Frequently Asked Questions

NoteLM.ai is an AI-powered note-taking companion that helps you capture insights from YouTube videos. Our Chrome extensions allow you to summarize videos using AI and download subtitles for offline reference. It's designed for students, professionals, researchers, and anyone who wants to learn more efficiently from video content.

Yes! NoteLM.ai is completely free to use. For the YouTube Video Summarizer, you'll need your own Gemini API key, which Google provides with a generous free tier (up to 1,500 requests per day). The YouTube Subtitle Downloader requires no API key at all and works out of the box.

No, you don't need to create an account. NoteLM.ai extensions work without any sign-up or registration. Just install the extension and you're ready to go. This is part of our privacy-first approach.

Visit the Chrome Web Store and search for 'NoteLM' or click the download links on our website. Click 'Add to Chrome' and the extension will be installed instantly. You can also install from developer mode by downloading the extension files and loading them unpacked in chrome://extensions/.

Getting a free Gemini API key is easy: 1) Visit Google AI Studio at aistudio.google.com/app/apikey, 2) Sign in with your Google account, 3) Click 'Create API key', 4) Copy the generated key and paste it into the NoteLM extension settings. The free tier includes up to 1,500 requests per day.

Our extensions capture subtitles by intercepting YouTube's API calls when the video plays. Playing the video briefly (just a few seconds) triggers the subtitle loading process, allowing us to capture the transcript. This is a technical limitation of how YouTube delivers subtitle data.

You can summarize any YouTube video that has subtitles or closed captions available. This includes videos with auto-generated captions, which covers the vast majority of YouTube content. The AI will generate summaries in English regardless of the original video language.

Unfortunately, our tools require videos to have subtitles or closed captions available. Many videos have auto-generated captions that work perfectly. If no subtitles are available, you'll see a message indicating this. You can try refreshing the page or checking if the video has CC (closed captions) enabled.

The summaries are generated by Google's Gemini AI, which provides high-quality, contextual summaries. Accuracy depends on the quality of the video's subtitles. Auto-generated captions may have some errors, which can affect summary quality. We recommend reviewing the summary for critical use cases.

Yes, but there are some limitations. Very long videos may be truncated to fit within API limits. The Gemini API has token limits that may not accommodate extremely long transcripts. For most videos (under 2 hours), you should have no issues.

Absolutely. We follow a privacy-first approach. Your API key is stored locally in your browser's storage and is only sent directly to Google's API for processing. We never collect, store, or have access to any of your data, browsing activity, or API key. There's no backend server on our end that handles your data.

No. We don't use any analytics, telemetry, or tracking in our extensions. Your usage is completely private. We believe privacy is a fundamental right, not a feature to be compromised.

Your API key is stored in Chrome's local storage on your device. It never leaves your browser except when making direct calls to Google's Gemini API. We have no access to your key, and it's never transmitted to our servers (we don't have servers that handle user data).

Try these steps: 1) Play the video for a few seconds to trigger subtitle loading, 2) Check if the video has CC (closed captions) available by looking for the CC button on the YouTube player, 3) Try refreshing the page and playing again, 4) Make sure the extension is enabled in chrome://extensions/.

Verify your API key at Google AI Studio (aistudio.google.com/app/apikey). Make sure there are no extra spaces when pasting the key. Try creating a new API key if the problem persists. Ensure your Google account doesn't have any restrictions on API usage.

Currently, NoteLM.ai extensions are available for Chrome and Chromium-based browsers like Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera. We're exploring support for Firefox and Safari in the future, but there's no timeline yet.

Make sure you're on a YouTube watch page (youtube.com/watch?v=...). Try refreshing the page. Check if the extension is enabled in chrome://extensions/. If the issue persists, try disabling and re-enabling the extension, or reinstalling it.