Summarize Lecture Notes
Photograph your handwritten notes, import the lecturer's slide PDF or paste typed notes, and turn a week of lectures into key points you can revise from.
To summarize lecture notes, import photos of handwritten pages or the slide PDF, correct anything misread, then summarize with Key Points. Turn the points into questions and test yourself; that is what makes a summary useful for revision.
Quick facts
- Files
- Photos of handwritten notes, slide PDFs, Word files or pasted text.
- Are photos stored?
- Each photo is sent once to be read, then discarded. It is never stored.
- Words per summary
- 1,000 words a run in your first month, then 300. Paid plans: Starter 1,200, Pro 2,500, Ultra 6,000.
- Photos per day
- Read with OCR on a free account: 10 pages a day, 100 on paid plans.
- File limits
- 20 MB per file, up to 30 pages or photos at once.
- Cost
- Free account: 1,000 words in the first month, then 300 a month. No card.
How it works
- 1Bring the notes in. Photos of handwritten pages (free account), the slide PDF, a .docx or pasted typed notes.
- 2Proofread the recognized text. Handwriting is usually read well; fix names, formulas and anything scrawled.
- 3Summarize one lecture at a time. Key Points works best for revision. Short is the free option.
- 4Turn points into questions. Rewrite each point as a question and test yourself on it later in the week.
Three kinds of notes, three ways in
Handwritten notes come in as photos. A free account reads 10 pages a day, 100 on paid plans, and up to 30 photos of one lecture can go in at once. Slides your lecturer posts as a PDF are read straight from the file in your browser, with no account needed for text-based PDFs. Typed notes in Word, Google Docs or a notes app can be imported as .docx or .txt, or simply pasted. Mixing them works too: summarize the slides, then your notes for the same lecture, and compare what each caught.
Getting handwriting read well
Photograph each page flat, from above, in even light, one page per shot, in order. Text recognition handles most neat handwriting and printed slides easily; it struggles with cramped margins, arrows between ideas and anything written at an angle. Read the recognized text before summarizing, because an error you miss now gets repeated confidently in the summary. Diagrams are not read as text, so anything you drew needs a one-line description added by hand if you want it in the summary.
Slides are fragments; summarize them with your notes
A slide deck saved as PDF is a set of headings and bullet points, the skeleton of a lecture without the explanation. Summarizing slides alone gives you a tidier skeleton. The useful summary comes from the slides and your notes together: paste both into the editor, slides first, and summarize the combination with Key Points. If the slides were exported with speaker notes, those often hold the explanation the lecturer actually gave; export with notes from PowerPoint or Keynote if you have the original file.
From summary to revision
Reading a summary feels like studying, but it is mostly recognition. What makes material stick is retrieval: closing the notes and trying to recall it. The testing effect is one of the most replicated findings in learning research. So use the summary as raw material. Turn each key point into a question, such as "What are the three stages of…?" or "Why does … happen?", and answer them a day or two later without looking. Spread the sessions across the week rather than doing them all the night before; spacing helps as much as testing does.
What a summary of notes will miss
A summarizer cannot know which points your lecturer emphasised, said would be on the exam or spent ten minutes on. It treats your notes as evenly important, and it only knows what you wrote down. After summarizing, add back anything the lecturer flagged, and check the summary against the reading list. If a whole topic seems thin, that is a gap in your notes, worth filling from the recording or a classmate before the summary becomes the thing you revise from.
Sharing notes and lecture slides
Your own notes are yours to summarize and share. Lecture slides and recordings usually belong to your lecturer or institution, and many universities restrict sharing them outside the course. Summarizing slides for your own revision is normal; posting the summaries publicly may not be. Photos of notes are read once and not stored, and the recognized text is kept in your account history until you delete it.
Who it's for
| Notes | How to import | Account needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Handwritten pages | Photos, up to 30 at once | Free account, 10 pages a day |
| Lecturer's slides (PDF) | Import the PDF | No, for text-based PDFs |
| Typed notes in Word or Docs | Import .docx or download from Docs | No |
| Notes app (Notion, OneNote, Apple Notes) | Copy and paste, or export as text | No |
| Whiteboard photo | Photo straight on, in good light | Free account |
| When | Do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Same day as the lecture | Import and proofread notes; summarize with Key Points | Fix gaps while you still remember the lecture |
| Next day | Turn each key point into a question | Questions are what you will revise from |
| Two or three days later | Answer the questions without looking | Retrieval makes it stick |
| End of the week | Combine the week's summaries and summarize again | One sheet per week for later revision |
Frequently asked questions
Can it summarize handwritten notes?
Yes. Photograph the pages and import them with a free account, which reads 10 pages a day. Proofread the recognized text before summarizing.
Can I summarize my lecturer's slides?
Yes. Import the slide PDF. Slides alone are fragments, so summarize them together with your own notes for a useful result.
Is it free?
Yes, with a free account: 1,000 words in your first month, then 300 a month, in the Short style. Key Points and Bullets are PRO styles.
How many pages of notes can I do at once?
Up to 30 photos per import, within your daily scan allowance. One summary covers your plan's words per run, so summarize one lecture at a time.
Does it read diagrams?
No. Diagrams and drawings are not read as text. Add a one-line description of any diagram you want included in the summary.
Are my photos stored?
No. Each photo is sent once to read its text, then discarded. The recognized text stays in your editor and history until you delete it.