Alright folks, ever sat through a college lecture where the PowerPoint slides were moving faster than your note-taking skills? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Slide after slide packed with information, your hand desperately scribbling to capture the essence of the professor’s lecture… only to end up with a chicken-scratch masterpiece that resembles a cryptic ancient text. Fear not, fellow knowledge seekers! There’s a superhero in the tech world ready to swoop in and save the day (or rather, your semester): AI-powered note-taking. That’s right, we’re talking about artificial intelligence that can transform those sleep-inducing presentations into clear, concise notes that will have you thanking your lucky stars (or should we say, algorithms?). Intrigued? Then buckle up, because we’re about to dive into the amazing world of AI note-taking and show you how to turn any dreaded PPT into AI notes!
Convert PPTs to AI-generated Notes (FREE)
The Struggle is Real: Why AI Note-Taking is Your New Best Friend
Let’s face it, traditional note-taking from PPTs can be a struggle. Professors often fly through slides at lightning speed, cramming in information with bullet points, charts, and diagrams. Trying to keep up while simultaneously deciphering your professor’s handwriting (or worse, their illegible font choice) can feel like an impossible feat.
The result? Incomplete notes, information overload, and a lingering sense of dread when it comes to exam time. But what if there was a way to streamline this process, capture key points efficiently, and free up your mental energy to actually understand the material? As previously mentioned, I personally use AI extensively in college premises to save time. Let’s enter AI-powered note-taking!
Here’s how you can convert PPT into AI notes:
- Efficiency is King: No more frantic scribbling or racing against the clock. AI can analyze entire presentations in seconds, capturing the essence of the content.
- Accuracy Matters: Say goodbye to typos, misinterpretations, and illegible handwriting. AI tools transcribe text with exceptional accuracy, ensuring your notes are a reliable source of information.
- Boost Your Comprehension: AI doesn’t just copy text – it can identify key points, summarize information, and even generate visuals. This deeper understanding translates into better learning and improved exam performance.
From Slides to Study Guide: The AI Note-Taking Process
Now that you’re convinced AI note-taking is the way to go, let’s break down the process into easy-to-follow steps. Think of it as your personal roadmap to creating awesome study notes from those not-so-awesome PPTs.
The free way of converting a PPT into AI notes requires some extra steps. So the pre-requisite of this task will be having a ChatGPT / Gemini account and of course, your presentations downloaded in your system.
I. Prepping Your PPT: The Foundation
Before we unleash the power of AI, there are a few basic things to keep in mind:
- Step 1: Gather Your Arsenal: Most AI note-taking tools can handle various PPT file formats, including .pptx (the most common), .ppt, and .ppsx. However, free ones may/may not. I’m not here to tell you to spend your cash, instead, I will teach you a free, but 4-step process to convert any PPT into AI notes. Make sure to double-check your chosen tool’s compatibility information before you proceed.
- Step 2: Convert to Text Format: This step might seem daunting, but there are several ways to convert your PPT to plain text. Many AI note-taking tools offer built-in conversion features. Alternatively, you can use free online conversion tools or software programs specifically designed for PPT to text file
(.txt)
conversion.
My personal favourite tool is Convertio’s PPT to TXT (Online & Free) convertor.
From the Choose Files option, you can select and upload the presentations from your device. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop your presentations from your files onto the browser.
Now when we have selected our presentations, we will click the Convert button. For your information, as of writing this article – the website only allows 2 concurrent conversions, so keep converting and keep downloading your new text .txt
files! This process will take a few minutes at max.
Once, you have your files on your system, you are ready to begin your next steps.
II. Cleaning Up the Raw Data: Preparing for AI Magic
Think of this step as de-cluttering your digital space. While AI is impressive, it works best with clean, well-organized text. Here’s where a little manual intervention comes in:
- Step 3: Manual Refinement: Take a quick look at your converted text file. You’ll likely find unnecessary elements like slide titles, headers, footers, and page numbers. These don’t add value to your notes and can confuse the AI. Use a text editor to remove these elements, leaving only the core content of the slides.
Think of removing all unnecessary university bloat content, like their front page, index, evaluation scheme, assessment page etc. They add no meaningful context to our study material. We’re now one step closer to transforming our PPT into AI notes!
