I’ve built a small plugin called Autosave Control.
By default, Obsidian automatically saves files about two seconds after the start of user input, and then saves every two seconds until no more changes are detected. This is convenient, but in some workflows it can be distracting — for example when using external sync tools, version control, or when you just want to reduce the frequency of writes to disk.
This plugin introduces a way to delay autosaves while keeping manual saves (Ctrl/Cmd+S) immediate:
Autosaves are detected and deferred for a user-defined interval (default: 10 seconds).
Manual saves (using the normal shortcut or the command palette) still write to disk immediately.
A small status indicator in the status bar shows whether changes are pending (blue) or everything is saved (green).
On quit/close or tab switch, pending changes are flushed automatically.
The goal is not to disable autosaving, but simply to add a buffer before automatic writes. This makes autosave behavior more predictable, while leaving manual saves fully under your control.
I have created a new version 0.0.4, released today on github, which i have also put into the plugin review process, where I hope we will find a way to include the plugin into the community plugin list.
Thank you for this! Trying out this plugin (with caution), and seems to be mostly working as expected so far. CPU usage of Obsidian Helper (Renderer) process is down from 120% to ~15% while actively typing a note. I’m also seeing a massive decrease in power consumption on my Mac (18W → 9W) while typing long notes, as a result of the sync not happening on every keystroke.
Personally, I’m happy to take the risk (and some time to make extra Vault backups) if it means I can double the battery life of my Mac while using Obsidian.
Just a some comments:
Maybe it’s my eyes, but it’s hard to distinguish between blue and green for the indicator. Perhaps orange and green would be clearer?
Pending changes not being synced when closing/quitting Obsidian on MacOS (using Cmd+W, Cmd+Q, or closing the window). My current workarounds are to wait until the sync interval, Cmd+S to save, close tab, or switch to different note before closing the Obsidian window.
I noticed that headings don’t appear on the headings pane (right side) until the autosave occurs. I’m guessing this kind of behaviour will happen with a lot of Obsidian features and community plugins while using this plugin, and might result in unexpected issues.
I’m curious to see how this works on iOS/Android. I have no way of measuring power consumption on my iPhone but suspect that the power savings while typing a note might be as dramatic as they are on my Mac.
Interesting, I haven’t even thought about the potential for energy savings, that is good to note, and a huge bonus!
As per your comment, I took a look at the quitting/tab closing behaviour. I think I fixed this as of today (new version of plugin, 0.0.5).
I have also added a custom color changer to the settings pane, so one can set their own preferred colors for the indicator.
As for the header list on the right side - they seem to be only refreshed only when the file is saved, but there is no easy way to fix this, because it is core Obsidian code…
If you find out any other bugs or errors, please do let me know, and thanks for using the plugin!
Firstly, thank you for this plugin, it works very well for me after I experienced issues with syncing my vault to iCloud drive on Windows.
I noticed in the release notes that you mentioned a color picker was added to the settings pane, however after updating to v0.0.5, I do not see this option in the settings pane, only the Save Interval control. Am I looking in the right place?
The color picker options should be there in v0.0.5, I have just double-checked on Mac and Windows. They are in Obsidian Settings/Community plugins/Autosave Control/Options gear icon.
My presumption is that it was probably an issue with updating the plugin.
Make sure that you completely remove the previous version plugin folder before installing v0.0.5. Afterwards, in Obsidian, go to Options/Community plugins and use the “Reload plugins” button (alternatively, completely close and restart Obsidian as it will reload the plugins from the disk).
I deleted the plugin folder and re-added it, then reloaded the plugins, but the color options still did not appear in the settings page. However, after I closed Obsidian and restarted it, I was able to see the color options in there. Thanks for the help!
GitHub – mihasm/obsidian-autosave-control