There are a couple places where the complete drop-down list for notes isn’t present.
One of those missing is “Delete”, in search results.
Is there a way to delete from there? Also, delete doesn’t seem assignable as a hotkey? I’d like to be able to delete any note from anywhere.
Not natively - maybe somebody else knows about a plugin that can do this.
Of course it is. Settings → hotkeys → Delete current file
Sorry–I meant that the delete KEY isn’t assignable as a hot key (to the delete function)
It is if you use ctrl + delete.
The delete key itself also works if you have a specific file selected in the file explorer. In order to select a file, you have to SHIFT and click (if you just click a file in the explorer, the focus will immediately jump to the active file, which makes absolutely sense).
Ah thank you for the tip. I will try that.
The big issue is not being able to “select” folders in the explorer, which I don’t understand.
As I said before, you can select files (and also folders) via SHIFT and Click. Once selected, you can also use the keyboard (up and down arrow keys) to navigate, or expand your selection (here again in combination with SHIFT).
Hm. This is my experience:
If I put my cursor over a folder and click, nothing happens.
If I shift-click, nothing happens. It is not selected.
You can’t select folders [that are empty/at all?] in Obsidian.
This is quite unusual behavior for a program that uses folders as a metaphor.
What is your obsidian installer version? (Settings → about)?
Alternatively, paste your debug information here (ctrl + P, “show debug information”).
Ok just updated. Now I can “select” them, but here’s my problem…
I have a folder “selected” (it’s light blue). But when I create a new note or folder using the top menu, it appears in the root folder, instead of the currently selected folder.
When I select that folder and hit “delete” or “shift-delete”, nothing happens.
This is even with installer 1.1.16 and ver 1.2.8
It is working for me. Anyway, try updating to the latest installer version - I think there has been an electron update recently (don’t know if that solves your problem, but worth a try).
What is your setting for creating new files? (under settings → files and links). This is the location where new files are created if you either use the button on the upper left or a hotkey. “Current folder”, in this case, means the folder your currently active note is living in (not the currently selected folder!).
You can, though, create a file by right-clicking a folder and select “new file”.
Yeah looks like you can’t.
As workarounds for now, you’d have to:
That’s odd. It isn’t working for me. I can’t select a single folder. And if hit shift-click, it will sometimes select a group between the currently active note, and the folder I’m clicking. Or if it appears to select one empty folder, right-clicking will show a number that is higher than one. So I end up with too many things selected. If you tested deleting something, double check you didn’t delete some unintended things.
(But I’m due for a new installer download maybe. Installer 1.1.9 here. Edit: Updating made no difference.)
OK. Thank you. So maybe I’m not crazy. I’m getting rigamorole’s results exactly.
If there was a plugin, I’d gladly use it. I don’t know that there is.
The other two options, I think, are obvious in their drawbacks. Which is what I am doing right now.
Yep, I hear you. I also see you found the related feature request and added your vote. 
Yes, I can confirm this - which is somehow weird behavior (just wondering if this is intended or a bug…).
What is working, however, is to delete a file or a folder by pressing the DELETE key.
Yeah, seems like a bug to me.
I can’t delete a single folder, by virtue of not being able to select a single folder. But if I select the buggy range of items, sure. (Cmd-delete on Mac.)
Even if several files are selected, when you press the delete key (without cmd or ctrl), it will ask for deletion confirmation one by one.
The “create new file/folder where current file is open” I find super confusing, because the note in the editor seems to bear no relation to where I am in the file explorer.
I could accidentally put notes all over the place on that setting.
Putting them at the root means I have to move them after creating them = more work.
I would like to just be able to select a folder, create multiple files there quickly and easily, and then do that with another folder.
You are right, but obsidian is in the first place a note-taking and zettelkasten tool and not meant as a file explorer.
But you may want to have a look at this plugin:
I’m using that setting and it does work out for the “obvious” files like daily notes, where it’s easy to know the folder. Or if I’m in a project of sorts so all files are related to that.
However, if the folder is not known I don’t use the top menu to create new stuff, but I rather right-click the folder and create it from there. I’m not sure if there is a delete option as well in the right-click menu, since I’m rarely deleting folders (and currently on mobile so I can’t check).
Well, if I am using publish, which I am, it is too confusing to me to leave all my notes in one giant directory. So I’d like to be able to use folders intuitively.
It looks like the plugin makes you select the folder AFTER creating the note instead of BEFORE, as windows explorer does.
Maybe WE is not a good way to do it, but it has been how we have been doing it for 30 years…