# Get a short summary of a long video, article or PDF

> Tap Summarize on a long save and Noodle writes a few paragraphs about it on your phone. The summary is kept with the save, and you can make a new one any time.

Noodle Assistant user guide · Ask Noodle · Updated 2026-10-21 · https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/summaries

A 40-minute video or a 4,000-word article can be summed up in a few paragraphs. Noodle writes the summary on your phone and keeps it with the save. You'll need [Ask Noodle](https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/ask-noodle) downloaded first.

## Summarize a save

1. Open the save. A save of about 1,000 words or more says how long it is, such as "A long item, about 3,992 words."
2. Tap **Summarize**. Noodle shows **Summarising… 1 of 6** as it works through the save in pieces.
3. Wait. The summary appears under **Summary**, on the same screen.

![A save about spaced repetition with its summary in a shaded box under the Ask about this and Summarize again buttons](https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/screenshots/summary.webp)

A long save can take a while, and longer on an older phone. Tap **Stop** if you change your mind.

## Make a new summary

Tap **Summarize again**. The new summary replaces the old one.

## Ask follow-up questions

Tap **Ask about this** on the same save. The chat looks only at this save, so you can ask "What are the main points?" or "What did it say about flour?"

## Good to know

- Summaries are written from the words Noodle has for the save: what a video says, an article's text, a PDF's pages, a voice note's words. A video without speech or subtitles has little to summarize.
- If there isn't enough text, Noodle says **There wasn't enough text to summarise.**
- The summary is saved with the item and included in backups. It isn't used for search, so search results always come from the save itself.

> **What Noodle doesn't do (yet)**
>
> Summaries come from a small assistant on your phone, so they can miss a point or get a detail wrong. For anything that matters, open the save and check. Noodle can't summarize several saves together into one summary yet; ask a question in [Ask Noodle](https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/ask-noodle) instead.

## Related

- [The item screen](https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/the-item-screen)
- [Ask Noodle](https://www.noodleassistant.com/docs/ask-noodle)

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Noodle Assistant is a free Android app that saves videos, posts, articles, photos, PDFs and voice notes, reads what is inside them, and finds them again when you describe them. Everything stays on the phone. Download: https://www.noodleassistant.com/download