Core Plugins

Behavior spec for all 30 Obsidian core plugins, including Bases, Canvas, Graph view, Templates, Daily notes, and the paid Sync/Publish services.

Source of truth for the clean-room clone. All behavior below is reverse-engineered from the official documentation at help.obsidian.md (now served from https://obsidian.md/help/...), fetched 2026-06-10. The core-plugin index lists 30 core plugins (verified against https://obsidian.md/help/plugins and the sitemap). Importer is not a core plugin (see its section).

Canonical core-plugin list and one-line descriptions from the index page:

Plugin	Official description
Audio recorder	“Record and save audio recordings directly in a note.”
Backlinks	“See all the links and unlinked mentions of a note.”
Bases	“Create custom views that let you edit, sort, and filter files using their properties.”
Bookmarks	“Save links to notes, headings, searches, and more.”
Canvas	“Organize notes visually with an infinite space to lay out ideas.”
Command palette	“Quickly access commands from your keyboard.”
Daily notes	“Create and open notes based on the current date.”
File explorer	“Browse files and folders inside your vault.”
File recovery	“Recover your work from regular snapshots.”
Footnotes view	“Show a list of footnotes from the current note.”
Format converter	“Convert Markdown from other apps to Obsidian format.”
Graph view	“Visualize relationships between notes in your vault.”
Note composer	“Merge two notes or split one into two.”
Outgoing links	“Show all links for the active note.”
Outline	“Show the table of contents for the active note.”
Page preview	“Preview the contents of a note by hovering over links.”
Properties view	“List all the properties in your vault, and see properties for the active note.”
Publish	Host notes as a website, wiki, or documentation (paid service).
Quick switcher	“Search, create and open notes from your keyboard.”
Random note	“Opens a random note in your vault.”
Search	“Find files in your vault.”
Slash commands	“Perform commands inside the editor using the `/` key.”
Slides	“Create a presentation from your notes.”
Sync	Synchronize notes across devices (paid service).
Tags view	“List all the tags in your vault.”
Templates	“Insert pre-defined content into your notes.”
Unique note creator	“Create a unique note using a time-coded title.”
Web viewer	“Open external links in Obsidian.”
Word count	“Display the number of words and characters.”
Workspaces	“Save layouts and switch between them.”

Audio recorder

Purpose

Lets you record and save audio in a note — for lectures, meetings, or “situations where you can’t type fast enough.”

UI surfaces

Ribbon icon: “Start/stop recording” (microphone icon, lucide-mic). The icon changes color while recording is active. Single click toggles recording on/off.

Commands

Start/stop recording — the single toggle command.

Settings

None documented.

Behavior

User opens or creates a note.
Click ribbon mic icon → recording starts; icon color indicates active state.
Click again → recording stops.
The audio file is saved into the vault and automatically embedded at the end of the active note using standard embed syntax.
The audio file persists in the vault even if the embed is removed from the note; user deletes it manually via File explorer.

File formats

Writes an audio file to the vault (docs do not name the codec; Obsidian uses .webm in practice — verify at implementation time). Embeds via the standard ![[file]] mechanism.

Interactions

File explorer (file management), embed system, attachment-location settings.

Prerequisites

A configured microphone.

Backlinks

Purpose

Discover which notes reference the active note — both explicit internal links and plain-text “unlinked mentions.”

UI surfaces

Right-sidebar “Backlinks” tab (links-coming-in icon) with two collapsible sections:
- Linked mentions — backlinks containing explicit internal links to the active note.
- Unlinked mentions — occurrences of the active note’s name (or alias) in other notes without an explicit link; each offers a button to convert the mention into a link.
Linked backlinks tab — a separate, persistent tab pinned to a specific note, showing its backlinks regardless of which note is active (displays a link icon to indicate binding).
Backlinks in document — an optional collapsible backlinks section rendered at the bottom of the note itself.

Settings (in the backlinks pane)

Collapse results — toggle expansion of each note’s mention list.
Show more context — toggle paragraph truncation around each mention.
Change sort order — sort order of mentions.
Show search filter — toggles a search field that filters mentions using Search syntax.
Backlink in document (plugin setting) — when enabled, automatically shows backlinks at the bottom of every opened note.

Commands

Backlinks: Show backlinks — reveal the Backlinks sidebar tab.
Backlinks: Open backlinks for the current note — open a note-bound linked backlinks tab.
Backlinks: Toggle backlinks in document — toggle the in-note backlinks section.

Interactions

Uses Search syntax for the filter field.
Notes matching the vault-wide Excluded files patterns do not appear in Unlinked mentions.
Canvas text-only cards do not appear as backlinks (see Canvas).

Bases

Purpose

“A core plugin that lets you create database-like views of your notes.” A base lets you view, edit, sort, and filter files and their properties. All data lives in local Markdown files and their frontmatter properties — the base itself is only a view definition.

File formats

.base files — standalone YAML documents defining a base.
Embedded bases — the same YAML inside a ```base code block in any Markdown note.
Embedding a base file: ![[File.base]] (renders the first view) or ![[File.base#ViewName]] (renders a specific view).

Creating a base

Command palette: Bases: Create new base (creates a .base file in the same folder as the active file) and Bases: Insert new base (creates a base embedded as a code block in the current file).
File explorer: right-click folder → New base.
Ribbon: Create new base (same folder as active file).
Command palette: Bases: Add view adds a view to the current base.

View menu — create, edit, switch views. First view in the list loads by default. Drag views by their icon to reorder. Click view name → right arrow (or right-click the view name) for view settings. “Add view” creates a new view.
Results — shows result count; limit, copy, and export files.
- Copy puts the view on the clipboard, pasteable into Markdown or spreadsheets (Google Sheets, Excel, Numbers).
- Export saves a CSV of the current view.
Sort — sort and group files (see below).
Filter — filter files (see below).
Properties — choose which properties to display and create formulas.
Search — search items using their displayed properties.
New — create a new file in the current view.

