Obsidian fails to render .pdf when accessing a vault via windows network share

Obsidian 1.0 fails to render .pdf when accessing a vault via windows network share.
When using my desktop to access a vault on my laptop using windows network share, pdfs render as empty spots on my desktop, whilst rendering fine on my laptop. this used to work before the update.

Steps to reproduce

  • Create a vault on device “A”
  • Add pdf to vault
  • Enable windows network share on device “A”
  • Connect to device “A” with device “B” using network share
  • Add the vault to device “B” obsidian (network link)
  • open the .pdf in obsidian on device “A” and “B”

Expected result

Obsidian on devices “A” and “B” displays the contents of the opened .pdf

Actual result

Only obsidian on device “A” shows the content of the pdf./Device “B” does not display pdf content.

Environment

  • Operating system: Windows 10
  • Debug info:
    SYSTEM INFO:
    Obsidian version: v1.0.0
    Installer version: v1.0.0
    Operating system: Windows 10 Home 10.0.19043
    Login status: not logged in
    Insider build toggle: off
    Live preview: off
    Legacy editor: off
    Base theme: dark
    Community theme: none
    Snippets enabled: 1
    Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.


Additional information

This is not a bug. It’s the byproduct of security features imposed on iframes (which the pdf viewer uses) on network resources.

1 Like

I see. So are pdfs are only viewable when the vault is stored locally? With no workarounds for my use-case or e.g NAS.

That is correct. I have not tried it but you can try if mapping the network drive to a “virtual” local drive bypasses the issue.

I tried your suggestion, it works:

After mapping the shared folder as a network drive (Explorer->This PC->“Map network drive”) and adding it as a vault, the pdf render.

Thank you for the tip, now i can spread out my work on my bigger screen!
Have a good day.

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