No workarounds possible for incorrectly rendered nested items in numbered items over 99

Steps to reproduce

1. a
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. a
6. a
7. a
8. a
9. a
10. a
11. a
12. a
13. a
14. a
15. a
16. a
17. a
18. a
19. a
20. a
21. a
22. a
23. a
24. a
25. a
26. a
27. a
28. a
29. a
30. a
31. a
32. a
33. a
34. a
35. a
36. a
37. a
38. a
39. a
40. a
41. a
42. a
43. a
44. a
45. a
46. a
47. a
48. a
49. a
50. a
51. a
52. a
53. a
54. a
55. a
56. a
57. a
58. a
59. a
60. a
61. a
62. a
63. a
64. a
65. a
66. a
67. a
68. a
69. a
70. a
71. a
72. a
73. a
74. a
75. a
76. a
77. a
78. a
79. a
80. a
81. a
82. a
83. a
84. a
85. a
86. a
87. a
88. a
89. a
90. a
91. a
92. a
93. a
94. a
95. a
96. a
97. a
98. a
99. a
100. a
101. a
	1. a
	2. a
	3. a

Expected result

image

Actual result

image

Additional information

Yes, this is a longstanding markdown issue. But the only workarounds are not possible to implement in current Obsidian editor.

Workaround 1: Use 1. on every line. This is impossible in Obsidian because 1. 1. 1. … will be automatically converted to 1. 2. 3. …

Workaround 2: Use 2 tabs for the nested items. This is simply impossible in current Obsidian editor.

Workaround 3: Use just enough amount of spaces instead of a single tab for indentation, adding an extra space to the nested items for any item over 9, 99, 999 etc. So for example,

  1. a
    1. a

has 3 spaces before the nested item and

  1. a
    1. a

has 5 spaces before the nested item.

However, currently when pressing tab for indentation, Obsidian editor does not support automatically adding just enough amount of spaces to reach the next indentation level. So this workaround is not supported in current editor.

I suggest Obsidian to support Workaround 3.

Environment

Obsidian 0.14.15
Win 10

Workaround 2 works for me. Just press tab 2 times? Why is it impossible?

Workaround 2 simply doesn’t work for me… most of the time.

Please see the following.

2022-06-13_8-24-01

Occasionally it works, and I don’t know why it sometimes works.

I think it may be a plugin causing that.

1 Like

True! It’s Outliner plugin that causes the problem. Thanks!

I added a BR related to your problem. Single tab should work.

I am not talking about spaces, spaces are complex in markdown. But a tab should work.

Btw, don’t you think workaround 1 and 3 feel more natural than workaround 2? I personally think using spaces is better than using tabs for indentation simply because of this issue (that the nested items are rendered incorrectly for items over 99).

I didn’t find such a feature request for workaround 3. Should I post one?

You can open a FR for adding enough spaces, however note that, according to the markdown spec, the number of spaces needed depends on number of figures.

Thanks! I’ll add a FR soon.