Filters

Two scopes: All views (base-wide) and This view (active view only). Global and view filters concatenate with AND.
Each filter row = Property (from vault properties) + Operator (varies by property type) + Value (supports math and functions).
Conjunctions: “All the following are true” (AND), “Any of the following are true” (OR), “None of the following are true” (NOT). Filter groups nest via combinations of conjunctions.
A code button opens the advanced filter editor exposing raw filter syntax for functions not available in the GUI.

Sort and group

Sort by one or more properties ASC/DESC; multiple sorts prioritized via drag handles.
Sort options by type — Text: A→Z / Z→A; Number: smallest→largest / largest→smallest; Date: old→new / new→old.
Group by exactly one property to split results into visually distinct sections.

`.base` YAML syntax (complete)

Top-level keys: filters, formulas, properties, summaries, views.

filters:
  or:
    - file.hasTag("tag")
    - and:
        - file.hasTag("book")
        - file.hasLink("Textbook")
    - not:
        - file.hasTag("book")
formulas:
  formatted_price: 'if(price, price.toFixed(2) + " dollars")'
  ppu: "(price / age).toFixed(2)"
properties:
  status:
    displayName: Status
  formula.formatted_price:
    displayName: "Price"
  file.ext:
    displayName: Extension
summaries:
  customAverage: 'values.mean().round(3)'
views:
  - type: table
    name: "My table"
    limit: 10
    groupBy:
      property: note.age
      direction: DESC
    filters:
      and:
        - 'status != "done"'
        - or:
            - "formula.ppu > 5"
            - "price > 2.1"
    order:
      - file.name
      - file.ext
      - note.age
      - formula.ppu
      - formula.formatted_price
    summaries:
      formula.ppu: Average

filters: recursive objects keyed and / or / not; leaves are strings that evaluate truthy/falsey using comparison operators (==, !=, >, <, >=, <=) and functions.
formulas: named computed properties; string expressions over properties, operators, and functions.
properties: per-property display config, currently displayName (used for table headers etc.).
summaries: named custom aggregations using the values keyword (the column’s visible values).
views: array; each view has type (built-in or plugin-provided), name (also used by ![[base#View]]), optional filters, order (column/property order), sort, groupBy (property + direction: ASC|DESC), limit, summaries (map of property → summary name), plus layout-specific options.

Property namespaces

Note properties (frontmatter): note.author, shorthand author.
File properties: file.name (string), file.basename (name w/o extension), file.path, file.folder, file.ext, file.size (bytes), file.ctime (date), file.mtime (date), file.tags (list, includes inline tags), file.links (list of internal links), file.backlinks (list; performance-heavy), file.embeds (list), file.properties (object of all frontmatter), file.file (file object for functions).
Formula properties: formula.<name>.
this keyword: in the main content area → the base file’s own properties; in an embedded base → the embedding file’s properties; in the sidebar → the active file in the main content area.

Type system

Strings: '…' or "…". Numbers: 1, (2.5). Booleans: unquoted true/false. Dates: date("2025-01-01 12:00:00"). Lists: list(), indexed [i]. Objects: dot notation or prop["subprop"]. Links: link("filename") / link("filename", "display"); links in frontmatter are auto-recognized. Links compare equal if they point to the same file and are comparable to files with ==/!=.
Date arithmetic: date + "1M", date - "2h", now() + "1 day", file.mtime > now() - "1 week". Duration units: y/year, M/month, w/week, d/day, h/hour, m/minute, s/second.

Functions (complete reference)

Global: escapeHTML(html) → string; date(string) → date (format YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss); duration(value) → duration (e.g. duration('1d')); file(path|file|url) → file; html(string) → renderable HTML; if(condition, trueResult, falseResult?); image(path|file|url) → image rendered in the view; icon(name) → Lucide icon; link(path, display?) → Link; list(element) → wraps in list; max(...numbers); min(...numbers); now() → current datetime; number(input) (dates → ms, booleans → 0/1); today() → current date at midnight; random() → 0–1, refreshes on view load.

Any type: .isTruthy(), .isType(type), .toString().

String: .length (field), .contains(v), .containsAll(...v), .containsAny(...v), .endsWith(q), .isEmpty(), .lower(), .replace(pattern|regexp, replacement) (regex capture groups $1…), .repeat(n), .reverse(), .slice(start, end?), .split(sep|regexp, n?), .startsWith(q), .title() (capitalize each word), .trim().

Number: .abs(), .ceil(), .floor(), .isEmpty(), .round(digits?), .toFixed(precision) → string.

Date: fields .year, .month (1–12), .day, .hour (0–23), .minute, .second, .millisecond; .date() (strip time), .format(momentPattern), .time() → string, .relative() (human-readable vs now), .isEmpty() (always false for dates).

List: .length (field), .contains(v), .containsAll(...), .containsAny(...), .filter(expr) (vars value, index), .flat(), .isEmpty(), .join(sep), .map(expr) (vars value, index), .reduce(expr, acc) (vars value, index, acc), .reverse(), .slice(start, end?), .sort(), .unique().

Link: .asFile() → file (if valid local reference), .linksTo(file) → boolean.

File: fields as listed under property namespaces, plus .asLink(display?), .hasLink(otherFile|string), .hasProperty(name), .hasTag(...values) (includes nested tags), .inFolder(folder) (includes subfolders).

Object: .isEmpty(), .keys(), .values().

Regexp: /pattern/.matches(string) → boolean.

View layouts

Table (v1.9+) — files as rows, columns from properties.

Row height: short / medium / tall / extra tall.
Summaries: right-click column header → “Summarize…” → built-in or custom formula. Results render at column bottoms; when grouped, at group tops. Per-view (the same column can have different summaries in different views). Built-ins — all types: Empty, Filled, Unique; numbers: Average, Max, Median, Min, Range, Stddev, Sum; dates: Earliest, Latest, Range; checkbox: Checked, Unchecked. Custom summaries are named formulas over values (e.g. values.reduce(...)).
Keyboard: Ctrl/Cmd+C copy, Ctrl/Cmd+V paste, Tab/Shift+Tab cell navigation, Ctrl+Space select column, Shift+Space select row, Enter focus/toggle, Home/End first/last column, Backspace clear cells, Esc clear selection.

