Settings

Look up any PodNotes setting, its default, and what it does. The settings live in Settings → PodNotes, and the sections below follow the tab from top to bottom. In the PodNotes view, Settings in the list on the left, or the PodNotes settings gear in a narrow view, opens the same tab.

To find a setting, type its name in the search field at the top of Obsidian’s settings window. Each PodNotes setting is its own result. Searching for headset, lock screen, or media keys finds Previous track and Next track.

A toggle or a dropdown saves at once. A text or number field takes effect as you type, and PodNotes saves it after you pause typing for half a second, or when you leave the field or close the settings. If you quit or reload Obsidian before that save, PodNotes does not save what you typed since the last save.

Playback

Setting	Default	What it does
Skip back (s)	15	Sets how many seconds the player’s back button, PodNotes: Skip Backward, and the skip backward control of a headset or the lock screen move back. A whole number above 0.
Skip forward (s)	15	Sets how many seconds the forward button, PodNotes: Skip Forward, and the skip forward control of a headset or the lock screen move forward. A whole number above 0.
Default speed	1×	Sets the speed, 0.75×, 1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75×, or 2×, that PodNotes uses when Obsidian starts and whenever a different episode loads. Changing it does not change the speed of the episode that is playing. PodNotes: Reset playback rate returns to it. A speed saved by an older version, such as 1.3×, stays as an extra choice until you pick another.
Queue episodes I switch away from	On	When you select another episode, puts the one you switch away from at the top of the queue, unless it has ended. When an episode ends, starts the next one in the queue. The Queue page’s Queue options menu has the same switch. See Turn off the automatic queue.

Headset and lock screen

These settings decide what the previous-track and next-track buttons of a headset or the lock screen do. See Control playback from a headset or the lock screen.

Setting	Default	Choices
Previous track	Capture timestamp	Capture timestamp, Back by the skip length, Previous chapter
Next track	Forward by the skip length	Forward by the skip length, Next in queue, Next chapter, Capture timestamp

Notes

Setting	Default	What it does
Timestamp template	- {{linktime}} with a space at the end	Sets the text each capture inserts. While an episode is loaded, the setting shows the result for it. Its time tag also sets the times in audio transcripts from ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenRouter, and an OpenAI-compatible server that returns times, and in timed transcripts that feeds publish. See Capture timestamps.
Timestamp offset (s)	0	Subtracts this many seconds from each capture, to make up for reaction time.
QuickAdd choice	None	Runs this QuickAdd choice for each capture, instead of inserting the timestamp. Choose… picks one of your QuickAdd choices, and Create adds a ready-made one. See Capture with QuickAdd.
Episode note path	PodNotes/{{podcast}}/{{title}}.md	Sets where PodNotes creates episode notes, and shows the path for one of your episodes. See Create episode notes.
Episode note template	The default episode note template	Sets the content of a new episode note.
Podcast note path	PodNotes/Podcasts/{{podcast}}.md	Sets where PodNotes creates the note for a whole podcast. See Create a podcast note.
Podcast note template	The default podcast note template	Sets the content of a new podcast note. Podcast note tags lists the tags it accepts.

Transcripts

Only the API key row for the selected Transcription provider is shown. Server address appears while OpenAI-compatible server is selected, and Speaker label format appears while Speaker labels is on.

