Your lectures, studied on your own laptop.
Lecture Desk records class on your laptop, turns it into study notes, and links every point back to the moment of the lecture it came from. It's free.
Windows
The Microsoft Store version is signed by Microsoft and updates itself. It's the easiest way to install.
Get it from Microsoft StoreDirect installer
Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit
It's the same app, for laptops where the Store isn't available. It isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may say Windows protected your PC
: choose More info, then Run anyway. It doesn't update itself, so check back here for new versions.
Verify the download
Run certutil -hashfile Lecture-Desk-0.5.1-Setup.exe SHA256 and compare it with:
Mac Preview
For Macs with Apple silicon. It runs best with 16 GB of memory or more; Macs with 8 GB use a smaller notes model. So far it's been tested on a MacBook Air (M3) running macOS 26.
Download for MacWhat happens the first time you open it
The Mac version isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS stops it the first time. You approve it once:
- Open the downloaded file and drag Lecture Desk into Applications.
- Open it from Applications. macOS says it couldn't verify the app. Click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway, then enter your Mac's password.Open Privacy & Security
- If macOS asks one more time, click Open Anyway. From then on it opens like any other app.
The Mac version doesn't update itself yet, so check back here for new versions. After you install one, macOS may ask again.
Verify the download
In Terminal, run shasum -a 256 Lecture-Desk-0.5.1-mac-arm64.dmg and compare it with:
9aad8ac2e04fb31ea334fd00d4ce24e74d5650d1fb0bce65e19ebc7296e15e14
Windows requirements
- System
- Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) or Windows 11, 64-bit
- Memory
- 16 GB or more; 28 GB for In-depth notes
- Storage
- About 15 GB free, including the study tools it downloads once (about 12 GB)
- Graphics
- Not required. An NVIDIA card makes it faster.
The 94-second tour
Recording a lecture, the notes it writes, source links, flashcards, asking across classes, and read-aloud.
Every note can show its work.
A summary only helps if you can trust it. Each point in your notes is tied to the part of the lecture it came from, so when something looks off, you click it and hear the professor say it.
Study notes
Transcript
- Okay, let's get started. Today we are going to draw free-body diagrams for every problem, no exceptions.
- A free-body diagram isolates one body and shows every external force acting on it, nothing else.
- So if I have this beam resting on two supports, I cut it free from the supports and replace them with reaction forces.
- The pin at A gives me two unknowns, a horizontal and a vertical reaction. The roller at B gives one.
From the sample engineering lecture in the app. Tap a note to see where it came from.
What else it does
- Recording
- Your microphone, the computer's audio for online classes, or both, with a live transcript while class is going.
- Ask your classes
- Ask about one lecture, one class or all of them. Answers come from your recordings and readings, with links to the passages.
- Flashcards
- Made from your study notes, each card linked to where it came from. The ones you miss come back sooner.
- Read aloud
- PDFs and textbooks in a natural voice, highlighting each sentence and remembering where you stopped.
- Your schedule
- From a screenshot or a PDF. Each class keeps its own lectures, slides and readings.
- Export
- Notes, practice questions and the timed transcript as a PDF or a web page.
- Offline
- After a one-time setup, transcription, notes, search and read-aloud all work offline.
- Graphics acceleration
- Windows laptops with an NVIDIA graphics card can add optional acceleration for much faster notes and transcription. Macs use their built-in graphics automatically.
Your classes stay on your laptop.
Recording, transcription, notes, search and answers all run on your own computer. There's no account to make, no ads, and nothing reports back to me.
The only way your class content leaves your laptop is if you turn on one of the optional cloud features with your own API key, from a provider you pick. Cloud transcription asks before every upload.
Why I built it
I'm an engineering student at Oregon State, and I kept missing things in lecture. Going back to a recording should have fixed that, but finding the one explanation I needed meant scrubbing through an hour of audio, and it took forever.
The AI note tools I found wanted my lectures uploaded to their servers, and I didn't trust that with my classes. So I built Lecture Desk for myself first, to run on my own laptop. It worked well enough that I figured other students could use it too.
Connor
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes, with no subscription. The one thing that can cost money is optional cloud AI, which runs on your own API key, so that provider bills you directly if you turn it on.
Am I allowed to record my classes?
That depends on your school and your instructor. Check your class's recording rules and get any permission you need before you record.
How long do notes take?
It depends on your laptop and how long the lecture is. Lecture Desk shows an estimate before it starts and keeps working in the background. An NVIDIA graphics card makes it much faster.
Microsoft Store or the direct installer?
Use the Store if you can: it's signed and updates itself. The direct installer is the same app for laptops without the Store, and you'll need to download new versions from this page.
Is there a Mac version?
Yes, a preview for Macs with Apple silicon. It isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first time you open it you approve it once in System Settings; the steps are in the download section at the top. It doesn't update itself yet.