Move Sandbox from Help to Vault

Feature archive
1

Use case or problem

Sometimes I need a temporary vault, a “Sandbox” vault, to safely explore Obsidian’s features outside my main vault.

I go to “Open vault…” command. But there is no option to create a Sandbox vault.

Proposed solution

For better discoverability and consistency, all vault options should be accessible from one single place:

  • It’d be easier to discover the Sandbox as a convenient option to create temporary vaults for testing.
  • It’d be easier to explain the differences between various vault options.

Design suggestion:

  1. Move the Sandbox feature from “Help” to “Open vault…”.
  2. Mention Sandbox feature in Obsidian Help: Create a vault

Current workaround

Use Help or type a command.

Images

1.6.3 Desktop:

desktop163
desktop1632248×1232 200 KB

Mockup of proposed solution:

mockup
mockup2248×1232 212 KB

Possible addition to Obsidian Help:

Play in Sandbox vault

If you want to play with Obsidian’s features in a safe environment, let Obsidian create a temporary Sandbox vault for you:

  1. …

EDIT: Added reasoning for proposed solution.

2

I’m sorry but I’m not sure to understand the “issue” :thinking: …

You don’t necessarily need to go to Help to open Obsidian’s Sandbox Vault…
There’s a command for that available in the command palette:

Command palette sandbox vault
Command palette sandbox vault1470×322 9.18 KB

3

And from the list of vaults at the foot of the left sidebar?

sandbox

4

Issues are discoverabilty and consistency.

Why aren’t all vault options in one place?

5

IIRC the Sandbox appears in the vault switcher not by default, but only after the user has created it explicitly. It disappears, when the sandbox is removed from the list of current vaults.

I wouldn’t want to see the Sandbox always there in the list. The Sandbox is a temporary thing. Create it, when you need it. Delete it, when you don’t.

1 Like
6

Thank you for adding more context :grin: !

The sandbox vault has always been more of debug tool/helper than anything else imho :woman_shrugging: …
I mean, the only times when it’s generally useful is to debug Obsidian Desktop (specifically… as there’s no sandbox for mobile)… So I don’t see its link to Help as necessarily inconsistent but that’s just me :blush:.

That’s what I do when I effectively want to test/play around with things within Obsidian: Create a brand new empty vault (I can sync across my devices and control as desired) and then delete it if/when needed (as opposed to relying on the sandbox vault living somewhere in Obsidian’s stuff on my hard drive) :innocent:… But that also just me :smile: .

7

Good points. I find Sandbox confusing:

  • Why is there no Sandbox on mobile?
  • Why doesn’t the Sandbox reset after it’s closed? The description claims “changes will not be saved”, but actually changes are being saved. The Sandbox is much more permanent than expected.

But even if that got fixed, IMO the Sandbox wouldn’t still make part of Help. It’s a special vault.

8

That’s a good question to which I have no answers :sweat_smile: :woman_shrugging: .

I think it only reset after a new version of Obsidian is released but I’m really not sure about this at all :see_no_evil: .

9

I changed my mind. The Sandbox makes sense in Help, as long as it is temporary. I was confused by the fact, that in MacOS the Sandbox is being saved permanently.

10

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.