Recent Edits

A sidebar panel for Obsidian that shows files modified in the last N days, grouped by calendar day. Marks files edited from outside Obsidian — filesystem writes, sync from another device, plugins that write programmatically — with a configurable indicator dot.

Why this exists

Most Recent Files plugins for Obsidian show recently opened files, not recently modified ones. As I use my vault together with AI tools, I thought it would be useful to see recently modified files and distinguish between edits I've made in Obsidian and those made by the file system. This is useful when using:

• An external editor or script writing through the filesystem
• AI assistants editing notes via filesystem APIs

Recent Edits closes that gap. It shows what changed, when it changed, and visually flags edits that came from outside Obsidian's editor.

Features

• Files modified in the last 7 days (configurable, 1–90 days), grouped by calendar day
• Day headers labelled Today / Yesterday / YYYY-MM-DD (Ddd), sorted most recent first
• Configurable indicator dot for edits that came from outside Obsidian's editor
• "Background folders" toggle: hide noisy folders by default, reveal inline via toggle
• "Excluded folders" to permanently hide certain edits
• Copy any file's absolute filesystem path from its row for handing off to AI tools or the CLI (desktop only); the copy control can be a button, the folder-path text, or both
• Right-click → Clear from list to dismiss a file from the panel until its next edit
• Optional hover preview (uses the Page Preview core plugin)
• Panel controls in the top day-header row: a gear to open settings, and a button to switch how days display — expanded, collapsed, or reveal-on-hover
• Optional file-size change indicator: a subtle green/red chevron after a filename showing whether the file grew or shrank since its previous edit, with a configurable KB threshold
• Includes .md, .canvas, and .base files

Install

Plugin Directory

1. Open Obsidian → Settings (⌘,) → Community plugins
2. If you see "Restricted mode is on", click Turn on community plugins
3. Click Browse
4. Search "Recent Edits"
5. Click Install → then Enable
6. Open the panel via the History ribbon icon, or Cmd-P → "Recent Edits: Open panel"

Via BRAT (For Pre-release Betas)

1. Install the BRAT plugin from the Community plugins directory.
2. In Obsidian: Settings → BRAT → Add Beta plugin.
3. Paste: cwagner223355/obsidian-recent-edits
4. Enable Recent Edits in Community plugins.

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
Lookback days	number	7	How many days back to include. Range 1–90.
Hover preview	toggle	off	Show Obsidian's page preview popup on hover. Requires the Page Preview core plugin.
External edit indicator color	color	#D97757	Color of the dot shown next to externally-edited files.
File size change indicator	toggle	off	Show a subtle up/down chevron after a filename when the file grew (green) or shrank (red) since its previous edit.
Size change threshold (KB)	number	10	Minimum size change, in KB, for the indicator to appear. Smaller changes are ignored.
Copy absolute path affordance	dropdown	Button above the time	Which control copies a row's absolute filesystem path: a button, the folder-path text, or both (desktop only).
Background folders	folder list	[]	Hidden by default; revealed by the per-day-header toggle. Useful for files that update often but you only check occasionally.
Excluded folders	folder list	[]	Hidden completely. Dot-prefixed folders (.obsidian, .trash) are always excluded regardless.

Row interactions

Click target	Action
Filename	Open the file. Activates an existing tab if open; otherwise opens a new one.
Cmd/Ctrl-click filename	Always open in a new tab.
Copy-path button / folder path (per the affordance setting)	Copy the file's absolute filesystem path to the clipboard (desktop only).
Right-click anywhere on the row	Open in new tab / split / window, Copy path (vault-relative), Rename, Delete, Clear from list.
Day header	Collapse or expand the day's group.
Day-mode button (top day header)	Cycle how day groups display: expanded → collapsed → reveal-on-hover. Choice persists.
Gear (top day header)	Open the plugin's settings.
More / Less pill on a day header	Toggle whether files in your background folders are shown. Only appears if you've configured background folders.

How the external-edit indicator works

The classifier combines a few signals:

• editor-change events (fires when a file is being edited inside Obsidian's editor).
• vault.create / vault.modify events (fire for any change, including writes from outside Obsidian).
• workspace.file-open events (used to recognize core-plugin flows that create-and-open a file, like Daily Notes from the command palette).
• File size at create time (a brand-new empty file is treated as Obsidian-internal — wikilink click, "New note" command, etc.).

A file is classified as an external edit only when none of those internal signals fire near the create or modify event.

Potential limitations

The external-edit status is meant to be an indicator, not a perfect signal. It could mistake:

• Edits arriving via Obsidian Sync from another device.
• Plugin background writes that never open the file in a workspace leaf (rare in practice).
• Files modified before the plugin was installed (these stay unclassified until the next time they're touched).

Support

If Recent Edits is useful to you, consider buying me a coffee.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.