No, I already replied to you.
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I 100% agree. I will say that I genuinely hate tabs, and it has ruined Obsidian. I need this out of my face now. I use Obsidian for many things:
- Hacking notes (I’m a pentester)
- Writing (blogs, articles, and notes for my novel)
- Personal notes (To do, shopping lists, etc)
- Research notes
- Different vaults (for work, personal, etc)
It has changed my workflow and ability to be creative significantly since I prefer to type in markdown. But the tabs is killing my flow.
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While i understand that not everyone likes tabs - i dont really get what this whole “fix it” is about. You can set Obsidian in a way that it opens new notes always in the current tab (i think thats even the default behaviour) - so there is actually no new tab created. Using panes is still the same like ever.
What exactly is the workflow you miss and that you are not able to recreate right now? Just telling “fix it, i hate tabs” isnt helping anyone in providing answers.
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I’m replying, because I don’t know if anyone explicitly said this: The “Sandbox Vault” is a built in help vault that resets itself automatically. It’s for testing. It is not for writing notes inside.
Don’t attempt to store notes in the Sandbox Vault. But hopefully you already figured that out.
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Thank you
Dear all,
I may add that Abhuva is not entirely correct in stating that there is no need for a fix. My usecase may provide an illustrative example.
I use Obsidian to keep a daily log. I use the templater plugin for different notes during a day and the breadcrump plugin for keyboard navigation. Taken together, both ensure a very smooth workflow. Templater functions provide the opportunity to create a user prompt to adequately name and tag a file - something very important in the rush of the moment. Breadcrump provides navigation through key arrows allowing to easily switch back to my daily top note (where each separate note is automatically linked) or other notes of the day. My worflow, hence, allows me to create different notes for events, properly named and tagged every time as well as navigating forth and back while never taking my hands off my keyboard.
The introduction of tabs has broken the entire workflow. I can either choose to create new notes (strg+n) which opens a new tab and executes templater functions but then navigation won’t work (due to the new tab opening) or I can circumvent the new tab (for example by using the quick switcher). In this case navigation will work but the process won’t trigger the templater functions.
One may want to argue that this might be a plugin-thing. However, as I understand obsidian, one of its major advantages is its versatility, allowing for different workflows for different minds. Introducing tabs, simply excludes the possibility for certain workflows (as described above). Therefore, introducing a “disable tabs option” seems to be an adequate way to ensure opennes.
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Strange issue.
I disliked Tabs because they opened a new one everytime i clicked a note.
This went on for some time (no option in settings to change that). Then, i opened in Sandbox mode, and closed that. When i went back to my normal vault, the notes were using the same Tab as desired. I have little to no problem with Tabs with that behavior of resusing the Tab until i tell it now to. I do not know what, or why, that changed just from opening in Sandbox mode, but i am glad it did.
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If you want a tab-free workflow, please support the feature request for a new-note-same-tab hotkey.
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Please add me to the anti-tab list, I’ve tried for a couple months to get used to tabs but I still find them disruptive in a lot of small, hard-to-pin-down ways and greatly prefer the older panes model.
+1 for converting them into a core plugin enabled by default, but able to be turned off.
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Yup, since the introduction of tabs I’ve been using obsidian less and less, to the extent it is likely not going to be part of my toolset and workflow very soon…
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@unrelated, to answer your question: I can’t imaging functioning without tabs.
I have many tabs open at once. Usually when I’m working on a project I’ll keep a tab open on each file related to it. Each one scrolled to the place I’m currently working in each file.
Having to re-locate my most recent position within 6 active files each time I switch would drive me insane.
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Yes - please offer an option to disable tabs! For me, they disrupt much more than they help. I despise that we can’t turn them off. 
Please - I just want the Obsidian workflow the way it was before tabs. If some people like tabs - wonderful, let them use them. But let those of us who don’t like tabs, turn them off! 
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It’s always sad having to witness a piece of great software collapse under its own weight (it happens a lot!).
