PrivateNote for Chrome provides a toolbar composer, a selection context menu, and a keyboard shortcut. Content is encrypted in the extension before upload.
Install and pin
Install PrivateNote from the Chrome Web Store. Open Chrome’s Extensions menu and pin PrivateNote for easy access.
To test a local build, run npm run build:chrome from the repository root, open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, and choose Load unpacked. Select packages/privatenote-chrome/dist. Reload the extension after rebuilding.
Create a note
- Click the PrivateNote toolbar icon.
- Enter your test message and, optionally, a title or reveal password.
- Choose an expiry and keep Burn after reading enabled for a single-use link.
- Create the note. Use Copy link if needed, then open it in a separate browser profile to verify.
Share selected text
Select text on a normal webpage, right-click, and choose Create PrivateNote. You can also use Alt+Shift+P to prefill the selection. Chrome reserves some pages, including browser settings and extension-store pages, where selection access is restricted.
If the shortcut is already used by another extension or the operating system, assign a different one at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.
Account and defaults
Use Sign in in the popup and approve in the browser. The extension’s app session is separate from website sign-in. In extension options, set default expiry, burn behavior, and light, dark, or system theme. The current extension language is English.
The current Chrome build uses fixed privatenote.ai API and web origins. It does not expose a self-hosted origin setting.
Permissions explained
- storage
- Save preferences and hold pending selection or session state.
- Provide Create PrivateNote in the selection menu.
- activeTab + scripting
- Read the active selection when you invoke the shortcut.
- clipboardWrite
- Copy the generated sharing link.
- alarms
- Schedule extension background work.
- Host access
- Communicate with PrivateNote. Presence scripts on supported PrivateNote and development origins let the web app detect the extension.
Test the browser workflow
Check toolbar creation, right-click selection, shortcut prefill, sign-in, password reveal, and saved defaults. Use the Chrome acceptance checklist.