Cards (v1.9+) — gallery-like grid with optional cover images.

Card size — card width.
Image property — property supplying the cover; accepts local attachment links ("[[path/img.jpg]]"), external URLs, or hex color codes (#000000).
Image fit — Cover (fills content box, may crop) or Contain (scaled to fit, never cropped).
Image aspect ratio — controls cover height; default 1:1.

List (v1.10+) — bulleted/numbered list.

Markers: bullets / numbers / none.
Indent properties: when on, non-primary properties render as indented sub-items; primary property = topmost in the Properties menu (drag, or Alt+Up/Down).
Separator: when indent/nesting is off, the character separating properties on one line (default comma).

Map (v1.10+) — files as pins on an interactive map. Requires the Maps plugin (official plugin installed separately); Obsidian 1.10+.

File frontmatter: coordinates as "lat, lng" text or ["lat", "lng"] list; optional icon (Lucide name, e.g. landmark, utensils); optional color (hex/RGB/named CSS).
View settings: marker coordinates property (required), marker icon property, marker color property/formula; center coordinates, zoom constraints, embedded height, background/tiles.
Map tiles customizable via TileJSON or tile URLs (e.g. OpenFreeMap free styles: Dark, Positron, Liberty).
Formula-based icons/colors supported (e.g. list(type)[0].asFile().properties.icon).

Community plugins can register additional view layouts.

Interactions

Reads/writes note frontmatter (editing a cell edits the file’s properties). Integrates with Properties, tags, links, Search-like filtering, attachments (cover images), Maps plugin.

Bookmarks

Purpose

“A bookmark is a ‘shortcut’ that immediately takes you to the bookmarked item.”

Bookmarkable item types

Files, Folders, Graphs (global graph configurations), Searches (queries), Headings, Blocks, Links (web URLs via Web viewer). Constraint: local graphs cannot be bookmarked.

UI surfaces

Bookmarks tab in the left sidebar (lucide-bookmark icon); shown via command Bookmarks: Show bookmarks.
Tab header buttons: Bookmark the active tab (lucide-bookmark-plus), New bookmark group (lucide-folder-plus), plus sort/collapse controls.
Entry points for creating bookmarks:
- File explorer: right-click file/folder → Bookmark; multi-select (Alt+click individual, Shift+click range) → right-click → Bookmark all.
- Command palette: “Bookmark…” commands, including Bookmark heading under cursor and Bookmark block under cursor.
- Search pane: three-dot menu next to the result count → bookmark the search.
- Graph tab: right-click → Bookmark.
- Heading: right-click → Bookmark this heading.
- Web viewer: address-bar three-dot menu → Bookmark (or command palette while a web page is focused).
- Tab group: tab-group dropdown → Bookmark [N] tabs.

Bookmark creation/editing

On creation: optional custom title and group assignment.
Edit bookmark dialog to modify existing bookmarks.
Right-click bookmark → Remove. Removing a group removes all bookmarks inside it.

Organization

Groups (folders of bookmarks), expandable/collapsible, nestable.
Drag bookmarks to reorder and to move between groups.
Selecting a bookmark opens the item.

Commands

Bookmarks: Show bookmarks
Bookmark the active tab / current file
Bookmark heading under cursor
Bookmark block under cursor

Storage

Bookmarks are vault configuration (stored under the vault’s .obsidian config folder — bookmarks.json in practice; docs don’t name the file).

Interactions

Web viewer (URL bookmarks), Search (saved searches), Graph view (saved graph configs), File explorer, Command palette.

Canvas

Purpose

“Canvas is a core plugin for visual note-taking. It gives you infinite space to lay out notes and connect them to other notes, attachments, and web pages.”

Creating a canvas

Command palette: Canvas: Create new canvas (creates in the active file’s folder).
File explorer: right-click folder → New canvas.
Ribbon: Create new canvas icon.

Card types

Text cards (no file reference) — double-click empty canvas, or the blank-file icon in the bottom toolbar. Support Markdown, links, code blocks. Not visible in Backlinks unless converted: right-click → Convert to file….
Note cards — document icon in bottom toolbar, right-click → Add note from vault, or drag from File explorer. Double-click to edit inline. Right-click → Swap file to point at a different note.
Media cards — image icon in bottom toolbar, right-click → Add media from vault, or drag in. Supports images, audio, PDFs, and unrecognized file types.
Web page cards — right-click → Add web page (enter URL), or drag a URL from a browser. Open externally: Ctrl/Cmd+click the card label or right-click → Open in browser. (With Web viewer enabled, web cards can open as Web viewer tabs.)
Folder cards — drag a folder from File explorer to add all contained files.

Card operations

Select: click; box-select by dragging; Shift+click to add/remove; Ctrl/Cmd+A select all.
Move: drag (selection brings card to front). Duplicate: Alt/Option+drag. Constrain axis: Shift+drag. Disable snapping: hold Space while dragging.
Resize: drag edges; Shift preserves aspect ratio; Space disables snapping.
Edit: double-click a text/note card; Esc to stop editing.
Delete: right-click → Delete, Backspace/Delete key, or the remove icon in the floating selection controls.
Color: select cards/connections → selection controls → Set color → preset color or custom.

Connections (edges)

Create: hover a card edge until a filled circle appears, drag to the target card’s edge. Dragging into empty space creates a new card at the endpoint.
Disconnect: hover the line until endpoint circles appear, drag a circle off the card; or right-click line → Remove; or select line + Backspace/Delete.
Reconnect: drag an endpoint circle to another card.
Navigate: right-click line → Go to target / Go to source.
Label: double-click the line, type, Esc; or select line → Edit label; edit via double-click or right-click → Edit label.

