Simple Wordbook

简体中文 | English

📦 Plugin ID: simple-wordbook
💡 Inspired by: obsidian-language-learner and HiWords

📖 Overview

Simple Wordbook is a word/phrase highlighting and learning management plugin for Obsidian.
It automatically highlights words from your custom wordbooks in your notes, and provides a complete learning toolkit including a sidebar, lookup panel, library management, study center, mastery tracking, AI-assisted lookup, TTS pronunciation, and import/export.

✨ Features

🚀 Installation

From the Obsidian Community Plugin Market (Recommended)

1. Open Obsidian Settings → Community plugins → Browse.
2. Search for Simple Wordbook.
3. Click Install.
4. Enable it in the installed plugins list.

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, styles.css.
2. Place them into .obsidian/plugins/simple-wordbook/ in your vault.
3. Enable the plugin in Obsidian Settings.

Install via BRAT (Recommended for Beta)

1. Install and enable the BRAT plugin.
2. In BRAT settings, click Add Beta Plugin.
3. Enter the repo URL: https://github.com/Bin-T/obsidian-simple-wordbook.
4. Click Add Plugin, then enable it in the community plugins list.

🎮 Usage Guide

1. Add a Wordbook

1. Create a blank .json file in your vault, or import a .json wordbook in the following format (a JSON array where each word object requires a word field and optionally aliases, definition, phonetic, color, lang, etc.):

[
  {
    "word": "abandon",
    "aliases": ["abandoned", "abandoning"],
    "phonetic": "UK /əˈbændən/ US /əˈbændən/",
    "definition": "**Definition**\ngive up, forsake\n\n---\n\n**Example**\nHe abandoned his car in the snow.",
    "color": "red",
    "lang": "en"
  }
]

2. Open Settings → Simple Wordbook → Files, click "Add Wordbook" to select an existing file, or click "New Wordbook" to create one.
3. The file appears in the list. You can enable/disable it via the toggle, or set it to read-only.

You can also download ready-made wordbooks from the wordbook repository.

More about Wordbook Files

• Supports drag-to-reorder to adjust priority.
• Supports Read-only Mode, which prevents editing or deleting words in that wordbook.
• If a file is renamed or moved, the plugin automatically updates the wordbook path.
• Definitions support full Markdown, including tables, lists, internal links, etc.
• Use --- to separate multiple tabs. The tab name is taken from the **Title** at the start of each section.
• If no title is set, the first section is named "Definition" by default, and subsequent sections are "Content 2", "Content 3", etc. (see FAQ).

2. Word Sidebar

• Click the Ribbon icon or use the command to open the Word Sidebar.
• It automatically shows word cards matched in the current document.
• Click 😊/😐 on a card to mark mastered/unmark.
• Click 👁/👁‍🗨 to mark ignored/unmark.
• Click a word to pronounce it (requires TTS configuration).
• For cards from non-read-only wordbooks, right-click to Edit/Delete the word or Export as Markdown.

Word Sidebar Cards

• Divided into three tabs: "Learning / Mastered / Ignored", each showing its count.
• Card displays: word, phonetic, definition, source wordbook, color label.
• Card content area scrolls independently and supports multi-section tab switching.
• Supports search filtering; searching automatically switches to the first matching tab.
• Supports Fold Definition and Blur Definition.
• Click a word to pronounce; right-click the word to copy word, phonetic, definition, source, or all info.
• Right-click the card to edit, delete, or export as Markdown; read-only wordbooks cannot be edited/deleted.
• Mastery/Ignore Mode can be set to Global or Per-source.

3. Lookup Panel

• Click the Ribbon icon or use the command to open the Lookup Panel.
• Enter a word and click "Local Lookup" to search your wordbooks.
• Click "AI Lookup" to call the AI for detailed definitions.
• Switch prompts via the "Prompt" dropdown.
• Click "Save Word" to save the result into your wordbook.
• Local lookup result cards also support right-click Edit, Delete, and Export as Markdown.

