Read Along with a Transcript

Set up the main daemon

Open the command palette (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P) and run Open main daemon setup wizard, or use this quick link:

The wizard walks you through three steps:

1. Download and install — Click Install and wait for the download to finish.
2. Connect — The wizard connects to the daemon automatically once the install completes.
3. Restart Obsidian — Click the restart button. Obsidian restarts and applies the changes.

After the restart, all steps should show checkmarks. Click Done to close the wizard.

Open the Steve Jobs speech

Click the button in the ribbon. Paste this URL and press Enter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

The speech opens in a player tab.

Open the media note

Click the button at the top-right corner of the player tab and select Open media note.

A note opens in a split pane beside the player. Place your cursor in the note.

Download the English transcript

Click the button again and hover over Download subtitles. A submenu lists the available subtitle tracks.

Select English - English, the uploaded transcript rather than the auto-generated one.

The plugin downloads the transcript, saves it to your vault, and opens it in a new pane. You now have three panes: the player, the media note, and the transcript.

Skim the transcript

Scroll through the transcript pane. Each entry shows a timestamp on the left and the spoken text beside it. Scan a few paragraphs; you can read faster than the video plays.

Press play. As the video runs, the transcript highlights the current line and scrolls to keep it in view.

Search the transcript

Click the button at the top-right of the transcript pane and select Find....

A search bar appears at the top of the transcript. Type time is limited. The transcript highlights every match and scrolls to the first one. Press Enter to jump to the next match, or Shift+Enter for the previous one. Press Escape when done.

This lands you on "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

Navigate by clicking

Click the timestamp in the left margin next to "Your time is limited." The player jumps to that moment.

Now click the cue text itself. Both the timestamp and the spoken text are clickable.

Copy a passage into your note

Select the two lines starting with "Your time is limited" by clicking and dragging in the transcript, then press ⌘Ctrl + C to copy.

Switch to the media note pane and press ⌘Ctrl + Shift + T to insert a timestamp at the current playback position. Type a short label after it. Press Enter twice, type > at the start of the line, then paste with ⌘Ctrl + V. Add > at the start of the second line:

- [12:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc#t=735) "Stay hungry, stay foolish"

  > Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
  > Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

Review

Click the timestamp link to confirm the player jumps to the right moment.

Your note now combines timestamps you placed with passages pulled from the transcript. Whenever you want to find a specific part of the speech, search the transcript instead of scrubbing the video timeline.