Floating \ Pop-out \ Multiple windows of the same vault

not sure if it works on windows, but you can take a shot using mklink command (same as ln but for windows). Open a command prompt, go to your vault folder and type:

mklink /D thesis-mirror ../thesis

the documentation states that the first parameter is the symbolic link (thesis-mirror) and the second is the path to your vault (../thesis). Be sure to backup everthing before doing this test :wink:

Thank you for the additional information, @fscheidt

I can attest that using mklink /J to create a “directory junction” (the directory version of what’s called a “hard link” on Windows) has been working fine for me for months, at least since December, when I posted about it, above, on Windows 10.

And thank you for the suggestion re creating the link in a different work directory tree, outside the vaults base dir … but still no dice. :confused: Nothing happens upon attempting to open the symlink to the current vault, while current vault is open. (Must be something different in how Obsidian or one of the underlying frameworks handles things in Mac vs. Linux?)
(My vault is in ~/Dropbox/haribol_vault, I put link in ~/test/haribol_vault_link). On MacOS 10.14.3 Mojave, FWIW.

What I just tried, and seems to be working for now, as mentioned by others above, is nesting my vault in an empty “container” folder, like so:

/~
 |-- vault_container
    |-- vault

May be some caveats or further settings tweaks required, messing with the .obsidian directory (whether to have separate .obsidian cache/settings for each, or try to share the same), but seems to work for now.

And yes, as I remember, the order of arguments (for target & destination) in Windows mklink is opposite of unix ln … confusing. Always doublecheck first!

+1 It feels really strange that I can’t open another window or move the graph to the other monitor… it gets very cramped if you don’t have a 4k monitor. Huge limitation here. Could open up a whole new world if we could just move panels outside the main window.

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Yes to this feature please. Have it in both mobile and desktop version. Goodnotes did it but it’s a handwriting app

The first time I tried Obsidian, I quit using it when I discovered this feature is missing. It seemed essential to me.

A couple of months back I pushed through … and was surprised to find that I don’t miss the ability to open multiple windows of the same vault. Opening multiple panes is fine for me. Sometimes I use the Sliding Panes plugin when I want to open three or more documents simultaneously … but not often.

The problem with opening windows is that when you have more than, say, four windows open you lose track of which document is where.

I’m very happy for you that you’ve realised you don’t miss this feature, but I think what you meant to write was: “when I have more than, say, four windows open I lose track of which document is where”. Sorry to hear that, but it’s not a problem I suffer from, personally.

Having said that, thanks for the pointer to the Sliding Panes plugin — that looks like it could be somewhat helpful.

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The problem with opening windows is that when you have more than, say, four windows open you lose track of which document is where.

I’ve got three 27" 4K displays with dozens of open windows at any given time and I rarely lose track of anything. So, for me at least, I don’t think that the ability to have an extra window or two open in Obsidian would be confusing.

But I respect that my workflow may not be typical and not everyone may want to open up new windows. The problem I have is that without the ability to open new windows, I can’t integrate Obsidian into my workflow.

My workaround has been using something like ia Writer to open the .md files directly or saving my notes as a PDF and opening them up on a separate display. But, if I’m going to go through all that trouble to work around such an essential feature, I figured I might as well just go back to using Bear notes.

So that’s what I did. I’ll keep Obsidian installed and I’ll probably keep active in the community, but I can’t use it for work, not yet anyway.

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Just gonna drop by to +1 this feature.

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Feel free to give the post a heart then :smiley:

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I have the same needs.
Currently it is opened using an external program, such as sublime.

Adding my +1. Using a workaround to open a vault container for a vault on Mac OS causes the problem that there is no way to use the keyboard alone to switch between the two versions of obsidian.

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+1 to this.

My current workaround is: MacBook + Obsidian Sync + Obsidian Mobile + iPad + Logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard.

That’s a fairly easy way to get two screens worth of notes up. The K380 has buttons to switch between saved bluetooth devices, so I can fairly easily write on either screen, even though it’s two different devices.

My biggest pain point is that, espeially when I’m just using my MacBook, I often want to be able to “save” workspaces that are an arrangement of 3-10 notes related to something I’m working on.

In Chrome I just do this by making a new window that contains all the relevant tabs.


EDIT 2021-06-17: The above is fine, but I’ve now gone ahead and setup the “multiple nested vaults” workaround and I’m liking it. I’ve setup 5 levels of nesting, so I can have up to 5 different windows, each with a saved selection of panes.

In the config folder of my duplicate vaults, I removed most of the plugins, especially the ones related to backup, sync, and Obsidian Publish. I also tweaked the theme so that I can easily tell which window is the “primary” one when I want to e.g. use Obsidian Publish or use the Daily Notes plugin.

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@Grey This keyboard shortcut works for me:

Cmd ⌘ `

More info here:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/193937/shortcut-for-toggling-between-different-windows-of-same-app

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+1 for this.
For us who work on multiple displays, multiple windows, or even better float windows, are essential for apps like obsidian, so we don’t have to cycle through the stash to find a note we just need to see or edit.
Panes are a good touch, but it does tie all windows together at the same rectangular place, which is not ideal, if functional at all, for many people’s workflow.

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+1… This issue has been around a long time, but its still relevant. In my other note apps I’m constantly using one window to browse/search/research through my notes to fill out a note in another window.

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+1 from my side as well. I use multi-monitor setup where I open separate windows on two monitors.

I have the same problem too, recently i make my migration for Obsidian and i am addicted in this wonderful app, but i really miss this function.

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I’d like to upvote this! I just need to be able to work on more than one display. I love Obsidian! Any news on whether this feature is possible without having to re-program the entire code base?

Another upvote. The nested vaults will work for me right now but I’d like multiple windows or at least tabs in the editing portion.

Panes are great when I need to look at multiple notes but that’s unusual for me. I usually want a few handy and I’ll flip back and forth but I’d prefer to see one at a time.

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+1 also, would love to see this!