TextBundle support

purplebrackets · July 5, 2023, 8:21am

Future-proofing Obsidian: Proposal for a TextBundle-oriented Asset Management

Context

Obsidian’s robustness shines, but when it comes to attachment management, things get chaotic and that hinders the efficiency of my vault.

Use case or problem

When capturing web pages, either I get only markdown text without images, or I add images to the vault where they remain loosely connected to my note and stored in a messy asset folder.
Scanned paper invoices along with notes necessitate manual handling of images when notes are relocated.
In cases like a note containing personal photos, images remain detached, making potential migrations cumbersome.

Proposed solution

Upon dragging and dropping or scanning an asset (be it a picture, audio file, or scan), it should automatically embed within the note. In essence, the Obsidian vault should become a collection of self-contained notes, eliminating the need for a separate asset directory.

Envisage an Obsidian interface, underpinned by the TextBundle philosophy. The UI would stay exactly as it is, but a coding layer could simplify the embedding of assets, enhancing the vault’s organization and future-proofness.

Current workaround

FolderNote - I place assets within folders, but this involves a lot of manual work. Also, it results in a mixed bag of markdown notes and folders, making things cluttered and hard to manage. In the screenshot below, notes with attachements are in red, those without are in blue.
Bear App - I use a Python script to scan my vault, detect attachment errors, create a TextBundle backup, and import it to Bear for integrity checks. I am also waiting for Bear 2, which may better serve my needs.

The objective here is to introduce a feature that removes the need for such convoluted, inconsistent, or external workaround strategies.