Let me explain what I’m trying to achieve:
I have one vault on my mac that contains all my vaults (for cross referencing and in general not having to switch between vaults when working)
I use sync to sync my notes to my work PC, which should only include main/Work folder.
In my main vault I save images to meta/Images.
Syncing the main vault and excluding all folders but meta and Work folder will include images from other vaults.
Setting up Sync on my Work folder forces me to switch vaults when working in order to save it to Work/meta/Images.
I want to achieve having images used in my work related markdown files automatically be moved and re-referenced in Work/meta/images as soon as I drop them in the work folder.
I think it would be beneficial to keeping personal stuff and work seperated, as I havent seen a nifty solution to quickly switch between .obsidian configs.
Does it make sense? Have any of you found some better solution to this?
Your use case indeed involves good control of which files go where. Obsidian, however, does not place file management very central - you can perfectly use Obsidian without enabling the Files core plugin and caring where files are stored in the vault. Any attempt to manage files will involve some extra friction and discipline from your part, even if some automation on where files are placed can be set up, especially through community plugins like “Auto Note Mover”, “Templater” and others.
With plain Obsidian (only core functionality)
- You can set “Default location for new notes” to “Same folder as the current file”. This will increase the chance that new files you create for Work will end up under the “work” folder.
- However, you still need to be on watch where you are currently working, i.e., whether the currently open note was already in the desired folder.
- Alternatively, take the habit of moving any new note immediately to the target folder by having them created in the root folder, then moving them. This is quite quick especially when you bind the “Move current file to another folder” to a hotkey.
- You can set “Default location for new attachments” to “In subfolder under current folder”. That way, attachments you drag in will be saved in a subfolder.
- However, make sure to move the note immediately to the right place. If you need to move the note later on, the attachment will not be moved with it.
You can keep files separate in subfolders, and thus separate your “Work” context from the rest, but this requires some manual and disciplined file management.