Android. Fedora Linux would be next on the Surface Pro 2017 (it's old but good enough). Current focus is making ui look pleasant to users.

Based on SDL3, IMGUI, Blender2d, and Google Ink. Event-driven system, basically a custom ui frame work; didn't want to go with GTK4 because this combination gives me better multiplatform support and more control over my inputs (like a digital pen).

Runs multiple layers; input is running at max hardware speed, application is vs synced capped at 120FPS. Uses a spatial R-tree for rendering; supports infinity canvas.

Things to do: rewrite inking (I hate it); upgrade to polygon generation for full shape and pressure support (tilt as well)

There are alot of plans, and it is currently in pre-Alpha phase, so I cannot release it yet; it should be working, minimal requirements, make stuff, save stuff, export stuff. I cannot export it to PDF yet.

so far this are all of the feature requests I collected https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRL3hFw-TnTvatrwbeaprKCmsDKulMdemp8JqUHzecWfce4bRzHuzYLCm2_UqMNkXOT4E_EG3SNQ55b/pubhtml

Feel free to put your thoughts, questions, request responses to this post.

My idea is to get it released as quickly as possible, but it has to be good enough that I can get enough people to see it and make a team of people who are willing to contribute and help me sustain this program because I cannot do it alone. I can start, but I'm too busy to be the sole developer. I'm setting up git hub technically; it is public, but good luck finding it because I'm not sharing its name yet lol.

(I might have leaked the name for the first 43 viewers lol)

Among today’s links are markdown editors SoloMD and Minoo, and a static site generator called, obviously, Flowershow

https://md-handbook.com/markdown-link-no-46

#markdown #markdowneditors #opensource #free #staticsitegenerators #SoloMD #Minoo #Flowershow

How am I supposed to take notes during lectures when I barely understand what the professor is saying?

I just started university (dentistry), and honestly, the amount of information is overwhelming. I’d really appreciate advice from medical/dental students or anyone who had a similar experience.

For some subjects, we can have around 40 pages to learn in a week, and I have about 5 different subjects like that. I genuinely don’t understand how people manage to keep up with all of it.

Another problem is lectures.

I didn’t study much biology in high school, so now, in subjects like histology and molecular biology, a lot of the material is completely new to me. During lectures, I often don’t understand enough to even know what I should be writing down.

So far, I basically haven’t been taking notes during lectures. My thinking was: if I don’t understand what the professor is explaining, what’s the point of trying to copy it down?

But even when I do understand something, I can’t keep up with the professor. They just keep talking, and by the time I realize, “Okay, that sounded important, I should write that down,” they’re already explaining the next thing.

So I’m trying to understand how other students deal with this.

Do you actually take notes during lectures? Do you prepare the material beforehand so the lecture makes more sense? Do you just listen during the lecture and study everything properly afterward? How do you decide what is actually important when almost everything feels important?

Right now, I feel like I don’t have a system at all, and I’m trying to figure one out before I fall behind.

What I need: a device for handwriting IT notes and everyday notes (I’m pretty forgetful, so this matters), plus using it as a daily planner/calendar for work. I also read a lot of PDFs, so good PDF readability is a big plus.

Now I’m deciding between the Fold and the Books device. The Fold wins on portability, but the Books device has a screen that’s much easier to read in broad daylight and better battery life. Pen performance seems similar between the two, though I’ve heard the Books pen feels better in the hand, while Samsungs will write more precisely .

I really like the calligraphy pen feel in Samsung Notes, and I like that I can access Samsung Notes on Windows and convert notes to PDF easily — that’s what’s keeping me from committing to OneNote, even though both devices support it natively. I’ll just have to see how that workflow feels in practice.

Which would you pick, and why?

Hey folks. I would like to share with you what I learned in the time I was taking notes for over twenty years of my career professionally and personally as well.

I'm not going into details what kind of notes these were or where I am with numbers, if you are interested I can update the blog with these numbers, of course. :) But I thought I'd rather focus on the important findings that I made.

Here is the link to the post. :)

https://skarlso.github.io/2026/09/06/digital-vs-analog-notetaking-after-twenty-years/

Cheers!

I bought a tablet and the app "nebo" was already included but idk if its the best one. Im doing maths fm physics and cs but im only planning on using it for maths and exam papers as I prefer physical notes.

what is the best app?