How to take notes while watching a video on Mac

The problem with the usual way

The usual way is: pause, Command-Tab to your notes, type, Command-Tab back, find your place, play. In an hour-long lecture that's dozens of switches, and each one breaks your focus. Students say this a lot, for example in this r/GetStudying thread about note-taking for hour-long video lectures.

The fix is to keep both on screen. Here are four ways to do that, best first.

Way 1: A note that floats over the full-screen video

Good for: lectures, courses and tutorials, watched full size, on any Mac.

The video stays full screen and a small note sits on top of it. Apple's own notes apps can't do this: Stickies' Float on Top doesn't work over full-screen apps, and Apple Notes needs a drag trick that resets every time (why, and the workarounds). Floate is made for it.

1. Start the lecture and make it full screen.
2. Press ⌘⇧N. A note appears on top of the video.
3. Type while it plays. Type / for a heading, a checklist or a quick drawing when a diagram is faster than words. Paste a screenshot of a slide right into the note.
4. If the note covers the slide, make it see-through. Each note goes from 20% to fully opaque.
5. After the lecture, the note is a Markdown file in a folder on your Mac, filed with the rest of that class in the library window, where ⌘K searches every note.

Floate is coming to Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later) in mid-November 2026. Join the waitlist for the $2.99 early-bird price ($6.99 after launch). Other apps can float notes over full screen too, and here's how they compare.

Way 2: Split View (free, built in)

Good for: slides with small text, on a big display.

1. Put the video in full screen (green button, or press F in YouTube).
2. Press Control-Up Arrow to open Mission Control.
3. Drag your notes app's window onto the video's thumbnail at the top, then click the Split View thumbnail (Apple guide).

Downside: the video gets half the screen or less. On a 13 or 14 inch laptop, slides and code get hard to read.

Way 3: Picture in Picture (free, built in)

Good for: talking-head videos where you don't need to read small text.

• Safari: right-click the video, then right-click again in the same spot and choose Enter Picture in Picture (Lufra's walkthrough).
• Chrome: click the media controls icon next to the address bar while the video plays, then the Picture in Picture button (same source).

The video becomes a small floating window and your notes app gets the rest of the screen.

Downside: the video is small, and some players (embedded course players, for example) don't offer it.

Way 4: A second screen

If you have an external display or an iPad with Sidecar, put the video on one and the notes on the other. It works well at a desk, and not at all on a laptop in a library or a café.

How to take notes that keep up with the video

The setup is half of it. The other half is not trying to write everything down.

1. Write keywords, not sentences. "Elasticity: % change Q / % change P" instead of the whole explanation.
2. Mark the time when something is hard. Jot "12:40 ??" and keep going. Come back to it at the end instead of pausing.
3. Use headings for each topic change. A new heading every time the lecturer changes slide or topic gives you an outline for free.
4. Draw what's drawn. If the lecturer sketches a graph or a diagram, sketch it too. In Floate, type / and pick the canvas. Copying a picture into words is slow.
5. Fill the gaps after. Go back to your "??" marks and rewatch just those bits. In YouTube, J and L jump back and forward 10 seconds, and the arrow keys 5 seconds, once the player has focus (YouTube shortcuts).
6. Speed up the easy parts. Press Shift and > in YouTube to raise the speed (YouTube shortcuts), and slow down for the parts you're writing.

Which way should you use?