Second Obsidian instance (or window + plugins), same Vault

[lukasweichselbaum]

Use case or problem

I use Obsidian for knowledge management AND for my yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily planning (plus journaling).

I like to separate these two use cases and also have a different visual appearance for either of them.

Proposed solution

Simply allow me to create multiple instances of Obsidian accessing the same vault, including the ability to load plugins etc. Also give me a way to use a different theme with that second instance etc. as to differentiate it and the purpose of that instance when using it.

All I need is to be able to access the plugins (mainly the calendar plugin) in the second window. When I move it over from the main one, it vanishes there… That’s not good because sometimes I need to access the calendar from there as well.

Current workaround (optional)

Using a window, but this is no satisfactory solution, as I don’t have access to the plugins etc.#

What I do currently. I have a sub-vault set up within my main vault and use that one for planning. Sometimes I have to create or access documents from within my planning. Here I run into issues…

Related feature requests (optional)

I’m aware there’s risks associated with nested vaults. I don’t really need a nested vault per se, I’m fine keeping the journaling/planning in a folder, but I do need the different theme and possibility to make it a separate but fully-featured window (with plugins).

Nested vaults - usage and risks

The developers strongly advise against any use of nested vaults, warning that the program is not designed to cope with them and things may break. (Nested vaults are vaults located within another vault. As with any folders, It is possible to have many layers of vaults.) They do however, have some uses: They allow the same vault to be open in more than one window. They allow sub-folders (aka nested vaults) to use a different CSS to other vaults, and to have its own saved workspace etc. They ma…

PS:
After considering everything here’s how I solved it for now:

I use a separate window with the calendar plugin in there (I just have to switch to that one when I want to access that plugin, which is okay, also I don’t have access to files, tags, etc. from there).

I keep my calendar and yearly, quarterly note on the left hand side and use the right hand side (split pane) for the tabs of the weekly notes (previous and this week, good to review the weeks also and when planning on the weekends) and the daily notes.

I have this one as full-screen on MacOS so I can quickly switch to planning during the day to review what I want to do next or record information in my daily note. On my “main desktop” I have my main instance of Obsidian with the rest of the plugins etc.

That’s an acceptable workaround for now. Would have been cuter with a separate instance and different theme, but it’s okay.

Hope this helps someone else who runs into this challenge as well.

[peeragetalkers]

Having the ability to open a second instance or window within the same vault would be really helpful. It’d make it so much easier to work on multiple things at once without having to constantly switch between tabs or notes. Definitely a feature I’d love to see!

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