Release notes for the Tomoshi select-to-look-up browser extension (Chrome / Edge). The extension works alongside the Tomoshi desktop app. New versions are installed automatically by the browser once the store has approved them, with nothing for you to do. The extension’s version number is independent of the desktop and mobile apps; you can see the version you have on your browser’s extensions page.

0.3.1 (2026-10-17)

  • Grammar formations shown as tags, as in the desktop app. A formula such as “Noun ＋ に反して” is split into coloured tags, one colour for parts of speech and another for the Japanese elements, with the “＋” greyed out; a formation that is not a formula still reads as a sentence. With English dictionary data the part-of-speech names are shown in English.
  • The result counts are now clickable. In the “Common n · Grammar n · Uncommon n” row at the bottom, each group that has cards in the popup can be clicked to scroll the results to its first card.
  • Easier to tell results apart. A thin divider now separates neighbouring entries and grammar cards, and when a headword and its tags wrap onto two lines, the pronunciation and star buttons stay aligned with the headword line.
  • Fixed: the headword of a conjugated form did not match the line above it. Selecting 聴いて showed “「聴いて」 is the te-form of 「聴く」” at the top but 聞く as the headword; the headword is now picked from the dictionary form the conjugation was traced back to, and the pitch-accent diagram and pronunciation follow it.
  • Fixed: words matched only by a rare reading were listed as common. Looking up てい put 弟 and 鼎 ahead of the grammar points, because おとうと and かなえ are common, even though てい is only a rare reading of each; words are now grouped by whether the spelling or reading you selected is common. Needs desktop app 1.1.3 or newer; with an older app the order is the same as in 0.3.0.

0.3.0 (2026-10-15)

  • Choose a deck when you star a word. Desktop app 1.1.2 adds multiple wordbook decks. With “Save to” set to “Ask every time” and at least one deck of your own, starring a word in the in-page popup or the toolbar popup first shows a row of deck names: pick one to save there, or click elsewhere or press Esc to not save; the deck you picked last time is highlighted. For a word already saved, the star’s tooltip names the deck it is in. Needs desktop app 1.1.2 or newer; with an older app the star saves straight away, as before.
  • Conjugated forms explained. When the selected text is a conjugated form such as たべた or 埋まらぬ, a line at the top of the result reads “「たべた」 is the past form (た-form) of 「食べる」”, the same line the desktop app shows on its results page. Needs desktop app 1.1.2 or newer.
  • Headwords in the in-page popup now match the app. The popup used to show an entry’s first spelling, so ようやく came up as the rare 漸く. It now follows the same rules as the word card in the app (common spellings first, words usually written in kana led by their kana, and the spelling you selected shown as is); the pitch-accent diagram, pronunciation and the spelling saved to the wordbook follow suit.
  • JLPT level and “common” tags on headwords. Each entry in the in-page popup and the toolbar popup now carries the same two tags as the word card in the app, next to the reading: its JLPT level (a community estimate, marked “unofficial”; hover for details) and “common”, so you can tell at a glance whether a word is worth adding to your wordbook. Works with any version of the desktop app.
  • Clearer grammar cards. When a grammar point comes up, its JLPT level and register (casual, written, formal and so on) show as tags; multiple meanings are numbered; the formation no longer runs together in one long line but puts each pattern on its own line, with side notes de-emphasised; and an example’s Japanese and its translation sit on separate lines. The button at the bottom now reads “View in Tomoshi”, where usage notes, common mistakes and easily confused patterns are shown.
  • Result counts at the bottom. Above “View in Tomoshi” there is now a row reading “Common n · Grammar n · Uncommon n”, styled like the group tags in the desktop app’s search dropdown. The popup lists only the first few results; this row tells you how many the app has in all (select として, for instance, and it shows 7 related grammar points besides the dictionary entries). The results themselves follow the same order: common words first, then grammar, then uncommon words, so selecting a pattern such as をめぐって shows its grammar explanation before a rare dictionary entry of the same spelling. This row and the “View in Tomoshi” button stay pinned to the bottom of the popup; only the results above them scroll. With desktop app 1.1.2 or newer the counts match the app’s results page exactly, and the toolbar popup accepts romaji (tokoro) just like the app’s search box.
  • Fixed: for a word near the bottom of the window, the popup ran off the screen and its last lines could not be scrolled into view. The popup now goes above or below the selection depending on how tall the result actually is, and opens above when it does not fit below.
  • The extension now tells you when it is out of date. From desktop app 1.1.2 the app reports the oldest extension version it expects; when this extension is older, the toolbar popup and the settings page say so. An offline build installed by hand from tomoshi.cn does not update itself, so the settings page links straight to the download page; store builds are updated by the browser and normally need nothing from you.

0.2.8 (2026-09-02)

  • An English interface. The popup, the settings page and every message in the extension now have an English version, and in a browser running in English the extension’s name and description — in the browser’s extensions page and in the store — are shown in English too. You can switch language at any time under “Interface language” on the extension’s settings page (English / Simplified Chinese / Traditional Chinese).
  • “Follow the browser” has been reworked. Browsers running in English used to fall back to the Simplified Chinese interface; they now get the English one. Browsers in any other non-Chinese language (Japanese or French, for instance) now fall back to English as well, and the extension’s name and description in the browser’s extension list follow suit. If you would rather keep reading Chinese, set “Interface language” to Simplified Chinese on the settings page. Detection of Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) is unchanged.
  • The settings page no longer opens every time the desktop app updates. The Safari build of the extension is embedded inside Tomoshi.app, so a desktop update replaces the whole bundle, Safari re-registers the extension, and even an extension that had not changed by a single character was treated as a first install and opened its settings page. It is now only treated as an update when the extension’s own version really has changed, so desktop updates stop interrupting you. (It will still open once after this version lands, and then go quiet for good.)
  • In the Traditional Chinese interface the extension is now called 「Tomoshi 日語辭典 - 劃詞查詞」, in line with the wording used by the Traditional Chinese build of the app and the website. The Simplified Chinese name is unchanged.

0.2.6 (2026-08-03)

  • Systems where the desktop app cannot be installed are now told so honestly. The extension needs the Windows or macOS desktop app, and there is no desktop app for ChromeOS, Linux (SteamOS included) and the like. Installing it on one of those used to produce nothing but “start the desktop app first” — advice that led nowhere. The lookup popup, the toolbar popup and the settings page now name the system you are on and say plainly that it is not supported yet, rather than offering guidance that cannot work.
  • A note has been added under “Trigger key” on the settings page: to look up text inside a link, hold the trigger key down before selecting with the mouse, and the link will not be followed.

0.2.2 (2026-07-20)

  • The extension has been renamed 「Tomoshi 日语词典 - 划词查词」, matching the desktop app’s branding and making it easier to find in the store.
  • The extension’s source is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0 (tomoshi-app/tomoshi-extension); feedback and contributions are welcome.