Note Cards

Show notes on a canvas as compact title cards instead of full embedded documents.

Features

• Card view for notes. Switch any markdown note on a canvas between the regular embedded view and a card: a small rectangle showing the note's name. If the note is narrowed to a heading, the card shows that heading.
• Edit the title in place. Use Edit in the selection toolbar or the right-click menu (or press Enter on a selected card) to rename the note right in the card. For a card narrowed to a heading, this renames the heading and updates links to it across the vault, like Obsidian's Rename this heading.
• Edit the note in a modal. Double-click a card, or use the Preview button that appears on hover, to open the note as an editable document in a modal.
• Go to document. The second hover button switches to the tab where the note is already open, or opens it in a new tab.
• Create notes on the canvas. A new toolbox button (click or drag) and an Add note item in the canvas right-click menu create a note and start editing it immediately. In card view you type the name into the card: Enter confirms, while Esc or an empty name discards the note.

Usage

Select one or more notes on a canvas, then use any of:

• the card button in the floating menu above the selection,
• Show as card / Show as note in the right-click menu,
• the Toggle card view for selected notes command (assign a hotkey if you like).

Switching to card view shrinks the node to a compact size and remembers its previous size, which is restored when you switch back.

The chosen view is stored per node in the .canvas file. Without this plugin those nodes simply show as regular notes.

Settings

• Default note view (Note / Card, default Note): the view used for notes newly added to a canvas. Notes already on a canvas are not affected.

Where new notes are created

The create note button follows the core setting Settings → Files and links → Default location for new notes, the same one the built-in Convert to file uses. Set it to Same folder as current file to have notes created next to the canvas.

Compatibility

Canvas has no official plugin API, so this plugin relies on undocumented Obsidian internals. An Obsidian update may break it; please open an issue if that happens.

Development

npm install
npm run dev    # watch and rebuild main.js
npm run lint   # the rules the Obsidian community directory checks
npm run build  # typecheck and produce a minified main.js

To release, bump the version in manifest.json and versions.json, then push a tag equal to that version (no v prefix). The release workflow builds the plugin and creates a draft GitHub release with main.js, manifest.json and styles.css attached.

License

MIT