Understanding the Obsidian Community
I really like LOVE Obsidian. Even more it fits my already existent workflow organizing life around folders, indexing and files. For all it’s great features, I notice there is an overreliance on plugins to add features to Obsidian that in my opinion should be built in. The following is a list of my strong opinions on the subject, and me reaching out to ask for work-a-rounds that do not rely on plugins to resolve:
- Built-in Formatting Toolbar that is non-obtrusive for Obsidian, Desktop (just like Mobile has)
- Built-in ability or work-a-round to ‘pin’ vaults to the Obsidian app in taskbar (or) add a special CMD that specifics this link to ‘local folder’ as a separate Obsidian Vault. (Note: the code already exists, when you open vault and select the vault you want it opens that vault. I just don’t know what that code or command is, in order to make Obsidian Directories appear as indexed Obsidian local links/URLs )
Plugins are a Security Risk
I feel community reliance on plug-ins are a community risk, but Vanilla Obsidian without those plugins lacks functionality which plug-ins (that may or may not be maintained), add.
Workflows that rely on plugins which depend on individuals to maintain and keep that code updated with proper standards for enhanced functionality, is playing with fire. If you become dependent on a plugin as part of your workflow, a plugin becoming unsupported such as the “Day Planner” (a great plug-in that needs more work and flexibility, and is currently unresponsive to their community github issues).
Already I have noticed there are popular plugins that are really useful but unmaintained and lack support. And yet, some of these plugins are actually very useful for adding an enhanced workflow.
And it becomes a choice of: Am I willing to risk the security of my notes and my computer for enhanced workflow? (Most would say yes.)
Vanilla vs. Plug-ins is like making the choice between CSS without SASS/LESS/or some other tool, it sucks. But it doesn’t have to if the Vanilla software is great on it’s own without relying on enhanced functionality and features of plug-ins.
Understanding Community and Developer Mindset
When I was browsing the feature request forum to see if there were any requests for built-in formatting toolbars, a feature common across most notetaking apps, I often noticed responses that relied on plugins or that simply ‘accepted’ it wasn’t a feature and did not see it as a deal breaker. This is biased, because the people who don’t see it as a deal breaker are the people who choose to stay (I am one of those people) and the people who DO see it as a deal breaker return to Evernote or some other software (I was almost one of those people). I’d like to understand the community for those who choose to stay, as to why this isn’t a feature that matters too much to them?
In-depth Feature request
I will list two features. One that I believe should be built-in and has been requested The other I would love to see built-in but would be happy to learn of a script or hotkey work-a-round that would make it’s feature request a moot point. (I do not want to add any more plug-ins to my workflow and would rather write or utilize a simple command or script for it).
There are additional features I would like that would make this a perfect tool but I am not ready to mention what they are until I have done more reading, explored work-a-rounds and spent more time working to unleash the power of Obsidian within it’s current design framework. But there is one feature built-in formatting toolbar should be built-in:
Formatting Toolbar - Built-in
Desktop should have a built-in formatting toolbar and that it doesn’t, and hasn’t had many requests for it baffles me. Mobile and Forums integrates a toolbar fine, so why wouldn’t we extend that to desktop without needing a plugin?
- Is the lack of this feature a design choice? Why? (I’d love to understand that decision).
- Is there a lack of interest in formatting toolbars by the general community?
- Why does Mobile and Forums get to have one over desktop?
- Can we have a built-in toolbar for Obsidian please
?
I have searched these forums trying to understand better the mindset of the community or the developers for why these features aren’t built in (or) why we would be encouraged to write purely in markdown and short-code without a formatting toolbar.
Sometimes it is cumbersome to have to scroll through a cheat list, or remember a custom short cut when a small collapsible toolbar could be just a click a way. I’ve have used and relied on formatting toolbars for as long as I can remember. The ability to have a choice to:
- select, and hit Ctrl+B to bold,
- to use two asterisks, or ,
- to quickly move my mouse to hit the bold button in the dropdown menu,
This should be built-in and for it not to be I would like to understand better why. Perhaps I am missing a mindset that having no toolbars is best.
But I should reiterate that even this forum has a formatting toolbar, so why can’t the desktop have one built-in too? If it is a matter of simplicity then a toggle on/off button would be nice.
Current plug-in depends on someone else maintaining it and floats in the middle of my screen. An Obsidian toolbar built-in would integrate much better.
Pinning Vaults to Taskbar or Internal Vault Linking [Work-a-round] request
I wrote a forum post that I didn’t paste here because it was long. My request appears simple enough that if there is a way for me to implement it on my own I would happily do so. Request is as followed:
Is there a way to pin Obsidian Vaults to the pinned Obsidian App in Taskbar (or) inside an Obsidian vault as a type of LOCAL URL that launches an Obsidian Vault.
INDEX.MD > [[~/Folder/Obsidian Folder/]]
clicking on that from my index page would immediately open the vault (as an alternative to pinning or other drastic changes).
