Natural Move/Export

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Natural Move/Export is an Obsidian plugin that seamlessly bridges the gap between Obsidian and your operating system. It makes Obsidian's File Explorer feel like a native folder on your computer.

Why Natural Move/Export?

Obsidian's File Explorer is powerful, but isolated. Copying files out of Obsidian usually requires opening the folder in Finder/Explorer first. Natural Move/Export fixes this by enabling native system-wide copy-paste, drag & drop, and professional exports directly from within Obsidian.

✨ Key Features

📋 Native System Copy (Free & Pro)

Select files in Obsidian and press Cmd + C (macOS) or Ctrl + C (Win). You can then paste them directly onto your desktop or into any other application with Cmd + V.

• Free: Copy individual files.
• Pro: Copy entire folders and their contents.

🖱️ Direct Drag & Drop (Free & Pro)

Hold the Alt key and drag files or folders from Obsidian directly into other apps (e.g., Mail, Slack, or a folder).

• Free: Drag individual files.
• Pro: Drag entire folders.

🚀 Professional Pandoc Export (Pro)

Convert your Markdown notes into polished documents with a single click.

• Word (.docx): Use your own custom .docx templates for professional branding.
• PowerPoint (.pptx): Turn notes into presentations instantly.
• PDF & Beamer: High-quality academic and slide exports.
• HTML & Markdown: Clean, standalone exports.

📁 Target Folder Sync (Pro)

Configure a fixed target folder in the settings. Copy files and folders there with one click via the context menu. Perfect for backups, sharing, or project exports.

🌍 Smart Localization & OS Detection

• Automatic Language: The plugin automatically adapts to your Obsidian language settings.
• Smart OS Detection: Settings and placeholders automatically adjust depending on whether you are using Windows, macOS, or Linux.

💎 Free vs. Pro

Feature	Free	Pro
Copy Files to Clipboard (Cmd+C)	✅	✅
Drag & Drop Files (Alt+Drag)	✅	✅
Audio Feedback	✅	✅
Copy Folders to Clipboard	❌	✅
Drag & Drop Folders	❌	✅
Copy to Fixed Target Folder	❌	✅
Pandoc Export (Word, PDF, etc.)	❌	✅
Custom Word Templates	❌	✅
Custom Pandoc Arguments	❌	✅

How to Activate Pro

1. Purchase a license key from Lemon Squeezy.
2. Open Obsidian and go to Settings > Natural Move.
3. Enter your license key in the License Key field.
4. Click Verify.
5. Once activated, all Pro features will be unlocked immediately.

🛠️ Prerequisites for Pandoc Export

To use the export functions (Word, PowerPoint, PDF, etc.), Pandoc must be installed on your system.

• Mac: brew install pandoc (via Homebrew) or download the installer from the Pandoc website.
• Windows: Download the installer from the Pandoc website.

⚠️ Important for PDF and Beamer Export (MacTeX & MiKTeX)

Pandoc requires a LaTeX distribution in the background to generate PDFs and Beamer presentations. On macOS, MacTeX is the standard. On Windows, MiKTeX is recommended.

Installing MacTeX (macOS):

Option 1: Via Homebrew (Recommended) Open the terminal and enter the following command:

brew install --cask mactex-no-gui

(Note: The download is very large (approx. 5 GB) as it contains all necessary LaTeX packages. The mactex-no-gui version only installs the command-line tools, which is sufficient for Pandoc).

Option 2: Manual Download

1. Go to the official website: tug.org/mactex
2. Download the MacTeX.pkg file and run the installer.

Installing MiKTeX (Windows):

1. Go to the official website: miktex.org/download
2. Download the installer and run it.
3. During installation, choose to install missing packages automatically.

After installing Pandoc and MacTeX/MiKTeX, you may need to restart Obsidian completely for the new system paths to be recognized. The Natural Move/Export plugin automatically searches for the required programs in the standard paths (/Library/TeX/texbin, /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin).

Installation in Obsidian

Via BRAT (Beta Testing)

1. Install the "Obsidian 42 - BRAT" plugin from the Community Plugins.
2. Go to the BRAT settings and click on "Add Beta Plugin".
3. Enter the URL of this GitHub repository.
4. Click on "Add Plugin".

Manual Installation

1. Download the project as a ZIP file and extract it.
2. Create the folder in your Obsidian Vault: .obsidian/plugins/natural-move
3. Copy all extracted project files into this new folder.
4. Open a terminal in this folder and run the following commands:

   npm install
   npm run build
   

5. Open Obsidian and go to Settings > Community Plugins.
6. Disable "Safe Mode" if you haven't already.
7. Click "Refresh" and enable the Natural Move/Export plugin.

Credits & License

• Author: Naturalis
• License: MIT
• Third-party tools: This plugin uses Pandoc (GPL licensed) as an external command-line tool for file conversion. Pandoc is not bundled with this plugin and must be installed separately by the user.