# Show folders as areas in the graph **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature requests\ **Tags:** graph-view\ **Created:** [November 6, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208 "2020-11-06T13:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![feva](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/feva/32/6417_2.png) [@feva](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/feva)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/1 "2020-11-06T13:40:43Z")
Hi, Here’s my thought process: Folders serve to encapsulate several notes. Not a single note can be contained in two or more folders. This relation is unique within the graph visualization, one that is yet not being shown to the user. Something like this: ![image](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/2X/c/c22031ba25692ba4e11617408e6d1ca1e0d605a7.png) We would have then, that no area can overlap with another making easier to both: - Notice the connector hubs (as shown in the picture) - Notice areas that encapsulate one or more provincial hubs (as shown in the picture). Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![jfgrtsn](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/jfgrtsn/32/4454_2.png) [@jfgrtsn](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/jfgrtsn)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/2 "2020-11-06T13:45:09Z")
It would tend to clutter the graph, so it should be optional, but yeah, I like that idea. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/shanenz/32/4048_2.png) [@ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/ShaneNZ)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 1:09am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/5 "2020-11-07T01:09:03Z")
Love the idea, and have thought about it myself - I use a limited number of folders, but it would be very useful to see notes and groups like this. I have experimented linking every note in a folder to a note named the same as the folder to fake the same clustering effect. Note (hah, see what I did there) that this doesn’t really scale for tags as they’re not unique to a note. Past three tags it becomes successively more and more difficult to create overlapping areas that make sense (not to mention allow for the effects of linking). See [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn\_diagram](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venn_diagram) ---
**Author:** ![Ejipuh](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/ejipuh/32/6404_2.png) [@Ejipuh](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Ejipuh)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2020, 2:44am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/6 "2020-11-07T02:44:06Z")
This would be really nice. Pair it with [this](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/graph-view-presets-to-save-and-load-filters-display-settings/8131), and you’ll be rolling. ---
**Author:** ![I-d-as](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/i-d-as/32/59965_2.png) [@I-d-as](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/I-d-as)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/8 "2020-11-11T13:22:24Z")
I love this idea. And perhaps organization of the note location and folder hierarchy could be done within graph. [Graph view containers](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/graph-view-containers/6512) Thanks ---
**Author:** ![malecjan](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@malecjan](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/malecjan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/9 "2020-11-26T00:08:59Z")
### Related feature requests: - [Folder Graph View](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/folder-graph-view/4641) - Another idea exploiting encapsulation of disjoint sets in graph visualization: [Indicate connection type in the graph view](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/indicate-connection-type-in-the-graph-view/8260/2) (links between blocks vs files) ---
**Author:** ![Seri](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Seri](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Seri)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/10 "2022-04-11T00:50:05Z")
+1 I think this is an interesting idea. ---
**Author:** ![gislerro](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/ecccb3/32.png) [@gislerro](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/gislerro)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2022, 11:26am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/11 "2022-10-13T11:26:31Z")
This would be great addition for anyone that has a folder centric workflow - links between folders would be more easily visible ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/12 "2023-12-04T20:21:12Z")
Hi! I tried to solve the challenge of folder visualization with organic “puddles of water”. Maybe its interesting for you. > [@Graph View - Upgrade Ideas](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/graph-view-upgrade-ideas/72458): > > Hi everyone! I’ve put together some ideas for the graph view! Show Folders - Puddles of Water I use tags and directories as two layers of organization. Therefore I’d wish a visualisation of the directories could be added to the graph. I think it would also be easier to sense certain connections more intuitively. This approach is to visualize all notes with their tags in their directories, which are represented as “colored puddles of water”. This is intended to create an addi… ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/13 "2024-01-15T21:24:42Z")
I was thinking about the Venn diagram dilemma that would happen when trying to visualize all notes and tags within folders. The solution could actually be quite simple: You leave the tags outside the folder areas. This would give them a graphical interface function. The following rules should suffice to customize the Graph View in this respect: - Add a force that attracts notes from the same subfolder - Add a force that repels tags from the folder scope - Ensure that a subfolder stays within its parent folder scope I think it would also be possible to achieve a reasonably deterministic arrangement of the nodes with the help of an additional force. ([Graph-positional locking - #3 by Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/graph-positional-locking/24505/3)) - This force would have to move notes (or tags) with similar words or similar word meanings in the title in a similar direction. This means that a target point or direction would have to be calculated deterministically from the title. The result might look something like this: ![Folders without tags](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/4/b/4b342f129964a76d303f7e3cf1d47a77289ee815.png) ---