Why do I want this feature?
I would like to have many vaults but current structure of Obsidian makes it easier for me to just organize a single vault with all my projects and ideas (this get’s overwhelming, but with proper organizing it is not unmanageable). Still, I would like to place them in their own separate vaults instead. If someone has 7 vaults scattered in different folders related to that project, finding those vaults and launching them adds added time that would be removed if such vaults could be ‘pinned’ to taskbar (or) ‘linked in Obsidian index.md files’.
Arguably adding such a command to an index.md would be more powerful than simply allowing Obsidian folders to be pinned in taskbar. This is a ‘me problem’, and likely limited to me. Prior to Obsidian I relied on Pinning ‘master index files’ (that is any file that contains a library of organized files and folders that I could quickly hop to in a 1-2-3 click way).
With Pinning Workflow is as followed:
(1) Right Click Application Pinned to taskbar =>
(2) Click Pinned Master Index File =>
(3) Go to desired link on the Master Index page and open.
Workflow for Notebooks without pinning but indexing “Vaults” instead
- Onenote does not have pinning, instead when you open Onenote the most recent (Notebook) vault is opened, and on the sidebar all your optional Notebooks appear there as desired. You can remove non-active notebooks or add them, and work only in the current notebook or vault.
- Evernote does allow for pinning Notes but not notebooks (vaults) and allows multiple Notebooks to be loaded in Sidebar as a type of ‘indexing’ similar to Onenote.
Obsidian’s Design without pinning:
(1) Right Click Obsidian App Pinned to taskbar =>
(2) Most Recent Vault is opened adding a point of distraction =>
(3) After distraction I must now scan buttons to the Left to figure out which one Opens another vault and then Open Another Vault =>
(4) If Vault is not recently accessed it requires to be browsed and searched for (adding time, which pinning would have avoided) => If Vault is already on the side I have to scan through the list and pick vault.
(This makes it a : 1-2-Get distracted-3-4-Browser/Search before Load process.)
Why Pinning Helps
I have a lot of notes just because of the type of work I do and the projects I have to manage. Pinning and indexing allows me to organize those overwhelming Vaults into their rightful home and then jump between those Vaults and their respective Indexes. Each Vault represents a mammoth project whose index is organized usually via table or ‘lists’ which link to folders, documents or internal notes. This is efficient and works well for me, it’s a methodology I have used for years – except I didn’t have a tool as powerful as Obsidian to do this and had to do this in other tools. Docx, Xminds, etc.
XMinds recently stopped supporting their free version with updates, and their new subscription based version no longer allows internal linking. It also takes minutes to initially load my ‘vault’ containing all my libraries. I did not want to return to .Docx, Evernote was more for random thoughts than a Library Knowledgbase, and then I discovered Obsidian and it changed my life. No more proprietary file-types I can’t export!! Loads quicker and more. Works way better than my mind mapping software as a web of knowledge…But the Vault pinning has slowed me down.
Current workaround
My main Index links to folders containing Obsidian vaults. This returns the steps to a 1-2-3 step process.
(1) Open Obsidian which is pinned to taskbar =>
(2) Open the Index.md file which is copied across vaults and click the file, this opens the vault folder (alt) copy the code from the directory=>
(3) Open the vaults and paste the directory there if it doesn’t appear on the side.
(This makes the work around a 1-2-Copy-3-Paste solution).
If anyone knows of a command I could type or input or even ‘script’ or ‘hotkey’ that would allow me to directly open or specify an Obsidian Vault URL, that would be an excellent workaround which I could live with.
Solutions that were offered
For built-in Tool Bar
CMenu - is often cited as being a plug-in solution
But as far as I understand (maybe it’s a bug or a setting) cMenu floats in the middle of my screen instead of being an option that exists that you can toggle from the upper menu. It just floats around in my way and it is a plugin which is a security risk. Obsidian itself warns us about using community plugins, so why do we need to rely on cMenu? Obsidian also has this ability on mobile phones and forum, so why not build-it in to desktop. If people don’t want it they can toggle a setting, but for those who want it they can utilize it.
Use Evernote/DevonThink/some other software - There is a backlink or link that I read that I cannot find in my history anymore, someone was asking or pondering not having a menu as a ‘design’ choice by the developers to encourage only writing in markdown. The individual ended up just accepting there was no toolbar, no plugin was suggested. In lack of this I added another backlink where a solution was offered to use other tools for basic features that would enhance the power of Obsidian.
For Internal Vault Linking (as a work around to Taskbar Pinning)
Index that links to ‘folders’ and learning what the CMD for Opening Vault URLs would be.
Backlinks & Links
For built-in Tool Bar
Format Toolbar - solution relies on cMenu
How to make Obsidian Less Tool-less - solution relies on cMenu
Options for Rich Text Editor - Again response points to cMenu
Replacing Evernote - Individual mentions Bolding and Webclipping, reply is use DevonThink or EverNote for different tasks
