Open file from Explorer or PowerToys Run

Bug graveyard
1

Steps to reproduce

Double click a .md file in my vault in the Windows 10 explorer.
Or search and open a .md file in my open vault with PowerToys Run (like Spotlight or Alfred from Microsoft) tool.

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Expected result

The file opens in my current open Obsidian vault.

Actual result

Obsidian brings the “vault screen”.
If I click on my only and current open vault, Obsidian shows the last note and does not open the assumed file.

2021-01-07_184509
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Environment

  • Operating system: Windows 10
  • Obsidian version: 0.10.6

Additional information

Pretty strange behavior. I tried to open a file in Obsidian, not to create a new vault.
It would be very handy to open notes with PowerToys Run.
A complete integration Run would be super!

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I believe this isn’t a bug, but an inherent limitation of how obsidian works: it cannot register itself as an app that opens markdown files, because it only deals with what’s inside a vault.

When you tell Windows (or macOS, for that matter) to open a file with Obsidian, all it does is fire up the app.

I don’t know if this can ever be addressed.

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Obsidian does not support being handler of markdown files.

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Why not? How else should we open files directly or with a search tool?

5

We are not sure how to hanlde files that do not belong to the vault. You can however open files withing the vault by using their Obsidian URI.

If there isn’t already a FR to support being a handler of md files in your system, feel free to open a new one.

6

The file belongs to the vault and tools like Alfred don’t know about Obsidian URIs…
… could be so easy as file handler

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1 Like
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You can set Obsidian as default handler on Windows. That’s no problem. The problem is, that Obsidian does not open the .md file, but opens instead the vault screen.

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yeah, that’s the point of the feature request.

EDIT: I renamed the FR to be clearer