Notetaker for YouTube

Overview

Good notes on a video are tied to the exact moment they refer to. Notetaker for YouTube opens in the side panel next to the player, records the video timestamp with every note, and can save the current frame as a screenshot. Switch to another video and keep adding to the same document, then export the result when you're done.

I built this because I kept pausing videos to jot something down and then losing my place. The interesting part was making "the current moment" reliable: the side panel can't touch the player directly, so it runs small functions inside the YouTube tab to read playback time, seek, and draw the current video frame onto a canvas for screenshots. Video titles and descriptions come from the player's own data, falling back to YouTube's public oEmbed endpoint (title and channel only) when the player isn't ready yet.

I kept everything local on purpose. Notes and JPEG screenshots live in extension storage, which is why it asks for unlimitedStorage, and the "Share to ChatGPT" option only fills the message box and never submits it. The Web Store build is minified rather than obfuscated, since obfuscation violates their policy.

Key Features

• Timestamped Notes: Press Enter to add a note, Shift+Enter for a new line. Click any timestamp to jump back to that point in the video.
• Screenshots: Capture the current frame of the video or Short with a single checkbox.
• Works Across Videos: Move between videos and Shorts and keep one document, with each video's title, channel and description tracked automatically.
• Export Anywhere: Export as Markdown, copy to the clipboard, or save as PDF.
• Share to ChatGPT: Optionally send your notes with a ready-made prompt (summary, study guide, flashcards, quiz and more).
• Private by Design: Notes and screenshots stay in your browser. No accounts, ads or analytics.

"Notes that take you straight back to the moment that mattered."