Focus Explorer

An Obsidian file explorer with folder focus at its core.

Folder focus

Right-click any folder → Focus to show only that folder's subtree. Everything outside it is hidden, so you can work on one area of your vault without distraction. Great for large vaults, per-project workflows, or when attachments and archives keep drowning out the notes you actually care about.

Choosing a folder to focus

Three ways to pick the target, all from the focus bar at the top of the view:

• Search input — click it (or just start typing) to list every folder in the vault with a fuzzy filter as you type; matches jump straight into parents/children hierarchies. Click a row or press Enter to focus it.
• Recent history — the clock button lists recently focused folders for one-click re-focus. Entries you no longer need can be removed individually right inside the menu.
• Context menu — right-click any folder in the tree → Focus, or use Clear focus on empty areas / the same menu.

The clear (×) button exits focus mode and restores your previous expansion state exactly as it was.

What focus mode does

• Only the focused subtree is rendered; expanding folders never leaks content from outside it.
• Creation lands inside the focused folder: New note / New base / New canvas always go to the focused root — even the header buttons skip Obsidian's new-note location setting while it points outside the focused subtree.
• Search, drag & drop targets, and auto-reveal all respect the focus boundary — dragging a file onto empty space moves it into the focused folder instead of the vault root.
• Focus state is persisted across restarts and follows folder renames automatically.

File tree essentials

Beyond focus, this is a full explorer: indentation guides and expand/collapse chevrons (folders first), inline creation at the correct position and depth, rename (F2) that preserves each file's extension, duplicate, delete-to-trash with confirmation, copy/cut/paste and drag & drop with multi-select support, keyboard navigation (arrows / Enter / F2 / Delete), middle-click to open in a new tab, and an auto-reveal toggle that keeps the tree synced with the active editor file.

Installation

Manual install: copy main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css into VaultFolder/.obsidian/plugins/focus-explorer/, reload Obsidian, and enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins.

License

AGPL-3.0