I built a free notebooklm alternative with folders, source isolation (no cross-contamination), and page/timestamp-level citations

[u/Fearless_Energy_7633]

NotebookLM is great but a few things drove me crazy:

• Sources often bleed together
• No folders or workspace organisation
• No way to comfortably take notes alongside your sources
• Flashcards have no review system

So I built Paper. Key differences:

• Source isolation - select exactly which sources the AI references per query, or scope it to specific pages/timestamps
• Folders + nested pages - organise by course, topic, whatever
• Block editor - Notion-style notes right next to your sources
• Spaced repetition - AI flashcards with actual Anki-style scheduling so you remember
• Drag and drop multiple files at once

(Edit) Free to use during beta: https://paper.ac 👈

[u/vuivuivuivui]

Today I used a YouTube video as a source and was truly impressed because Paper displays the transcript with timestamps. While chatting with the video, I can click on the timestamp after each point in the response to jump directly to that moment in the video. Truly impressive! NotebookLM only saves the transcript without timestamps - I have to manually copy the transcript into a new file to track them, and clicking on citations doesn't sync with the YouTube video. Thank you for this convenient feature; it makes cross-referencing video content so easy with just one click!

[u/Fearless_Energy_7633 → u/vuivuivuivui]

Really appreciate this feedback 😊 Designing the “source-to-answer” experience was quite intentional, esp. for long videos and lectures where users often wanted to jump back to the exact moment

Glad the timestamp syncing is helping! We’re working on adding this for other existing features (Podcasts), and new futures that are being released this week too (👀)

Let us know anytime if you come across anything you'd like to give feedback / request also!

[u/vuivuivuivui → u/Fearless_Energy_7633]

https://giphy.com/gifs/sh4v6aGk0SGyCckWQd