How to read and write at the same time in two panes within obsidian?

Basement
1

i am a newbie with obsidian, but already love it! big thanks to the developers!

however, there is one thing i didn’t figure out on my own so far: I want my text (an imported .pdf or a regular .md-file) to be shown in one window while I simultaneously open a second note in another window to take my reading notes.
I am sure this option exists, but I didn’t find it so far…When i split (vertically or horizontally) i always just get the preview of a note in the one and the final version of the same note in the other window.

edit: window doesn’t seem to be the right term here. what i probably mean are panes

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2

Use a different program or a different vault to show in the first window.

3

I think I misunderstood your question.

If you click within the pane where you want to take notes, it will make that pane active. Opening a new or existing note within that active pane is as easy as clicking on an already existing note from the explorer or creating a new note using the button above the explore or pressing ctrl+n.

One trick that I find helpful once I have established a complex folder hierarchy and I want to create a new note within a certain folder, is to open a note that is already in that folder first, and then creating a new note.

4

that’s what i did so far. but i don’t find it to be an elegant solution

5

thank you very much for your reply! maybe i was not so clear with my question if it is mistakable. opening new notes is not my problem. my issue is, that i basically want two active panes! one, that displays an already existing note (either a .pdf or a .md-file) and a second one where i can take notes

6

Just to make sure, have you tried pressing ctrl+e to toggle preview mode off and entering into edit mode. I have to guess I am missing something. I have never had an issue with having many active panes, assuming that active means that you can actively edit or view the content. I haven’t worked much with PDFs in Obsidian. Maybe that is my disconnect.

7

yes, preview mode/active mode both work fine. i somehow just don’t manage to have more than one active pane open. obviously that’s the underlying issue here which created my initial question. how can i open a second active pane?

8

I am still confused. All I can recommend is close all panes by clicking X’s. Then create a new note and split it, which it sounds like you can do. At this point you can switch between them just by clicking on them.

9

What do you mean by “active”? You can have two notes open in side-by-side panes, but you can only edit one at a time.

10

i think i have just solved my issue. The note in my second pane was linked to the pane, it seems, and i was not aware of that. thats why i wrote in my initial question that when i split (vertically or horizontally) i always just get the preview of a note in the first and the final version of the same note in the other pane.
now i can open one note in the left pane and open and edit another in the right one, just as i planned to.

thank you guys for your time and responses

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