Address Zooming Limitations in Canvas

Feature requests
,
1

Use case or problem

In canvas, the current zooming functionality has several limitations that impact usability, particularly for large and complex layouts:

  • For larger canvases, “Zoom to Fit” often shifts the view far away from the selected node and its group. The feature does not prioritize focusing on the parent group of the selected node, which would improve usability.

  • The canvas has a zooming limit, preventing the entire canvas from fitting within the view. So “Zoom to Fit” does not truly provide a full overview of the entire canvas, as the zoom level is capped and cannot accommodate extremely large layouts. This makes navigation and context management difficult.

Proposed solution

  1. Refine the “Zoom to Fit” feature to focus on the parent group of the selected node instead of the entire canvas. This adjustment would ensure users stay contextually aligned with their work.
  2. Introduce additional keyboard shortcuts to enhance navigation:
  • Press Shift + 1 multiple times to progressively zoom out, focusing on successive parent groups.
  • Hold Shift + 1 for a few seconds to zoom out and fit the entire canvas.

Current Workaround

My current workaround is to split large canvases into smaller ones. However, the zoom-out limit makes it impossible to select a large group and all the nodes within it at once. As a result, I have to create smaller groups that fit within the screen and then painstakingly drag, copy, and paste each group individually. This process is tedious and inefficient.

Thank you for considering this feature request! It would greatly improve the experience of working with large canvases in Obsidian.

2

Shift+1 - Zoom to Fit - fits the entire canvas
Shift+2 - Zoom to Selection - fits your selection

3

Shift+1 - Zoom to Fit - fits the entire canvas
Shift+2 - Zoom to Selection - fits your selection

Thanks! I think it would be great if Shift+1 could progressively zoom out from inner to outer parent groups and eventually to the entire canvas. Currently, you need to scroll or zoom out manually to find the border of a group and click on it to select it. This can be tricky when you’re zoomed in on a specific node, and the group’s border is outside the visible area of the monitor.

4

Also, currently Shift+1 doesn’t really fit the entire canvas when you cannot zoom further out to show everything.

5

Rather than suggest a modification to a specific hotkey, I agree with you that the functionality you describe sounds pretty cool. It could be a new command like “Zoom out to next group” or something. Then it could be mapped to some other hotkey.

1 Like