Groups

Empty group: right-click canvas → Create group. From selection: select cards → right-click → Create group.
Rename: double-click the group name, Enter to save.
Moving a group moves its contents.

Pan: Space+drag, middle-mouse drag, scroll (vertical) / Shift+scroll (horizontal).
Zoom: Ctrl/Cmd (or Space)+scroll; zoom in/out buttons (upper right); Zoom to fit button or Shift+1; Zoom to selection via right-click → Zoom to selection or Shift+2; reset via zoom controls.

File format — `.canvas` (open JSON Canvas 1.0 spec, jsoncanvas.org)

Top level: optional arrays nodes and edges. Nodes appear in the array in ascending z-index order.

All nodes: id (unique string), type (text | file | link | group), x, y (integer px), width, height (integer px), optional color (canvasColor).

text nodes: required text (Markdown string).
file nodes: required file (vault path); optional subpath (heading/block reference, starts with #).
link nodes: required url.
group nodes: optional label, optional background (image path), optional backgroundStyle (cover | ratio | repeat).

Edges: required id, fromNode, toNode; optional fromSide/toSide (top | right | bottom | left); optional fromEnd/toEnd (none | arrow; defaults none/arrow respectively); optional color (canvasColor); optional label.

canvasColor: hex string ("#FF0000") or preset numbers "1"–"6" = red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, purple (exact preset values intentionally undefined — theme-controlled).

Interactions

Canvases can be embedded in notes with standard embed syntax (![[My.canvas]]).
Backlinks: note cards participate normally; text cards do not until converted to files.
File recovery snapshots .canvas files. Search searches canvas content.

Command palette

Purpose

Run any command from the keyboard and explore all available commands and their shortcuts.

UI / access

Hotkey: Ctrl+P (Win/Linux) / Cmd+P (macOS).
Ribbon: Command palette icon.
Modal: type to filter, arrow keys to select, Enter to execute. Each row shows the command’s assigned hotkey, if any.

Search behavior

Fuzzy matching — e.g. “scf” matches “Save current file”.
Since v1.8.3: recently used commands surface at the top but remain subject to fuzzy filtering; shorter command names take priority over recency when filtering.

Settings (Settings → Command palette)

Pinned commands: “New pinned command” → “Select a command” → pick + Enter. Pinned commands appear at the top of the palette before typing. Unpin via the cross icon next to a pinned command.

Interactions

Hotkeys settings let any command bypass the palette entirely.

Daily notes

Purpose

“Opens a note based on today’s date, or creates it if it doesn’t exist.” For journals, to-do lists, daily logs.

UI surfaces

Ribbon icon: “Open today’s daily note” (calendar icon).

Commands

Open today’s daily note (hotkey-assignable).

Settings

Date format — note name format, default YYYY-MM-DD (Moment.js tokens). Format strings containing / create nested folders, e.g. YYYY/MMMM/YYYY-MMM-DD → 2024/January/2024-Jan-15.
New file location — folder where daily notes are created.
Template file location — a template note applied to each new daily note (e.g. one containing # {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}).

(Only these three settings are documented on the help page.)

Behavior

Invoking opens today’s note if it exists; otherwise creates it (from the template if configured) and opens it.
Date-property linking: a date property whose value matches the daily-note format renders as a clickable link to the corresponding daily note in Live Preview.

Interactions

Templates plugin variables ({{date}}, {{time}}, {{title}}, with :FORMAT) work in daily-note templates.

File explorer (Files)

Purpose

“Manage files and folders inside your vault” — browse and perform operations on notes and other accepted file formats.

UI surfaces

Left-sidebar tree view. Header buttons:

New note (pen icon) — creates at the default new-note location (Settings → Files and links → Default location for new notes).
New folder (folder-plus icon) — creates at vault root; subfolders via right-click on a parent folder.
Change sort order — ascending/descending by file name, modified time, or created time.
Auto-reveal active file — scrolls to and highlights the currently open note.
Expand all / Collapse all folders.

Operations

Create note in folder: right-click folder → New note. Also New canvas / New base via context menu (registered by those plugins).
Rename: right-click → Rename, type, Enter.
Delete: right-click → Delete (confirmation prompt may appear; deletion target — system trash / .trash / permanent — is a vault-wide “Files and links” setting).
Move by drag: drag file/folder onto destination folder.
Move by menu: right-click → Move file to… → search destination folder.
Multi-select: Alt/Opt+click individual files; Shift+click contiguous range; operations apply to the selection (e.g. Bookmark all, move).
Drag into a note creates a link to the dragged file.

Bookmark, Merge entire file with… (Note composer), Open version history (Sync), etc. — other plugins contribute items.

Interactions

Page preview on hover; honors vault “Excluded files”; default new-note location setting; attachments visibility governed by “Detect all file extensions” (Files and links settings).

File recovery

Purpose

“Protects your work from accidental deletions, file corruption, or unwanted changes by automatically saving complete snapshots.” Explicitly not a full backup solution.

Scope

Only .md and .canvas files are snapshotted/restorable.

Settings (Settings → Core plugins → File recovery)

Snapshot interval — minimum interval between snapshots; minimum 5 minutes (configurable).
History length / retention — default 7 days (configurable).
Snapshots → View — opens the recovery browser.
Clear history — irreversibly deletes all snapshots.

Snapshot architecture

Snapshots store the full content of files, not diffs.
Stored in the global settings directory outside the vault, keyed by absolute paths to notes.
Device-local: snapshots never sync (not via Obsidian Sync nor other services).
Moving a vault without the vault switcher breaks snapshot association.

Recovery workflow

Settings → File recovery → Snapshots → View.
Search for a filename, select from suggestions.
Browse available snapshots for that file.
Copy (duplicate snapshot content into a new note) or Restore (replace the file’s content entirely).
Optional Show changes toggle: diff view of additions/removals/modifications between versions.

Limitations

Apple Lockdown Mode disables the feature unless Obsidian is exempted.
Large, frequently edited files can accumulate significant snapshot storage.

