Feature Request: Preview Footnotes

Feature requests
1

Proposed solution

Feature Details:

  1. Footnote Preview: When a user presses Ctrl and clicks on a footnote within a note in the Obsidian desktop app, a small, non-intrusive pop-up preview window should appear, just as it appears when one previews a linked note. This window would display the content of the selected footnote, allowing users to quickly preview the footnote’s content without scrolling or navigating away from the main text.
  2. Interactive Preview: Users should be able to interact with the previewed footnote, such as scrolling through lengthy footnotes or clicking links within the footnote content. This would provide a seamless and intuitive way to access and understand the referenced information.
  3. Easy Dismissal: Users should have the option to easily dismiss the footnote preview and return to their original note, preserving their place within the text.

Use case

The addition of the “Footnote Preview” feature in the Obsidian desktop app would significantly improve the reading and reference experience. It would make it easier for users to access and understand the content of footnotes without disrupting their reading flow. This feature would be particularly beneficial for researchers, writers, and students who rely on footnotes for additional context and references.

Implementing this feature would make the Obsidian desktop app even more user-friendly and efficient for working with footnotes in longer texts.

Thank you for considering this feature request.

5 Likes
2

I like this. I use a third-party plugin that automatically scrolls me from the text to the footnote and vice versa, but that is disorienting, in my opinion.

(Side note: This plugin truly helps when I’m creating footnotes; with one hotkey it adds the correct Markdown and scrolls me to the footnote so I can start adding the source right away, then the same hotkey brings me back to where I left off in the text. When I add a footnote I almost always want to go back to where I left off, so the hotkey really is convenient. So maybe this will help your workflow in the meantime.)

Is there a chance for footnotes to also be a tab in the sidebar? This could be very similar to the Backlinks core plugin, which gives you a sidebar tab that lists all the backlinks as well as the option to view them at the bottom of each note — where footnotes also happen to be found. This can be a way to have interactive previews of the footnotes and even manage them, without losing your place (and ability to edit) in the text.

1 Like
3

Better footnote plugin gives preview popovers for footnotes

1 Like
4

Better Footnotes by Aidenlx works very well but is already a bit dated. Lets hope it does not break at some point…

IMO, footnote preview should be a core feature - footnote are kind of links and should have a popup preview.

2 Likes