Color Tab
approvedby Rafael Ordaz
Colorize open tabs to visually distinguish notes at a glance, using a right-click context menu. - This plugin has not been manually reviewed by Obsidian staff.
Color Tab
An Obsidian plugin that lets you assign a background color to any open tab, making it easy to visually distinguish notes at a glance.
Why use Color Tab?
When working with several notes simultaneously — researching, cross-referencing, or writing — it can be hard to quickly jump to the right tab. Color Tab lets you visually tag each tab with a color, so you can cycle through your open notes faster and reduce mental overhead.
Examples of how people use it:
- 🔴 Red – Note you are actively writing
- 🟢 Green – Reference material you keep coming back to
- 🟡 Yellow – Diagrams supporting my writing
- 🔵 Blue – Other useful reference notes
- 🟣 Lavender – Meeting notes or daily logs
How to install
From the Community Plugins directory (recommended)
- Open Obsidian → Settings → Community Plugins.
- Disable Safe Mode if prompted, then select Browse.
- Search for Color Tab and click Install.
- Once installed, toggle it on.
Manual installation
- Download
main.js,manifest.json, andstyles.cssfrom the latest release. - Copy them into your vault at:
<your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/color-tab/ - Open Obsidian → Settings → Community Plugins and toggle Color Tab on.
How to use
Assign a color to a tab
- Right-click on any open tab header.
- The default Obsidian context menu will appear (Close, Pin, etc.).
- Scroll to the bottom — you will see a separator followed by the 5 color options.
- Click a color name to apply it. The tab background and title will update immediately.
Remove a color
- Right-click the colored tab.
- Click Remove tab color at the bottom of the menu.
Customize your colors
- Go to Settings → Color Tab.
- Each of the 5 color slots has a name field and a color picker.
- Toggle Prevent Tab Duplication to keep only one tab per file.
- Changes take effect immediately — open tabs update live.
- Click Reset to restore the default pastel palette.
Default colors
| Slot | Name | Hex |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red | #FFB3BA |
| 2 | Yellow | #FFDFBA |
| 3 | Green | #B5EAD7 |
| 4 | Blue | #BAE1FF |
| 5 | Lavender | #E2BAFF |
All defaults are soft pastels so they remain readable in both light and dark themes.
License
MIT
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