Footnotes view

Purpose

Lists all footnotes from the current (active) note in a panel.

UI surfaces

Footnotes panel (sidebar view) listing each footnote in the active note; updates as the active note changes.

Behavior

“Click a footnote to edit its text.”
Navigate to a footnote’s position in the note from the panel.

Settings / Commands

None documented (a “Show footnotes” view command exists implicitly to open the panel, as with all sidebar views).

Interactions

Operates on Markdown footnote syntax ([^1] … [^1]: text).

Format converter

Purpose

“Lets you convert Markdown from other applications to Obsidian format. It also lets you convert certain Properties to new required formats.”

Warning behavior

“Format converter converts your entire vault based on your settings.” Users must back up first.

UI / access

Command palette: Open format converter.
Ribbon icon (lucide-binary).
Modal with checkboxes per conversion and a Start conversion button.

Conversions

Roam Research

Tags: #tag and #[[tag]] → [[tag]]
Highlights: ^^highlight^^ → ==highlight==
TODOs: {{[[TODO]]}} → [ ]

Bear

Highlights: ::highlight:: → ==highlight==

Zettelkasten links

Full links: [[UID]] → [[UID File Name]]
Pretty links: [[UID]] → [[UID File Name|File Name]]

Properties migration (Obsidian 1.9.3+)

alias: (single value) → aliases: (list)
tag: (comma-separated) → tags: (list)
cssclass: → cssclasses: (list)

Behavior

Applies all enabled conversions vault-wide in one pass.

Graph view

Purpose

“Visualize the relationships between the notes in your vault.” Nodes = notes (and optionally tags/attachments); lines = internal links. Node size correlates with the number of inbound references.

Graph types

Global graph — all notes; opened via “Open graph view” (ribbon/command).
Local graph — notes connected to the active note; “Open local graph” command; depth slider controls how many hops away to include.

Interactions (canvas)

Hover a node → highlights its connections.
Click a node → opens the note.
Right-click → context menu of actions.
Zoom: scroll wheel or +/- keys. Pan: drag, or arrow keys (Shift accelerates).

Filters panel

Search files — filter nodes by a search term (full Search syntax).
Tags — toggle tag nodes.
Attachments — toggle attachment nodes.
Existing files only — hide links to non-existent (unresolved) notes.
Orphans — toggle notes with no links.
Vault Excluded files are automatically hidden.

Groups panel

New group → enter a search term + pick a color (color circle). Matching nodes are tinted with the group color.

Display panel

Arrows — show link direction.
Text fade threshold — zoom level at which node labels fade.
Node size — node circle scale.
Link thickness — line width.
Animate — triggers the time-lapse animation: “notes and attachments appear in chronological order based on their creation time.”

Forces panel

Center force — “controls how compact the graph is.”
Repel force — node-to-node repulsion strength.
Link force — “controls the pull on each link.”
Link distance — “controls the length of the lines between each note.”

Commands

Graph view: Open graph view
Graph view: Open local graph
(Animate is a panel control, not a command.)

Interactions

Global graph configurations can be bookmarked (local graphs cannot). Settings persist in vault config (graph.json in practice).

Note composer

Purpose

Combine notes (merge) or split content into separate notes (extract), while keeping all links pointing to the right place.

Commands & entry points

Merge

File explorer: right-click file → Merge entire file with…
Command palette: Note composer: Merge current file with another file…
“Merging notes adds a note to another and removes the first one.” “Note composer updates all links to reference the merged note.”
In the target-picker modal: Enter appends source to destination end; Shift+Enter prepends to destination start; Ctrl/Cmd+Enter creates a new note with the content.

Extract selection

Editor: right-click selected text → Extract current selection…
Command palette: Note composer: Extract current selection…
Same Enter / Shift+Enter / Ctrl+Enter placement choices.
“By default, Note composer replaces the extracted text with a link to the destination note.”

(A heading-scoped variant — extract the section under a heading — is exposed through the heading context menu in the app; the help page documents selection extraction.)

Settings

Ask before merging (confirmation toggle; default enabled). If disabled, a bad merge “can still be recovered with the File recovery plugin.”
Text after extraction — what replaces the extracted text: a link to the destination note (default), an embed of the destination note, or nothing.
Template file location — template applied to newly created destination notes, with variables:
- {{content}} — the merged/extracted text (appended at bottom if omitted from the template)
- {{fromTitle}} — source note name
- {{newTitle}} — destination note name
- {{date:FORMAT}} — creation date, e.g. {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}

Interactions

Link updating across the vault; File recovery as the undo safety net; Templates-style variable substitution.

Outgoing links

Purpose

Shows all outgoing connections from the active note and surfaces potential links — the inverse of Backlinks.

UI surfaces

Right-sidebar tab (links-going-out icon) with two sections:
- Links — “lists all links in the active note. Click a link to open the linked note.”
- Unlinked mentions — “lists any text in the active note that matches the name or alias of another note in your vault.” Click the button showing the note name to convert the mention into a real link. Hover the button to see the full file path (disambiguates same-named notes in different folders).

Behavior details

Files matching Excluded files patterns don’t appear in Unlinked mentions.
Links inside code blocks: a link created there works, but does not appear under the Links section (code-block content isn’t parsed as links).

Commands

Show outgoing links (opens the tab).

Interactions

Aliases (frontmatter aliases) count for unlinked-mention matching; complements Backlinks.

Outline

Purpose

“Outline is a core plugin that lists the headings in the active note” — a table of contents.

UI surfaces

Sidebar Outline tab showing the heading hierarchy of the active note.

Behavior

Click a heading to jump to that section.
Drag headings within the outline to rearrange the corresponding sections in the note.
(The official page documents only navigation and drag-reorganization; collapse arrows and a filter field exist in the app but are not specified in the help doc.)

Commands

Show outline (opens the tab).

Page preview

Purpose

“Preview a page when you hover the cursor over an internal link, without needing to navigate to it” — popover preview of the link target.