Enter Mode

In Settings → General → Lookup Panel → Enter Mode, you can choose:

• Local Only: Enter searches only local wordbooks.
• AI Only: Enter goes directly to AI.
• Local First: Search local first, fall back to AI if not found.

Tip: Press Shift + Enter in the input box to always force AI lookup.

Local Search Mode

In Settings → General → Lookup Panel → Local Search Mode, you can choose:

• Smart (comprehensive ranking)
• Exact (exact match only)
• Prefix
• Contains
• Fuzzy (allow typos)

Max Results

In Settings → General → Lookup Panel → Max Results, set the maximum number of results returned by local lookup (1–100).

Query History

• Click the History button on the right of the input box to open the history dropdown.
• Supports search, pin, and clear.
• AI lookup results are cached; clicking a history item restores the result directly.

4. Library Management

• Click the Ribbon icon or use the command to open Library Management.
• Top toolbar: search box, color filter, status filter, source filter, sort field, sort direction, select all.
• Table columns: Select, Word, Phonetic, Definition, Source, Color, Status.
• Double-click a row to edit; right-click a row to open the context menu.
• After selecting rows, the batch bar shows: Change Color, Mark Mastered, Unmark Mastered, Mark Ignored, Unmark Ignored, Delete Selected, Clear Selection.
• Top stats bar shows total, learning, mastered, ignored counts and ratios.

5. Study Center

• Click the Ribbon icon or use the command to open the Study Center.
• The top shows today's progress Today: X/Y.

Review Tab

• Choose a wordbook → view stats → click "Let's do this! 💪" to start reviewing.
• Card front: word, phonetic; double-click or press Space to flip.
• Card back: definition (supports multiple tabs, switch with number keys 1–9).
• Feedback buttons:
  • 2-button mode: Forget (←) / Remember (→)
  • 4-button mode: Forget (←) / Hard (↓) / Good (→) / Easy (↑)
• Other shortcuts:
  • B: bookmark / unbookmark (requires "Bookmark for Review" enabled)
  • Alt + P: pronounce the word
  • Ctrl + ←/→: previous / next
  • R: review bookmarked words together
  • A: one more round
  • Q: back to preparation

Smart Spell Check

When enabled, spell buttons appear on the card back:

• Click "Spell (S)" to enter spelling mode; type letter by letter into slots.
• "Show Answer / Hide Answer": show a translucent hint; press Alt + A to toggle quickly.
• "Exit Spelling": press Alt + E to exit quickly.
• "Spell again (S)": restart in place after finishing a round.
• Wrong letters shake the slot; 3 wrong attempts auto-fill the correct letter in red.
• Supports multiple word masks: Blur / Hidden / Transparent / Placeholder / No Mask.
• Supports auto pronunciation before / after spelling.
• Supports custom error reset mode (per-slot / full reset) and slot placeholder.

Mastered Tab

• View all mastered words.
• Supports search.
• Can unmark mastery and restore learning.

Levels Tab

• View words by level (0–5), ease factor, review count.
• Supports search, level filter, type filter (Newbie / Steady / Efficient / Struggling / Stubborn), and sorting.
• Can mark / unmark mastery.

Stats Tab

• Top overview cards: total words, learning rate, mastered rate, ignored rate, today's progress, day streak.
• Donut chart: learning status distribution.
• Line chart: 30-day learning trend.
• Bar chart: level distribution.
• Lists: source distribution, color distribution.

Settings Tab

• Daily goal, daily review limit
• Auto flip (seconds)
• New word order (Sequential / Random)
• Review order (Due first / High level first / Low level first)
• Show phonetic, Show definition as tabs
• Fine feedback (4-button mode)
• Bookmark for review
• Smart spell check (mask, pronounce before/after, mask placeholder, error reset, slot placeholder)
• Review intervals (level 0–4, default 1/2/4/8/16 days)
• Advanced algorithm parameters (base ease delta, extra ease delta, reward threshold, ease range, suspend parameters, penalty threshold)

6. Right-click Menus

• Select text in Editor, right-click → Add Word/Phrase to quickly add a word.
• Select text in Editor, right-click → Lookup: xxx to open the Lookup Panel and search automatically (always uses AI).
• Word Sidebar / Lookup Panel card, right-click → Edit / Delete / Export as Markdown.
  • "Edit" and "Delete" only appear for cards in non-read-only wordbooks.
  • "Export as Markdown" is always available.
• Word right-click copy menu: copy word, phonetic, definition, source path, or all info.

