Link Chronicle
Editable, customizable private forever search history in a simple markdown file!
This chrome extension is designed to work with Obsidian
(an awesome markdown-based notes application)
Automatically write links to Obsidian as you browse
Link Chronicle saves markdown formatted title+URL links, with timestamps, to a dedicated log file. Designed to work with Obsidian (but might work with other markdown-based documentation tools).
Pro mode (free during beta): add power features for research
How about tagging links? Adding notes to links? Copying markdown link to clipboard? Automatically categorizing your log with monthly headings? And more!
Pro: add tags
Pro-level users can create a collection of tags, then quickly add them manually to individual links, or automatically to every link logged.
Pro: add notes
Pro-level users can quickly log links along with a freeform note. Awesome for research!
Pro: auto headings
Pro-level users can have monthly headings added to the log automatically, for easier scanning, sorting and editing.
Pro: copy to clipboard
Pro-level users can copy a markdown-formatted link with title and URL to the system clipboard, for easy pasting into notes. Great for research.
Safe!
LinkChronicle does not need to modify pages, only to access their URL and title. LinkChronicle can only write to the one log file you point it to. It can’t create, edit or delete files. LinkChronicle does not track you in any way.
Pro level (free during beta) now includes:
a. a super-convenient ‘copy link to clipboard‘ function. Available as a button in the popup, and as a configurable hotkey. This takes the title and URL of the currently focused tab, formats it as a markdown link, and paces it on the system clipboard. Great for quickly and easily pasting key web page references into notes.
b. automatic monthly headings to help you organize your massive link log. A helpful start!
LinkChronicle writes the title, URL and timestamp of every page you visit to a markdown file. it’s a great web research partner if you are an Obsidian notes app user. It’s not made by Obsidian or affiliated with it in any way. But because Obsidian notes are simple markdown files, LinkChronicle can write to a page you point to in your Obsidian vault. If you have Pro level, you get a lot of web research focused extras too, such as tagging, adding notes, copying links to clipboard, and more!
Browsing history is very useful for reference! But normally it’s tucked away inside your browser out of sight. You have to go digging for it. And of course, it’s also locked in a proprietary platform. Why not own it, forever? In a simple, editable, viewable, copyable, searchable markdown format? Right inside your notes system, too! So your links show up in your searches, you can copy and paste them into notes, etc. Super convenient!
- This extension doesn’t have access to the actual pages you visit, only their title and URL.
- It cannot alter the pages you browse.
- All you grant is permission to write to your log file, and only that file.
- It cannot read or write any other file.
- LinkChronicle does not track your browsing history, it only writes it for you privately.
- The app does not capture or store this info itself.
- For more details, read our detailed terms of use and privacy policy.
- Additionally, you can right click on the extension icon in your toolbar, to see exactly what information it can read from your browser.
- And you can revoke its permissions at any time in chrome:
- Click on the puzzle piece icon in the browser toolbar.
- Select Manage Extensions
- Find LinkChronicle in the list
- Scroll down its settings page and click on Site Settings
- There you can see all the permissions it has, and manage each as needed.
- Be mindful that things will stop working if you revoke a needed permission!
This extension uses these permissions:
- “Allow access to file URLs”: linkChronicle asks, and you give it permission, to read and write one log file only. It can’t create files, or read or write other files.
- “Read and change your browsing history on all your signed-in devices”: linkChronicle monitors your browsing history record only in order to try and prevent writing duplicate links to the log file; it never changes your chrome history record in any way!
- “Modify data you copy and paste”: linkChronicle needs clipboard access to place a markdown formatted title and URL there for you to paste into your documents, only when you request if by key command or popup button. It never reads your clipboard! Or modifies your clipboard at any other time!
Copyright 2024 Garage Rocket, all rights reserved. Use and enjoy, but please don’t copy or redistribute!
This extension is not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian. It does not interfere with or modify Obsidian. It’s made by Garage Rocket. It’s designed to work with Obsidian transparently. We made it because we are big fans of the value Obsidian gives us: owning our own notes forever, in standard markdown files. This extension’s big idea is: why not search history and bookmarks too?
If you don’t find what you need in this FAQ or our extension privacy policy, please contact us.
We are grateful for your ideas, suggestions and problem reports! For maximum visibility, we use Chrome Web Store’s built-in support portal. It’s at the bottom of this extension’s store listing, in a section called Support.
