This is a “had a problem, found a workaround” post for others who might encounter this, as well.
Things I have tried (before I found the workaround)
- Googled for “obsidian cannot open inspector” (assumed that would cover the Obsidian help site, as well as the forum here)
- Disabled plugins one-by-one, without restarting Obsidian in between, and attempted to open Chromium Dev Tools / Inspector
- Tested capability in the sandbox instance (via Help → Open Sandbox Vault) and it worked there, just not in my main Obsidian vault
- Searched for a Hotkey binding for CTRL+Shift+i - none found
What I’m trying to do
- Open Obsidian’s Chromium Dev Tools / Inspector on Windows by pressing CTRL+Shift+i
What ultimately worked
On a whim, I disabled all Community Plugins via Options -> Community Plugins -> Restricted Mode -> Turn on. Tried the keystroke combo (CTRL+Shift+i) again but still couldn’t open Dev Tools. Left Restricted Mode on but closed Obsidian, then reopened.
I tried the keystroke combo again - this time it worked! Thinking this must be related to a plugin, turned Restricted Mode off to reload all of my plugins again. At this point, I …
- Tried the keystroke combo: Success!
- Restarted Obsidian (with
Restricted Modeoff/all of my plugins still enabled), then tried the keystroke combo again: Success! - Restarted once more to ensure this wasn’t some transient condition, tried the keystroke combo once again: Success!
So, to summarize, what worked for me:
- Enable
Restricted ModeinOptions/Community plugins(to disable all plugins) - Restart Obsidian
- Disable
Restricted ModeinOptions/Community plugins(to re-enable all plugins) - Restart Obsidian
- Profit