One day it’s “Finally, Obsidian is everything I’ve waited for”! I love the strong paradigms made into this app: direct MD formatting, FS abstraction, metalinks between pages.
Every other feature I find useless can be disabled (or the missing ones added by plugins). Perfect for frictionless technical, note and creative writing. Dreamlike.
About one month later after auto update kicked in, and now tabs impossible to disable : “Oh no, why is my beloved perfect app plagued by a paradigm of the past?”. And the weary feeling that if I have to explain why to the makers of the app, then maybe it’s not for me anymore.
So my advice to all the people repelled by the tabs: don’t waste your time trying to drive a phantasm of a project, and simply stick to the 0.16 (disable auto updates!). Yes, the 0.16 will continue to be the simple, focused version of Obsidian forever (that is until an OS update ruin it).
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Sorry, the last version is actually version 0.15.9
Tabs sucks. We can’t we disable them?
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Just chiming in to say that I’m yet another user who is really saddened by tabs. I loved this tool, but it now unintentionally leads to the annoying anxiety of tab hell, what is so annoying in web browsers already. Why does obsidian suddenly not care about being customizable anymore? That was it’s main selling point by far.
I’m also extremely disheartened by the moderation of this thread, there is a constant tone of knowing better what it’s users need than they do, and challenging the legitimacy of a (clearly quite common) dislike of this forced feature.
I shouldn’t have to fight with moderators on whether or not a feature is something I can live with, if you create customizable software and an entire ecosystem of people building workflows on top of it, please make it the highest priority to not force change in what is possible upon them, and LISTEN to your users when they tell you this makes them less happy.
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I want to chime in here that my intention was not to knowing better but to explain alternative ways to do X or understand what the user really wants to do and add a FR specific for that (for example the hotkey for opening a note in the current tab, or customizable mouse actions).
We understand that every change is going to make fraction of people unhappy, it’s almost inevitable. We believe that addition of tabs has been a net positive. The dev team listens, but doesn’t execute every single FR. This FR is still open.
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Tabs is a nice addition only if it’s an option disabled by default. Otherwise it’s a regression IMO. I will explain why.
And I say that even if I’m a new (but now obsessed) Obsidian user, so I barely used the program before v1.0, when there were no tabs.
PANES are what make the Obsidian UI great and super efficient. It is super useful to be able to display / work on two or three notes at the same time on screen. Without mentioning the other panels (links, outline, local graph…) that can be activated and placed as desired.
TABS, however, are much less useful, because they just add one more way to navigate between notes in a panel, i.e. to change the note displayed on the panel. But there are already so many ways to do that quickly and efficiently without using tabs:
- by clicking a link in the note (outgoing / backlinks). Of course…
- with Navigate back <> Navigate forward
- with the quick switcher
- with starred notes
- by clicking a note node in the local graph
- from a search result
- in the Files panel
- with a shortcut
- countless ways with plugins…
Navigation with tabs is in fact VERY difficult to do with efficiency. There are too many parameters to handle that make the whole process laborious, cumbersome, often not predictable:
- some commands open in the active tab but some other in a background tab (and, if you have pinned a tab…)
- a “navigate back” and “navigate forward” different for each tab (far too complicated to use)
- names of the notes truncated in the tab header (especially when several tabs are open), so barely readable, so we click randomly in several tabs to find a note…
- we have to clean (close) the open tabs frequently to clean the place because it always ends to become a mess
- navigation between tabs not efficient: Cltr+tab or Ctrl+Shift+Tab several times, or with the mouse have to go all the way to the top of the window, click, click…
Really, I tried very hard to be efficient with tabs in browsers. But I HATE tabs actually. At the end of the day it is always nothing but a mess. The feeling to be in control of nothing.
TABS are good for just one thing (mentioned by someone before in this topic): when you have a specific project to work on with several documents, more than 3 or 4 (because otherwise it is often more practical to use PANES to display them on screen at the same time). In this case you can open the first documents in panes, then the rest in tabs. So in this case indeed tabs are efficient during the working session on the project, because the tabs don’t change! But this use case is probably quite rare for the average user.
