(Alt + up) (Alt + down) to get multiple cursors like VS Code

In VS code you can press Alt + up to place a second cursor on the line immediately above your cursor.

I think that same UX as an addition to the Alt + click Obsidian currently has would be a very good workflow improvement, and familiar for anyone who uses VS Code

A use case that you’d commonly run into is tabbing multiple bullets in a list all at once, or adding bullets to the beginning of multiple lines, or changing those bullets to checkboxes, etc.

45 Likes

This feature would be a great addition to the custom shortcut section in settings.

3 Likes

+1 from me. I’d also like cmd+click to get a new cursor (like in VSCode on Mac)

Once you get used to multiple cursors it is hard to use a text editor without that feature.

2 Likes

Don’t forget the awesome ctrl+d functionality in VSCode to select identical strings and drop cursors on each

9 Likes

alt+click does that.

2 Likes

+1!

To toss on some other ideas:

ctrl+shift+l in sublimetext will generate 1 cursor per line in a selection.
alt+enter after a search for a string will generate a cursor per search selection.

5 Likes

+1
Using mouse to place aligned cursors is too cumbersome.

Yes please!!! I frequently use ctrl+shift+l so often in sublime I miss it in Obsidian.

1 Like

+1 for (Alt + up) (Alt + down) But if we are stuck with the more cumbersome mouse Alt+click, maybe it could be like Notepad++, which accepts Alt-drag. So when we have twenty lines we want to edit at once, we can do it in one sweep rather than twenty, error prone, individual clicks.

1 Like

@goodsignal For me on Windows 7, Alt+drag already works. (tested in Obsidian v0.10.8)


I use Alt+up/down for “Swap line up/down” currently, because Ctrl+up/down has bugs: Swap Lines Bugs . It is used in many programs this way: https://defkey.com/what-means/alt-up

2 Likes

Oooooh!!! Thanks for testing that and pointing it out @malecjan ! I’m stoked about this!

I should have retested it before writing. This is one of those Easter Egg features that wasn’t mentioned in any release notes.
(at least I didn’t catch any mention of it)

+1. It is so import. Add it like atom or vscode. And add select multi select same word please.

alt-click and alt-drag are very helpful; an equivalent to vscode’s cmd+d and cmd+shift+l would be welcome addition too!

1 Like

Agree this would be a great feature to add.

FWIW ATM I hit cmd-o to open the current note in the default app, which is Sublime Text. Then I use Sublime’s excellent multi-cursor functionality, make my edits, then pop back into Obsidian.

I’ve been using Obsidian for about 6 months and this is the one roadblock for me in my workflow. Using a mouse to create multiple cursors is imprecise and time consuming. In VS Code, I simply press CTL+ALT+Up or CTL+ALT+Down to create multiple cursors.

Could the Alt+Mouse feature be enhanced to use a keyboard “hotkey”? Perhaps two keyboard “hotkeys” can be added: “Add Cursor Up” and “Add Cursor Down”?

1 Like

You can install Code Editor Shortcuts extension that has practically all the behaviors mentioned in this thread.

Sadly, I could not get it to create multiple cursors with keyboard presses.

The addon Obsidian Multi-cursor seems to do what we want. However, it is not on the community addon list yet. So you have to install it manually. Try at your own risk.

I have not tried it yet.

Im currently using GitHub - SkepticMystic/advanced-cursors and it works as expected

2 Likes

Advanced-cursor addon just adds more functionality to cursors. It does not allow me to add more cursors with just a keypress unless I am missing something.

From VSCode: