Open note as pop-out

Use case or problem

I have a multi-pane workspace open, but I would like to quickly add something to an unrelated note.

I have to decide which pane to open that note in, open the note, edit it, and then open the older note in the pane by using the quickswitcher or back button.

This is a long process for something that should be quick.

Proposed solution

Allow opening a note as a pop-out. It can be edited and then quit (using esc) to return to the workspace. The behavior should be similar to how the command palette or quick-switcher work.

If it makes things simpler just the edit mode would do.

Current workaround (optional)

none, I can think of. I do what is described under the problem description.

10 Likes

Good idea.
Along with that request them to make opening new/other note in new pane as default behaviour. Or an option to make it default.

1 Like

I like your suggestion of having an option to make opening a new note in a new window as default.

For now, I have remapped Ctrl+N to open a new note in a new window. Since I use the keyboard most often, it works great for me.

Actually, I have problem with that ctrl+click method to open files fin new pane from the file explorer. It should have been double click instead of ctrl+click, why to use keyboard and mouse in tandem, when you have a better solution.

I am also going to suggest this feature. I think it should be a basic feature, but I don’t know why it is not supported.

Good suggestion. I can also imagine you might want to be able to drag these into your layout causing an existing note pane to split adding this new note pane.

I could see there being something akin to the page preview pop outs, but editable, and perhaps they automatically close if you do not invoke the editing by clicking within them or beginning to scroll through them.

This behavior could also be applied to graph view Previews as well.

Thanks.

The default mapping for shift-ctrl/cmd-N is to open a new pane with a new note. When you’re done, you can close it with ctrl/cmd-W.

If you want to have the new note be full-screen, you can use the full screen focus mode plugin for that.

And if you’d like to keep your panes the same size and not lose your layout by creating a new pane, you may want to try out the sliding panes plugin.

For me, this use case is sufficiently handled using ctrl-shift-n to open a new note in a sliding pane (as I’m using the sliding panes plugin). When I’m done, closing the pane restores my previous layout.

(There is currently an Obsidian bug that makes the wrong pane activate after closing the new note, but IIUC a fix is planned for 0.10.3.)

2 Likes

There are dedicated requests for customizable mouse hotkeys that could be combined to allow here requested behavior.

Alternative for fixed panes layouts: Page could open as new “tab” in given pane, instead of replacing the note there. That would still allow for switching to other panes without having to close some window in the front.

Other alternatives and related features, requests:

You could also use the maximize plug in so that every note occupies the entire window. Combine that with the quickswitcher++ plug in where you can swich editors using a modal.

Use case or problem

When I’m focusing on a certain page, I want to add content to a particular link without leaving the focused pane.
Being able to edit the popup window when hovering over link would make it so much more efficient to add content to the links, while still focusing on the main text.

Proposed solution

The popup windows should simply be in edit mode.

1 Like

@jojag This is solved with Sliding panes / Andy mode plugin as mentioned above by @pjeby. Ctrl+Click opens the note for editing in new pane adjacent to the current pane so you also see the current context and can drag things if you need to. With pop-up it would be hidden behind. Closing the pane takes focus back to originally focused pane and whole workspace is exactly as it was.
The pop-up being in rendered/preview mode allows to quickly verify that I am opening the correct note and also allows quick navigation by opening one pop-up from another and then automatically closing all.

Related feature requests: