File Notes

A plugin for Obsidian that creates markdown notes for non-native file formats (mp4, pdf, png, and other binary files), allowing you to add metadata, tags, and backlinks to any file type.

About

Obsidian excels at managing markdown files, but working with binary files like videos, PDFs, and images can be limiting—you can't add tags, aliases, or backlinks to them directly.

File Notes solves this by creating a companion markdown note for each binary file. For example, a note for video.mp4 creates video.md containing an embedded link:

![[video.mp4]]

This allows you to:

• Add tags, aliases, and frontmatter to any file type
• Create backlinks to binary files
• Write annotations and descriptions alongside your media
• Keep your file explorer clean by optionally hiding source files

Features

Basic Operations

Operation	How to
Create file note	Right-click file → File Notes commands → Create file note
Remove file note	Right-click file → File Notes commands → Remove file note
Exclude file	Right-click file → File Notes commands → Exclude from note creation
Exclude folder	Right-click folder → File Notes commands → Exclude folder from note creation

Batch Operations

• Create notes for all files: Creates notes for all matching files in your vault
• Create file notes for folder: Right-click a folder to create notes for all matching files (including subfolders)
• Remove file notes for folder: Right-click a folder to remove all file notes (with confirmation)
• Remove notes from all files: Removes all file notes from your vault (with confirmation)

Auto-Create Notes

Enable automatic note creation in settings. When you add a file with a matching extension, a file note is automatically created.

Hide Source Files

Keep your file explorer clean by hiding source files that have corresponding notes. Only the markdown notes will be visible, while the original files remain accessible through embedded links.

Toggle this feature via:

• Settings → Hide files with notes
• Command palette: Toggle files with notes visibility

Notes Folder

Control where file notes are stored with flexible folder options:

Setting	Behavior	Example
(empty)	Same folder as source file	Videos/clip.mp4 → Videos/clip.md
./Notes	Subfolder relative to source	Videos/clip.mp4 → Videos/Notes/clip.md
Notes	Central folder for all notes	Videos/clip.mp4 → Notes/clip.md

Central folder mode automatically resolves name conflicts by appending numbers: report.md, report (1).md, report (2).md, etc.

Folders are created automatically when the first note is saved.

Source frontmatter: In central folder mode, notes include frontmatter to track which source file they belong to:

---
source: "[[Videos/clip.mp4]]"
---

This is automatically enabled for central folder mode (required for reliable remove when files have the same name). For other modes, you can optionally enable it via "Add source frontmatter" in settings.

Customizable Note Template

Configure the content of created notes using a template with the {{filename}} placeholder.

Examples:

Template	Result
![[{{filename}}]]	Embeds the file (default)
[[{{filename}}]]	Links to the file
# {{filename}}	Heading with file name

Commands

Open command palette with Ctrl/Cmd + P:

Command	Description
Create notes for all files	Creates file notes for all matching files in the vault
Remove notes from all files	Removes all file notes (with confirmation)
Toggle files with notes visibility	Shows/hides source files that have notes

Settings

Setting	Description	Default
File extensions	Comma-separated list of extensions (e.g., mp4, pdf, png)	mp4
Notes folder	Where to store notes: empty for same folder, ./Name for relative subfolder, Name for central folder	(empty)
Add source frontmatter	Add source file path to note frontmatter (auto-enabled for central folder mode)	Off
Auto-create notes	Automatically create notes when matching files are added	Off
Hide files with notes	Hide source files in the file explorer	Off
Note template	Template content using {{filename}} placeholder	![[{{filename}}]]

Installation

From Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community plugins
2. Disable Restricted mode
3. Select Browse and search for "File Notes"
4. Select Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create folder: <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/file-notes/
3. Copy downloaded files into the folder
4. Reload Obsidian
5. Enable in Settings → Community plugins

Use Cases

• Video annotations: Add timestamps, summaries, and tags to video files
• PDF management: Organize research papers with metadata and cross-references
• Image galleries: Add descriptions and tags to photos
• Audio notes: Annotate podcast episodes or audio recordings
• Asset management: Track design files, 3D models, or other binary assets

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/netopolit/file-notes.git

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build for development (with watch mode)
npm run dev

# Build for production
npm run build

Support

If you encounter issues or have feature requests, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.

License

MIT License