Home / Documentation

Notebook Navigator Documentation

Welcome to the complete documentation for Notebook Navigator, the modern file explorer for Obsidian.

Getting Started

Installation

  1. Open Settings → Community plugins in Obsidian
  2. Search for "Notebook Navigator"
  3. Click Install, then Enable
  4. The plugin will appear in your left sidebar

First Steps

Once installed, Notebook Navigator will replace your default file explorer with a powerful dual-pane interface featuring:

  • Navigation tree on the left
  • File list on the right
  • Resizable divider between panes
  • Rich preview text for each note

Key Features

Keyboard Navigation

Navigate your vault with full keyboard support:

  • Arrow keys - Move up/down in lists
  • Tab - Switch between panes
  • Page Up/Down - Jump by pages
  • Home/End - Jump to start/end
  • Shift + ↑/↓ - Extend selection

Dual-Pane Layout

The interface is split into two main areas:

  1. Navigation Pane (left)

    • Folder tree structure
    • Tag hierarchy
    • Pinned notes section

  2. File List Pane (right)

    • Files in selected folder/tag
    • Rich previews with thumbnails
    • Date grouping options

Rich Previews

Each note shows:

  • Preview text (1-5 lines configurable)
  • Feature images from frontmatter
  • Creation/modification dates
  • Clickable tags with colors
  • File size and word count

Developer API

Notebook Navigator provides a TypeScript API for plugin developers:

Basic Usage

// Get the plugin instance
const nbNav = this.app.plugins.plugins['notebook-navigator'];

// Access the API
const api = nbNav.api;

// Navigate to a folder
api.navigateToFolder('path/to/folder');

// Get selected files
const selected = api.getSelectedFiles();

// Subscribe to events
api.on('selection-changed', (files) => {
    console.log('Selected files:', files);
});

Available Methods

  • navigateToFolder(path: string) - Navigate to folder
  • navigateToTag(tag: string) - Navigate to tag
  • getSelectedFiles() - Get currently selected files
  • selectFiles(paths: string[]) - Select specific files
  • refreshView() - Refresh the current view

Events

  • selection-changed - Fired when selection changes
  • navigation-changed - Fired when navigation changes
  • view-refreshed - Fired after view refresh

License

Notebook Navigator is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Need more help? Check out our GitHub repository or join the discussion in the Obsidian Discord server.