Add Attachment

Attach several files at once to the current note, with a link inserted for each — optionally renamed after the note and downscaled if they are images.

Works on desktop and mobile (Android in particular): one bundle, no Node.js or native dependencies.

[!WARNING] Commands were renamed in 0.6.0. Add attachments to current note is now Attach files to current note, and Add original attachments (keep names, no resize) is now Attach original files (keep names, no resize) (command ids attach-files and attach-original-files). Hotkeys and mobile toolbar buttons bound to the old commands stop working after the update — re-assign them in Settings → Hotkeys and in the mobile toolbar settings.

What it does

• Pick many files in one go. One dialog, one batch, links inserted at the cursor in a single edit — so a batch is a single undo step.
• Saves where you told Obsidian to. The target folder comes from Settings → Files and links → Default location for new attachments; the plugin never second-guesses that setting.
• Optional rename to <note name>_<index>.<ext>, so attachments sort next to the note they belong to instead of carrying names like IMG_20240115_882341.jpg.
• Optional image downscaling to a pixel threshold on the longest side, re-encoded at a quality you choose. Useful when notes collect phone photos.
• A second command that skips all of it, for when you want the file exactly as it is.

How it differs from similar plugins

Several plugins insert multiple attachments. This one adds the two steps people usually automate afterwards with scripts:

• Renaming with a collision-safe index — the next index is MAX(existing) + 1, not count + 1, so deleting an attachment from the middle can never make a new file overwrite an existing one.
• Resizing on the way in, so large photos never enter the vault at full size.

If you only need the links and no processing, a simpler plugin will serve you better.

Commands

Command	Rename	Resize
Attach files to current note	per settings	per settings
Attach original files (keep names, no resize)	always off	always off

Both are available from the command palette and as ribbon icons, and both can be added to the mobile toolbar.

Settings

Setting	Default	Notes
Rename attached files	on	off = keep the original filename
Resize images	on	jpg / jpeg / png / webp only
Resize threshold (px)	1600	longest side, 64–20000
Image quality	0.85	jpg / webp re-encode quality
Separator between links	new line	inserted between links of a batch, not after the last

The attachment folder is deliberately not duplicated here — it belongs to Obsidian's own settings.

Known limitations

Memory on very large photos (mobile). Resizing decodes the image at full resolution first, so peak memory is driven by the source dimensions, not the target ones — a 40+ MP photo needs a few hundred MB while it is being scaled. On a low-RAM device that decode can fail.

It fails safely: the file is copied through at its original size and a warning is logged to the console. You get the attachment either way; it just isn't downscaled. Files are processed one at a time specifically so several large photos can't pile up in memory.

Other formats. SVG and animated GIF are never resized (they would lose vector data or animation) and pass through untouched. HEIC photos may not decode in older Android WebViews — same safe fallback: copied at original size.

Installation

Once listed in Community plugins: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → Add Attachment.

Meanwhile, either install it with BRAT from this repository, or do it manually: download manifest.json, main.js and styles.css from the latest release into <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/add-attachment/, then enable the plugin.

Development

npm install
npm run dev      # watch build
npm run build    # type-check + production bundle
npm run deploy   # copy manifest.json + main.js + styles.css into a vault

Set OBSIDIAN_VAULT to your vault path before npm run deploy (deploy.mjs falls back to the author's path otherwise). There is no live reload on mobile: build on desktop and let the plugin folder sync to the device, then reload the app.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.