Notes for Anything

Click a PDF and the companion note opens — with Properties, backlinks, and everything a native Obsidian note has. Click the toggle in the header to go back to the PDF.

Works the same way for images, audio, and video. The file is the entry point; the note is one click away.

Why

Obsidian lets you embed a PDF inside a note, but the file itself is a dead-end: no frontmatter, no Properties, no backlinks. Existing sidecar plugins create a metadata file but leave you to find and open it manually.

Notes for Anything makes the file the entry point. Click it and you land on a native MarkdownView with full Properties editor, body, backlinks, tags, and embeds — same as any other note. A header action toggles back to the file's native viewer when you need to look at the file itself.

UX: click → companion

Where you click	What happens
File in explorer (with companion)	Opens the .md companion in the active tab
File in explorer (no companion)	Native viewer (or whichever plugin handles it)
Inside a companion .md	Header button Open binary in viewer swaps to the file
Inside a file viewer (with companion)	Header button Open companion notes goes back to the .md

The interception covers all the ways you might open a file in Obsidian — explorer click, drag/drop, wikilink, quick switcher, command palette, bookmarks, backlinks panel, search panel. The toggle in the header is the only way to see the file's native viewer when a companion exists.

Capability: just a markdown note

The companion is a plain .md file with binary: <path> in the frontmatter:

---
binary: "papers/attention-is-all-you-need.pdf"
---

Notes start here. Standard markdown. Add Properties through the
Obsidian UI like you would in any other note.

Because it's standard markdown:

• Properties editor works out of the box — add author, tags, year, status, anything
• Backlinks panel shows which notes link to this companion
• Tags, embeds, wikilinks, dataview queries — all work
• Companion can live anywhere in the vault, named anything. The binary: frontmatter is the source of truth
• If the plugin stops working, your notes are still plain markdown. No proprietary format.

Works with PDF++

PDF++ handles annotation, highlights, and rich navigation inside the PDF. Notes for Anything handles the companion note alongside the PDF. Use both:

• Click paper.pdf → companion .md opens (with Properties, summary, links to relevant sections)
• Click Open binary in viewer in the companion header → PDF++ takes over for highlighting and sidenotes
• Click Open companion notes in the PDF++ header → back to the .md

Works with Obsidian Bases

Companions are regular .md files with frontmatter. Point a Base at the folder containing your companions and you get a filterable gallery of your annotated files — no extra configuration.

Quick start

1. Install via BRAT (see Installation)
2. Right-click any supported file → Add companion note
3. The companion opens automatically. Add Properties, write notes
4. Click the file in the explorer anytime — the companion opens

Supported types

PDF, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WEBP, MP3, M4A, WAV, OGG, FLAC, MP4, WEBM, MOV, MKV.

EPUB is intentionally out of scope — delegated to the ePub Reader plugin.

Installation

Until the community plugin store release:

1. Install the BRAT plugin
2. BRAT → Add Beta plugin → mrlnlms/notes-for-anything
3. Enable Notes for Anything in Community plugins

Reference

See docs/HOW-IT-WORKS.md for the full behavior reference — cardinality rules, rename/delete cascade, hide/visible toggle, header actions, and coexistence details.

Development

npm install        # install deps
npm run dev        # esbuild watch
npm test           # run vitest in watch mode
npm test -- --run  # single test pass (CI mode)
npm run build      # production build

Status

Personal-scale plugin built for the author's workflow. Feedback and issues welcome.