I currently have 2 Vaults: Work and Private.
My Problem: Many things I do at work are also kind of my Hobby (I’m a programmer). But I’d die on the spot if a colleague would see some of my more private notes while I search for something during a pairing session.
Proposed solution
I’d like to see a Work-Mode Button which automatically hides all my Private files and excludes them from the search. How would Obsidian know that something is private? Well, an easy way would be to nominate a tag (either preset by Obsidian or set by the User), like #private.
This would fit into my workflow because I use templates for new notes and I’d just add the #private tag by default.
Current workaround (optional)
I use 2 vaults / git repos, but I’d really like to keep all my knowledge in a single place with certain guards.
Just a quick idea/workaround: if you put all your work notes in a subfolder of your vault, then at work you could open that subfolder as a separate vault. In case you are using a sync solution for your vaults (obsidian sync or any other syncing software), I would however strongly recommend to only sync your top-level vault - otherwise there might possibly occur some syncing conflicts.
I totally get this and the idea of a “sub-vault” is a nice workaround.
This suggestions leads me to something I alos wished for - even though motivated looking at things from a different angle.
I want to have all things in one vault (so far) since I want the cross-pollination effect of ideas.
At the same time, I want to focus on small areas of my work 7 interests.
Often, I thought: it would be great to be able to define work areas. The workplaces are a good start, but I’d wish for sommething more freely adjustable (Premiere Pro is a god example that provides users with a LOT of freedom to create dedicated work environments geared towards audio, colors or classic editing of video)
This could perfectly be married with the above mentioned desire for separation of vault content at will:
Defining a workplace would first be defining areas of the vault to be displayed
This could also allow for setting root folders on lower levels in order to exclude structure above.
Searhcig in the workplace would only allow to surface content “enabled” by for this area
On top of that, there could be a dedicated layout could be crafted that is perfectly in tune with its purpose: task management, linked note creation, dedicated writing on focused content etc.
After all, Obsidian is such a great tool to develop thinking environments already. But I think adding such capabilities would make this tool even more unique and versatile.