I just started using Obsidian for building up academic literature database that I need for research, migrating from several different programmes and physical notes. I found a workflow which is in practical terms exactly what I want (save some blows and whistles with colours). As the linked workflow explains, it requires Notebook Navigator plugin, but a special “forked” version of it. As a humanities person, however, I am quite illiterate when it comes to GitHub and so I for the life of me cannot understand how to install it. I tried to reach out to the workflow author to get some step-by-step but got no reply so far.
I cannot include links here, but the workflow I mean is by Emile van Krieken, and it is one of the top Google hits for academic uses of Obsidian.
Things I have tried
I searched for “fork” and “forked” but everyone but me seems to have a fairly good idea what they are and how to install them. I also tried to Google but honestly I just do not understand much of what is going on.
Notebook navigator is my most recent addition. It is an excellent and well-designed new plugin that replaces the file browser, search, bookmarks and tag panel for an Evernote-style layout. However, it is not compatible with the setup described above, as the navigator is based on folders or tags rather than typed links. Therefore, I forked it and made it compatible with my typed-links centric structure. It comes preinstalled in the template, so I would suggest giving it a go there!
Installing this template Well, that couldn’t be easier! Just download/clone this repo, and open Obsidian on this folder. Merging it with your active setup is a lot trickier though. You’d need to compare in particular the active plugins and appearance snippets.
You can test this setup by downloading his demo vault: download zip
1. Make a copy of your vault 2. Copy/paste the highlighted files/folders in the copy of your vault 3. In Obsidian Appearance settings, toggle the 2 new CSS snippets 4. Open your vault copy and test it
Note: I don’t know what plugins you need besides the two highlighted. I you copy the plugins from his vault to yours, the plugins should already be configured with the settings you need. Folders starting by a dot (.obsidian) are hidden by default, in case you didn’t know.
Amazing, thank you very much! I will try this right away.
One more question, if I may: in your opinion, is your step-by-step meant for testing purposes or is it something I could use for a permanent setup? E.g., could it crush if Notebook Navigator updates or something like that? Would be sad to lose everything…
The step by step is just to be cautious. If it works like you want in your test, you can update your vault using the same steps. Always backup your vault anyway. You can prevent the plugin from updating by changing its version number (just a simple edit in a text file). I did that with one of mine (sort of). Note: you can also use unofficial plugins that haven’t been reviewed yet by installing them via the BRAT plugin.
I was using Image Toolkit then it was blocked by the Obsidian team for messing something with Bases (until it’s updated). I changed 1.4.2 to 1.4.3 in .obsidian/plugins/obsidian-image-toolkit/manifest.json to be able to use the plugin. In your case, it is a custom version of a plugin (a fork), so I’m not even sure it would auto update. I wish I could help you more, but I don’t know anything about that Notebook navigator plugin nor the custom version Emile made for himself.
@ariehen and @Grimoire thank you very much for your input! It is heartwarming to see such a kind community over here willing to help noobs like me. Much appreciated!