III. The Power of AI: Transforming Text into Meaning
Now comes the exciting part – unleashing the power of AI! Get ready for some serious text transformation:
- Step 4: AI Step 1 – Context is King: Here’s where the magic begins. Many AI note-taking tools utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze the text you’ve provided. NLP helps the AI identify key concepts, understand the relationships between ideas, and even summarize information. The result? A more concise and coherent text that captures the essence of the presentation, and you now have content like a book!
In our tutorial, we’re going to use ChatGPT to do our text transformations. Let’s write some serious prompts to get our job done.
Instructions: You are a text cleaner for PPTs converted into text files. Your task is to read the given PPTs already converted to text format and follow the instructions given below.
Prompt created by Naman Vrati
You will read the whole PPT (through the text converted provided), and transform the given text into heading-based text – making sure not to add or remove any information on your own, and do not create your own notes. At the end, we will have the text cleaned, into book-like content.
You should be able to ignore misc PPT texts like PPT page number or PPT title appearing on every slide. Remember, you are only a text cleaner. Your job is to clean the text: remove unnecessary spaces, footers, line breaks etc. You have to keep and retain all text and information from the given text AS IT IS and only present it in a beautiful manner as I have described above. You are NOT to summarize the text or create your own notes. Do you understand?
Wonderful! In most cases, you already have great notes available, but for advanced noobies, continue reading the guide. Now, let’s paste our text content from our conversation, and get the ChatGPT generated cleaned text for our next step!
Now It’s The Time To Create Notes!
- Step 5: AI Step 2 – Building Your Study Guide: This is where your raw text gets transformed into a powerful study tool. The AI takes the context-rich text generated in step 4 and refines it further, creating detailed and organized notes. Here are some potential features you might encounter:
- Bullet Points and Headings: The AI can identify important information and structure your notes using bullet points and headings, making them easier to scan and review.
- Emphasis and Highlighting: Key terms, definitions, or crucial concepts might be automatically bolded, underlined, or highlighted to draw your attention to the most important information.
- Visual Aids: Some AI note-taking tools can even generate basic visual aids like concept maps or diagrams to further enhance understanding and retention of complex topics.
Use any basic ChatGPT prompt or use my prompt to create study notes at your convenience. You might want “summarized” notes or “complete/detailed” notes, the choice is up to you!
Instructions: You are a PPT summarizer for college PPTs. Your task is to read the given PPTs already converted to text format and understand the PPTs. These PPTs are college PPTs of subject “{Subject}” that students are given to prepare for their semester exams.
You will read the whole PPT (through the text converted provided), make detailed notes from the PPT, and make sure not to miss out on any information, your notes should have proper headings and nothing super detailed or extra from the internet. Notes should be detailed but brief so it is understandable. In the end, include a summary of the PPT as well. Only add extra information if you think that is relevant or the contents are missing from the PPT. Do you understand?
Prompt created by Naman Vrati
Vola! Paste your cleaned text and watch as the magic unfolds! You will get highly outlined, AI-powered notes generated in minutes from a very boring and lengthy PowerPoint presentation. Simply copy the notes, convert them into PDF or use a spare discord chat – whatever, that’s not the point. The main point is, that you have converted your PPT into AI notes, totally free of cost and within minutes, saving a lot of your time.
IV. Level Up Your Studying: Tips and Tricks for AI Note-Taking Success
Now that you’ve got the basic process down, here are some extra tips to help you become an AI note-taking ninja:
- Choosing the Right Tool: Not all AI note-taking tools are created equal. Do your research and consider factors like features offered, compatibility with your file formats, pricing (many tools offer free trials), and user interface.
- Integration is Key: Think about how AI notes will fit into your existing study routine. Can you export them to your preferred note-taking app? Do they integrate with flashcards or study guides you use?
- Proofread and Personalize: While AI is impressive, it’s not perfect. Take some time to proofread your AI-generated notes, clarify any ambiguities, and personalize them with your own insights or additional details (Very important!)
Conclusion: Embrace the AI Revolution (and Conquer Your Exams!)
AI-powered note-taking isn’t just about saving time (although that’s a definite perk!). It’s about creating a deeper understanding of the material, improving your learning experience, and ultimately achieving academic success. So, ditch the pen and paper (unless you need them for the occasional handwritten note!), embrace the AI revolution, and watch your grades soar!
Ready to try AI note-taking for yourself? Let us know in the comments below which tool you plan to use and share your experiences! We’re always happy to hear from fellow students and learning enthusiasts. Don’t forget to check out our other blog posts for more college study hacks and tech tips to help you dominate your academic journey!
Thanks for sharing
Glad to know I was helpful!