Better MD Diff

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Compare Markdown with Git HEAD (the latest commit) in Obsidian, highlight changed text, and restore individual changes after confirmation.

Recorded with Better MD Diff 0.4.0 in desktop Obsidian using a public-domain excerpt from Pride and Prejudice with demonstration edits. Demo details · 0.4.1 release notes.

0.4.1 fixes paragraph misalignment around repeated blank lines, including misleading deletion flags and the resulting per-change restoration scopes.

Installation

Requires desktop Obsidian 1.8.0+ and a local Git installation.

Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse, search for Better MD Diff, install it, and enable it. If already installed, check for updates under Community plugins and update Better MD Diff.

Usage

1. Edit a Git-tracked Markdown note in Source mode or Live Preview.
2. Click an editor flag or the Git diff ribbon icon to review changes. In the panel, red text is old content, green text is added content; stronger local backgrounds highlight changed words.
3. Use ↑ / ↓ to visit individual changes. Click a group heading to select its first change, or a change's line-number button to select that item. Source navigation follows your settings.
4. Click a restore arrow and confirm the preview. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Z in the source editor to undo.

Editor flags

Flag	Meaning
Green +n	n added lines in the current note
Blue ~n	n modified lines in the current note
Red −n	n deleted old lines, marked at their boundary—not as a deleted following line

Added/modified ranges have one flag at their start and a thin gutter rail. Source text stays untinted, and the fixed-width gutter avoids horizontal shifts during refreshes. Large counts keep their full value in tooltips. Rendered tables and folded blocks show the first contained change flag; use the panel for exact ranges. Flags appear in Source mode and Live Preview, not Reading view.

Changes versus reading groups

Change 1 / 3 counts independent edits, not the number of boxes. Nearby edits share context: two groups may contain 2 changes and 1 change. Their headings show the line range and contained change count. A contiguous multi-line replacement is one change; grouping never enlarges its restoration scope.

Text remains selectable and copies as original Markdown, without controls or line numbers. Settings retain font size, changed-word/whitespace markers, and source-following options; the ? button explains the display.

The plugin never stages, commits, or pushes. Restoration checks the current note and Git baseline before applying one undoable edit. Back up important notes first.

Scope

This release compares against local Git HEAD. Accepted-baseline review and GitLab comparison are not yet available.

License

MIT. The jsdiff dependency uses BSD-3-Clause; its full license is included in the build.