Default behavior

Enabled by default and active across multiple surfaces: links in File explorer, Search, Backlinks, “and similar areas” trigger on plain hover.
In Editing view, hovering requires holding Ctrl/Cmd.

Settings (Settings → Core plugins → Page preview)

Per-surface toggles to require Ctrl/Cmd while hovering — when a surface’s toggle is enabled, the modifier is required everywhere for that surface, not just in Editing view. Turning a surface’s option off disables hover preview for it entirely.

Interactions

Works on internal links, and other plugins’ panes opt in (Backlinks, Search, Outline, Bookmarks, etc.).

Properties view

Purpose

Sidebar views for managing note frontmatter properties across the vault.

UI surfaces

File properties view — “shows a view of the properties for the active note” (sidebar version of the in-note Properties editor); updates with the active note.
All properties view — “shows a list of all the properties in your vault and their type.”

Behavior

Sorting: by property name or by frequency (usage count across the vault).
Click a property → opens Search with the property search syntax pre-populated.
Right-click a property → global rename of that property across the vault.

Commands

Show file properties / Show all properties (open the respective views).

Interactions

Bridges to Search ([property] syntax); edits write YAML frontmatter; property types come from the vault-wide property type registry.

Publish (paid service overview)

Purpose

“A cloud-based hosting service that lets you publish your notes as a wiki, knowledge base, documentation, or digital garden.” Sites live at publish.obsidian.md/your-site (or a custom domain). help.obsidian.md itself is a Publish site.

Capabilities

Multiple sites per account; site management.
Collaboration — share sites with others.
Custom domains and permalinks (“define permanent URLs for pages”).
Analytics setup, SEO options, security & privacy controls (password protection is offered as a paid add-on per the product, though the fetched overview page did not detail it).

Publish workflow (in-app UI)

Ribbon → Publish changes → dialog → select notes → Publish.
Modal tabs:
- NEW — all unpublished notes.
- CHANGED — all notes modified since last publish.
- UNCHANGED — all published notes (used for unpublishing: select and publish the deletion).
Renamed/removed items are not deleted automatically; the user must manually check the deletion checkbox (safety).
Unpublished notes remain in the local vault.
Publish flag: frontmatter publish: true auto-selects a note for publishing and overrides excluded folders; publish: false excludes it.
Manage publish filters icon: designate included/excluded folders.
Add linked: auto-selects media referenced by the chosen notes (respecting exclusions).

Site customization

Root-published static assets: publish.css (custom styles), publish.js (custom JS — requires custom domain), favicons (favicon.ico, favicon-32x32.png, … up to 196px). Obsidian itself can’t edit CSS/JS files; they’re created externally and published.
Community theme: copy the theme CSS from .obsidian/themes/..., rename to publish.css, publish. (Style Settings customizations do not apply on Publish; light/dark mode toggle is available in site options.)
Site options — “Reading experience” and “Components” sections toggle: graph view, table of contents (outline), file-explorer navigation, etc.
Navigation customization — reorder files/folders, hide published items from navigation (right-click menu, with restore).

Quick switcher

Purpose

Keyboard-driven search/open/create of notes by name or alias.

UI / access

Hotkey: Ctrl+O / Cmd+O.
Ribbon: “Open Quick switcher”.
Mobile: plus icon at bottom center (when not editing).

Behavior

Type to filter notes by name or alias; arrow keys navigate; Enter opens.
Empty query shows the most recently accessed notes — so “switcher → Down → Enter” toggles between the two most recent notes.
Create: Enter on a non-matching query creates a new note with that name; Shift+Enter forces creation with the exact typed name even when similar notes exist.
Ctrl/Cmd+Enter opens the selected note in a new tab.
Files matching Excluded files patterns are deprioritized (ranked lower), not hidden.
Vaults over 10,000 items switch to a simpler result-ranking algorithm for performance.

Settings

The help page does not enumerate settings. (The app exposes toggles such as “Show all file types”, “Show attachments”, and “Show existing files only” — verify in-app at implementation time.)

Random note

Purpose

“Opens a random note within your vault. Rediscover notes to add new insights, or link to recently added notes.”

UI surfaces

Ribbon button Open random note (dice icon).

Commands

Random note: Open random note.

Settings

None documented.

Search

Purpose

“Search is a core plugin that helps you find data in your Obsidian vault by using search terms and operators to narrow down results.”

UI / access

Search tab in the left sidebar.
Hotkey: Ctrl+Shift+F / Cmd+Shift+F. If text is selected when invoked, it is searched automatically.
Empty search box shows recent search history.
Match case toggle icon in the search bar (default: case-insensitive).
Sort dropdown under the search field (default File name A→Z): File name A→Z / Z→A, Modified time new→old / old→new, Created time new→old / old→new.
Three-dot menu next to the result count → Copy search results (with options for link style/context).

Search scope

By default “Obsidian only searches the contents of notes and canvases.” Use path:/file: to match all vault files by name/path.

Syntax

Plain terms: implicit AND, matched independently anywhere in a file: meeting work.
Exact phrase: "star wars"; escaped quotes: "they said \"hello\" to each other".
OR: meeting OR work; combine: meeting work OR meetup personal.
Grouping: meeting (work OR meetup) personal.
Negation: -work; group negation: meeting -(work meetup).
Regex: /\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/ (JavaScript-flavored), combinable with operators: path:/\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/.

Operators

Operator	Function	Example
`file:`	match file name (any file type)	`file:.jpg`, `file:202209`
`path:`	match file path	`path:"Daily notes/2022-07"`
`content:`	match file content	`content:"happy cat"`
`match-case:`	force case-sensitive sub-query	`match-case:HappyCat`
`ignore-case:`	force case-insensitive sub-query	`ignore-case:ikea`
`tag:`	find tag (ignores code blocks)	`tag:#work`
`line:()`	terms must share one line; negatable `-line:`	`line:(mix flour)`
`block:()`	terms must share one block (slower)	`block:(dog cat)`
`section:()`	terms must share one heading section	`section:(dog cat)`
`task:`	match task content	`task:call`
`task-todo:`	uncompleted tasks only	`task-todo:call`
`task-done:`	completed tasks only	`task-done:call`

Property search

[property] — files having the property.
[property:value] — property with that value.
[property:null] — property with no value.
Comparison: [duration:<5], [property:>value], etc. (<, > inside brackets/quotes).
Property values support sub-queries: OR, grouping, exact match, regex.

