Multi-column Editable Markdown Lists

[svsvc]

What I’m trying to do

Have markdown lists (and in particular checklists) that I can edit and that span multiple columns so that i can make use of the wide orientation of desktop/laptop monitors.

(In particular I want to have my daily note have certain daily checklists included and all of them be visible on initial open; my displays are large enough that that should be possible but without multiple columns i just have tons of wasted blank space and have to scroll a lot.)

Things I have tried

• Markdown Lists inside HTML table - #2 by sev
  • as pointed out in the reply, that specific solution is just a bad idea
• transcluding a list into a markdown table (clunky but works for non-checklists)
• GitHub - nothingislost/obsidian-hover-editor: Transform the Page Preview hover into a working editor instance + transclusion
  • that plugin doesn’t seem to work in android client; on desktop (which is the use case i care about), it does make the transcluded checkboxes checkable, but doesn’t let me otherwise edit the transcluded list, and for the core daily note use case, it would require generating a separate list to be transcluded for each new daily note.

[mycasid]

Horizontal Blocks plugin: Layouts with blocks side-by-side

Horizontal Blocks Plugin Bring Notion-style layouts with blocks side-by-side, resizable markdown blocks that support full Obsidian syntax including images, embeds, and internal links. Features Side-by-side markdown blocks using horizontal code block Resizable columns with a draggable divider Dynamic layout — support for 2 or more columns using --- separator Auto-scaling images inside blocks Block …

with this plugin, you can transclude two [sections of] notes side-by-side. it seems right now that transcluding two sections of the same note does not work, unfortunately.

if you’re willing to create a spurious note every day then this might be a workaround that suffices.

[sev]

You can do multiline in Markdown tables, with <br>. It will look awful in source, but in live preview it looks fine. Shift+Enter in Obsidian will insert a <br> for you. As long as you don’t edit your Markdown by hand, this is perfectly workable.

Rereading your original post, if all you want is multiple flowing columns, you could use flexboxes:

/* live edit */
.testbox .cm-sizer {
 --file-line-width: 100%;
 margin-left: unset !important;
 margin-right: unset !important;
}
.testbox .cm-contentContainer {
  display: block !important; /* remove flex */
}
.testbox .cm-content {
  display: grid;
  flex-wrap: wrap;
  flex-direction: column;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  column-gap: 50px;
  width: 100% !important;
  padding-bottom: unset !important;
}
.testbox .cm-line {
  /* ??? */
}

/* reading view */
.testbox .markdown-preview-section {
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: baseline;
  column-gap: 50px;
  max-width: unset !important;
  min-height: unset !important;
  padding-bottom: unset !important;
}

I wasn’t able to get the columns to overflow in live edit, but it should be a good start. Maybe use something other than flexboxes, like columns or grid. It will likely be a bit more difficult since CodeMirror creates individual divs for each line, instead of encapsulating single elements.

Also, for checkboxes in Markdown tables, try Markdown table checkboxes plugin. I also wanted checkboxes in tables, but Markdown checkboxes do not work; this plugin will auto-convert to HTML checkboxes.