Reuse Pinned tab when opening a link

Feature requests
1

Use case or problem

Pinning feels half-functional. It does pin notes, but the pin doesn’t seem to really mean anything if selecting a link or note file doesn’t open the pinned tab of that note.

Example:
Create 2 notes, NoteA and NoteB. Now pin NoteA. In NoteB create a link to NoteA and click it. Note how NoteB’s tab navigates to NateA instead of just opening the pinned NoteA tab. Repeat this by using the file hierarchy view, it does the same thing.

Proposed solution

When selecting a note via link or file, it first attempts to open any pinned tab of that note before opening or navigating the current tab to that note.

Current workaround (optional)

No known workaround

Related feature requests (optional)

Haven’t found a related feature request.

11 Likes
2

Pinned means “Do not open links in this tab”

3

I guess it’s not as much “Pinned” for easy access as it is “Anchored” because it’s just not navigatable.

1 Like
4

Note: This does remain a surprising behavior for users.

2 Likes
5

Correct, it also means though to open the pinned tab if I select a link to that pinned item in my opinion

1 Like
6

This is your wrong assumption. That’s not how Obsidian works.

7

Personally I always saw it as a “lock in place” functionality. You can use the pin to lock notes in place as custom UI.

For example, I have a pinned note in my sidebar, that always displays a query of my last 20 days of recent notes. It is pinned in reading mode, so I can click on the links. But if I ever want to edit it, I want it to open in the main tab area, and not change in the sidebar, and certainly not move my keyboard focus to the sidebar.

But perhaps “locked” would be a less ambiguous term.

@JsonBlob Here is an existing thread, and there seems to be a plugin that might have the functionality you are describing. Automatically navigate to file location in explorer when note is opened

1 Like
8

When I follow a link to a note that’s open in a non-pinned tab, Obsidian takes me to the tab. So it surprises me when I follow a link to a note that’s open in a pinned tab and Obsidian doesn’t take me there. The behavior is inconsistent.

An exception for @rigmarole’s sidebar case would make sense to me. I don’t expect the same behavior of sidebar notes.

2 Likes
9

Looking at the plugin it’s not a question of revealing the file I’ve selected… it’s that I just want the focus moved to my pinned item if I select a link TO that item that’s pinned.

If NoteB has a [[NoteA]] link, and NoteA is pinned but not in focus I just wanted the focus moved to the pinned verison of NoteA instead of opening ANOTHER version of NoteA

1 Like
10

Found a similar thread: Viewing an already-pinned note when clicking a link to it - #4 by alltagsverstand

1 Like
11

This FR is only about pinned notes, but there is a more general FR to have obsidian reuse all open tabs if possible.

3 Likes
12

After seeing the comment referenced in the previous reply about Obsidian using a “browser-style navigation system”, I tried the equivalent in several browsers. Here’s what I found.

Using the Favorites/Bookmarks sidebar - In Edge, Chrome, and Firefox, clicking a link to a URL already open in a pinned tab changes focus to that tab and does not open a new, duplicate tab.

Using the Favorites/Bookmarks open in a window or tab - Firefox focuses the pinned tab while Edge and Chrome open the link in a new, duplicate tab. I was surprised with the inconsistency here.

In all of the browsers, clicking a link on a web page usually opens the link in the current tab rather than switching to the pinned tab.

I would at least like the option of not opening a duplicate tab when a pinned note is clicked in the sidebar navigation. This would be consistent with the behavior of all 3 browsers, so in that regard Obsidian currently is not following “browser-style” for sidebar navigation clicks.

6 Likes
13

Seconding the request to have an option. Personally, this isn’t the behavior I expect and would like to be able to change it.

14

I also second the idea to have the possibility to choose to either automatically select the pinned tab whose open page is the one i clicked or not.

15

I would also love to see this feature implemented!

To me, the intuitive behavior would be that if you click a link of a note that is pinned, it switches to that pinned tab. If it’s not pinned, it opens a new tab. However, I feel like this could be a very simple toggle in the options so that users can have it both ways.

2 Likes