Obsidian doesn't reload the current file when it is changed outside of Obsidian

Bug reports
1

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open a note in Obsidian.
  2. Switch to terminal, have e.g. Claude Code update that note.
  3. Switch back to Obsidian.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes

Expected result

Changed file is refreshed within a second or two in Obsidian.

Actual result

Changed file doesn’t refresh until I visit another note, then go back to my original note.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: 1.12.7
Installer version: 1.12.7
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.4.0: Thu Mar 19 19:31:56 PDT 2026; root:xnu-12377.101.15~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T6030 25.4.0
Login status: not logged in
Language: en
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: Border 1.13.2
Snippets enabled: 1
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 23
Plugins enabled: 18
1: Advanced URI v1.46.1
2: Git v2.38.0
3: Linter v1.31.2
4: Tag Wrangler v0.6.4
5: Excalidraw v2.22.0
6: Style Settings v1.0.9
7: Advanced Tables v0.22.1
8: Metadata Extractor v1.1.0
9: Outliner v4.10.0
10: Omnisearch v1.28.2
11: Consistent Attachments and Links v3.33.4
12: Jump to link v0.5.15
13: Jump-to-Date v1.0.25
14: Natural Language Dates v0.6.2
15: Tasks v7.23.1
16: Mousewheel Image zoom v1.0.24
17: Kanban v2.0.51
18: Better Markdown Links v3.4.4

Additional information

There is another copy of this bug on the forums here, but I can’t include links. It’s in the help forum.

2

OK, we’re using the same version of Obsidian and the same operating system. I don’t have an issue with this. I use Codex via terminal and when I ask it to update a file, it immediately displays the changes in Obsidian.

The only difference between your set up and mine is that you have a bunch of community plug-ins installed and I have community plug-ins disabled. It would stand to reason that one of those plug-ins is preventing it.

You could disable each plugin individually, which might help to identify the plug-in that’s causing the issue.

3

I can’t reproduce this. I tried with Obsidian a notepad and it works fine.

Where is your vault stored?

Does it happen in the sandbox vault?

4

I have a similar system and have the same issue. I make a change in Text Editor, but I don’t see it in Obsidian unless I leave the file and return. The scenario where it works as expected is using the shared vault. With the shared vault, I can create and edit files, and the changes show up right away. To reproduce the error, if I “Open folder as vault, “ edits and new files do not show up in Obsidian right away.

5

Where is your vault stored?

Does it happen in the sandbox vault?

1 Like
6

Just a datapoint that may or may not be relevant, but I’ll echo WhiteNoise’s question: where is the vault stored?

Working on a few things yesterday, I noticed with a vault stored in my user directory (C:\Users\USER\ObsVaults\VAULTNAME) that files were updated immediately when editing them from the CLI/TUI, Typora, and Notepad++.

With another vault stored in One Drive, there was a noticeable lag and sometimes the note content wasn’t updated until closing-opening the note. YMMV.

※ and yes, One Drive is set to keep local copies of everything, but it can still act odd at times.

1 Like
8

In my situation, the issue was running in sandbox mode. I’m using the Flatpak version and needed to add an override, so in my case, flatpak override --user md.obsidian.Obsidian --filesystem=/temp

Now it’s working perfectly for me as expected.