Problem: Currently, tabs always open in the same tab unless you right click the file you want → open in new tab. This is difficult to use when having to refer back to notes that are in a different file.
Proposed solution
Change the behavior to be similar to how Visual Studio Code uses tabs. When clicking a file from the “explorer” windows, it temporarily opens the file in the main editor, however, when the file is saved, modified, or the file is double clicked to open, the file opens more permanently. When it in the temporary mode, if you click a different file, it will have a similar behavior as Obsidian, opening on the same tab, but when it has been changed to the more permanent mode, the next file clicked opens in a new tab.
In Obsidian, holding the Ctrl key will open the file in a new tab. Holding Ctrl+Alt will open the file in a right-split. Holding Ctrl + Alt + Shift opens the file in a new window. Thus, the user is in full control on how a new note will be opened.
Note that Obsidian has no concept of a “saved” file: saving is automatic.
That’s good to know but it would be great if there were options to set the default behavior for opening a new note and set different hotkeys for the other behaviors.
^ That is exactly what I want, an option to be able to change the default behavior, so I can edit multiple notes at once, or have another note as a reference.
Agreed. The default behavior of Obsidian is frustrating, coming from IDEs that work differently. I found a plugin that seems to be doing exactly what you want: search “Open Tab Settings” in the Community Plugins settings window.
Also agree. Switching between VScode / IntelliJ to Obsidian is pretty annoying as they look very similar on so many points but also differ in how tabs behave.
There is an obsidian-open-tab-settings plugin that does exactly this. Having it as core would be amazing!