Add Option to search in excluded folders

[Jare]

Use case or problem

I really like the new setting in Obsidian that lets me ignore some folders from the search:

I usually don’t want to see my template files showing up in the search results when searching for e.g. #TODO tags, and this setting is brilliant for it! But sometimes - more rarely - I’m searching for old links that I want to replace with new ones, and they might be located in my template files, too.

Proposed solution

I’d like to include a new option in this search pane:

I’ve marked a place with a red dot where I’d suggest to add a toggle icon Include excluded files. By default, this option would be disabled.

As an added benefit, the tooltip could also list the excluded directories, just as a reminder for the user too see in practise, what locations are currently ignored.

Current workaround (optional)

Currently, I don’t use the global search, if I’m looking for something that I know might be located in my excluded files. Instead, I go through the excluded files manually and perform a local search inside each file.

Thank you for considering this!

[gabboz]

Alternative workaround: install the plugin “Omnisearch” and keep the setting “Respect Obsidian’s exlcuded files” disabled.

Then replace the shortcut of the Quick Switcher with the Omnisearch.

[WhiteNoise]

I Hallucinated this::

you can search in ignored folders, you need to explicitly ask for it by adding it to the path:

[CawlinTeffid]

It seems the “path:” exception is working now (not sure if intentionally):

Files and Links > Excluded Files not hidden in search

re Options: File and links > Excluded files: “Excluded files will be hidden in Search…” Turns out that is not exactly true. If you search without any qualifiers, it is true, but the minute you search for file: xxx or path: xxx then the excluded files display. Steps to reproduce paste a jpg or png file into any sandbox page and rename the image “test1”. go to Settings > Files and links > Excluded files > Manage and add *.png or *.jpg depending on the filetype you inserted. search for file:…

[Lise]

I hope it’s a bug and not intentional.
I was looking for a list I created a while ago for movies to watch in bed, and searched for bed. I got 5,000 results, and only about 5 of them included bed in the title. So I searched for file: bed to narrow things a little. Result? Only 127 files. But…

[CawlinTeffid]

Actually I now think it may be an error on your end, sorry. See my reply:

Files and Links > Excluded Files not hidden in search

The exclusion rule *.jpg only excludes a single file named “*.jpg”. You need to use a regular expression: /.+\.jpg$/. (Various ones will work; this one matches one or more of any character, followed by .jpg at the end".

[CawlinTeffid]

Looks like there is also some weirdness in Search (it searches in filenames of notes but not attachments).