Downloads and local files

Download episodes to listen offline, and play audio and video files from your vault in the PodNotes player.

Download an episode

To download the episode in the player:

1. Run PodNotes: Download Playing Episode.

To download any other episode:

1. Right-click the episode, or select its three-dot More options button.
2. Select Download.

A notice shows the progress. PodNotes saves the file in your vault at Episode download path, PodNotes/{{podcast}}/{{title}} by default, and adds the file extension. The episode then appears in the Local Files playlist and plays from the file.

Keep {{title}} in Episode download path. Without it, two episodes can resolve to the same file, and the second download fails. Template tags lists the tags a path accepts.

Offline playback needs the file on the device you listen on. If you sync your vault, see Downloads on another device.

Play your own audio and video

1. In the file explorer, right-click an audio or video file. On a phone, long-press it.
2. Select Play with PodNotes.

MP4 and WebM files can hold audio or video, so their menu offers Play as audio with PodNotes and Play as video with PodNotes instead.

PodNotes plays MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG, WAV, FLAC, WMA, AMR, MP4, M4V, MOV, WebM, and OGV files. Whether a file plays also depends on the codecs your device supports.

Find your files in Local Files

The Local Files playlist in the podcast grid lists every episode you have offline. It holds your downloads and the files you played with Play with PodNotes.

Remove a download or a local file

1. Right-click the episode or select its More options button.
2. Select Remove file for a download, or Remove from Local Files for your own file.

Remove from Local Files keeps your file in the vault. Remove file removes the episode from Local Files and moves its file to the trash. Where a trashed file goes depends on Obsidian’s Deleted files setting in Settings → Files and links. If that setting deletes files permanently, so does PodNotes.

If PodNotes cannot confirm that it downloaded a file, as with downloads from older versions, it asks first. Select Keep file to leave the file in your vault, or Delete file to move it to the trash. Either way, the episode leaves Local Files.

Your notes and timestamp links stay. Links to a download stream the episode from its feed again while the feed still lists it. Links to your own file stop working until you select Play with PodNotes on the file again. See What happens to notes and links when I remove a download?

What works with local files

A local file works like a podcast episode. You can capture timestamps, create an episode note, and resume where you stopped. Transcription works for local audio but not for video. PodNotes uses local file as the podcast name, so {{podcast}} in a note path resolves to local file. A timestamp link to a local file plays only on a device where the file is in your vault and in Local Files.