Turn boring documents into beautiful notes
your brain actually wants to read.
Penwell is an AI note-taking tool and visual document creator. Paste any document - Markdown, PDF, URL, a wall of text - and turn it into a Cornell-style, mind-mapped, doodled notebook. Highlighted. Annotated. With margin notes and flashcards. In one click.
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Open notebook
A real notebook, made in Penwell.
This is a public sample from the app, rendered with the same notebook reader. Scroll the page to see its notes, diagrams, and study material.
or, post it
Notes you can study. Slides you can post.
Pick Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Reddit, or YouTube. Get up to 10 slides, a caption, hashtags, and alt text from one generation. Restyle it as often as you like, free.
From source to study session
Everything Penwell can do.
Bring in almost any learning material, shape it into a notebook that fits the job, then keep studying, sharing, or exporting it.
Bring your source
Upload PDF, DOCX, Markdown, or text files. Paste notes, an article URL, or a public GitHub repository. Add a YouTube link, podcast episode, or audio and video file.
Pick a notebook style
Choose from 13 layouts, tuned for different kinds of learning:
- Ruled
- Cornell
- Mind map
- Dotted
- Sketchbook
- Flashcards
- Academic
- Typewriter
- Blueprint
- Magazine
- Exam sheet
- Formula card
- Vocab page
Make the notes yours
Edit notebook sections, mark key passages with highlights, underlines, or stars, add margin notes, sketch or diagram ideas, choose a handwriting font, and regenerate a section with AI.
Study actively
Use generated flashcards, mnemonics, quizzes, Cornell cues, book mode, read-aloud playback, daily spaced-repetition reviews, study streaks, and progress tracking.
Ask about your material
Ask AI questions about a notebook. For videos and podcasts, answers include transcript quotes and timestamps you can jump to.
Keep up with new episodes
Follow YouTube channels or podcast RSS feeds. New episodes can become notebooks automatically, with the writing mode you choose.
Prepare for a goal
Shape a source into study or revision notes, interview questions, behavioral and HR preparation, or a project walkthrough. Add your own instructions when needed.
Turn notes into social posts
Generate visual post packs for Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, with captions, hashtags, and alt text.
Organize, share, and export
Search, pin, tag, and folder notebooks. Share a public link or study with a group. Export notebooks as PDF, PNG, handwritten pages, standalone HTML, Markdown, JSON, or Anki CSV.
How does Penwell turn documents into visual notes?
Upload a PDF, paste a link or Markdown, and Penwell extracts the useful ideas into a readable notebook. Choose Cornell notes, mind maps, flashcards, sketchbook pages, or a focused reading layout for the same source.
Export the finished notebook as HTML, Markdown, PDF, or an AI-ready JSON bundle. Cue questions can also go straight to Anki, so visual note-taking and spaced repetition stay in one study loop.
Link a video. Study from it in minutes.
Paste a YouTube link, a podcast episode, or drop an audio file. Penwell transcribes it and writes notes in the shape you pick - then you can ask questions and jump straight to the moment they came from.
- Any lecture, talk or episodeCaptions when available, Whisper transcription when not. Timestamped, so everything stays findable.
- Writing notes your wayInterview prep, TL;DR, code walkthrough, flashcards - pick what you are making this for, before the notes are written.
- Ask the videoEvery answer quotes the transcript with a timestamp. Tap it and the player scrubs to that second.
- Follow a whole channelSubscribe to a channel or podcast feed, and each new episode becomes a notebook on its own - Pro only.
Free to try. $6.99 to own.
5 notebooks a month, forever. Unlimited for $1.49/mo, or pay once at $6.99 and get the desktop license too.
Penwell, in plain answers
The questions people actually ask before their first notebook.
What is Penwell AI?
Penwell is an AI note-taking tool and visual document creator. Feed it a PDF, a web page, a YouTube video, an audio recording, or pasted text, and it returns a structured notebook - Cornell notes, mind maps, sketchbook pages, or flashcards - with highlights, margin notes, and cue questions you can quiz yourself from.
Is Penwell free?
Yes. The free plan converts 5 notebooks a month and needs no card. Pro is $1.49/month for unlimited conversions, unlimited social-post packs, and clean watermark-free exports - or $6.99 once for a lifetime license that includes the desktop app.
What can Penwell turn into a notebook?
PDFs and documents, article links, YouTube videos, audio recordings, Markdown files, and plain pasted text. Penwell pulls out the useful ideas and builds readable notes from any of them.
What do notebooks export to?
Standalone HTML, Markdown, PDF, PNG slides, an AI-ready JSON bundle, and Anki-compatible CSV for the cue questions. The same source can also become ready-to-post content - Instagram carousels, YouTube thumbnails, Reddit cards.
Who is Penwell for?
Students turning lectures and chapters into notes that stick, creators repurposing what they read, and professionals summarizing reports or meeting notes. If long documents enter your eyes but not your memory, that is the job Penwell does.
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