# Reading view: tabs are not expanded to tab stops, so "\>" + Tab makes a code block and tab-indented list items do not nest

**URL:** <https://forum.obsidian.md/t/reading-view-tabs-are-not-expanded-to-tab-stops-so-tab-makes-a-code-block-and-tab-indented-list-items-do-not-nest/119767>\
**Category:** Bug reports\
**Created:** [October 24, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/reading-view-tabs-are-not-expanded-to-tab-stops-so-tab-makes-a-code-block-and-tab-indented-list-items-do-not-nest/119767 "2026-10-24T00:46:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mnaoumov](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mnaoumov/32/22325_2.png) [@mnaoumov](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/mnaoumov)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/reading-view-tabs-are-not-expanded-to-tab-stops-so-tab-makes-a-code-block-and-tab-indented-list-items-do-not-nest/119767/1 "2026-10-24T00:46:34Z")

</div>

### Steps to reproduce

Paste each sample into its own note and open Reading view (`→` stands for a Tab character):

```markdown
>→quoted text

```

```markdown
 - foo
   - bar
→ - baz

```

```markdown
*→*→*→

```

### Did you follow the troubleshooting guide?

Yes (reproduced in the sandbox vault, no community plugins).

### Expected result

CommonMark 0.31.2 expands a tab to the next multiple of 4 columns when it decides block structure:

1. `>`+Tab+`quoted text` is a quote holding the paragraph `quoted text` (the tab gives only 3 columns after `>`, and the first is the optional space, so it is not code).
2. `baz` is nested under `bar` (example 9).
3. `*→*→*→` is a horizontal rule (example 11).

### Actual result

1. A quote holding a code block `quoted text`.
2. `baz` is a sibling of `bar`.
3. Three nested empty list items.

Spec examples 2, 5, 6 and 7 show the same cause (` →foo` is a paragraph instead of code, and code after a tab inside a list item or a quote loses its leading columns).

### Environment

```auto
SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: 1.14.5
	Installer version: 1.14.4
	Operating system: Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26300
	Login status: not logged in
	Language: en
	Insider build toggle: off
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

```

Sandbox vault, no community plugins, default theme and settings.

### Additional information

Related, opposite symptom: [Editing modes: code blocks in blockquotes rendered as paragraph instead of code](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/83554) reports `>`+space+Tab+text, which Reading view shows as code and the editor as a paragraph. Under CommonMark that line is a paragraph, so it is Reading view that is off there too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mnaoumov](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mnaoumov/32/22325_2.png) [@mnaoumov](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/mnaoumov)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2026, 3:28am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/reading-view-tabs-are-not-expanded-to-tab-stops-so-tab-makes-a-code-block-and-tab-indented-list-items-do-not-nest/119767/2 "2026-10-25T03:28:48Z")

</div>

More shapes with the same cause, measured on 1.14.5 and on the current Catalyst build. CommonMark’s rule ([2.2 Tabs](https://spec.commonmark.org/0.31.2/#tabs)) is that a tab moves to the next multiple of 4 columns. Reading view instead counts a tab as a fixed amount, so a tab after spaces is short and a tab right after a marker is long:

| Markdown (`⇥` is a tab) | Reading view | CommonMark |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `␣␣⇥%%` then `[^1]: def` | a paragraph `%% 1: def`, and the footnote definition is gone | a code block `%%`, then the definition |
| `[ref]: /url` then `⇥code` | a code block | a paragraph `code` |
| `> x` then `⇥y` | a quote, then a code block `y` | one quote, `x y` (lazy continuation) |
| `- ⇥p` | a list item holding a code block `p` | a list item with the paragraph `p` |
| `+⇥␣␣␣x` and `1.⇥␣␣␣x` | a list item with the paragraph `x` | a list item holding a code block |
| `- item`, blank, `⇥␣␣␣para` | a second paragraph in the item | a code block in the item |
| `> [!note]` then `>⇥code` | a code block inside the callout | a paragraph, as in a plain quote |

The callout row is why `>⇥` behaves differently in a callout and in a plain quote. After a plain quote’s first line the tabbed line is a lazy continuation of that paragraph, where code cannot start. After a callout’s title line it starts a new block, and the tab after `>` is read as four columns, so it is code. With `>` and four spaces it is not code, because the first space belongs to the `>`.

In the first row the user-visible effect is that two spaces before a tab, instead of none, make a footnote definition on the next line stop existing.

* * *

Credit: found by @saberzero1 with the [remark-obsidian](https://github.com/quartz-community/remark-obsidian) parity harness; I re-checked it on 1.14.5 and the current Catalyst build.