FAQ

Install the store edition unless you have a reason not to: it updates itself and asks for permissions only when needed. Choose the GitHub chrome-local.zip if you want a build newer than the store has, or want to download YouTube video and audio files (manual updates, and YouTube downloads also need the local helper). Both editions use the same extension ID.

Not to read, edit, copy text, download Markdown or study captions. To save notes into a vault, install Obsidian and create or open a vault first. Without the helper, saving goes through an Obsidian URI; with the helper it writes silently.

No, it is optional. You need it for silent vault writes, appending learning notes to today's daily note, caption generation and YouTube file downloads. On macOS, double-click the installer; no Python, Git or Node.js setup is needed.

Qiaomu Clipper does not provide models. Questions, translation and cloud recognition use your own provider account or API key, and that provider bills you. Reading, copying text and existing captions need no AI setup.

AI questions, caption translation and template interpretation send the content they need to the provider you select. Cloud speech recognition uploads audio; local recognition does not. Chat history, drafts and recognition caches stay on your machine, and some settings, templates or credentials may sync through your browser. Sharing to Qiaomu RSS is off by default. The privacy policy has the full picture. Privacy policy

Only if you tick it. When ticked, the link, title, clipped text and cover go to a public reader-submitted feed. It is off by default, and reading, editing and saving learning notes never trigger it. Check it is off before saving a private page.

The store edition does not download YouTube video or audio files and blocks files from YouTube media domains. Captions, copying or exporting the transcript and study mode all work. To download files, use the standalone edition with the local helper.

YouTube, Bilibili and TED use official captions first. For podcasts, recordings and local files, paste a link or choose a file to generate a transcript. Douyin, TikTok, X, Vimeo, SoundCloud and others offer an entry; whether a link resolves depends on the site, your login and the network. Live streams and DRM are not guaranteed.

Chrome on macOS is the main validation target. Firefox and Safari builds exist, and the Windows helper has an implementation and automated tests, but real-device experience still needs checking.

Make sure focus is not in a text field, keep presses within about 0.6 seconds and do not hold Ctrl, Cmd, Alt or Shift. Browser-internal pages do not allow extensions. If you disabled the site, turn it back on from the popup's "..." menu. The keys themselves can be changed in settings.

Saving to the daily note needs the helper and the Daily notes core plugin in Obsidian, with a numeric date format and no daily-note template. When something does not match, the card says why. Your draft is kept, so you can retry after fixing it.

The store edition updates itself. For the standalone edition, download the new chrome-local.zip from the GitHub release, unzip over the old folder and reload the extension, backing up settings first. Update the helper too: install the matching .pkg on macOS. Refresh open pages afterwards.

Use "Uninstall helper" on the extension settings page. It removes the helper, its registration files and downloaded recognition engines. Your notes are not deleted and you can install it again any time.

Qiaomu Clipper is released under the MIT license. It is based on Obsidian Web Clipper and keeps its history and license. Page extraction uses Defuddle and icons come from Lucide.

Open an issue on GitHub. For security problems, follow the security note in the repository.