RefDrop

Get RefDrop for Windows.

Self-contained .NET 8 build. ~56 MB single-file. Works on Windows 10 1809 and later (x64). Free, no account, no telemetry.

Chrome Extension
One click from any web image to PureRef

The free companion extension for Chrome. Hover any image on any site and a RefDrop button appears — click it and the full-resolution original lands in your open PureRef canvas. No downloading, no drag-and-drop, no saving to disk first.

🖼️Hover any image · Alt+S to send instantly
🎬Grab the exact frame from YouTube & Vimeo
🖱️Right-click → “Send to PureRef”
Shift+click to send a whole batch back-to-back
Add to Chrome — Free Chrome Web Store · 50 images/day free

Works in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Arc). The extension talks to the RefDrop desktop app over a local connection, so install RefDrop below and keep it running — images never leave your computer.

v0.3.9 Latest 2026-07-31

The Settings window was cutting off its own content. Descriptions were clipped mid-sentence, and on the Advanced page the Import-settings button ran off the right edge of a window you cannot resize. Everything now wraps and fits. Dropdowns also show proper labels instead of the raw values stored on disk — the language picker read "en" rather than "English".

What's new in 0.3.9

  • Nothing is cut off any more. Long descriptions wrap instead of being clipped, and controls stay inside the window. The Advanced page's Import settings… button was previously half off-screen, and the Hotkeys description ended mid-sentence. This only affected the English interface — the layout had been sized against the shorter Korean text.
  • Dropdowns read properly. They showed the values as stored on disk — en, light, auto, png — and now show English, Light, Automatic, PNG. Hotkey rows also no longer print an internal identifier like capture.active_window under each name.
  • Removed three settings that did nothing. Auto-arrange grid, Grid columns and Nudge step under Outputs were saved but never actually used when sending to PureRef. They are gone until the behaviour exists. Korean headings that were still showing in English are translated, and About now links to refdrop.mmwo.io and hello@mmwo.io.
  • Update notifications are clickable. They showed the release address as plain text with no way to follow it — click the notification and it opens the page. When RefDrop is sitting in the tray with no window open, notifications now stay up for 12 seconds instead of 2, since in that case they appear in the corner of the screen rather than over the app.

Verify your download against SHA256SUMS.txt.

Platform
Windows 10 (1809+) or Windows 11 · x64 only
Runtime
None — single-file build bundles .NET 8
Install size
~57 MB on disk · per-user, no admin
Auto-update
Built-in checker · prompts on next launch when a newer release ships
v0.3.9 Settings window cleanup & clickable notifications. Fixes text and controls being cut off at the right edge of the Settings window — most visibly the Import-settings button on the Advanced page and the clipped description on Hotkeys. Dropdowns now show readable labels ("English", "Light", "Automatic") instead of the raw stored values, hotkey rows no longer display internal action ids, Korean headings that had been left in English are translated, and three PureRef auto-arrange settings that never did anything were removed. .exe .zip
v0.3.8 Notifications you can actually see. Notifications now appear centred over the RefDrop window instead of the far bottom-right corner of the screen, where they went unnoticed. Also fixes notifications hanging off the screen edge on scaled (125%/150%) displays, and drops the dashboard's maximize button, which stretched the launcher grid across the screen and left most of the window blank. .exe .zip
v0.3.7 Safe default shortcuts & IME fixes. Ships working defaults on Ctrl+Alt+1–4 instead of the Ctrl+Shift+number range Windows reserves for input-language switching (which broke shortcuts for Korean/Japanese/Chinese users), warns when you pick a reserved combo, and keeps the Settings window on-screen on small/high-DPI displays. .exe .zip
v0.3.6 IME hotkey binding hotfix. Fixes global-hotkey assignment for users typing with a Korean/Japanese/Chinese IME — combos like Ctrl+Shift+0 can now be bound in Settings → Hotkeys, where the keypress was previously swallowed by the input method. Esc-to-cancel and Delete/Backspace-to-unbind during capture work under an IME too. .exe .zip
v0.3.5 Stability & reliability pass. Fixes brief app freezes on PureRef sends and Step Recorder clicks, speeds up History search, fixes a rare freeze on quit, and corrects the browser extension's PureRef status display and daily send-limit accuracy. .exe .zip
v0.3.4 Extension reconnect, quieter sends & Pro. Fixes the Chrome private-network block that left the extension offline, stops browser sends from popping a desktop notification, and adds a 50-image free daily tier with a $5.99 lifetime Pro upgrade plus an English-default language switch. .exe .zip
v0.3.3 Capture restore & update controls. The dashboard returns after a capture instead of dropping to the tray, and Settings → General → Updates lets you pick how the updater behaves (auto-install, notify-only, or off). .exe .zip
v0.3.2 Security & stability. SHA-256-verified auto-updates, fixed capture/loupe memory leaks, correct mixed-DPI multi-monitor crops, a hardened extension server (origin validation, request-size cap, no save-folder leak), and power-loss-safe settings writes. .exe .zip
v0.3.1 Capture-time auto-hide. RefDrop's own windows briefly hide before any screen snap so they never bake into or block the capture. Pinned windows stay visible. .exe .zip
v0.3.0 Public beta launch. 11 capture modes (Region/Fullscreen/Active/Picker/Scroll/Delayed/Freeform/Fixed/Step recorder/Repeat/OCR), 6-tool annotation editor with undo/redo, SQLite history, Chrome extension over local HTTP, PureRef coexist-by-default, English+Korean i18n, single-file Win-x64 build. .exe .zip