Commands and menus

Everyday work uses the ribbon, toolbar, right-click menus, and drag. The command palette opens the view and quick input, and provides search-index recovery rather than duplicating card navigation.

Ribbon and command palette

The ribbon action Open Card Workspace opens the view: in the left sidebar on desktop, or as a page in the main workspace on phones and tablets.

Command id	Name
open-view	Open Card Workspace view
quick-input	Open quick input
show-folder-card-search-index-status	Show Card Workspace local search index lifecycle status
recover-folder-card-search-index	Recover Card Workspace local search index lifecycle
rebuild-folder-card-search-index	Rebuild Card Workspace local search index from notes
clear-reset-folder-card-search-index	Clear and reset Card Workspace local search index state

Open quick input opens a new draft each time; it is unavailable where quick input is not supported. A global shortcut that works from other apps can be set in Settings. The final four commands are recovery tools for the local index. Normal queries use Search notes in the panel; see Browsing cards.

Toolbar

The toolbar exposes New, Sort & group, bulk mode, active filter counts with Clear filters, and search according to the active source.

Inside a linked-note source, it also provides Pin to this note / Resume following the active note and Save as card box…. On phones, the current source and its filters appear in Obsidian’s page header instead.

Navigation header

From left to right, the navigation header offers Expand all / Collapse all, the search icon that shows Filter navigation…, and the paper-plane button that opens quick input. Collapse navigation gives the cards the full panel width.

Navigation menus

Right-click a section header or row in the navigation pane. On touch screens, use the row’s menu button or long-press it.

• Sections — collapse or expand, move up, move down, or hide the section
• Folders — create notes, folders, canvases, Excalidraw files, or bases; rename, duplicate, move, copy paths, reveal, search, include subfolders, sort child folders, reveal the active note’s folder, expand or collapse trees, change the icon, favorite, hide, or delete
• Tags — filter, create a tagged note, copy, rename or delete with reference updates, sort the section or its subtags, expand or collapse, change the icon, favorite, or hide
• Properties — choose visible keys, clear filters, sort names or values, expand or collapse all; hide a key; add, remove, or isolate a value filter; change the icon
• Boxes — create, open, configure (including grouping), add the current view, restore removed notes, duplicate, rename, change the icon, favorite, or delete
• Templates — create a template; for a template, edit the file, rename it, change its note folder, date and time formats, or insert position, change the icon, or delete it
• Favorites — open, reorder, change the icon, remove, or clear

The Links header uses the shared collapse and section-order actions; its two direction rows activate directly.

Card and bulk menus

Right-click a card, or use its menu button on touch screens, to choose an open destination; duplicate, move, rename, or delete it; manage favorites and card-box membership; change its Background color or icon; or, for Markdown, copy content, add or remove tags, and add or remove properties. Markdown files inside the template storage folder also offer Set as template. On phones and tablets, the card menu adds insert and copy actions for the note you were editing; see Phones and tablets. See Writing and organizing for the workflow and delete behavior.

With Bulk on, the toolbar offers select all, clear selection, move, bulk tag operations, bulk property operations, add to or remove from a box, background color, delete, and merge. Bulk property operations set or remove properties across Markdown notes; see Writing and organizing. Shift-click selects a range; merge requires at least two Markdown notes. Dragging a selected card onto a navigation entry applies to the whole selection.