Folder Note Map

Map your whole vault on a canvas in one click.

Folder Note Map reads your vault and generates a canvas where every folder that has a folder note becomes a group, containing its notes as cards and its subfolders as nested groups. It gives you a bird's-eye view of what you have, so you can decide what to reorganize, merge or remove, and then change it by hand.

The cards are ordinary canvas notes (text cards). They live only inside the canvas, so generating a map never creates, changes or moves any note in your vault, it only creates one new canvas with the creation date (yyyy-mm-dd hh-mm format).

Rename cards, drag them between groups, add edges and colors, or delete the whole map. One way to use it is to generate two folder note maps (if both are created in the same minute, due to non-destructive saving, it won't overwrite but add a numeric suffix), organize one and let the other one unchanged. This way one can follow the changes made afterwards.

Usage

Click the map icon in the ribbon, or run Generate vault map canvas from the command palette. The map is created and opened in a new tab.

What ends up on the map

In your vault	On the map
A folder with a folder note	A group labeled with the folder name
Notes inside that folder	Cards (canvas notes) inside the group
The folder note itself	Represented by the group. An extra card for it is optional
Subfolders with folder notes	Groups nested inside the parent group
A folder without a folder note	Not shown, and its own files are never shown (unless they are folder notes that aren't hidden)
A folder note with map-as: note	A single card for that folder. The folder's contents are not shown
A folder note with map-as: hide	Nothing. The folder and everything in it is left off

For example:

Areas/
  Areas.md <- folder note, so Areas is a group
  health.md <- card "health"
  Archive/
    Archive.md <- has map-as: hide, so left off the map
Projects/ <- no folder note, so its own files are skipped
  Alpha/
    Alpha.md <- folder note, so Alpha is a group
    notes.md <- card "notes"

This produces an Areas group with one card, and an Alpha group with one card. By default the plugin looks inside Projects for folders that do have a folder note; you can change that in settings (Folders without a folder note).

Showing a folder as a plain note

Sometimes a folder is just a container for one note and you don't want a whole group for it. Add a property to its folder note:

---
map-as: note
---

The folder appears as one card, and the files inside it are left off the map. Use map-as: hide to leave a folder off the map entirely, for example an archive. The property name is configurable (or can be switched off) in settings.

What counts as a folder note

You choose the convention in settings:

• Inside the folder, same name: Folder/Folder.md (the default)
• Inside the folder, index file: Folder/index.md. The file name is configurable.
• Next to the folder, same name: Parent/Folder.md beside Parent/Folder/

Tip: keep a "before" map

Keep one generated map untouched as your baseline, and reorganize a copy of it: move cards between groups, rename them, merge or delete them. Would suggest marking changes so it can be followed. Restructure your vault, generate a fresh map, and compare it with the original to check your changes.

• Create a copy either via Make a copy of the current file (preferred) or via our very own Folder Note Map: Generate vault map canvas plugin command.

Settings

Setting	What it does	Default
Folder note style	Which convention marks a folder note	Inside the folder, same name
Mapping property	The property that switches a folder to note or hide	map-as
Folders without a folder note	Look inside them for folders that have a folder note, or skip them completely	Look inside
Card for the folder note itself	Adds the folder note as a card inside its group	Off
Include notes in the vault root	Adds cards for notes that aren't in any folder	Off
Include other file types	Adds cards for images, PDFs and other non-note files, shown with their full file name	Off
Color groups by top-level folder	One canvas color per top-level area	On
Card content	Note name only: plain text, easy to rewrite while you plan. Link to the note: a clickable [[link]]	Note name only
Card width / height	Size of each card	220 x 60
Output folder / File name	Where the map is saved and what it's called	Vault root, "Vault map"
Overwrite the previous map	Off creates a new timestamped canvas each time, so manual edits are never lost	Off

Good to know

• Cards are lightweight text, so even large vaults stay responsive. To keep a very large map readable, mark busy folders with map-as: note or map-as: hide.
• Notes and groups are laid out alphabetically, so the map looks the same each time you generate it.
• The map is a snapshot. It does not update when your vault changes; generate a new one when you want a fresh view.
• The plugin only uses Obsidian's public API and makes no network requests.

Installation

From the community plugin directory (once approved): Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for Folder Note Map.

Manually:

1. Download main.js and manifest.json from the latest release.
2. Put both in <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/folder-note-map/.
3. Enable Folder Note Map under Settings → Community plugins.

Development

npm install      # Run to install required external packages
npm run dev      # rebuild on every change
npm run build    # type-check and produce a minified main.js

• src/vaultModel.ts reads the vault and decides what appears on the map.
• src/layout.ts positions everything and writes the canvas JSON. It has no Obsidian dependency.
• src/main.ts and src/settingsTab.ts hold the plugin and its settings.

Releasing

1. Run npm version patch (or minor / major). This updates the version in package.json, manifest.json and versions.json, then commits and tags it.
2. Run git push --follow-tags.
3. The release workflow builds the plugin and publishes a GitHub release with main.js and manifest.json.

The tag must exactly match the version in manifest.json, with no leading v.

License

MIT