The Best Way to Take Notes on YouTube Videos in 2026

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: you watched a fantastic educational video on YouTube, thought "I should really save that," and then proceeded to add it to Watch Later where it will live forever, never to be seen again.

Yeah, me too. For years.

YouTube has become one of the world's greatest repositories of knowledge. But unlike books or articles, video content is notoriously hard to reference, search, and — most importantly — remember. Here's what actually works.

The Problem With Video-Based Learning

Videos have a fundamental flaw for serious learning: they're time-locked. To find a specific piece of information, you have to remember roughly when it was mentioned and scrub through the timeline. Compare that to Ctrl+F in a document.

This creates several issues:

• No quick reference — You can't skim a video
• Hard to review — Rewatching takes too long
• Context collapse — You remember "something about X" but not the details

The result? We consume video content passively and retain almost none of it.

Method 1: Manual Timestamps (The Old School Way)

The simplest approach: watch the video and jot down timestamps of key moments.

Pros: Simple, works with any video, forces active engagement

Cons: Time-consuming, still requires rewatching to review, no searchable text

Best for: Short videos where you only need a few key points

Method 2: Grabbing the Transcript

Most YouTube videos have auto-generated or human-made transcripts. You can access these by clicking the "..." menu below the video and selecting "Show Transcript."

From there, you can copy-paste the entire thing into a note and use Ctrl+F to your heart's content.

Pros: Searchable text, free, captures everything

Cons: Transcripts are often messy, no structure, still need to process it

Best for: When you need to reference specific quotes or facts

Method 3: AI Summarizers

In 2026, AI can do the heavy lifting. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and specialized services can take a transcript and produce:

• Bullet-point summaries
• Key takeaways
• Action items
• Q&A-style notes

Pros: Fast, structured output, highlights important points

Cons: May miss nuance, requires reviewing for accuracy, transcript quality matters

Best for: Long-form content where time is limited

Method 4: Dedicated Note-Taking Apps

Several apps have been built specifically for YouTube learning:

• Notion + YouTube embed — Take notes alongside the video
• YiNote — Chrome extension for timestamped notes
• Readwise Reader — Highlight transcripts like articles
• KiokuClip — AI extracts insights and delivers them via spaced repetition

The best choice depends on your workflow. If you're a heavy Notion user, embedding makes sense. If you want zero friction, AI-first tools do the work for you.

The Method That Changed Everything for Me

After trying all of the above, here's what I landed on: AI extraction + spaced delivery.

Here's the workflow:

1. Watch the video — Just watch. Don't stress about notes.
2. Paste the URL into an extraction tool — Let AI pull out the key insights.
3. Receive insights over time — Instead of a wall of text, get one insight per day.

The magic of this approach is that it solves both problems: captureAND retention. Most systems only solve capture. You end up with a graveyard of notes you never revisit.

Which Method Should You Use?

It depends on your goal:

Most people only need the last one. We're not building research archives — we're trying to become better, more knowledgeable versions of ourselves. That requires retention, not just storage.

The best note-taking system is the one you actually use. For most of us, that means automation. Let the machines do the extraction; save your energy for the thinking.