- 0.1.0: initial public beta – Minor bug fixes. First public release. Removed unneeded permissions (no longer need access to full browsing history). Please let us know if you find things that need tweaking! Leave us a note in the support portal. Include as much specifics as possible please!
- 0.0.2: completely overhauled file-permissions securing securing system. Disappointing that permissions on the published extension do not work the same as the dev environment! This release, while still clunky, should work for everyone.
- 0.0.1: initial private beta. Core and Pro capabilities (free in beta) are MVP feature complete. But likely have bugs and UI tweaks needed. Please let us know if you find things that need massaging! Leave us a note in the support portal. Include as much specifics as possible please. And, give us time to fix it before leaving a negative review 🙂
LinkChronicle Core logs the timestamped title and URL of pages you visit to a markdown file of your choice:
- Lets you own your browsing history as a permanent searchable record inside Obsidian notes desktop application.
- Since it’s a simple markdown file, you have independence from vendor lock-in. Why leave your browsing history (such a useful reference!) stuck inside a browser’s database?
- The links in this log file are easy to search from within Obsidian, and to copy and paste into your other notes.
- Each logged link has an added timestamp for quickly reviewing, revisiting and resuming work.
- If you like, you can make the log even better by periodically manually adding headings, spacing, notes and tags to group, annotate and summarize research.
- You can use autoLog mode to log every link you visit automatically, for a comprehensive record. Or, you can use the logPage button in the popup (or its command key) to log only those links you are particularly interested in, for a leaner log.
- LinkChronicle Core will always be free.
LinkChronicle Pro (free during beta) adds lots of interesting and useful techniques for power users, including:
- Create a custom set of tags to add to links as needed.
- Log links with a specific tag using a dedicated button or a command key.
- Optionally add one or more tags to all links automatically with autoTag mode.
- Log a link with a freeform note! Optionally add new tags with it too.
- Copy a link to the clipboard in markdown format, to paste into any note.
- Work fast by setting custom keyboard shortcuts for all power features.
- More quickly access the features you use most by customizing the popup interface to remove unneeded features, tooltips. tutorials, examples, etc.
- LinkChronicle Pro feature set is free during the beta period.
LinkChronicle Pro is free while the extension is in beta. After that, all plans revert to Standard, which supports automatic and manual link logging to an Obsidian note as you browse in Chrome. To add lots of interesting and useful techniques for power users, including tags, notes, clipboard copy, UI customization and more, level up to Pro mode.
- In Chrome, open the Link Chronicle extension’s popup
- Click the shortcut near the top to visit the Options panel.
- Scroll down to the Plan Details section
- Click the Get Pro button.
- This will take you to a Stripe page where you can subscribe!
Things everyone should do after installation (there are also detailed FAQs on this page for each):
- Core: pin the Action icon/button to your toolbar so you can see status, and click it to open popup.
- Core: decide if you want to always automatically log everything, or only on demand. Set this in the popup.
- Pro: set up some tags:
- Put the tags you use most in the first four slots, so you can assign a shortcut key to them.
- Decide if you want any tags to be automatically added to every logged link (nice for topical research)
- Pro: set up keyboard shortcuts:
- Pause/resume auto logging (quickly disable to avoid polluting your log with off-topic research),
- Copy to clipboard (for pasting a markdown formatted link into a note),
- Log with tag (add a tag to specific entries, for all your key research areas),
- Open popup to add a note (this is the quickest way to add a note or tag to current page’s link)
- Pro: customize the popup UI:
- If there are features you don’t use, you can hide them (configure in the Options panel)
- Make the header smaller
- Hide panels for features you don’t need
- Hide link previews
- Hide tooltips
- Hide shortcut hints
- Pro: customize functions:
- Customize (or hide) timestamps?
- Retain last note for reuse?
- Auto-add tags in notes to tags list?
- Auto-add monthly headings?
- Auto-close popup after use?
- After installation, the extension’s icon/button will be hidden by default.
- Open the extension-visibility dropdown list using the puzzle-piece icon in the address bar.
- Find LinkChronicle in the list.
- Use the pushpin icon to make the extension icon remain visible on the toolbar.
- Drag the LinkChronicle icon to where you like it in the toolbar.
