Aside from mobile users, isn’t ctrl/cmd click (or middle click) exactly what you want? (just like browser work?), or am I missing something?
One small note: currently on Mac cmd-click works differently for Edit mode vs Reading mode. In Reading mode cmd-click opens in a new tab. In Edit mode cmd-click opens in the current tab, which adds to the cognitive load to remember how to open in new tab. Perhaps that’s a bug (not the absence of a feature), or somehow peculiar to my setup?
(I can’t speak for whether this is true of middle-click, as I don’t have a three-button mouse.)
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this should not happen, try the sandbox vault. If it happens there, open a bug report.
Strange - it does not happen in the sandbox vault. I am struggling to find a setting that could be responsible. (I disabled all community plugins and still seeing the difference.) Let me know if you have any ideas. I’ll play with it more.
Created an account just to add to this thread.
+1
All I want is for left click to open a note in a new tab, or switch to it if it’s already open in a tab somewhere.
Especially with the stacked tabs, it’s easy to get lost and when following links, I don’t want my current page to change to the one I click on. I want it in a new tab or to swap to where it’s already open.
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This is another problem and another FR https://forum.obsidian.md/t/ide-style-navigation-tab-reuse-on-link-opening-tab-management/46671
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Things like this is why I wish obby was open source. I have plenty of experience with programming, and this seems like 10 LOC for a motivated developer. I’d love to implement this myself, but I don’t think I can.
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you can, write a plugin for it.
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emm… I don’t have a middle button in my mouse.
I think it could be simpler with one (1) checkbox in the settings allowing to revert that same function for the ones that don’t like the perfect existing solution that works perfectly except for those with 2-buttons mice and people using those little screens with their fingers
+1 for this feature
The way links open isn’t something faulty, or sth to add, the middle mouse button does exactly what everyone in this thread wants.
This is valid for every normal mouse with a wheel. On mobile it’s anyway better to not open additional tabs, because screen sizes are limited. Can’t speak about tablets as i don’t have one - but mobile is another device and needs different ways to intact to.
It may sound like a judgement, but i think , adding a +1 or bump to this thread without any reason given why something should work differently than by default is simply rude, if we consider developers’ time and effort put in their meticulously studied app. You can vote up the post that most accurately describe your opinion
I like how links behave in obsidian, let me explain why:
- because I don’t need to click left and right all times in my notes of my vaultS - I like to check popout previews if I need to inspect notes, important notes are pinned so I don’t lose them when I click- switch to a linked note, otherwise I curate and refine notes
- most important point of all, I absolutely don’t want to clean up all opened tabs and its duplicates, over and over again. It’s there where procrastination begins. Tabs and grouped subtabs are an overwhelming, unsolvable mess in web browsers and i really hate, when apps turn into unmanageable trash bins
- it’s really easy to learn shortcuts / hold down modifier keys to open tabs, or click the middle mouse button (as already pointed out by others users in this thread, not just me ) I think people who really dig into Obsidian know: working solutions And alternatives also they don’t complain so fast
Probably most people will skim this post and negate the validity of each and every point made because I’m not voting for this emotionally “popular request”, which IMO, isn’t a real problem (see points above).
So I conclude that a plugin would be the best solution with a toggle to invert on demand 2 events:
- toggle switched on and you will open a link in a new tab with a single click, open a link in the same tab with the modifier key pressed
- toggle swiched off and you open links in your current tab and open links in a new tab with the modifier key pressed
That’s your opinion, clearly everyone else want that with a single left click the note is open on a new tab… For me it’s a matter of habit, the times I left click by impulse are more than the times I remember to use middle mouse wheel.
I think developers should add an option to decide whether left click open notes on new tab or not… This, in my opinion, is such a central thing to everyone workflows that should have been present by the beginning.
I did NOT write my opinions.
The reasons are given in my post, if you read carefully. Put yourself in the shoes of sb else too, not just your perspective.
Furthermore, i added options too , not just a black and white opinion without facts.
I don’t wanna a cozy thing that clutters my window without reason. See point 2
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Not to nitpick, but. You literally did just write your opinions in your previous post.
- I like how links behave in obsidian
- because I don’t need to click left and right all times in my notes of my vaultS - I like to check popout previews if I need to inspect notes
- I absolutely don’t want to clean up all opened tabs and its duplicates
- it’s really easy to learn shortcuts
These are all opinions and personal preferences. And that’s okay! That’s what a forum is for, you know? We’re not writing peer-reviewed literature reviews here, we’re chatting about a software we really like. It doesn’t have to be empirical evidence for it to be helpful feedback to the developers or the community.
Personally, my opinion is that it makes the most sense conceptually to have a toggle for open in same or new tab right in settings. But if that’s not going to happen, and a plugin accomplishes the same thing, it doesn’t bother me. There are a thousand little quality of life things that people like to optimize their systems with, and I tend to err on the side of options are good.
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Everything in life is an opinion, facts are just opinion that a vast majority agrees on 
No need to defend yourself, there are most important things in life to argue about than decideding whether obsidian should open a note on a new tab or not.
Hopefully developers will add a setting to let people choose, or a plug-in will be created.
Peace
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Hi all, I wrote a plugin for this functionality. It’s relatively untested, so I’d appreciate it if ya’ll could help me test it out for a while before I submit it to the plugin store.
