English | Русский

File Describer

An Obsidian plugin that automatically creates and manages description notes for files in a watched folder. Perfect for organizing files in your vault with searchable descriptions, tracking file changes, and managing metadata. Also for your convenience, you can download a ready-made base file which will display a full list of files with descriptions. Using the search, you can quickly find the file you need.

Features

• Auto-creation of description file — when a file is added to the target folder, a companion description note is automatically created
• Delete tracking — when a file is deleted, its companion note automatically updates its status
• Move tracking — the File field in the companion note is automatically updated when the file is moved
• Orphaned note handling — when a file is deleted, you can keep the note for history or delete it
• Badge indicator — a red ! on the ribbon icon indicates file changes that need attention
• Recursive scanning — files in the configured folder are scanned recursively regardless of nesting

Settings

1. Target folder — set the folder to monitor for files
2. Notes subfolder — set the folder where description notes will be stored
3. File types to track — file types to monitor
4. Date format — set a convenient date format
5. Time format — set a convenient time format

How it works

1. Place a file in the target folder
2. The plugin creates a description note in the notes subfolder with frontmatter: File Description, File (wikilink), date_added, filetype, filename
3. When a file is added, deleted, or moved, a red ! appears on the plugin icon

4. When you open the plugin, the required action is shown in the tabs

5. Fill in the "Description" and "Tags" fields, click "Save"

When you delete a description file

ATTENTION! When you delete a description file from the folder (Notes subfolder), the system will prompt you to delete the file. You can choose to agree or not. If you do not agree, the plugin will prompt you to update the description for the file.

Installation

From Obsidian Community Browser

Search for "File Describer" in Settings → Community plugins → Browse.

Via BRAT

1. Install the BRAT plugin
2. Add https://github.com/Alexandrovdi/File-Describer to the list of beta plugins
3. Click "Add Plugin"

Manual

1. Download the latest release from GitHub Releases
2. Extract main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css to VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/file-describer/
3. Enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Development

git clone https://github.com/Alexandrovdi/File-Describer.git
cd File-Describer
npm install
npm run build    # builds main.js
npm run dev      # watch mode

License

MIT