FAQ

IdeaM is purpose-built for research synthesis and content creation. Unlike general note-taking apps, we focus on importing multiple sources (YouTube, PDFs, audio) and using AI to synthesize them into structured outlines. Our multi-source analysis and speaker diarization features are unique to IdeaM.

The app runs on Mac (Apple Silicon and Intel), iPhone, iPad, and any modern web browser — so Windows and Linux work too, right in the browser. Cloud AI works on every platform (bring your own API key for free, or upgrade to Pro) with nothing to install. Free on-device AI — private AI that runs entirely on your Mac at no cost — is Mac only: it needs the free Ollama app and 8 GB of RAM (16 GB recommended for larger models), and is not available on iPhone, iPad, or in the browser. Your outlines are plain files on your own device that you can back up or sync via iCloud, Dropbox, or any service you trust.

Yes! IdeaM supports importing from Markdown, OPML, plain text, and JSON formats. You can also import content from PDFs, Word documents, web pages, and even YouTube videos with automatic transcription.

Absolutely. IdeaM uses a local-first architecture—your outlines are stored on your device by default. When you use AI features, your content is sent securely to process but is never used to train AI models. We never sell your data.

No. IdeaM shows you every proposed edit before it happens — deletions struck through, additions as pending items, rewrites side by side as before-and-after. Bulk changes come with per-item checkboxes. You approve, adjust, or discard, and even approved changes stay undoable. AI drafts; you decide.

Yes — safely. Connect an assistant like Claude Desktop and it can read and search your outlines to help you research and think. It can only suggest changes, though: every edit comes to you for approval inside IdeaM, and until you approve, your files stay exactly as they were.

AI text generation runs on Google Gemini out of the box, or fully on-device via Ollama (Mac). Want a different engine? Bring your own key and you can run text on Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Groq, or Mistral — pay-as-you-go, billed directly by your provider, so you stay in control. Premium podcast and video voices use OpenAI, and every device also has free built-in voices. The built-in default also stays current: as newer Gemini models ship, IdeaM upgrades the default automatically, with no change in what you pay us.

Both are optional, and both run on your own Google key — billed by Google directly to you, pay-as-you-go, never through us. Cinematic AI video scenes typically cost about $1 to $2 per scene, and the AI music bed typically about 5 to 10 cents per video — estimates only, since Google sets the prices. Before anything is generated, IdeaM shows you the estimated total and asks. And scenes you haven’t changed are cached: regenerate a video later and untouched scenes are reused, never billed again. If you skip both options, videos render as designed slides at no such cost at all.

No. Every AI operation that could cost real money asks first — telling you who pays and what it typically costs before anything runs. Estimates are honest “typically…” ranges, never fine print. And a private usage ledger on your own device records your AI activity for your eyes only — open it anytime from the AI menu → AI Activity. Nothing about it leaves your machine.

Yes! All core outlining features work completely offline. Your outlines are stored locally and sync when you reconnect. AI features require an internet connection, but you can continue editing without it.

IdeaM offers 23 export formats: PDF, Markdown, HTML (collapsible website), Word, LaTeX, EPUB, Plain Text, OPML, Obsidian (with wiki-links), Notion, CSV, JSON Tree, and more. Your data is never locked in. PDF exports are real documents, not text dumps — on the Mac app each one gets a title page, a table of contents, and an index, built from your outline automatically.

Yes — two ways. Share Link publishes any outline (or just a branch) as a clean, read-only web page on our own domain: send the link, no login needed to view, update it anytime, and unpublish whenever you like. Or turn the outline into a finished product — a multi-page website from 8 professional templates, a slide deck, a PDF, a podcast, or a video.

Yes — as an opt-in capability, so note-takers never see it. Turn on Project Management in Settings → Professional Customization and any outline becomes a working plan: task items with statuses (not started, in progress, done, blocked), priorities, due dates, and prerequisites — with a clear “blocked by” warning when a task is waiting on unfinished work, and five instant reports built with pure logic (no AI, no cost). Turning it off just hides the features; your data is never deleted.