Automatic captures and domain selectors
This feature lets you teach NexoPad which data to read on each website so you can reuse it later in snippets, notes, and repetitive workflows.
Automatic captures help when a page shows useful information but NexoPad does not detect it by default yet. Instead of copying and pasting the same value every time, you can save it as your own variable for that domain.
It is especially useful in CRMs, marketplaces, internal dashboards, ticket panels, order portals, and any site where an important value is always visible on screen.
How to create an automatic capture
Open the popup on the website where you want to capture the value
The feature lives inside the main extension popup. There you see the automatic captures section and any entries already saved for that domain.
Type the variable name and choose a filter
That name becomes the token you reuse later in snippets and templates, such as customer, target_company, order_id, or contact_phone.
Short, lowercase, stable names are best. The interface already normalizes unsafe values so your tokens remain usable.
Start the visual inspector
NexoPad injects a top bar, highlights the element under the cursor, and shows a value preview before you confirm. The goal is to help you pick the right node without opening developer tools.
Confirm the selector and save it
The extension generates the shortest and most stable CSS selector it can, then stores the domain, selected filter, and a descriptive label. If you repeat the process with the same variable on the same site, the previous value can be replaced so you keep one clean reference.
Review the list grouped by domain
Captures appear grouped by site inside the popup, with favicon, variable name, selector, and filter badge where relevant. From there you can also remove old captures.
Test the variable in a real snippet
Use {{your_variable_name}} inside a snippet or reusable note and return to the same website to verify that the value resolves as expected.
Available cleanup filters
| Filter | What it does | When it helps |
|---|---|---|
raw | Stores the text exactly as it appears. | When the value is already clean. |
first_name | Keeps only the first part of a name. | For greetings and {{name}}-style variables. |
numbers | Extracts numbers only. | Useful for phones, IDs, or orders. |
uppercase | Converts everything to uppercase. | When the value should be pasted in a louder format. |
lowercase | Converts everything to lowercase. | Useful for normalized values. |
capitalize | Capitalizes the value. | Helpful for names or labels that arrive badly formatted. |
How captures are stored and reused
Captures are stored per domain and grouped by site inside the popup. That keeps variables from one tool separate from another and makes it easier to clean selectors that are no longer useful.
Each entry keeps the variable name, selector, label, and applied filter. When you revisit the same site, NexoPad tries to read the value in real time and adds it to the list of available variables alongside native extractors.
In Teams, it is worth coordinating variable naming if several people reuse the same snippets, because chaotic naming makes templates much harder to maintain.
What to check if a capture does not return a value
- Make sure you are still on the same domain where you saved it.
- Reload the page if the popup suggests refreshing context or if the site renders data late.
- If the site layout changed, capture the element again because the old selector may be obsolete.
- If the value comes with noise, try changing the filter instead of creating another variable for the same purpose.
- On the Free plan, you can save only a limited number of automatic captures before the extension prompts you to upgrade.
{{customer}} and tomorrow {{final_customer_name}} for the same value, your snippets become harder to maintain.