**Author:** ![ryadaj](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/ryadaj/32/12683_2.png) [@ryadaj](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/ryadaj)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/14 "2024-01-28T22:22:39Z")
I think this is a brilliant idea. ---
**Author:** ![hu4d](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/hu4d/32/48217_2.png) [@hu4d](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/hu4d)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/15 "2024-02-13T02:07:12Z")
Genius ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 12:54pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/16 "2024-02-13T12:54:07Z")
Thanks ---
**Author:** ![ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/shanenz/32/4048_2.png) [@ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/ShaneNZ)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/17 "2024-02-28T21:00:48Z")
This plugin [GitHub - Ratibus11/folders2graph: Display your Obsidian vault folder structure into your graphs.](https://github.com/Ratibus11/folders2graph) doesn’t do the puddles/areas, but it does create a node for each folder in the graph, that pulls all the nodes in a folder together, balanced against the other forces/connections on the node. With it active, this is what one of my vaults looks like: ![image](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/0/0/000fb8a1fe537f254a4ed203256f4afdbd83d818.jpeg) The larger nodes are folders, and I’ve also colour the nodes uniquely to the folders as well - so top right, there’s a folder with a bunch of green nodes in a nice “puddle” that are not connected to anything else (they’re Kindle highlights). Elsewhere in the graph however you can see notes that are in a folder (same colour) but are elsewhere on the graph due to the links in that note (pink and red agains the blue folders/notes are the easiest to see). I still wonder (as in my post above in this thread) if it is actually topologically possible to draw “puddles” around all the notes in a folder, while still taking into account the grouping force of the linkages. ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/18 "2024-02-29T14:09:50Z")
Thanks for mentioning the folders2graph plugin. I think it would be possible to draw these puddles around the notes as they are arranged now. They would sometimes get a very complex outline and in some places they would overlap. But if you also wanted to include the tags in the puddles, I think it would become too chaotic. You could add a slider for an additional force that determines whether you prefer to have the notes closer to the center of a folder or spread them out more freely. ---
**Author:** ![ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/shanenz/32/4048_2.png) [@ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/ShaneNZ)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/19 "2024-02-29T20:06:56Z")
This is the same graph with no tags, and no attachments: ![image](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/b/b/bb79a7979c33ffff1ae171bb93640743840c77c6.png) There’s still a few nodes that are a fair way away from their folder nodes, just due to the link connection force - notes that live in one folder, but are heavily connected to nodes in other folders (MOC’s or a widely reference lit source note would be a good example of this kind of thing). If you used an invisible folder node, with a node force that that went to an upper limit swamping all the linking connection forces, they maybe you could get to a point with the layout where you could draw puddles? ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/20 "2024-02-29T21:09:13Z")
> [@ShaneNZ](#): > > If you used an invisible folder node, with a node force that that went to an upper limit swamping all the linking connection forces, they maybe you could get to a point with the layout where you could draw puddles? Yes, I think so. ---
**Author:** ![Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/mutzu/32/59643_2.png) [@Mutzu](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Mutzu)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/21 "2025-01-21T16:22:37Z")
I’d like to show you the results of my experiments… ![Mockup hq](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/3/4/34d7dd7bc79b3cfeaba5924884703ad482abace1.gif) But it appears to me that implementing it as a plugin causes too many issues. This is more technical: > [@Graph View Folders](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/graph-view-folders/90362/3): > > Just in case there’s a chance that this feature finds its way into Obsidian’s core functionality, I’d like to share my findings with you. But implemented as a plugin, I’m expecting too many performance issues. Algorithm Description [Welzel’s Algorithm](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/minimum-enclosing-circle/) Finds the minimum enclosing circle around a bunch of nodes if the folders should look like pretty circles. [Quickhull](https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/quickhull-algorithm-convex-hull/?ref=header_outind) Finds the outer nodes of a cloud of nodes that comprise a convex hull. Perhaps it could speed up overall performance if i… ---
**Author:** ![ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/shanenz/32/4048_2.png) [@ShaneNZ](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/ShaneNZ)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/show-folders-as-areas-in-the-graph/8208/22 "2025-01-21T23:05:03Z")
That is beautiful, great work 😮 A shame the performance issues stop it being a plugin reality, but thank you for the exploration and experimentation!