Setting	Default	What it does
Transcription provider	ElevenLabs on new installs (migrated on update)	Chooses ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, or OpenAI-compatible server for audio transcription, and resets Model to the provider’s recommended model (or clears it for OpenAI-compatible server) when changed. See Choose a transcription provider.
Server address	Empty	Shown when Transcription provider is OpenAI-compatible server. Sets the server’s http:// or https:// URL (placeholder http://localhost:8000/v1). PodNotes trims trailing slashes and appends /audio/transcriptions unless the address already ends with /audio/transcriptions.
ElevenLabs API key, Deepgram API key, OpenRouter API key, OpenAI API key, or OpenAI-compatible server API key	None	Selects the Obsidian secret on this device that holds your API key for the selected provider, or creates one. Optional when Transcription provider is OpenAI-compatible server.
Model	Provider’s recommended model (empty on OpenAI-compatible server)	Chooses the speech-to-text model for the selected provider: Scribe v3 on ElevenLabs, Nova-3 on Deepgram, Grok STT 2.0 (recommended), ElevenLabs Scribe v2, MAI-Transcribe 2, Voxtral Mini Transcribe 3, or Qwen3 ASR 1.7B on OpenRouter, and GPT Transcribe on OpenAI. On OpenAI-compatible server, becomes a text field where you enter the model ID your server expects.
Speaker labels	On (Off if off before updating)	Numbers speakers 1, 2, 3 in audio transcripts. Disabled while off when the selected model or provider does not label speakers (Voxtral Mini Transcribe 3, Qwen3 ASR 1.7B, GPT Transcribe, or OpenAI-compatible server). See Speaker labels.
Speaker label format	**{{speaker}}:** with a space at the end	Sets the text before each speaker’s turn. {{speaker}} becomes the speaker number or feed speaker name. Transcripts that feeds publish use it too, even with Speaker labels off. See Change the speaker label format.
Transcript path	transcripts/{{podcast}}/{{title}}.md	Sets where PodNotes saves transcripts, and shows the path for one of your episodes. Keep .md at the end, because PodNotes does not add it.
Transcript template	The default transcript template	Sets the content of a new transcript note.

Downloads

Setting	Default	What it does
Download path	PodNotes/{{podcast}}/{{title}}	Sets where downloaded episodes go. PodNotes adds the file extension. When the path has no {{title}}, a warning says that episodes would share a file name and a second download to it fails. See Download an episode.

Library

Setting	Default	What it does
Import OPML	None	Import opens a file picker. PodNotes adds the podcasts in the .opml file you choose. See Import podcasts from OPML.
Export OPML	PodNotes_Export.opml	Export saves the podcasts you added to an OPML file with this name in your vault. The file holds private feed addresses in plain text. See Export podcasts to OPML.
Latest episodes per podcast	10	Sets how many of each podcast’s newest episodes Latest episodes shows, from 1 to 75.

Import and export

Setting	Default	What it does
Import settings	None	Import opens a file picker. After you confirm, PodNotes replaces your preferences, templates, feeds, playlists, queue, and favorites with the ones in the file, and adds its playback progress for episodes this vault has not played. Your own progress, downloads, and local files stay. See Import your settings.
Include API keys	Off	Adds the ElevenLabs, Deepgram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, and OpenAI-compatible server API keys stored on this device to the next export, in plain text. The export file sits in your vault, where sync and other plugins can read it. The toggle turns off again each time you open the tab.
Export settings	PodNotes_Settings.json	Export saves your preferences, templates, feeds, playlists, queue, favorites, and playback progress to a file with this name in your vault. Private feeds that PodNotes recognizes keep their placeholder and reference, never their address, and other feed addresses stay as they are. It does not overwrite an existing file. See Export your settings.

Settings that moved or were removed

PodNotes 2.22.0 moved these out of the settings tab. Update to 2.22.0 lists what else changes when you update from 2.21.1 or earlier, and Update to 2.25.0 covers the 2.25.0 transcription update.

Earlier name	Now
Search Podcasts	Add podcast in the PodNotes view. Remove a podcast from its page’s Podcast options menu. See Add and play podcasts.
Playlists	The Playlists page in the PodNotes view, with New playlist. A new playlist gets the default icon. See Use the queue and playlists.
Default Volume	The volume button in the full player. PodNotes keeps that volume for every episode, and starts with the volume you saved before.
Cache podcast feeds, Cache duration (hours), and Clear cached feeds	PodNotes always caches feeds on this device and fetches a feed again when its copy is more than six hours old, even if you turned caching off before. Refresh episodes and Refresh all feeds fetch at once. See When a feed cannot be reached.

These settings have new names:

Earlier name	Now
Skip backward length (s), Skip forward length (s)	Skip back (s), Skip forward (s)
Default Playback Rate	Default speed
Keep a queue of episodes you switch away from	Queue episodes I switch away from
Capture timestamp format	Timestamp template
Note creation file path, Note creation template	Episode note path, Episode note template
Feed note file path, Feed note template	Podcast note path, Podcast note template
Transcript file path	Transcript path
Speaker diarization	Speaker labels
Diarization provider	Transcription provider and Model
Episode download path	Download path