Cannot open notes (0.8.12)

Steps to reproduce

  • Open Obsidian
  • Notice that your screen is blank this time
  • Attempt to manually open the vault via the “Open Vault” menu
  • See that obsidian’s screen remains empty

Expected result

Instead of seeing no notes, I can see my notes.

Actual result

Environment

  • Linux (Ubuntu 20.04)
  • AppImage v. 0.8.12

Additional information

I’m under the impression that the vault isn’t actually (completely) open given that:

  • No notes appear in the [CTRL-O] menu.
  • Attempting to open today’s daily note from the [CTRL-P] menu does nothing.
  • Unexpectedly, though, using the Settings -> Core -> Plugin panel, plugins can be turned off, but cannot be turned back on again afterward, and I do see those settings being applied to the settings in .obsidian/config.

I’ve attempted deleting the cache file in .config/obsidian/ObsidianCache/ but that does not appear to have had an effect.

uhm… what if you delete the /youvault/.obsidian/workspace
or the hole /youvault/.obsidian.

I think we fixed something like that in 0.8.13

was it working before 0.8.12?

Same thing happened to me after updating to 0.8.12. Deleting .obsidian helped but that meant I had to set everything up from scratch again.

Yep! Deleting the whole .obsidian/ folder worked – unfortunately deleting just workspace didn’t, though. Thanks @WhiteNoise & @y.pencil!

I have had similar issues from time to time. Depending on the case, quitting Obsidian and reopening it has fixed the issue, as has reinstalling Obsidian. Just in case of future blank-screen troubles.

This is really Scary. :frowning:
I have a huge exam coming up in 20 days. I’ve backed up my notes to other locations. And I think i have the installation file for one of the older versions with me.

No need to be scared. This issue is just a case of the app failing to display, and I’m guessing it’s triggered by some fiddly thing we’re doing with workspaces or CSS or something.

Either way, though, thanks to Obsidian’s your-files-are-yours principles, your notes are perfectly safe. In the worst case described above, deleting .obsidian would mean losing which panes you have open and the settings of your vault. But I don’t even think that should be necessary to reset the app; a reinstall will probably work.

Beyond that, all other markdown editors (and plain text editors) will be able to view and edit your notes if you ever run into trouble. Keeping one you like around as an “operational backup” is not a bad idea!

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