Custom Export Preview

Custom Export Preview lets you review a Perplexity conversation before saving it as an Obsidian-compatible Markdown file. Instead of exporting the whole thread immediately, you can open a dedicated preview page, inspect the rendered Markdown, select only the prompts or responses you want, adjust export settings for this export, and then download the final Markdown file.

This is useful for long research threads, mixed-topic conversations, or cases where only part of the Perplexity answer should become a permanent note.

What Custom Export Preview Does

With Custom Export Preview, you can:

• Open the current Perplexity conversation in a full preview page
• Review prompts and Perplexity responses before exporting
• Select or deselect individual prompts and individual responses independently
• Keep only prompts, only responses, or any custom mix of messages
• Preview Markdown rendering, including tables, lists, links, code blocks, and headings
• Optionally include message time in exported # You and # Perplexity headings
• Adjust export settings for this preview export without changing your normal workflow
• Export the selected content as an Obsidian-compatible Markdown file

When to Use It

Use Custom Export Preview when:

• A Perplexity thread is too long to save as one unfiltered note
• You only want the final answer and not the exploratory prompts
• You want to remove irrelevant follow-up questions
• You need to verify tables or formatted Markdown before downloading
• You want to export only a few messages from a larger research thread
• You need a more deliberate workflow than one-click export

How to Open Custom Export Preview

1. Open a Perplexity conversation page in your browser.
2. Click the Perplexity to Obsidian extension icon.
3. Wait until the popup shows that the current conversation is ready.
4. Click Custom Export Preview.

The extension will:

• Fetch the current Perplexity thread details
• Store a local preview cache in your browser
• Open a dedicated preview page in a new tab

How the Preview Page Works

The preview page is designed for reviewing and trimming a conversation before export.

Main Preview Area

The center of the page shows the current Perplexity conversation as rendered Markdown.

Each Q&A turn is displayed as:

• You asked: the user prompt
• Perplexity answered: the assistant response

Prompts and responses each have their own checkbox. This means you can export:

• a prompt without its response
• a response without its prompt
• both prompt and response
• neither item

This independent selection is useful when you only need a final answer or when a prompt is not useful in your Obsidian note.

Show Time

The top bar includes a Show time toggle.

When Show time is enabled, exported Markdown headings include the formatted message time:

# You (2026-04-30 12:12:01)

What is the best way to organize this research?

---

# Perplexity (2026-04-30 12:13:20)

Here is a structured approach...

When Show time is disabled, headings stay compact:

# You

# Perplexity

Times are formatted using your browser time zone.

Export Settings Panel

The left settings panel controls only the current preview export.

Available settings include:

• Save Path: a relative folder path under Chrome Downloads
• Enable YAML frontmatter: include or remove frontmatter metadata
• Include Sources and Related Questions: include Perplexity sources and related questions in selected responses
• Organize by Space: save files into a Space subdirectory when the thread belongs to a Perplexity Space
• Filename Pattern: shows the active filename pattern reused from your extension settings

Changing these settings in the preview page affects the current export only.

Selection Menu

The bottom toolbar includes a Select Items menu.

It shows a compact list of all prompts and responses in the preview. Each item can be selected independently.

The menu supports:

• All: select every prompt and response
• Clear: deselect everything
• Only Prompts: keep only user prompts
• Only Responses: keep only Perplexity answers
• Jumping directly to a prompt or response in the preview

The item count is message-based:

• 1 Q&A turn = 2 items
• 2 questions and 2 answers = 4 items
• selecting only responses in a 2-turn thread = 2 selected items

Exporting Markdown

After selecting the content you want:

1. Review the selected prompts and responses.
2. Check the export settings on the left.
3. Click Export Markdown.

The extension will:

• Generate Markdown from only the selected items
• Apply frontmatter and formatting settings
• Download the Markdown file through Chrome Downloads
• Mark the conversation as exported
• Add an entry to export history

Save Path Rules

The Save Path field must be a relative folder path under Chrome Downloads.

Valid examples:

perplexity
perplexity/research
perplexity/AI-Notes

Invalid examples:

C:\Users\name\Documents\Obsidian
/Users/name/Documents/Obsidian
\\server\share\Obsidian
../Obsidian

Chrome extensions cannot directly download files to arbitrary absolute paths or network paths. If you want files to land inside an Obsidian vault automatically, set Chrome’s default download folder to that vault, then use a relative Save Path in the extension.

Markdown Output Format

The exported file uses the same Obsidian-friendly structure as the normal export.

If frontmatter is enabled, the note starts with metadata:

---
title: "Conversation Title"
created: 2026-04-30 12:00:00
exported: 2026-04-30 12:20:00
url: "https://www.perplexity.ai/search/..."
tags:
  - perplexity
  - ai
messages: 4
uuid: "..."
space: "Research"
---

Selected content is then exported as Markdown sections:

# You

Selected prompt text...

---

# Perplexity

Selected answer text...

## Sources

1. [Source Title](https://example.com)

## Related Questions

- Follow-up question?

If only a response is selected, the exported file can contain only the # Perplexity section for that turn. If only a prompt is selected, it can contain only the # You section.

Custom Preview vs Selective Export

Perplexity to Obsidian has two ways to export partial content:

• Selective Export works directly inside the Perplexity page and is best for quick Q&A selection.
• Custom Export Preview opens a dedicated preview page and is best when you want to review rendering, select individual prompts or responses, and adjust settings before downloading.

Use Selective Export for speed. Use Custom Export Preview for accuracy and review.

Best Practices

To get the best results:

1. Use Only Responses when building answer-focused notes.
2. Enable Show time when the conversation timeline matters.
3. Disable Sources and Related Questions when you want a shorter, cleaner note.
4. Keep Save Path relative, such as perplexity/research.
5. Review tables in the preview page before exporting research-heavy answers.
6. Use Space organization if your Perplexity threads are already grouped by Space.

Troubleshooting

Preview page does not open

Check the following:

• You are on a valid Perplexity conversation page.
• The Perplexity page has been refreshed after installing or updating the extension.
• The extension has permission to access Perplexity.
• The current conversation can be loaded by the content script.

Tables still look wrong

The preview page renders Markdown tables before export. If a table still looks like plain text, the original Perplexity response may not contain a valid Markdown table. Check that the table uses pipes and separator rows, for example:

| Name | Value |
| --- | --- |
| A | 1 |

Export fails with an invalid filename

This usually means the Save Path is not valid for Chrome Downloads.

Use a relative path such as:

perplexity/research

Do not use absolute file system paths, Windows drive paths, or network paths.

Exported note is missing a prompt or response

Custom Export Preview exports only selected items. Open the Select Items menu and confirm the prompt or response checkbox is selected.

Sources are missing

Check whether Include Sources and Related Questions is enabled in the preview settings panel. Sources are included only for selected Perplexity responses.

Related Guides

• Exporting Individual Conversations
• Selective Export
• Batch Export & Backup
• Settings & Configuration