This is a great plugin. Kudos @ryanjamurphy
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Sorry for the probably dumb question, but how is this different than just using a second pane with a regular .md file?
I’m not really sure how to answer the question without re-listing the features. It’s about speed and remixing, I suppose. You may not have a need for it! But probably best to try it and fiddle with the settings to get a real sense of the functionality.
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The plugin appears to not be working in v0.10.1. I installed the plugin, and hit the Workbench icon in left hand dock, but nothing happens. I am new to Obsidian, so I could have missed something. Thanks.
Update: I found the “Missing Link”. For those having the same issue, you have to create a Note using the name you defined in Workbench config. By default it’s Workbench and I dropped it in the root folder.
Possible Enhancement: If the file does not exist, create the file when clicking the Workbench button.
ce
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This may seem like a plugin that doesn’t change the Note taking process; doesn’t add much. Use it for a while, and you will soon realize the benefit. Thanks Ryan.
ce
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Good idea. I should at least post an error notification explaining why it’s not working. Thanks for the feedback!
An error dialog with a small description and solution would definitely work for a workbench file that doesn’t exist. My Workbench has become a collection of links to open projects. I also use it to take quick notes during meetings which I later merge in where they belong. Thanks again.
Possible Enhancement: Can you detect if the workbench file is already open, so it doesn’t open it multiple times?
ce
This is a bit tricky, but I can look into it!
As an aside, it is easier to manage requests via GitHub Issues (see the link to the GitHub repository for the plugin in the OP). Mind posting future requests there?
Thanks again!
Yes Sir
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I…can’t figure out how to actually use this. I have the plugin installed and activated, and the icon appears on the left, but then…what? Clicking on the icon doesn’t do anything. None of the command palette commands seem to do anything.
This is in v0.11.0.
You should first create a note named Workbench anywhere.
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Or change the workbench note to something that already exists via the change workbench command (or in settings).
I suppose I could add a “This workbench doesn’t exist. Create it?”-type dialog.
Ahhh…thanks guys.
Option-click is working for adding links to the workbench note, but for me cmd-option-click or ctrl-option-click don’t seem to be triggering anything.
Same problem for me.
I don’t really get what the Plugin is about and how it’s intended to be used.
As an Obisidian newbie, it seems to me for most of the people in this thread it seems to be too obvisous to even mention it, for some (as me) I’m just getting frustrated.
Seems to be a very useful thing and I’d love to give it a try, but how?
I someone could offer a very brief tutorial on:
- what is the purpose of the plugin?
- how to set it up for first use?
- a simple usecase
that would be most appreciated!!
the GIF ‘tutorial’ isn’t very helpful for me, I don’t get what’s happening 
Stefan
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Once installed and set up, I pinned it as a separate Panel on my screen so even while building a Note, IF I had some other idea I could quickly add the thought to the Workbench without having to open/close Notes. YMMV.
The GIF is not meant to be a tutorial, but to show each feature. It needs to be quick, unfortunately, due to upload size limitations. I don’t really have the time to do a full YouTube video or something on the plugin.
It may be instructive to read the post I originally wrote about the “workbench” workflow, before I developed the plugin: A Workbench note ⊗ - #11 by ryanjamurphy
The Workbench plugin provides a set of simple commands that can be used for all kinds of things. In general, though, the idea is to invoke those commands to quickly copy, link, or embed sections of whatever you’re looking at into another note.
Say you’re writing an article about gamification and its applications in crowdsourcing. You have a set of notes open detailing some theory behind these concepts, examples of their use, and so on. With all of those notes open, you could use Workbench to grab links to blocks in each of them to compile a bunch of “inputs” into the article you’re writing. This may be especially quick if you use the click commands the plugin allows (see its settings).
More often, I use it just to collect a few items from various notes into one place before inserting it into another note.
There is a bug of sorts right now: if you give the plugin a non-existing note as the workbench, it doesn’t create the note. So you need to make sure the “workbench” note already exists.
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Thanks a lot, @ryanjamurphy !
That already helped me a lot.
What I understand that with the Workbench I can more easily collect things than I did before using a lot of copy & paste and switching back and forth.
Thank you for your great work! 
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Hello @ryanjamurphy and friends!!!
I submit an issue on github about a new feature for the amazing Workbench! >>> Link
I hope you find a good ideia!
Thanks!
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Is there a way to have multiple Workbench files? I’d love to have one for my academic stuff and one for my fiction…
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Not at the moment, though it’s planned for a future update.
Meanwhile I believe people are doing similar workflows with QuickAdd!