Searching caused Obsidian to Freeze Up

Help
1

What I’m trying to do

I am trying to use the native search feature, however after typing roughly three characters, or if I even type one and wait, the entirety of Obsidian freezes up and I must end task to close it.

Things I have tried

I googled the forums and found someone mentioned deleting .json files from the .obsidian folder. Those files appear to be things like CSS, as well as plugins, hotkeys. They seem important. Do I really just blow this folder away?

I also disabled all of my plugins, and closed and re-opened it.
I downloaded the newest version of obsidian and installed it, 1.8.4, but the problem persists.

Specifically, it is here I am trying to search (screenshot)
image

In this screenshot, Obsidian is frozen now, after typing one character.

Do I need to re-create my vault? I have the premium sync feature purchased and turned on. Is that causing an issue?

I confirmed the folder is NOT within a folder that OneDrive is synchronizing.

2

What system are you on?
Mac, Win, Linux?

  1. What plugins are on? Activate safe mode (basically deactivate all plugins). Now try, if you can use the search function. Quit and try again. If this doesn’t work go on to point 2

  2. Very unusual, try to trash Obsidian and install a fresh copy from https://obsidian.md/

3

Windows 10.

While they are all turned off, here are my plugins;
Advanced Tables
Editor Width Slider
File Tree Alternative
Homepage
Image Converter

I tried the ‘Restricted Mode’ just now, as you suggested, but it still freezes upon that global search.
If I search within the page, that works fine.

I will try the full uninstall/reinstall as you suggest.
Thank you for offering up some suggestions!

4

Obsidian has an auto update feature but it doesn’t work reliable, therefore I suggested you to install a fresh copy of Obsidian.

One more thing, each vault stores its separate settings. Try to delete these setting files, to force Obsidian to fall back on (good) default settings.

  1. Make invisible files visible with your file browser
  2. navigate to your vault, in there, enter the invisible folder “.obsidian” and delete the settings files (keep the folders, they’re for CSS, themes and plugins)
5

Does this happen in the sandbox vault?
To enter the sandbox vault:
open right side bar; at the bottom, click the icon of a question mark in a circle; open the sandbox vault