Emacs Logseq Inspired Outline

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Outliner editing improvements for writing in lists in Obsidian.

I moved from Logseq to Obsidian, and what I missed most was how Logseq treats every list item as a block you can grab and move. The other half of the inspiration comes from Emacs (org-mode outline editing) and Bike, an outliner shaped by it: jump to the parent, add a new item at the end of the current level, fold a few rows into a group. These moves come naturally in Emacs-style outliners, and Obsidian doesn't have them. This plugin brings them over.

Inspired by Logseq

• Esc selects the whole block. With the cursor in a list, press Esc to select the item together with all of its children. While selected:
  • ↑ / ↓ move between blocks, ⇧↑ / ⇧↓ extend the selection;
  • the block stays selected after Tab / ⇧Tab or ⌥↑↓;
  • ⌫ deletes the block and selects the next one;
  • typing does not replace the block; Enter returns to editing; Esc again cancels.
• Wrap the selection in pairs. Select text and type ( [ " 「 《 and so on (any input method): the text is wrapped instead of replaced. Press [ twice for a wikilink. Press Enter afterwards to jump past the closing symbol.
• ⌘K inserts a horizontal rule below the current block.
• Convert block types (⌘\ cycles): bullet list → numbered list → paragraph. Numbered lists support 1. 2. 3., paper-style 4.1 4.2 and letters a. b. c..

Inspired by Emacs (and Bike)

• ⌘⌥↑ Go to ancestor. Jump to the parent list item with the cursor at the end of its text, ready to keep typing. Press repeatedly to climb; ⌘⌥⇧↑ goes straight to the top level.
• ⌘Enter Create at the same level. Wherever the cursor is among a group of siblings, add a new empty sibling at the end of the group (after the last sibling's children). Numbering continues (3. → 4., 4.2 → 4.3, b. → c.), and a new item in a checkbox list gets [ ]. Outside a list, ⌘Enter is left alone.
• ⌘⌥↓ Group rows. Indent the selected blocks one level and insert an empty parent above them.

Commands can be rebound under Settings → Hotkeys (search "Emacs Logseq Inspired Outline"). ⌘Enter, Esc and the arrow keys are editor keys and are fixed.

Install

Download main.js and manifest.json from Releases into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/emacs-logseq-inspired-outline/ and enable it under Settings → Community plugins. Or install with BRAT: MatsuriMW/emacs-logseq-inspired-outline.

License

MIT