- It offers useful status information, so we recommend keeping it visible, at least until you get used to its system.
- In the Obsidian notes desktop app, create a target note for logging links to.
- Make this a new blank note that you will not use for anything else.
- Give it a name that makes sense to you, i.e., linkChronicle2025.md or similar
- We recommend making a dedicated folder to keep these notes separate from the rest of your system, as they are typically not edited, kept for reference.
- Also, as they get large you will want to change to a new one. Yearly, or perhaps quarterly if you are a very active researcher. So a folder is nice to group them.
- Back in Chrome, click on the LinkChronicle toolbar icon to open the popup.
- Near the top, click on the Options page link to open it.
- On the Options page, use the Select File button to browse to and point to the logging note you just made.
- Grant permissions when shown the dialog.
- This is only the first of two required permissions steps.
- Next, close the Options page.
- Then use the link in the popup again, to reopen the Options page again.
- Then select your log file again.
- This time you should see a new, persistent permissions dialog. Grant “always allow” in this one.
- That should allow persistent background link logging.
- At least until you change log file again: then you will have to redo this procedure.
- Colors: In the action icon, in the status image in the popup, and in some of the key texts throughout the application, colors help you understand the system state better:
- Red means no file selected, file not found, file write error or permissions error.
- Orange means auto-logging is paused. Only logging you initiate manually happens.
- Green means auto-logging is active, and links for the pages you visit are being written to the file in the background.
- Blue means auto-logging is enabled, and one or more auto-tags are selected, so links written will have tag(s) attached.
- Symbols: on the action icon badge, symbols help you understand the both state and action outcomes better:
- When auto-logging is enabled, the green badge will be display ‘A‘.
- When auto-logging is paused, the orange badge will display ‘P‘.
- When auto-tagging, the blue badge will display ‘T‘.
- When there is an error condition, the red badge will display ‘!‘
- Whenever a log entry is written, the action badge will flash purple with a ‘✓‘.
- When a link is formatted and copied to the clipboard, the badge will flash purple with a ‘C‘.
Several LinkChronicle features can have shortcut key commands set up for them, so you can use them without opening the popup.
- In both the LinkChronicle popup, and its Options page, there are links to the Chrome Shortcuts panel, where you can set up hotkeys for all extensions.
- Find LinkChronicle in the extension list.
- Set up your preferred shortcuts for each available feature.
- For Mac users, we recommend the following shortcuts (for Windows users, try to find some available shortcuts that are similar, or that feel right for you):
- Open/close the popup: ⌃⌘O
- Pause/resume autoLogging: ⌃⌘P
- Log current page link to file: ⌃⌘L
- Copy link to clipboard: ⌃⌘C
- Log current page link with tag 1: ⌃⌘1
- Log current page link with tag 2: ⌃⌘2
- Log current page link with tag 3: ⌃⌘3
- Log current page link with tag 4: ⌃⌘4
This Core feature allows you to optionally add a timestamp to each link logged, in a few different formats.
- Configure your preferences in the Timestamp section of the Options page.
- Uncheck all checkboxes if you don’t want timestamps added to links.
- If you travel a lot, or use different VPNS, etc, and want your timestamps to use a global time reference, check only the ISO Timestamp option.
- If you like an easy to read local time (timestamps will refer to your system’s local date at that moment), select Local Datestamp.
- If you want the hour and minute too, also select Include Time.
- A third option is to select both ISO Timestamp and Local Datestamp at the same time. This will use HTML to hide a globally accurate but difficult to read ISO timestamp underneath an easy to read local time. Makes the links a bit more complicated, but might be useful in the long run.
LinkChronicle includes live previews of the link that will be written, alongside each feature in the popup. This helps you understand what is being saved, and how to use the extension to get exactly what you need into your log. These previews are on by default, but you can hide them via the Options page, if you are on the Pro plan.
The Core of LinkChronicle are the two features found at the top of the popup: the Log Page button (and its associated shortcut command) and the autologging checkbox (and its associated shortcut command).
- When Autologging is enabled, every page you visit will have its title and URL written to your log file.
- You can enable and disable this action on the fly, with th checkbox in the popup, or the command key if you have configured one.
- It’s useful to turn off autologging for a while when you are doing research you don’t need to save, maybe something non-work, or unimportant.