Disable tabs by default in Obsidian is IMO desirable. Firstly to encourage users to use all the better ways available to navigate through notes (LINKS, PANES, etc.) Secondly because yes, tabs clutters the UI. Panes + tabs + panels… this becomes too much. For the average person, the UI has became quite complicated / overwhelming with the addition of tabs. I think I can’t suggest Obsidian to my old Mum and Dad anymore…
With tabs I have the feeling that Obsidian has became a browser for notes and I really don’t like that. I’m really tired of browsers and tabs. I want something else. If I’ve chosen Obsidian it is for LINKS, for PANES, for TAGS, for DATAVIEW. For something different, clever, that doesn’t promote / adhere to the navigation with tabs which is far to be efficient. When I see that there are now several new feature requests about tabs in the forum, all the usual package of bs requests about tab behavior, this makes me a bit sick…
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Here is a screenshot of available settings in Vivaldi regarding tabs:
Now that tabs have been introduced in Obsidian, you’ll have endless feature requests for new tab options and behaviors, like these (not exhaustive):
You’ll have endless feature requests about tab grouping, tab stacking, tab searching, tab syncing, workspaces, cycling behavior, shortcuts and mouse gesture with tabs, etc. And with the addition of panes (tab groups), edit and view modes, that will make the feature requests exponential.
With the introduction of the tabs you have opened the Pandora’s box. The feature request will be endless because as users we are almost always frustrated with the use of tabs. So we think it’s necessarily because there is a missing option that when will be implemented will improve our control and workflow with tabs.
Vivaldi is certainly the more “advanced” browser regarding tab management. I can say that I have spent dozens of hours (spread over several years) testing all the settings with tabs, improving tab configuration to suite my needs, with mouse gesture and keyboard shortcuts. And although I know that all the tab settings in Vivaldi are now configured the exact way I want, I’m still very frustrated with the use of tabs. Because with all the offer possibilities (grouping, stacking, searching, syncing, cycling, juxtaposing, open page in a new tab or current page, navigation back and next…) as soon as I browse on the Internet all these features become totally overwhelming, I never know how I have to do things to be the most efficient. You know, I just want to enjoy the browsing, not to always having to think: wait here, you want to open a page? Do you know there are dozens of ways to do it? Which one do you choose?
So I’ve come to the conclusion that the problem what not mine but the entire navigation approach with tabs, and that the human brain is not able to be efficient with tabs most of the time. The problem is that the vast majority of users don’t realize that at all. They are very frustrated and they think it’s because of a missing tab option, so they become addict of tons of tab options. Stop! it is not about options, it is about the tabs that are not a great way to navigate, and your brain that need, when it is focused on something, a SIMPLE workflow.
Here is the contextual menu of a tab in Vivaldi:
…totally overwhelming, exhausting to use on a daily basis. As a power user, a tech guy, I love this. As a user how just want to use, I’m totally confused and desperate in front of this. What the hell, leave me alone, I just want to browse the Internet!
So with, the introduction of tabs, Obsidian is on a slippery slope. The tab addicts will never be satisfied and will always ask for more. I really think the dev team have to realize that and put strong decisions about tabs:
- don’t put forward the usage of tabs anymore. Disable the (future I really hope) tab core plugin by default would be a great, strong, message that Obsidian doesn’t encourage the usage of tabs on a daily basis.
- put forward all the more clever ways to navigate through notes, to think and work differently. Explain it gently to the tab addicts. No, Obsidian will not be a browser, it is a different beast than Google Chrome or Vivaldi. Make the effort to do things differently than in your browser, you won’t be disappointed.
- keep it to a very minimum regarding available tab options. Don’t add any other options from this point. Leave all the requests for the community plugins, they will manage the addicts. Let the dev team focus on more useful aspects.
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