--- title: "Watching YouTube without distractions · NoaLingua" description: "Press Z for focus mode and everything around the player dims: recommendations, comments and the sidebar. What that fixes, and what it deliberately does not." url: "https://noalingua.com/answers/watch-youtube-without-distractions/" language: "en" modified: "2026-09-09" license: "CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" --- Answer # Studying on YouTube without the rest of YouTube One key that dims the recommendations, the comments and the sidebar Press Z, or turn on Focus mode in Settings → Appearance. Everything around the player dims — recommendations, comments, the sidebar — leaving the video and the subtitle box. The state is remembered, so a study session does not begin by dismissing the same page furniture every time. Short answer Focus mode (Z) dims everything around the player and remembers that you turned it on. Step by step ## Doing it with NoaLingua - 1 ### Press Z on any video Focus mode turns on immediately. The page around the player is dimmed rather than removed, so nothing about the page breaks and nothing you might need has disappeared — it has just stopped competing. - 2 ### Or set it once in Settings Settings → Appearance has the same switch. It is off by default: an extension that rearranges YouTube the moment it is installed is an extension people distrust before they have used it. - 3 ### Press Z again to bring the page back The state persists between videos, so if you study with it on, it is on the next time too. This is a small thing that matters at the start of a session, which is where sessions are lost. [Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ocimolffhgpeeoifjpjhgikgfbnmlkdh) Opens the Chrome Web Store listing **NoaLingua — beyond dual subs: video, web, PDF** — free, no account, Chrome 138 or newer. Dimming the surroundings is a small intervention with a specific target: the moment at the end of a difficult sentence when the eye drifts right. It does not block anything, and it does not pretend to be a productivity system. ### The parts that do not disappear The Learn button in the corner of the page stays, because it is the way back into practice and it carries the count of words waiting for review. The subtitle box and its control strip stay, obviously. The player's own controls stay. Focus mode also does not touch autoplay, does not stop the next video loading, and does not claim to be a blocker. If the problem is that you open YouTube and lose an hour before you study anything at all, this is not the tool for that and it will not pretend to be. Get NoaLingua — free, and every feature included Dual subtitles on YouTube and Netflix, clickable words on any page and in any PDF, shadowing and spaced review — 28 languages, no account, and your deck stays on your own machine. [Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ocimolffhgpeeoifjpjhgikgfbnmlkdh) Opens the Chrome Web Store listing **NoaLingua — beyond dual subs: video, web, PDF** — free, no account, Chrome 138 or newer. - **Free** — every feature, not a trial - **No account** — nothing to sign up for - **Two dropdowns** — that is the whole setup ## More questions people ask NoaLingua Does focus mode work on Netflix? It is a YouTube-page feature — Netflix's watch page has no comments or recommendation rail beside the player to dim. The subtitle box, word cards, replay and shadowing all work on Netflix. Does it hide the video title and channel? Everything around the player is dimmed rather than deleted, so the page still reads as YouTube and everything is still there when you look for it. Can I use full screen instead? You can, and the subtitle box follows you into full screen — the transcript panel floats over the player there, because YouTube's sidebar does not exist to dock into. Focus mode is for when you want the page but not its furniture. ## Where this is documented on NoaLingua [Dual subtitles on YouTube What the box does once the page has stopped shouting.](https://noalingua.com/features/youtube-dual-subtitles/)[How hard is this video A better filter than willpower: pick a video you can actually finish.](https://noalingua.com/features/video-difficulty/)[Every setting All nine sections, with defaults.](https://noalingua.com/docs/settings/) ### Related NoaLingua answers - [Can I change the size, colour and position of the subtitles?](https://noalingua.com/answers/customise-the-subtitle-box/) - [What are the keyboard shortcuts, and can I change them?](https://noalingua.com/answers/keyboard-shortcuts-while-watching/) - [Can I hide the subtitle translation until I have tried to understand?](https://noalingua.com/answers/hide-the-translation-until-you-try/) ## Try it on the next thing you were going to watch anyway. Free, with every feature. No account, nothing to cancel, and your deck stays on your machine. [Add to Chrome — Free Add to Chrome](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ocimolffhgpeeoifjpjhgikgfbnmlkdh) Opens the Chrome Web Store listing **NoaLingua — beyond dual subs: video, web, PDF** — free, no account, Chrome 138 or newer. - [Free, and not a trial Every feature on the free plan — both PDF modes, shadowing, all 30 practice formats.](https://noalingua.com/pricing/) - [No account, no email Nothing to sign up for and nothing to cancel. There is no login screen at all.](https://noalingua.com/privacy/) - [Two dropdowns to set up Pick what you are learning and what you want translations in. That is the whole setup.](https://noalingua.com/getting-started/) - [Your words stay yours Export to Anki, CSV, a spreadsheet or a full JSON profile — free on every plan.](https://noalingua.com/docs/export-import/) [What happens after you install](https://noalingua.com/getting-started/) · [Pricing](https://noalingua.com/pricing/) · [What it cannot do](https://noalingua.com/limits/)