Now when file explorer can have a focus (0.15.6.) and can be navigated by keyboard (kudos for that!), I believe that when we go through the files in explorer using keyboard, active pane should reflect that and automatically switch to each file which is in focus of navigation (in the explorer)
It is expected behavior, used in majority in word processors/PKM apps (like Notes, Bear, Notational Velocity, DevonThink, Scrivener etc).
Current behavior (no change of the file in active view) is more similar to functions of coding text processors (Visual Studio Code etc). There you first have to navigate to the desirable file and then to press Enter to view it - because programmers would often want to do something else with files than just to open it (rename it, move it, view file info…)
It is of course matter of opinion and conceptual view of Obsidian, but I consider it to be much similar to other PKM apps. I believe that primary function of file navigation (in 99.9% cases) is just to see the content - to open the file. That is why I would prefer to view each file through which I navigate in File Explorer immediately, without need to press Enter (and need to refocus the file explorer again after opening). That would speed navigation (searching/orientation in files) up a lot.
I fully support this idea and look forward to when the Obsidian developers will turn their attention to this. Navigation should work well!
I also want to listen to the developers comment why do they think that in order to navigate in the search I need to press additional keys to have focus on the left panel? Is this some kind of new feature? Or is it a kernel code issue?
Why can’t navigation be done with just the down key, the up key and the selection of the file - why the complexity?
I second this Feature. It would be great for Presentations to rapidly navigate between Notes without using the Mouse. I think that there should be a delay before (async) rendering, otherwise Navigation would be slowed down.
This may complicate implementation.
Looks like the only the only way to focus a file in the file explorer is to click it twice. Not very intuitive.
It would be much more intuitive if we could simply click a file once, that file is imediately shown in view, then if we use up or down arrow keys, the adjacent file in the explorer list is selected and immediately shown in view. Upon hitting enter, or the right arrow key, the view should take focus. Look at the Mac Notes app for example.
The Finder (file explorer) in Mac has a preview feature by simply pressing the spacebar once and navigating with arrow keys. It would be great to be able to replicate that user experience.
Update: Why was this post flagged? I’m just giving another example of why we need this feature.
I’d also like to cast my vote for this feature! Pretty please. The way it works now is so unintuitive, clunky and tedious. I’d love to be able to efficiently “thumb” through my notes using just the keyboard and the explorer pane.
Not sure about some of the suggestions of triggering a note preview popup as you arrow up and down… why not just open the note so that by default it replaces the currently open note (with the option of holding down another key like Cmd to open it in a new tab)? The gif posted by @jeremynotes is exactly the behavior I’m hoping for and would expect. Then when you hit enter/return on a note, the focus switches to it in the editor pane. It’s the default pattern in Notes and Bear and works elegantly.
In the meantime, Quick Explorer adds commands to navigate to previous/next file. You can assign a modifier key + arrow up/down to use arrow keys for navigation!
the “navigate to previous/next file” command incremented to the next file based on the current sort order in the sidebar. Currently it seems to only navigate alphabetically through the folder.
the side bar scrolls together with the selection as you select files further down the list. Currently you can’t see where you are in the list once you go beyond the bottom of the top view.
This would make it a dream to navigate with keyboard!
