Tag Explorer

A fork of TagFolder by vorotamoroz.

Navigate your vault through a tag-generated folder tree. Each tag namespace (domain/, source/, status/, …) becomes an independent folder tree. A note tagged #domain/coding and #source/book appears under both domain/coding and source/book simultaneously — the same file in two places at once, like a symlink.

Meeting notes : #domain/work    #status/active
Research doc  : #domain/coding  #source/book   #status/active
Book summary  : #source/book  #status/done

domain/
  coding/   → Research doc
  work/     → Meeting notes
source/
  book/     → Research doc, Book summary
status/
  active/   → Meeting notes, Research doc
  done/     → Book summary

Changes from upstream

Bug fixes

• ignoreTags now matches prefixes — adding source to the ignore list hides source/book, source/ai, and all other source/* sub-tags, not just the bare source tag.
• Deduplication is namespace-aware — notes tagged with both domain/coding and source/book now correctly appear under both namespaces. Previously the deduplication logic would silently drop the note from whichever namespace was processed second.

New features

• Namespace-scoped sub-folders — inside a tag folder, only sub-folders from the same root namespace are shown. Tags from other namespaces no longer bleed in as nested children. Togglable from the toolbar (on by default).
• Cross-namespace filter folders — when namespace isolation is off, a limited set of cross-namespace entry points appears inside a folder so you can narrow down by another dimension without leaving. Depth is configurable from the toolbar.
• Folder icons — assign a custom icon to any tag folder via its context menu.
• Item count — optionally show the number of files next to each folder.
• Compact empty parent folders — toggle collapsing of intermediate empty folders into a single parent/child entry from the toolbar.

Removed from upstream

• Link tree view and list view (ScrollView, TagFolderList) — this plugin is tag-only.
• Freshness virtual tags.
• Per-tag metadata system (pin/label/mark/redirect) — replaced by a simpler pinned folders list and folder icons.

Installation

Install manually by copying main.js and manifest.json into .obsidian/plugins/tag-explorer/, then enable it in Settings → Community plugins.

Once installed, open the tag tree via Ctrl+P → Show Tag Explorer, or enable Open on startup in settings.

Toolbar

Button	Action
Sort order	Cycle through sort modes for files
Search	Open the search bar to filter tags and files
Isolate namespaces	Toggle namespace-scoped sub-folders on/off
Filter folder depth	(Visible when isolation is off) Set how many cross-namespace levels deep filter folders appear
Compact empty parents	Toggle collapsing of empty parent folders into parent/child
Collapse all	Collapse all open folders

Search

Type in the search bar to filter the tree. Matches are evaluated against tag names.

Syntax	Meaning
source	tag contains "source"
#source	tag starts with "source" (namespace prefix)
-source	exclude tags containing "source"
-#domain	exclude the entire domain/* namespace
A B	AND — must match both
A | B	OR — match A or B

Settings

Files

File title format — How file names are displayed in the tag tree: path + name, name only, or name + path.

File sort order — Sort files by display name, filename, modified time, created time, or full path. Direction can be ascending or descending.

Show display name — Show the note's title from frontmatter or the first H1 heading instead of the filename.

Title frontmatter key — Dotted path to the frontmatter field used as the display title (e.g. title or meta.title).

Show item count — Display the number of files in each tag folder, to the right of the folder name.

Tags

Tag sort order — Sort tag folders by name or by item count, ascending or descending.

Intercept tag clicks — When clicking a tag anywhere in Obsidian, navigate to it in the tag tree instead of opening the default tag search. Ctrl/Shift-click adds or removes exclusions from the search bar.

Arrangement

Hide files — Control which files are hidden inside intermediate (non-leaf) tag folders:

• Hide nothing — files appear at every level.
• Only intermediates of nested tags — files are hidden inside nested tag levels.
• All intermediates — files only appear at the deepest level (default).

Isolate sub-folders by namespace — When inside a tag folder, only show sub-folders from the same root namespace. Also togglable from the toolbar.

Keep intermediate empty folders — Prevent empty parent tag folders from being collapsed into a single parent/child entry when all their files live in sub-folders. Also togglable from the toolbar.

Show untagged files at root — Display notes with no tags at the top level of the tag tree.

Filters

Scan only these folders — Comma-separated list of vault folders. Only files inside these folders appear in the tag tree. Leave empty to scan the whole vault.

Exclude folders — Comma-separated list of folders to exclude (e.g. templates, archive).

Exclude notes with tag — Notes that have any of these tags are hidden from the tree entirely. Comma-separated.

Hide tags — These tags and all their sub-tags are hidden from the tree. Prefix matching applies: source also hides source/book, source/ai, etc. Comma-separated.

Archive tags — Notes with these tags are collected under an archive folder at the root and hidden from all other folders. Navigate into the archive folder to see them. Comma-separated.

Advanced

Metadata scan delay (ms) — How long to wait after a file change before refreshing the tag tree. Increase if the tree flickers during rapid edits. Requires plugin reload.