I use iCloud to sync my notes across devices. I’d like to have all my plugins and custom settings synced across devices. From reading docs (and inspecting my files), these seem to all be stored in a (hidden) folder called .obsidian at the top of my vault.
Between 2 macs, I see my .obsidian folder being synced successfully and all my plugins are synced. But on my iPhone, I don’t see my plugins. How can I sync across my mobile device.
Things I have tried
Marking my vault as Keep Downloaded in the Files app on my iPhone. I also tried viewing the .obsidian folder but it doesn’t seem possible to view hidden files (and therefore confirm if they are copied onto my phone).
Creating a custom config folder that isn’t hidden, but unfortunately Obsidian requires the config folder to start with a ..
iCloud Drive should sync the .obsidian/ folder(s) fine. It has for me since starting to use Obsidian. Two things I can think of:
The Files app on iOS/iPadOS doesn’t show hidden files or folders. You’ll need a separate app for that (Textastic, Taio, etc). Some folks think .obsidian/ isn’t syncing because they can’t see it in the Files app.
The path of a vault needs to be exactly iCloud Drive/Obsidian/<vault-name>/ for iOS/iPadOS to read it properly. Sometimes the wrong vault folder is opened on macOS, i.e., desktop Obsidian is using one .obsidian and iOS using another .obsidian settings folder. Plugins, themes, etc., won’t be syncing properly then. Something to check on.
Here’s my iCloud Drive/Obsidian/ structure with four Obsidian vaults. Each have their own .obsidian settings folder.
Strange that Finder doesn’t show this intermediate Documents folder, but Obsidian seems to be using as the root of a single vault (as compared to your multiple vaults) and it shows up with ls.
$ ls -a ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/
. .. .DS_Store .hidden Documents
$ ls -a ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents
. .DS_Store Archive Public work
.. .obsidian Notes Todo
$ ls -a ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents/Notes
. .. sample doc.md
...Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~md~obsidian/Documents is how Obsidian’s “home” iCloud Drive folder looks in the terminal.
Yeah, as suspected, the path is wrong here assuming you want work, Todo, Notes, Public, and Archive in one vault. iOS is reading each of those as a vault.
On macOS I would:
close Obsidian.
using the Finder, create a new folder in that Obsidian folder. CoolNewVault or whatever. The path, looking in the Finder, will be iCloud Drive/Obsidian/CoolNewVault/.
drag work, Todo, Notes, Public, and Archive into CoolNewVault.
Open Obsidian and in the vault switcher/“Manage vaults” choose Open folder as vault and select new vault name.
With Obsidian closed again, you can move the original .obsidian folder from iCloud Drive/Obsidian/ into iCloud Drive/Obsidian/CoolNewVault/ or just start fresh with the new one already in there. It’s up to you.
On iOS, Obsidian will probably show you the mobile vault switcher on next launch and choose whatever you named the new vault.
edit: I noticed you can’t see the .obsidian folder in your Finder screenshot. Type Command + Shift + . (period) in the Finder to show hidden files and folders. That should help.