7. Hover Preview

• Hover over any highlighted word to show a definition popup.
• The popup displays phonetic, full definition, and multiple sources.
• You can switch sources, mark mastery, or locate in the sidebar from within the popup.
• Supports Blur Definition mode (blurred by default, clear on hover).

8. Example Extraction & AI Context Explanation

When adding/editing a word, click the quote icon in the top-right of the definition box to open the example extractor:

• Example extraction modes:
  • By empty line: extract the full paragraph where the cursor is.
  • By line break: extract the current line where the cursor is.
  • By sentence boundary: intelligently detect 。！？.!? and extract the sentence where the cursor is.
  • By list item: detect list markers and extract the list item where the cursor is.
• AI Context Explanation: call the AI to explain the word in the selected context, and insert it into the definition.
  • Supports custom system prompt and prompt content; prompts are saved automatically.

9. Import & Export

Import

• In Settings → Files → Import, click "Import" to select a .txt file.
• Supports importing a mastered list or ignored list.
• One word per line, or separated by , ， ; ； Tab.
• Existing or conflicting words are skipped automatically (ignored takes priority over mastered).

Export Wordbook

In Settings → Files → Export Wordbook, open the export dialog:

• Select wordbooks to export (only enabled wordbooks are shown; multi-select allowed).
• Select range: All / Learning / Mastered / Ignored.
• Select format:
  • **Markdown .md **: good for reading/printing.
  • Anki-compatible TXT (TSV): tab-separated, ready to import into Anki.
• Optional fields: phonetic, aliases, definition, source, status, lang.
• TXT format additionally supports:
  • Convert to HTML: convert Markdown bold and line breaks to <b> and <br>.
  • One word per line: no quotes, line breaks converted to spaces.
• Choose save folder and filename.

Export Mastered/Ignored

In Settings → Files → Export Mastered / Export Ignored, export as .txt with one word per line.

Export Single Card

Right-click a word card → Export as Markdown to export a single word card as a standalone .md file.

10. Highlight Configuration

In Settings → General → Highlight & Preview, you can adjust:

• Enable/disable auto highlight
• Enable/disable hover preview
• Blur definition
• Fold definition
• Enable/disable mastery/ignore buttons
• Highlight color: follow card color or custom
• Markdown highlight opacity: default 30%
• PDF highlight opacity: default 70%
• Underline style and color
• Bold
• Text color highlight mode (Markdown only)
• Highlight scope (path filter)

Highlight Scope

• When enabled, you can set Include only or Exclude only paths.
• One path per line:
  • Markdown files must include the .md extension.
  • A folder path matches all files under it.
  • Use * to match all files in the vault root (excluding subfolders).

11. Pronunciation Configuration

• Click a word to play its pronunciation.
• Network TTS:
  • Built-in presets: Youdao (English only), Baidu (multi-language), Google (multi-language).
  • Supports custom URL templates with {{word}}, {{type}}, {{accent}}, {{lang}}, {{rate}} placeholders.
  • Supports US / UK variant switching (only effective for templates using {{type}}).
  • Supports adjusting speech rate range per preset.
• System TTS:
  • Uses the browser/OS built-in speech synthesis engine, fully offline.
  • Can specify system voice, speech rate, pitch.
  • "Default" voice matches automatically based on the word's lang field; falls back to Network TTS if no match.
• Multi-language Management:
  • Add/edit/delete languages.
  • Configure the code used by each language under Google / Baidu / System / Custom presets.
  • Set the default pronunciation language.

⚙️ Configuration Details

Files

General

Pronunciation

AI

Study Center

⌨️ Commands & Hotkeys

In Settings → Hotkeys, you can bind hotkeys for the following commands:

Dynamically generated commands:

In AI Configuration → Custom Prompts, each custom prompt automatically generates an independent command:

• After adding/deleting/renaming prompts, the command list auto-refreshes without restarting Obsidian.
• Hotkeys bind permanently: as long as the prompt name is unchanged, bound hotkeys remain valid.
• Deleting a prompt removes its command; re-adding a prompt with the same name restores the hotkey automatically.

