Outline as part of note

[zettelstraum]

Hi there,

Obsidian is great. PERIOD!
I love it and use it every day.

One thing drives me nuts, though, and that is: the outline function. Why?

It opens on the right side.
For me, it is logical to have it on the left side, all of my PDFs, EPUBs and also all programs that use similar functions present these on the left side. I assume this is connected to the from-left-to-right-reading nature of the culture I am from (but I digress)

It opens as a separate pane
While I see that this makes sense for people who wish to have only one outline in their window, I frequently have 2-3 notes open, working back and forth between them. I would much prefer having an outline for each of them - at least for those organized with headlines.

What I suggest is to extend the capabilities of the outline to that of a sidebar - only related to the respective note:

• it would be docked and foldable (also by hotkey)
• it would allow for docking other panes (graph, tags, file info, etc.)
• via options dialogue, this behaviour could be switched on or off so as to cater to those wishing for outline to remain as it currently is.

THANK YOU

1. for Obsidian
2. for Obsidian
3. for Obsidian
4. for your patience

[zettelstraum]

Oh, and what I just realized:
Adding such an option would also greatly enhance the functionality of the Sliding Panes addon by making the connected content (note and outline) available in one container

[Denna]

Obsidian provide a core plugin for this functionaliyt. Is has to be named something like “Outlines”. You have to activate it. Then you will find it in the right pane. You can drag it anywhere you like in Obsidian.

[WhiteNoise]

@zettelstraum

While I see that this makes sense for people who wish to have only one outline in their window, I frequently have 2-3 notes open, working back and forth between them. I would much prefer having an outline for each of them - at least for those organized with headlines.

You can have an outline for each note. Just open the outline from the vertical dots menu of the note.

[Craig]

I’ve been using Obsidian for almost two years now, and I didn’t realize you could create per-note outlines.

That’s really helpful, thanks @WhiteNoise!

[zettelstraum]

Thank you, Denna, I know the core plugin. I use it all the time.

@WhiteNoise

You can have an outline for each note. Just open the outline from the vertical dots menu of the note.

I know this, thanks!
It is, however, not what I am after:

1. Opening these outline panes are an additional step, especially since I am then putting it from the left to the right side
2. Once I close the note pane, the outline refers to, it will leave me with a meaningless pane.
3. The outline is a separate pane, it is not possible to dock it to the content pane itself.

Actually, it would be enough to allow docking the outline to the note pane and saving note pane configuration by default.

By docking, I mean not associating it but make docked items act as one pane.

This way, a setup could be found that is ideally suited to the individual note type.
After all, there are very different content types: short quotes without need for an outline, longer articles with lots of header hierarchy that benefit from it.

This is also why I mentioned docking other things such as graph, tags etc.
I know that you can view these things through side pane but having this with the note and being tied to it would be of great benefit:

1. local graph, when docked to outline, limits items to those associated note
2. Following that principle, tags pane docked to a note pane would only show associated tags, so the note would act as a filter

[WhiteNoise]

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/outline-in-document/32714

[zettelstraum]

@Outline in Document

Use case or problem I’d love to have an option to see the Outline links on the note itself. Similar to how Notion does it. Proposed solution Have a toggle to show the Outline links on the document themselves, similar to the functionality of the Backlinks in Document for the Backlinks plugin. Also add an option in the settings to fold the outlines by default. Current workaround (optional) None. Must always refer to the Outline panel.

Very elegantly put. Must take a mental note to work on that!

THANK YOU!

[zettelstraum]

So… Was there ever any response to that matter? As I see, the issue you pointed, @WhiteNoise, never really initiated anything.

[rigmarole]

@zettelstraum

Was there ever any response to that matter?

It’s an open feature request. It doesn’t mean there is any particular timeline (or guarantee) for it to be implemented.

[chrsle]

Try this:
obsidian://show-plugin?id=obsidian-dynamic-toc

With the latest insider build, you could even have the outline as floating always on top window above or below the note.

[zettelstraum]

@chrsle

With the latest insider build

Thank you. I have this Not as insider version, though. Where can I get it? I see a beta on github but the data.json is missing…
Apart from that:

• The TOC is on top a bit in the way as it is with Wikipedia. This is of limited use as for long notes, it is way to high up top to be of use, even adding links to jump back would not be ideal as would simply necessitate too much navigation within the document.
• The TOC floating outside would remedy this but at the expense of cluttering my screen with an additional overlay. I try keeping it as clean as possible as there are always a couple of things going on at the same time (obsidian/mail, obsidian/browser, obsidian/video or audio player)

However, this plugin would be perfect if it would allow to have the TOC snapped to either one side of the note.

@rigmarole

It’s an open feature request. It doesn’t mean there is any particular timeline (or guarantee) for it to be implemented.

Thank you for clarifying

[chrsle]

To get the insider build, you need to become a supporter, check the obsidian.md site for that.

Instead of new pop out window, you could also use the plugin ‘hover editor’ and pin the window.

You could create a hover window with the actual note and it’s TOC side by side. But then the window where you show the TOC will still scroll to the actual position.

I guess the best bet is to just keep the right sidebar open and leave it at the outline.

Maybe at some point we’ll have the sidebar accessible in pop out windows as well.