Settings (gear icon in search bar)

Explain search term — plain-language breakdown of the query.
Collapse results — hide/show match context per file.
Show more context — expand surrounding text per match.

Embedded search

```query code block in a note renders live search results, e.g.:
```
```query
embed OR search
```
```
Obsidian Publish does not render embedded query results.

Exclusions

Files matching the vault Excluded files patterns don’t appear in results.

Interactions

Search queries are bookmarkable; Tags view, Properties view, and Graph filters reuse Search syntax.

Slash commands

Purpose

Execute commands in the editor by typing /.

Trigger

“Type a forward slash (/) at the beginning of a line or after any blank space.”

Behavior

/ opens an inline command menu at the cursor.
Typing filters commands with fuzzy matching identical to the Command palette (“scf” → “Save current file”).
Arrow keys navigate, Enter executes.
Esc or Space cancels the menu without running anything.

Settings

None documented.

Interactions

Surfaces the same command registry as the Command palette.

Slides

Purpose

“Slides is a core plugin that lets you create presentations from your notes.”

Slide syntax

Slide separator: --- at the start of a line with blank lines before and after.
Any valid Markdown works inside slides (e.g. emphasis, bold).

Starting a presentation

Right-click a note’s tab → Start presentation.
Command palette → Slides: Start presentation (presents the active note).

Presentation UI

Bottom-right: left/right navigation arrows.
Upper-right: close (cross) button.

Left/Right arrows: previous/next slide.
Spacebar: next slide.
Esc: end presentation.

Settings

None documented.

Sync (paid service overview)

Purpose

“Obsidian Sync is an add-on service that allows you to privately sync your notes across devices” with end-to-end encryption.

Capabilities

Cross-device sync of vault contents via encrypted remote vaults; subscription plans gate vault sizes and limits.
Selective sync — choose which file categories and settings sync.
Version history — view/restore previous versions.
Collaboration — add team members to a shared vault.
Sync regions — choose/relocate the server region.
Headless Sync — command-line syncing without the desktop app.
Status icon and messages — sync activity log + status indicator; service status at status.obsidian.md.

Selective sync settings (Settings → Sync)

File-type toggles, off by default: Images, Audio, Videos, PDFs; plus Sync all other types.
File size limits: Standard plan up to 5 MB per file; Plus plan up to 200 MB.
Excluded folders — user-managed list.
Always excluded automatically: File recovery snapshots; hidden files/folders starting with . — except the .obsidian config folder, which syncs.

Vault configuration sync (defaults on)

“Other file types, Main settings, Appearance, Themes and snippets, Hotkeys, Active core plugin list, Core plugin settings.” Community plugins require manually enabling “Active community plugin list” and “Installed community plugin list.” Settings history can be viewed/restored from the Vault configuration sync section (reload/restart to apply).

Device-specific (never synced)

Device name, conflict-resolution preference, pause/resume state, and the sync settings themselves. Hot-reloadable on receipt: hotkeys, appearance, enabled plugin configs; restart needed for CSS changes, graph configs, core plugin enable/disable.

Version history

Retention: Standard plan 1 month; Plus plan 12 months; attachment versions kept two weeks.
Restore existing file: File explorer → select note → Open version history (long-press on mobile) → pick version in left panel (preview right) → Restore (replaces contents).
Restore deleted files: Settings → Sync → Deleted files → View → pick note → pick version → Restore (returned to original location). Bulk restore via checkboxes / Shift+click.

Limitations

Incompatible with Apple Lockdown Mode unless Obsidian is exempted.
Not recommended simultaneously with third-party cloud folders (Dropbox/Drive/OneDrive) — conflict risk.

Tags view

Purpose

“Lists all tags in your vault and the number of notes for each tag.”

UI surfaces

Sidebar Tags tab: each tag with its note count; nested tags (#parent/child) render hierarchically with expand/collapse arrows.

Settings / controls (in the pane)

Sort order: by tag name or by frequency.
Nested tags display: tree hierarchy vs flat list.
Expand all / Collapse all controls; per-level arrows.

Behavior

Click a tag → runs a tag search in the Search pane.
Ctrl/Cmd+click a tag → toggles the tag in the current search term (add/remove).
Counts update live with vault content.

Commands

Show tags (opens the pane).

Interactions

Built on Search (tag: operator); counts include inline #tags and frontmatter tags.

Templates

Purpose

“Templates is a core plugin that lets you insert pre-defined snippets of text into your active note.”

Settings (Settings → Core plugins → Templates)

Template folder location — folder containing template notes.
Date format — format used by {{date}} (default YYYY-MM-DD).
Time format — format used by {{time}} (default HH:mm).

Commands

Templates: Insert template — pick a template from the templates folder; its content is inserted at the cursor (or last cursor position if focus is outside the note body).
Templates: Insert current date — inserts the date using the configured format.
Templates: Insert current time — inserts the time using the configured format.

Template variables

Variable	Behavior
`{{title}}`	Title (file name) of the active note
`{{date}}`	Today’s date; default `YYYY-MM-DD`
`{{time}}`	Current time; default `HH:mm`
`{{date:FORMAT}}` / `{{time:FORMAT}}`	Override with Moment.js tokens, e.g. `{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}`

Behavior notes

Variables are substituted at insertion time.
Edit templates in Source mode: the Properties UI can quote/rewrite unquoted {{variables}} in frontmatter.
The same variables work in Daily notes and Unique note creator templates.

Unique note creator

Purpose

“Lets you create notes with time-based names, also known as Zettelkasten notes.”

Default naming

Timestamp prefix format YYYYMMDDHHmm (e.g. 202401010945 = 09:45, Jan 1 2024).
Collision handling: “If a note with the same name exists, the new note uses the next available timestamp.”

