Colorful Note Background

Apply colored backgrounds to notes based on folder location or frontmatter metadata.

About

This plugin is a fork of obsidian-colorful-note-borders by rusi. I am very thankful to the original author for creating such a useful foundation.

Key difference: While the original plugin applies colored borders, this version uses subtle background colors instead—providing a less intrusive visual distinction.

Preview

Installation

From Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community plugins.
2. Disable Safe mode if prompted.
3. Click Browse and search for "Colorful Note Background".
4. Install and enable the plugin.

Using BRAT

1. Install BRAT from Community Plugins.
2. Run command: BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing.
3. Enter: https://github.com/andresgongora/obsidian-colorful-note-background.
4. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins.

How It Works

The plugin applies background colors to notes based on configurable rules:

• Folder rules: Match notes by folder name anywhere in the path
• Frontmatter rules: Match notes by metadata key-value pairs (e.g., category: private)

Rules are evaluated in order—the first matching rule applies.

Configuration

For best result, use subtle colors with low alpha values to avoid overpowering note content. This can guide you through your vault by letting you subtly recognize note types without distractions.

Go to Settings → Colorful Note Background to manage rules. Each rule has:

Field	Description
Type	Folder or Frontmatter
Value	Folder name or key: value for frontmatter
Color	Background color (hex)
Alpha	Transparency (0–1, recommended: 0.04)

Use the arrow buttons to reorder rules (priority) or the × to remove them.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.