🗂️ Data Storage

❓ FAQ

Q: Highlighting doesn't work?
A: Check whether "Enable auto highlight" is on in Settings; check whether the wordbook is enabled; check whether the current file is within the "Highlight Scope".

Q: The sidebar shows nothing?
A: Make sure the current document contains words from your wordbooks and that these words are not marked as "Ignored". If "Sidebar Scope Filter" is enabled, confirm the current file is within scope.

Q: AI lookup fails?
A: Check the API URL, key, and model name, and network connectivity. You can use "Test Connection" in Settings to verify.

Q: How to highlight in PDF?
A: PDF highlighting is supported by default. Ensure auto highlight is enabled and wait for the PDF to finish rendering.

Q: Mastery state lost?
A: Check whether the "Mastery File" path is correct and writable. When switching mastery mode (Global/Per-source), the plugin migrates data automatically.

Q: System TTS has no sound?
A: Check whether the OS has the corresponding language voice pack installed. If no match, the plugin falls back to Network TTS automatically.

Q: How are the tabs in the hover preview / word card split?
A:

1. The plugin uses --- (three consecutive hyphens) as a separator to split the definition text into multiple sections, each of which becomes an independent tab.
2. It scans the bold text at the start of each section (**bold text**) and extracts it as the tab name.

Example: If you write the following in the definition box of the Edit Word/Phrase modal, it generates 3 tabs:

**Definition**
give up, forsake; abandon

---

**Common Examples**
He abandoned his car in the snow.

---

**Related Phrases**
abandon hope

3. If a section does not start with **Title**, the plugin assigns default names:
   • The first section → default name Definition
   • Subsequent sections → default names Content 2, Content 3, ...

Q: How to quickly bind hotkeys to custom prompts?
A: In AI Configuration → Custom Prompts, click the "Set Hotkeys" button to jump to the Obsidian Hotkeys settings page with this plugin's commands filtered automatically. You can bind an independent hotkey for each Lookup with prompt: xxx command for one-key lookup.

Q: How does the Study Center review algorithm work?
A: The plugin uses a simplified SM-2 algorithm:

• Each word has a level from 0 to 5; reaching 5 means mastered.
• Each review adjusts the level and ease factor based on feedback (Forget/Hard/Good/Easy).
• Actual review interval = base interval (customizable by level) × ease factor.
• Consecutive Good/Easy feedback grants an extra ease reward; consecutive Forget/Hard triggers a suspend.
• Advanced parameters can be adjusted in "Study Center → Settings → Advanced Settings".

Q: Can wordbook files be placed anywhere?
A: Yes. Wordbook files can be placed anywhere in the vault. If a file is renamed or moved, the plugin updates the path automatically.

🎨 Custom Styles (CSS Snippet)

You can override the plugin's default styles with a CSS snippet. The following example makes highlighted words inside sidebar cards follow the card color with 15% opacity (already built into the plugin, see styles.css):

.word-card .simple-wordbook-highlight,
.word-card-content .simple-wordbook-highlight,
.lookup-result .word-card .simple-wordbook-highlight {
  background-color: color-mix(in srgb, var(--card-color) 15%, transparent);
  text-decoration: none;
  border-radius: 6px;
  padding: 0 2px;
}

For more customization, refer to the namespaces in the plugin's styles.css.

📸 Preview

Lookup Panel & Word Sidebar

Study Center

Library Management

📄 Development Notes

This plugin is developed with AI assistance, and all core features have been carefully tested and verified by the developer to ensure code quality, security, and stability.
If you encounter any issues, feel free to submit an Issue on the GitHub repository.

Repository: https://github.com/Bin-T/obsidian-simple-wordbook
Wordbooks: https://github.com/Bin-T/obsidian-simple-wordbook/tree/main/wordbooks

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file in the repository root.