UI / commands

Ribbon: Create new unique note (sheets-in-box icon).
Command palette: Create new unique note.

Settings (Settings → Core plugins → Unique note creator)

Template file location — template applied to each new unique note (default: empty note). (The app also exposes new-file-location and prefix-format settings; the help page documents the template setting.)

Interactions

Templates variables apply within the unique-note template.

Web viewer

Purpose

“Lets you open external links within Obsidian on desktop” — browse and research without leaving the app. Desktop only.

UI surfaces

Web pages open as regular tabs that can be rearranged, split, and moved to pop-out windows; address bar with a three-dot “more actions” menu.
Reader view: “Click the glasses icon to view a plain text version of the web page” — powered by Mozilla’s Readability library (the Firefox reader engine).

Features & behavior

Open external links in Web viewer tabs (instead of the system browser).
Save to vault: more-actions icon → save the web page into the vault (as Markdown); save location configurable.
Ad blocking: on by default; blocking rules customizable using lists such as EasyList.
Bookmarking: address-bar menu → Bookmark (integrates with Bookmarks plugin).
Canvas web-page cards can open as Web viewer tabs.

Settings (Settings → Web viewer)

Save-page location; ad-blocking rules. (The help page does not enumerate further settings; the app additionally exposes toggles for opening external links, default search engine, and history — verify in-app.)

Technical / security notes

Built on a Chromium embedded-webview feature (same one used by Canvas web cards); independently audited.
Recommended for research only: third-party plugins are not sandboxed and have cookie access while Obsidian runs.

Word count

Purpose

“Displays the number of words and characters of the active note.”

UI surfaces

Desktop: status bar (bottom right).
Mobile: top of the right sidebar.

Behavior

Counts words and characters of the active note; supports CJK languages (Chinese/Japanese/Korean), which don’t use spaces as word separators (requires CJK-aware word segmentation). (Counting only the current selection when text is selected is in-app behavior not covered by the help page.)

Settings / Commands

None documented.

Workspaces

Purpose

“Manage and switch between different application layouts depending on your task, for example journaling, reading, or writing.”

What a workspace saves

“Information about open files and tabs.”
“The width and visibility of each sidebar.”

UI / commands

Ribbon: Manage workspace layouts icon.
Command palette: Workspaces: Manage workspace layouts → modal with:
- List of saved workspaces, each with a Load button and a Delete layout (X) button.
- Text input to name and Save the current layout as a new workspace.
Core operations: Save (saving under an existing name updates that workspace), Load, Delete.
(The app also registers per-workspace “Load ” style commands and save/load commands; the help page documents the manager modal.)

Storage

Vault configuration (stored under .obsidian — workspaces.json in practice; file name not confirmed by docs).

Importer (NOT a core plugin)

The user-supplied list included Importer; per official docs it is “an official Community plugin made by the Obsidian team,” not a core plugin. It “helps you migrate to Obsidian from various apps and formats,” is open source at github.com/obsidianmd/obsidian-importer, and is installed via the community plugin browser (obsidian://show-plugin?id=obsidian-importer). Exclude it from the core-plugin clone surface; treat it as an optional companion tool.

Cross-cutting notes for the clone

Excluded files (Settings → Files and links) affect Backlinks/Outgoing-links unlinked mentions (hidden), Search results (hidden), Graph (hidden), and Quick switcher (deprioritized, not hidden).
Moment.js format tokens are the canonical date/time formatting language (Daily notes, Templates, Unique note creator, Bases date.format()).
Search syntax is the shared query language: Search pane, embedded query blocks, Backlinks filter, Graph filters/groups, Tags view, Properties view drill-down, bookmarkable searches.
Fuzzy matching semantics are shared by Command palette, Slash commands, and Quick switcher (incl. the v1.8.3 recency-vs-brevity ranking rule and the >10,000-item simplified algorithm for the switcher).
Sidebar view pattern: Backlinks, Outgoing links, Outline, Tags, Properties (×2), Footnotes, Bookmarks, Search are all toggleable sidebar leaf views with a corresponding “Show …” command.
Paid services (Sync, Publish) need only client-side surfaces in the clone: settings panes, the Publish-changes modal, version-history browser, status indicator.
Items marked “verify in-app” are real behaviors not specified by the official help pages; confirm against the running app before implementing, and do not treat the parenthetical notes as documented spec.

Core Plugins

Audio recorder

Purpose

UI surfaces

Commands

Settings

Behavior

File formats

Interactions

Prerequisites

Backlinks

Purpose

UI surfaces

Settings (in the backlinks pane)

Commands

Interactions

Bases

Purpose

File formats

Creating a base

Toolbar UI (top of every base)

Filters

Sort and group

.base YAML syntax (complete)

Property namespaces

Type system

Functions (complete reference)

View layouts

Interactions

Bookmarks

Purpose

Bookmarkable item types

UI surfaces

Bookmark creation/editing

Organization

Commands

Storage

Interactions

Canvas

Purpose

Creating a canvas

Card types

Card operations

Connections (edges)

Groups

Navigation

File format — .canvas (open JSON Canvas 1.0 spec, jsoncanvas.org)

Interactions

Command palette

Purpose

UI / access

Search behavior

Settings (Settings → Command palette)

Interactions

Daily notes

Purpose

UI surfaces

Commands

Settings

Behavior

Interactions

File explorer (Files)

Purpose

UI surfaces

Operations

Context menu (additional integrations)

Interactions

File recovery

Purpose

Scope

Settings (Settings → Core plugins → File recovery)

Snapshot architecture

Recovery workflow

Limitations

Footnotes view

Purpose

UI surfaces

Behavior

Settings / Commands

Interactions

`.base` YAML syntax (complete)

File format — `.canvas` (open JSON Canvas 1.0 spec, jsoncanvas.org)