PDF Toggle Dark Mode

Obsidian plugin that toggles a dark/light appearance for PDF viewers and sidebar thumbnails. If PDF++ is installed, rectangular cropped embeds are covered too.

Features

• PDF toolbar controls — dark/light toggle plus Darkness, Color correction, and Brightness sliders and a Find color swatch, mounted on the native PDF toolbar (can be toggled on/off in settings)
• Ribbon icon — sun (light) / moon (dark), with tooltip for the current mode
• Status bar item — same toggle plus PDF: Light / PDF: Dark label
• Command — Toggle PDF dark/light mode (bind a hotkey if you like)
• Settings — same appearance options (also available from Settings → PDF Toggle Dark Mode)
• Persistence — mode and appearance settings are saved across restarts
• Adapt to theme — optional setting so PDF dark/light follows Obsidian’s appearance (and system light/dark when Obsidian is set to adapt to system)
• Late PDF opens — classes and toolbar controls re-apply when new PDF views mount
• Find-in-file highlights — in dark mode, only the current PDF Find match is painted (same as Obsidian without the plugin). Fill is translucent so text stays readable; the ring is a darker shade of the same color. Change it from the toolbar swatch or Settings.
• PDF++ cropped embeds (optional — requires PDF++ installed and enabled) — rectangular clippings (![[file.pdf#page=N&rect=…]], class pdf-cropped-embed) use the same dark/light mode and Darkness / Color / Brightness settings as full PDF viewers. Clicking a crop opens Obsidian’s media lightbox; that popup is inverted only when the image matches a PDF crop (other image lightboxes are left alone). Without PDF++, those embeds are not created, so this feature simply does nothing.

Install (manual / development)

1. Build:

   npm install
   npm run build
   

2. Copy or symlink this folder into:

   <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/pdf-toggle-dark-mode/
   

   Required files for Obsidian: main.js, manifest.json, styles.css.

3. Enable PDF Toggle Dark Mode under Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

Open a PDF. On the PDF viewer toolbar you’ll see:

1. Sun / moon button — toggle light ↔ dark for PDFs
2. Dark slider — darkness (only while dark mode is on)
3. Color slider — color correction (only while dark mode is on)
4. Bright slider — brightness (only while dark mode is on; 20–200%)
5. Find color swatch — current Find match color (only while dark mode is on; the ring is a darker shade of this color)

You can also use the ribbon icon, status bar item, or the Toggle PDF dark/light mode command.

Under Settings → PDF Toggle Dark Mode (requires Obsidian 1.13.0+):

Each slider has its own Reset control (toolbar: small rotate icon; Settings: Reset darkness / Reset color correction / Reset brightness). The Find swatch has a reset too. Reset appearance restores all three sliders plus link outlines and Find highlight. Settings are searchable from Obsidian’s global settings search. Toolbar controls and Settings stay in sync.

Develop

npm run dev    # watch rebuild
npm run build  # production main.js

Releases and Obsidian Community Plugins

A repo alone is not enough for the official Community plugins browser.

Obsidian installs plugins by downloading assets from a GitHub Release:

• Community store → needs a published GitHub Release with those files.
• Just a public repo → fine for source / PRs; users cannot install via Browse unless a Release exists.
• BRAT / manual install → can use the repo or a local copy without the store.

Automated release (this repo)

1. Bump versions so they match (example 1.0.1):

   • package.json → "version"
   • manifest.json → "version"
   • (optional) npm version patch runs version-bump.mjs for manifest.json + versions.json

2. Commit and push main.

3. Trigger a release in either way:

   A. Tag push

   git tag 1.0.1
   git push origin 1.0.1
   

   B. On-demand (Actions UI)

   GitHub → Actions → Release Obsidian plugin → Run workflow

   • Leave version empty to use manifest.json, or type e.g. 1.0.1 (must match the manifest).
   • draft is on by default; uncheck to publish the Release immediately.

4. The workflow builds the plugin and creates a GitHub Release with main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css (draft unless you opted out on a manual run). Manual runs also create the git tag from the current commit if it does not exist yet.

5. If it is a draft: GitHub → Releases → review → Publish release.

Only after a published Release can Obsidian (and the community directory, once your plugin is listed) pick up the version.

License

MIT