Overview
The WordByWord.io Chrome extension includes keyboard shortcuts that let you rate words, hear pronunciations, control the translation popup, and navigate YouTube subtitles without touching the mouse. Shortcuts only fire when you are not typing in an input, textarea, or contenteditable field.
Translation Popup
These keys work whenever the translation popup is open on any page.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
V | Play pronunciation of the selected word |
Esc | Close the popup |
V also accepts the М key so it works on a Russian layout without switching. Modifier combinations such as Ctrl + V or Cmd + V are ignored so paste keeps working normally.
Selecting multiple translations with Shift
By default, clicking a suggested translation chip replaces the current selection. Hold Shift while clicking chips to build a multi-selection — each chip toggles on or off independently, so you can save several meanings in a single term. Clicking a chip without Shift resets the selection back to a single value.
Rating a Word
When the translation popup is open and you are signed in, use these keys to set the mastery level of the word. Setting a level 1–5 on a new word also saves it to your active collection.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
1 | Mark as New |
2 | Mark as Recognized |
3 | Mark as Familiar |
4 | Mark as Learned |
5 | Mark as Known |
0 or X | Ignore the word |
In Spotlight mode, choosing Known or Ignore also closes the popup automatically, so you can move straight to the next word.
YouTube Subtitles
When you watch a video with the extension's caption overlay active, arrow keys are rewired to jump between transcript segments instead of the default 5-second seek.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
→ | Jump to the next subtitle segment |
← | Jump to the previous subtitle segment |
If the next boundary is farther than 5 seconds away, the player falls back to a standard 5-second seek so you never get stuck.
Adjusting Caption Timing on YouTube
If the subtitles are slightly out of sync with the audio, nudge the timing offset in 0.1-second steps.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Shift + + | Shift captions later by 0.1 s |
Shift + _ | Shift captions earlier by 0.1 s |
The offset is applied to the subtitles instantly and is limited to 5 seconds either way. You can also adjust it with Sync in the player settings. The offset resets when you reload the page.
Tips
- Shortcuts are disabled while you are typing, so custom translations and search fields keep normal keyboard behavior.
- Level keys (
1–5,0,X) match the buttons shown in the popup, which makes them easy to remember once you have used the extension a few times. - On YouTube, the extension takes priority over the player's arrow-key seek only while the caption overlay is enabled.