seconding this request!
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+1
this default settings may contains:
plugins, themes, configs.
3 Likes
I would also find this very useful.
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Copying the contents of the .obsidian folder worked for me. Good one!
+1
It’d be good if a $HOME/.obsidian/ were replicated in each new vault…
3 Likes
This would be tremendously useful. It would allow for using the “Open folder as vault” option to effectively open a temporary vault to work within a given thought context.
For me, this would effectively solve the problem I outlined at Context Overwhelm, Concentric Vaults, and Sensemaking - Thinking On Thinking In Notes - #2 by realactualprice.
5 Likes
i have barely started to use obsidian but this is already the first feature i want that i was surprised wasn’t already a thing. i even tried closing all vaults and selecting the “Settings…” menu, thinking i might be able to set global defaults that way, but that just shows me a javascript error dialog (on mac).
for now i will copy the .obsidian folder. thank you for that tip! i hope someday this extra bit of friction can be reduced.
1 Like
Gonna throw my vote in for this as well. Was rather surprised it wasn’t already a thing.
2 Likes
Use case or problem
I want to have my configurations/plugins/themes all standardized between my vaults, making it machine-wide.
Proposed solution
Let us put the .obsidian folder outside of the vault (preferably in the Obsidian installation folder) and point our vaults to it allow us to have a machine-wide configuration.
Current workaround (optional)
Using symbolic links. It’s not user friendly or safe.
9 Likes
My other workaround is to have a script that copies the folders periodically across vaults.
Also not user friendly, but a little safer than managing a symlink.
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Having a hidden .obsidian folder per vault (much like git) has pros and cons, like everything. I was originally against having to set up everything again for every vault, but eventually found out that the pros outweigh the cons, at least for me:
- Turned out I’m not using as many vaults as I originally thought. I actually put my personal, professional, and writing “digital life” into just one, eventually. It’s so much easier to handle, and fast enough.
- I mainly use 3 devices for the same vault: A Linux desktop, a Linux laptop, and my Android phone (no Obsidian here, just Markor to handle the inbox and to-dos).
- So having “everything in one box (folder)” is a great plus for syncing between devices (I use Syncthing): I have to sync just one folder and don’t have to mess trying to sync system folders, or parts of them.
- Having to backup just one set of folders is also a plus (I use (g)rsync). You’re always sure to have it all.
- Yes, I do use a (very) few symlinked files and folders outside the Obsidian vault, but since these are in identical locations on all three devices (below the “Documents” folder), I can simply sync/backup those as symlinks.
So in my case practical use has shown that I’m actually quite happy with the developers’ original decision of “one set of settings per vault”.
I still see your use case, and I wonder how easy or compatible it might be to maybe have a “main vault” and just symlink all other vaults’ .obsidian folders into that. Don’t know if that would break anything (assuming that all plugins use relative paths, that is). Also, I’m a little unsure about how robust symlinking on Windows might be.
2 Likes
(1) Standard model for this would be a configuration in OS standard user-space location, typically either (older convention):
~./obsidian
or:
~/.config/obsidian/
~/.local/share/obsidian/settings
etc.
Then settings in a local vault ~/path/to/vault/.obsidian will (selectively) override the host-specific settings in ~/.config/obsidian.
(2) It would be nice to go one step further, and for Obisidian to store cross-device configurations in the cloud, synced server-side, with the host-specific ~/.config/obsidian settings selectively overriding this, and the vault-specific ~/path/to/vault/.obsidian selective overriding this.
(3) Personally, when I first started, I had all my vaults in their own Git repo, but the .obsidian subdirectory in each repo a submodule. Lots of ways to get these to autosync, but before I figured out a working solution, I evolved toward just one single vault for everything and the problem went away 
… for the time being until my system changes again 
5 Likes
Yes, please – this is one of my most wanted features too.
2 Likes
+1 needs a global setting
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The lack of this capability is why I stopped using Obsidian. The separation between work and personal vaults is a must for me. There are a lot of clever solutions in this thread, but I’m really not interested in adding a lot of technical overhead into my notes.
Watching this thread now, because this is the only feature I need to jump back in.
2 Likes
Very much needed.
My current workaround
FreeFileSync (or any other sync soft.)
Sync soft just lets me add to ignore by RBM once for all and syncs the rest.
Also automation is easy.
I don’t like the hard /soft links approach. Links are generally fine but they are to tedious for nitpicking what to sync and what not.
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How can I manage same settings across different vaults without any sync conflicts in case of Syncthing ?
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As Primarily a Mobile user, this is a particular (and constantly recurring) problem for me. I even tried the official Obsidian Sync, but sadly it can only sync settings, plugins, etc. between devices not between vaults. At this time there is not even a workaround for the mobile apps since you cannot access the .obsidian folder on iOS/Android. I’m not sure which of the 3 Options purposed would work best on mobile, but any of them would be an extremely welcome feature.
3 Likes
You can access hidden folders on iOS by using a third-party app. The easiest free option seems to be Taio, but there are other options too. [Mobile] IOS : App to work with hidden folder
If you’re thinking of automations, I think it may be possible to access them in Shortcuts, or at least point to files inside them.
2 Likes