Android - Where do Themes go?

This is a theme issue. Themes are supposed to be stored in the vault config folder in a sub-folder called Themes. After using the built-in community theme browser to get Themes, they are not being stored there.

  1. Should probably make sure themes are stored in the correct sub-folder.
  2. If someone could tell me to which folder they are actually being downloaded I could move them over (as a work-around for now).
  3. [OPTIONAL] Shouldn’t we have Android tags by now in this forum?

Steps to reproduce

  1. Sync a vault from Google storage using AutoSync
  2. Open the just-synced vault in Obsidian.
  3. Browse community themes in the Settings | Appearance box.
  4. Use a community theme.
  5. Look in the Themes folder (there is no Themes folder).

Expected result

There should be theme(s) in the /.obsidian/Themes folder.

Actual result

No /.obsidian/Themes folder exists.

Environment

  • Operating system: Android v9
  • Obsidian version: Android 1.0.4

Additional information

Do you see the .obsidian folder itself? Otherwise you should turn on the setting to show hidden folders in your file explorer.

Yes, I can see everything in the .obsidian folder. Subsequently, I created the themes sub-folder by hand. If I drop a theme CSS file from github in that folder the Android app can now see it and display it in the drop-down selector. But selecting the file instigates no changes in the interface. Instead it reverts to the default. I guess that’s a 2nd bug.

The interface for browsing themes still does not drop the CSS file into the themes folder that I created by hand.

The only part of that whole themes interface that works is locating themes in the themes folder. No, there is one other: Preview of themes works temporarily.

An update. I originally created the vault by syncing it onto my SD card. I wonder if the Android app did not ask for permission to write to the SD card?

I say this because I can read the files in the vault but I cannot change them. It might not be just the themes folder. See the attached screenshot with the error FILE_NOTCREATED.

I reported this as a bug but it seems to have been moved to the Help forum instead. How are bugs supposed to be reported? Are the devs not accepting bug reports on Android?

I have confirmed that the bug I suspected, and wrote of in the post above, is correct. The app is not acquiring edit rights to my SD card. This breaks themes, the ability to edit files, and probably several other things.

THE WORKAROUND: I moved the vault sync from my SD card to my internal storage. Now the Android app can use themes and files are editable.

This is definitely a bug regarding SD card editing rights, something that the Android app has to request. I would prefer to use my SD card but I don’t know any user-level work-around that can provide those rights. For now I’m stuck with internal storage.

I tried posting this as a bug but it was moved to the Help forum. Maybe the devs are not actively resolving Android bugs right now. Hopefully a dev will see this eventually when they start work on the Android app again.

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