Getting started

In about five minutes, you get a podcast playing in Obsidian, a timestamp in a note that jumps back to that moment, and a note for the episode. PodNotes needs Obsidian 1.13 or later.

Install PodNotes

1. In Obsidian, open Settings → Community plugins.
2. If you see Exit Restricted mode, select it.
3. Select Browse.
4. Search for PodNotes.
5. Select Install.
6. Select Enable.

On a computer, the PodNotes view opens in the right sidebar. To open it again later, run PodNotes: Show player from the command palette (Ctrl+P, or Command+P on macOS), or select the Show PodNotes podcast icon in the ribbon. On a phone, see Open the player.

Add a podcast

1. Open Settings → PodNotes.
2. Under Search Podcasts, type a show’s name. Results appear as you type.
3. Select Add on the show you want.

The button changes to Remove, and the show appears in the PodNotes view.

You can also paste the show’s RSS feed URL or its Apple Podcasts link into the search box. One result then appears, with an Add button. If a show does not appear, see Which podcasts can I add?

Play an episode

1. At the top of the PodNotes view, select Podcast grid, the first of the three buttons.
2. Select the show’s artwork.
3. Select an episode.

The episode starts, and the view switches to the player. Select the artwork in the player to pause or play.

Create an episode note

1. With the episode still loaded, run PodNotes: Create episode note from the command palette.

PodNotes creates the note, opens it, and puts it in PodNotes/<podcast>/ with the episode’s date, a link to its podcast, and a link that resumes playback. To change what a new note holds, see Change what notes contain.

Capture a timestamp

1. In the episode note, in editing view, place the cursor where you want the timestamp.
2. Run PodNotes: Capture Timestamp from the command palette.

PodNotes inserts the playback time as a link:

- [00:12:41](obsidian://podnotes?...)

Select the link, in Live Preview or reading view, to play the episode from that moment. Capture works the same in any note.

Other ways to install

To try a beta version before it reaches Community plugins, install PodNotes with BRAT:

1. Install the BRAT plugin.
2. In Settings → Community plugins, turn on BRAT.
3. Run BRAT: Plugins: Add a beta plugin for testing (with or without version).
4. Enter chhoumann/PodNotes.
5. Select Add plugin.
6. If PodNotes is not turned on afterwards, turn it on in Settings → Community plugins.

To install a release by hand:

1. From the latest release, download main.js and manifest.json.
2. In your vault, put both files in .obsidian/plugins/podnotes/. Create the folder if it does not exist.
3. In Settings → Community plugins, select Reload plugins.
4. Turn on PodNotes.

Next steps

• Capture timestamps from a hotkey, a phone toolbar, or a headset.
• Create episode notes with your own template, and browse them with Bases.
• Use PodNotes on your phone.