- Another way of working is to leave autologging off by default, then manually log key pages when needed. You can do this with the Log Page button in the popup, or its associated command key if configured, without opening the popup at all.
This Pro feature allows you to define up to eight tags on the Options page, and they become buttons in the popup. Clicking one of them will write the link with the tag added. Or, you can use its associated shortcut key without opening the popup.
- Open the Options page and define some tags.
- You can define up to eight, and the first four will be associated with hotkeys too.
- If you like to use shortcut keys, define the tags in order such that the ones you want to use with a hotkey are among the first four.
- To set up their shortcut keys, there is a link to that Chrome config page near the top of the popup, and also in the tag definition area of the Options page.
Note: this feature can be particularly useful if you think of tagging as a form of bookmarking. Don’t worry about duplicating any auto-logged link, just save it again with a tag, to keep track of it and find it again easily, on a project- or topic-basis.
This Pro feature allows you to select one or more tags to be automatically added to all links logged.
- Any tags checked are added to all links when Auto Logging is enabled.
- When Auto Logging is disabled, any checked Auto Tags are still added to all links logged manually via Log Page feature, Log With Note feature or Log With Tag feature.
- Important: when Auto Tags are selected, the Log With Tag feature logs with all selected, not just the one you clicked! So it acts effectively like Log Page when Auto Tagging is enabled.
Note: this feature can be used like manual tagging, as a form of topic grouping. If you remember to switch autotags as you switch topics, you can group a bunch of research with one or more tags, in the background as you work.
This Pro feature allows you to log the current tab’s link with freeform notes, and optionally new tags.
- When you open the popup, focus will be automatically in the notes box.
- This is particularly useful if you define a shortcut key to open without using the mouse.
- Then you can just type away and hit enter when done (or the button if you prefer) and the link will be logged with the note attached.
- If you want, you can add tags too. As you start to type tags (anything starting with the # symbol), you can quick-select existing tags from the autocomplete dropdown that will show up. Or you can enter a new one.
- By default, the system automatically adds new tags you enter to your master tags list (if there is room: remember, the limit is eight). If you don’t want this, deselect its preference on the Options page.
- By default, the last note you typed is retained next time you open the popup, for quick reuse. If you don’t want this, deselect its preference on the Options page.
- Note: when Auto Tags are selected, the Log With Note feature logs with not only tags you add manually, but also any tags selected for automatic inclusion. If you don’t like this behavior, deselect all Auto Tags.
This Pro feature allows you to copy the currently focused tab’s title and URL in markdown format to the system clipboard, for easy pasting into notes. Unlike links logged to the logging file, this link does not include a bullet, notes, tags or anything. Just a nice clean markdown link. You can use the button in the popup, or you can configure its hotkey. (to set up your hotkeys, use the link in the popup or on the Options page, to reach the Chrome Shortcuts panel).
This Pro feature automatically adds a Month+year heading (like: Jan’25) to your log file, the first log entry in a given month. This makes it easier to get started sorting categorizing and annotating. If you prefer a simple unadulterated list of links, uncheck this preference on the Options page.
By default, the popup closes automatically after any logging action. If you would like it to stay open so you can complete multiple actions, visit the Options page and deselect the Close popup on success preference.
This Pro feature allows power users familar with the system, and/or wanting only a subset of offered features, to declutter the popup by hiding some. On the Options page (reachable by a link at the top of the popup) you can show/hide these features:
- Hide most of the header (image, links, shortcut hints, etc.).
- Hide shortcut reminders/hints
- Hide tooltips
- Hide live link previews
- Hide Logging feature (Auto Logging checkbox and Log Now button).
- Hide Auto Tagging feature
- Hide Log With Note feature
- Hide Log With Tag feature
- Hide Link To Clipboard feature
Important: you can hide them, but they still work! (either automatically, or by hotkey, depending on how you set things up).
Note: you may have to unhide them to modify their configuration!
- Upcoming: link-save status in action icon
We’ll try and add a simple system for tracking the status of the page you’re on. Has it been tagged? Has it been saved? Has it been annotated? - Aug ’25: Initial public release
Core features: auto-logging of all links, manual logging of a link, configurable timestamps.
Pro features (free during beta): tagging, add a note, copy link to clipboard, auto-add headings, customizable UI.
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