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Sources

The kinds of files and links Study can read, and how each one is read.

The Library, with recordings, PDFs, pictures and web pages from several projects.

A source is anything you give Study to learn from: a recording, a PDF, slides, a web page, a note. Study keeps every file in your Library and reads the ones it understands into text that answers, search and study material can point back to.

Adding sources

You can add sources in a few places:

  • in a session, with Attach files, by dropping files, or by pasting
  • from Home or the Library, with Add files
  • in the Library, with New note, which needs a title and some text
  • in the Library, with Add link, for a web page or a YouTube video
The Add files dialog in the Library, with a place to drop files and a Choose files button.
Drop files on the dialog, or choose them from your computer.

Each file must be under 512 MiB and not empty. Study looks at a file’s contents to tell what it is, rather than trusting its name.

What Study reads, and how

KindHow it’s read
Recordings and audioTranscribed on your computer
VideosThe sound is transcribed on your computer
PDFsPages read with AI
Pictures (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP, TIFF)Read with AI
Documents (.docx)Office reader
Slides (.pptx)Office reader
Web pagesWeb page reader
Code and web files, including HTMLPlain text reader
Text files and notesPlain text reader
Spreadsheets saved as text, such as CSVPlain text reader

Some files are kept but not read: archives, other office formats such as .doc, .odt and .rtf, e-books, SVG and HEIC pictures, and anything else Study doesn’t recognise. They stay in your Library. If you need one read, saving it again as PDF, PNG, MP3 or M4A usually works.

A PDF open in the Library: its first page beside its project, and the text read from each page below.
Each file shows what was read from it, page by page.

Add link saves a web page and reads it. A YouTube link (including Shorts, live videos and youtu.be links) is handled like a recording: Study takes its sound with yt-dlp and transcribes it. yt-dlp has to be installed for that; see install.

The Add link dialog, with a field for the address and a note about YouTube videos.
A web page is saved and read; a YouTube video is transcribed.

After reading

Recordings go through two more steps. Correct transcripts with AI fixes words the transcription misheard, and Tidy spacing cleans up the spacing. Then every read source is added to the Search index and to Search by meaning, so search and answers can find it.

Read sources also feed the project’s study material: flashcards and the diagram. Some kinds leave out a piece by default. Code and spreadsheets don’t make flashcards, and pictures don’t feed the diagram.

Changing what runs

Open Settings › Processing to see every kind of source in a table with the columns Reading, Tidying, Search and Study material. Each step can be turned on or off for each kind, and every change is saved as you make it.

Settings › Processing: a table of every kind of source, with a switch for each step.
Each step can be turned on or off for each kind of source.

If you correct a file’s text by hand, with Correct this text in File details, search and answers use your version.

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