CourseSpeed quick start: your first speed-up and notes in about five minutes
This guide takes you from a fresh install to a faster lesson with AI notes beside it. Four steps, no configuration, no account. If you haven't added the extension yet, step 1 covers that too — and the five minutes counts the real first run, not a demo path.
Step 1 — Install from the Chrome Web Store
Add CourseSpeed to Chrome from its Chrome Web Store listing. Before anything installs, Chrome shows the permissions the extension asks for, so read them once: CourseSpeed requests access to the course platform pages where you use it — to control playback and read captions for notes — and nothing from unrelated sites.
If the icon doesn't appear next to the address bar afterward, open Chrome's extensions menu and pin CourseSpeed, so it stays one click away when you open a course page.
Step 2 — Enable it on a lesson
Open a lesson on a supported platform — Udemy, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, or Skillshare — and click the CourseSpeed icon, or use its keyboard shortcut. The extension activates on the player in front of you, and that is the whole setup: no wizard, no settings screens, no sign-up. You use the core speed controls without creating anything.
Step 3 — Set your pace
CourseSpeed's speed control goes beyond the platform's built-in presets. Slow down for dense explanations, speed through material you already know, and change pace mid-lesson whenever the material asks for it.
A pattern that works well: run recap and intro sections faster, drop back when something new starts, and let the harder segments play at whatever speed you can actually follow. Matching pace to the material — instead of sitting through one fixed speed for twenty hours — is the point.
Step 4 — Turn on AI notes
With the lesson playing, turn on AI notes. CourseSpeed generates timestamped notes and summaries from the lesson's audio and captions as it plays. Missed a point? Click a timestamp in the notes to jump straight back to that moment in the video.
After the lesson, the notes double as a map of what you watched — skim them before a deadline instead of rewatching whole sections.
AI notes run within a monthly allowance on the free plan, with a higher allowance on Pro; Pro also adds export, so your notes can outlive the course. Current figures are listed on the Chrome Web Store listing page. How notes are generated and handled is covered in How CourseSpeed handles your data.
Where CourseSpeed works
CourseSpeed currently supports:
- Udemy
- Coursera
- LinkedIn Learning
- Skillshare
That's the honest list — CourseSpeed doesn't cover all learning sites. Learning somewhere else? Tell us through the contact page and we'll take a look.
If something doesn't work
- CourseSpeed doesn't activate on a lesson. Check that the platform is one of the four above. On a supported platform, refresh the lesson page and try again.
- Notes aren't appearing. AI notes are built from a lesson's audio and captions — if a lesson has neither, there's no source to take notes from yet.
- Anything else. Contact support — tell us the platform and the course page you were on, and we'll dig in.
Going further
What the speed control covers, how the permissions work in detail, and what the free and Pro plans include: the product page walks through all of it.
See everything CourseSpeed does — or browse the full lineup: See all tools.