Here is the repo: GitHub - patleeman/obsidian-open-in-new-tab
To install add this repo as a beta plugin in BRAT42.
If you run into any issues, please open an issue on Github: Issues · patleeman/obsidian-open-in-new-tab · GitHub
This plugin solves two main issues:
- The plugin will open all files in a new tab when clicked on the file-explorer.
- If the file is already open in that tab, it’ll just make that tab active.
It currently does some unsavory things like click jacking of the .nav-file class so I’d rather have it well tested before releasing it to the world. There might also be a better way to do this or some weird edge case it breaks, so I’d appreciate letting me know if you hit them.
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Submitted the plugin for review here: Add obsidian-open-in-new-tab by patleeman · Pull Request #1683 · obsidianmd/obsidian-releases · GitHub
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I’ve been there myself with all that mess, all that open tabs, all that procrastination so i can write a novel about this mess. And i don’t want this regression.
Because of this [reason] i am contrary to the request /popular belief of this thread.
I just expressed and described what happens if you enable such a “cozy” feature.
Also, opinion is something vague - if i can tell you clearly why I am against something and you can reproduce impartially what i said, then we have something more than vague ideas / opinions
Nobody should feel bad for the posts written in here.
many thanks! works fine. couldn’t believe it when i realised there is not option in settings to enable this behaviour. Why force users into something that a lot of us do not want … that gets into the way of our workflow.
+1 for the option to be integrated into settings
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It may sound like a judgement, but i think , adding a +1 or bump to this thread without any reason given why something should work differently than by default is simply rude, if we consider developers’ time and effort put in their meticulously studied app. You can vote up the post that most accurately describe your opinion
I will start off by saying I absolutely 100% agree with you on this point. I returned to this page today because I was shocked that this feature still hasn’t been implemented. When I got here though, like you I was immediately struck by what a noisy useless racket this thread has become.
I think the problem is that most users of Obsidian are not themselves developers, so they just don’t know better yet. They’re not accustomed to the etiquettes and conventions (and the reasons for those etiquettes and conventions) that we take for granted in ecosystems like Github.
Anyways - that is about the extent of what I agree with in your reply, and so I thought I’d offer a constructive response to the rest of your points so that maybe you and I can set an example of what dialogue in development forums like this ought to look like. 
First:
I like how links behave in obsidian, let me explain why:
- …
- …
Each of these points are totally valid, and I can completely see why this feature request is totally irrelevant to you!
However, you seem to be assuming that if this feature request were implemented that this added functionality would somehow take away your ability to use Obsidian as you prefer. But that’s not the case. The chorus of opinion here is that this should be a simple toggle in the Obsidian settings panel - i.e. the ability to make this behavior the “default” for the users who would prefer it. Again, a lot of non-devs in here, so I’m just overlooking the incorrect use of “default” being thrown around.
Bottom line is were asking for a Toggle - the simple ability to choose. Not to take away the functionality you like and are accustomed to.
Second:
the middle mouse button does exactly what everyone in this thread wants.
This is valid for every normal mouse with a wheel.
You’re making a couple of assumptions here that shouldn’t be assumptions. Yes, middle click to open new tab is a common convention popularized by browsers.
But, not everyone is using a mouse, and even those who do (like myself) don’t necessarily use their mouse that way. Theres any number of examples of situations where people can’t / don’t use a mouse with a wheel button as you assume:
-
Laptop Track Pads - I personally encounter this one sometimes when using my laptop. Trackpads across different manufacturers are so inconsistent in their behaviors, and even on my Macbook I feel unnecessary friction having to CMD+Click or right click a link.
-
Magic Mouse - They’re notorious for their lack of a true middle click. I don’t know these to be an issue with Obsidian links, but they very often cause these types of issues.
-
Unconventional Middle Click Bindings - Perhaps niche, but this is where I’m personally most annoyed. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve had Middle Click bound to Mission Control. I couldn’t rewire that conditioning at this point even if I wanted to.
Third:
So I conclude that a plugin would be the best solution with a toggle to invert on demand 2 events:
This is where we come closer to agreement again, except I absolutely don’t think the toggle should be a plugin.
Personally, I’ve already come to resent the sheer number of plugins I deal with, because of all their different behaviors/settings/quirks and worst of all - conflicts. Granted, Obsidian is still a young product, and while the plugin ecosystem is far from mature, it’s yet to be known which direction it will go. It can either become more cohesive and compatible with time, or it can grow more and more disparate. We just don’t know yet.
Which leads to a tidy summarization of why this feature request ought to be part of the core product, and not a plugin:
- The functionality we’re talking about is far too fundamental an aspect of the UI. We’re talking about the most basic types of interactions with Obsidian - a core click behavior. And core UI behaviors belong in the core of a product. Furthermore:
- It’s something that effects way too many users to brush aside as trivial (this thread is self-evident proof). Especially considering:
- We don’t know what the plugin ecosystem will ultimately turn into. Not even the devs know. That’s the nature of extensible products. The only way to get this basic functionality in a way that protects its users from being limited by plugin conflicts later is to force plugin developers to respect it by making it part of the core product.
- And, a final point to conclude with - this is dead simple code we’re talking about here. There’s no stinkin way this requires a substantial refactoring of the code base, or anything even remotely burdensome. Which begs the question - why not?
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