macOS Tahoe 26.5.1 / Obsidian 1.12.7: External file opening is ignored

[BEusebius]

Title

macOS Tahoe 26.5.1 / Obsidian 1.12.7: External file opening is ignored (Finder, File→Open, drag-and-drop, open -a)

Environment

• macOS Tahoe 26.5.1

• Obsidian Desktop 1.12.7

• Installed directly from obsidian.md

• Local vault (not iCloud)

Description

Obsidian opens existing notes normally when opened from within the application (File Explorer and Quick Switcher), but every mechanism that asks Obsidian to open a file from outside the application silently fails.

Reproduction

1. Launch Obsidian.

2. Try any of the following:

   • Double-click a .md file in Finder.

   • Finder → Open With → Obsidian.

   • File → Open… and choose an existing markdown file.

   • open -a Obsidian note.md

   • Drag an existing .md file into the Obsidian window.

Expected

The selected note opens.

Actual

Obsidian becomes the active application (or accepts the drag), but no note opens. There is no error dialog.

Works normally

• Opening notes from the File Explorer.

• Opening notes from the Quick Switcher.

• Creating new notes.

Troubleshooting already performed

• Reset ~/Library/Application Support/obsidian (fresh global configuration).

• Tested in Restricted Mode.

• Verified .md file association.

• Reinstalled from obsidian.md.

• Reproduced using a fresh application configuration.

Terminal output

Launching Obsidian from Terminal consistently prints:

Ignored: Error: Argument must be a file path or a NativeImage

followed by the normal update check.

Because the issue reproduces with a fresh configuration and no plugins, it appears to be related to Obsidian’s handling of external file-open events rather than the vault itself.

NOTE: I’ve been using Obsidian for about 48 hours. Chat/GPT helped me diagnose my issue and wrote the bug report for me. I’m hoping this is genuinely helpful. My AI overlord told me it would be. {Love Obsidian so far, BTW}

[WhiteNoise]

Hello, Obsidian doesn’t work on individual files directly. It manages a vault (directory) of files.
That’s primarily the reason why opening of individual markdown files from finder hasn’t been implemented. You can follow this FR

Have Obsidian be the handler of .md files / Add ability to use Obsidian as a markdown editor on files outside vault (file association)

A suggestion to have the possibility to make Obsidian the default app to open .md files, when accessing them in Finder. That would allow for very quick note-opening opportunities using Alfred. Simply open Alfred, type in the name of the note hit enter and have the note opened straight in Obsidian. [Screenshot 2020-05-23 at 13.18.55] My environment is MacOS but I guess there are familiar easy-access workflow possible in different environments as well

[BEusebius]

Interesting. I’ve been impressed at the interactivity between Finder and Obsidian. I was hoping that using Finder to go to an MD file within my vault but several folders down would be a good shortcut. I thought perhaps it would open the MD file and bring the Files pane to look at that vault folder. My apologies if I misunderstood.