#114

Use case or problem

the ability to use the same Obsidian vault on all three of my monitors at the same time.

Proposed solution

no idea, idk how the obsidian coding works.

Current workaround (optional)

open multiple vaults and use it monitor by monitor. then copy the files over the desired vault later. Highly un-ideal.

#115

Nesting these vaults would work much better than thus.

#116

Most of the time, I only need to open some topics for reference, and editing only occurs in the main window. Therefore, the floating window does not need to have all the functions of the main window, just preview.

Press and hold a modifier key in the main window to open a new floating preview window. The link in the floating preview window opens a new floating preview window by default. Press and hold a modifier key to open it in editing mode in the main window.

2 Likes
#117

I haven’t tried this myself, but possible workaround (?): If you have Obsidian Sync, run a second instance of Obsidian in a virtual machine on your second monitor.

1 Like
#118

Wait!!! i can nest Vaults!!!
what? how ?
teach me oh wise one.

serisly tho how do you do this?

#119

Put your vaults in another folder (using the OS file manager, not Obsidian), then open that folder as a vault.

#120

SOO…
hypothetically if i have my vault nested twice,
and the top two nests i used as Read only second monitors and the bottom one as the edit vault then i shouldnt encounter any issues.

because im mainly wanting to use it to DM in DND

#121

You should have no problems with this.
You could have problems in use if you have more than one edit vault and duplicate file names.

I have over twenty vaults with a hierarchy seven deep in places (still growing). I edit in all vaults and I edit and move files outside of Obsidian Too. But I never duplicate file names and am very careful with links and attachments (I keep them as local as possible); I think the key is to know what a given vault cannot see, but might exist. I have never had a problem, and I’ve been using this system virtually from the beginning. I find it a very helpful data structure for access by other programs.

#122

i just really wish we could have pop out windows. this would make thins so much simpler.
anyways thank you for the advise.

#123

Seems likely there’ll never be pop out windows here though, so it’s about finding the solution that best suits you.

#124

is it just because of the base code of electron? or what ?

#125

Yes. It would apparently be very difficult and time consuming (see posts above) at best. Obsidian and Dynalist have two developers and many priorities which would seem to give a greater gain for the effort expended. And there are workarounds for the pop out windows.

#126

Hi, coming late to the party. Is there a chance one day we will see an update or a plugin that let us open multiple windows of the same vault?
Notion desktop app is based on Electron as far as I know and it allow multiple windows.

I just don’t get why Obsidian shine on niche and advanced stuff and lack on most of basilar things.

#127

Multiple monitors, using multiple desktops, windows, and instances of a program (IDE, terminal, pdf annotation, file manager, browser…) has become a standard part of my work flow whether it’s doing literature research (finding information), reading/listening/thinking and note taking, exploratory data analysis, writing of any sort… I’m wary of nesting (conflict resolution → data corruption) when there isn’t a clear control hierarchy or version control. Having the option to have separable windows in the same instance resolves that while promoting the expanded utility of Obsidian. Not being able to do this is a significant limitation for those of us unable to accommodate large monitors.

4 Likes
#128

I’m duplicating information using Excel, Word or in PDFs so I can load it using those apps. It becomes a pain very quickly but is necessary for me. I would love to be able float windows in Obsidian.

1 Like
#129

I’m wary of nesting (conflict resolution → data corruption)

You’re not going to have conflicts or data corruption. Obsidian is live-reading and live-writing to all open notes and auto-updates them as changes occur.

#130

Wow, a long thread to go through. Another use case for this feature is virtual desktops. I have a virtual desktop per focus area. I then have my whole Google Drive as a vault and share the file system hierarchy, which is the same as the virtual desktop focus areas, between the file system and Obsidian. Currently, I can only open Obsidian on a single desktop when what would like to do is have a full window per desktop so that I can maintain state for that focus area, which is kind of the point of the virtual desktop approach. When I want to work on a focus area, I switch desktops and have everything at hand for the focus area. Will try playing around with symbolic links as outlined below, but at the danger of being repetitive, it would be very handy if Obsidian supported multiple windows to support his use case as well as the multiple monitor use case.

4 Likes
#131

This does look like a situation that suits nested vaults.

#132

A thought here, you can open the same vault on multiple computers and you can open multiple vaults on the same computer. Why not allow the same vault to be open multiple times on the same computer?

I am sure there are some issues, but this would not be an Electron limitation as the work around suggested is basically opening parts of your main vault as a different vault.

2 Likes
#133

I too have an assortment of monitors of wildly varying sizes and resolutions. These screens are an essential part of my workflow, and being unable to utilize them as I do with every other program I use is a crippling downside to Obsidian.

Multi-window support would radically enhance the utility of this program. Are there any devs here that can speak to the likelihood/timeline to when this functionality might be added?

3 Likes