Note Companion (formerly File Organizer 2000)

Turn messy captures into clean, searchable notes — transcribe audio/YouTube, chat with your vault, and auto-organize files right inside Obsidian. Works with Note Companion Cloud, your own AI API keys, or self-hosting.

✅ Best for: researchers, students, meeting-heavy workflows, and anyone with an "Inbox" full of unprocessed notes.

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What you can do

• 🎬 Transcribe YouTube videos (multi-language, works even when captions aren't available in the usual way)
• 🎙️ Transcribe audio & video files (handles large files reliably)
• 🧠 Chat with your notes using vault context (mention files/folders/tags)
• 🗂️ Auto-organize & format notes (folder/tag/title/template suggestions; optional "Inbox" automation)
• 🧾 Meeting recorder → Enhance note (transcript, discussion points, action items, embedded audio)
• 🔌 Multiple AI providers: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, Groq, Ollama/local models, and custom base URLs
• 🏠 Self-hosting supported (Docker + service examples)

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Screenshots

AI-powered tags, folders, and formatting suggestions

YouTube link → Transcript + Summary + Structured Notes

Chat with your notes using @mentions for files, folders, and tags

Record meetings, then enhance notes with transcript, discussion points, and action items

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Install

Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → Browse → "Note Companion" → Install → Enable

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60-second setup

1. Open Settings → Note Companion
2. Choose your mode:
   • Note Companion Cloud (sign in at notecompanion.ai and enter your license key)
   • Bring your own keys (OpenAI / Claude / Gemini / etc. — paste your API key)
   • Self-hosted backend (paste your Base URL + key if needed)
3. Test it:
   • Open Command Palette → Note Companion: Open Chat
   • Ask: "Summarize this note and suggest tags"

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Quick workflows

1) YouTube → Note

1. Copy a YouTube link
2. In Note Companion Chat, paste the link
3. Get transcript + summary + optional structured notes

2) Audio recording → Meeting note (best demo)

1. Open Meetings tab → Start Recording
2. Stop Recording → select a note → Enhance Note
3. You'll get:
   • embedded audio
   • transcript
   • discussion points + action items

3) Inbox auto-organization

1. Create an Inbox folder (configured in settings)
2. Drop raw notes / links inside
3. Note Companion suggests (or auto-applies) folder + tags + title + formatting

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Providers & privacy

Note Companion can run using:

• Note Companion Cloud, or
• Your own API keys (OpenAI/Claude/Gemini/etc.), or
• Local/self-hosted models (e.g., Ollama + custom base URL)

Your data handling depends on the provider you choose. View our full privacy policy at notecompanion.ai/privacy

Cloud Service:

• Files are processed through our secure API for AI analysis
• Usage statistics collected for billing and rate limits
• Your vault content remains private and is only processed when you explicitly use plugin features

Self-hosted / Your API Keys:

• All processing happens on your own infrastructure
• Data never leaves your control
• No usage tracking

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Self-hosting

Want full control and local infrastructure?

➡️ See SELF-HOSTING.md for Docker + service setups and security notes.

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Troubleshooting

If transcription fails:

• Check provider key, model availability, and file size limits
• Verify API key is valid and has sufficient credits
• For large files (>25MB), consider splitting or compressing

If YouTube import fails:

• Try a different fallback method
• Ensure the video is accessible and not private/restricted
• Check network connectivity

If local model doesn't respond:

• Verify Base URL and CORS/network settings
• Ensure the local server (e.g., Ollama) is running
• Check firewall settings

If plugin can't connect to server:

• Verify server URL in settings (check for typos)
• Test connection using "Test Connection" button
• Check firewall/network settings

If chat doesn't work:

• Verify API key is set correctly
• Check model availability for your provider
• Review error messages in plugin console (Settings → Note Companion → Advanced → Open Console)

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Support / feedback

• GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
• Documentation: notecompanion.ai/docs
• Website: notecompanion.ai
• Obsidian Forum: Share feedback and discuss (add forum thread link when available)

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For developers

If you want to build or contribute, start here: CONTRIBUTING.md

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Important Disclosures

Account & Payment Requirements

• Payment required for cloud service: The plugin requires a paid subscription to use the cloud-hosted service
• 7-day free trial: New subscriptions include a 7-day trial period
• Self-hosting option available: You can run your own instance for free (see Self-Hosting above)
• Account creation: Using the cloud service requires creating an account at notecompanion.ai

Network Usage

This plugin communicates with the following remote services:

• Note Companion API Server (cloud service): For AI-powered features including file classification, formatting, transcription, and chat
• YouTube API: For fetching video transcripts when processing YouTube links
• AI Provider APIs: When self-hosting or using your own keys, you'll connect directly to your chosen AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.)

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License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.