Unlocking Obsidian's New Properties Feature for Enhanced Metadata
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Chapter 1: Overview of Obsidian's New Properties Feature
If YAML metadata in Obsidian has always been a mystery to you, now might be the perfect time to explore the new Properties feature.
Recently, Obsidian rolled out its 1.4 update, currently accessible only to Insiders, introducing a feature known as Properties. This enhancement builds upon the existing YAML metadata, making the addition of various metadata properties to your notes more user-friendly and comprehensive. In this article, we will delve into the updates, improvements, and new functionalities that this feature introduces for metadata management in Obsidian. We will also highlight some plugins that can aid in managing this metadata effectively.
Let’s dive in!
The New Properties Feature
With the latest update, a new user interface has been added to the top of each note, replacing the previous YAML metadata format that was enclosed between dashed lines.
You can now create customizable properties with entry fields, allowing you to specify the type of property—be it text, a list, tags, numbers, checkboxes, or dates. While typing in these fields, suggestions for existing values from your other notes will pop up, making data entry faster and more efficient.
This is a welcome change that many users, including myself, have longed for, especially when relying on plugins like Frontmatter tag suggest and Metadata Menu for such functionalities.
Moreover, when defining a new property, a drop-down list will display all the properties present in your vault, enhancing consistency and speeding up the metadata input process.
Despite the new visual changes, these properties still utilize YAML under the hood, meaning there’s no need to worry about transferring your existing metadata into a new format—properties will now be displayed by default.
Commands for Managing Properties
Obsidian has introduced several commands for the Properties feature. The 'Show all properties' command opens a pane in the right-hand panel, listing all properties found in your notes. Users can alter property types or delete them from their notes with ease.
Similarly, the 'Show file properties' command generates a sidebar pane that focuses solely on the properties section, allowing for the editing of an active file’s properties regardless of their visibility in the main editor.
This more intuitive approach to note metadata aligns Obsidian more closely with the database and metadata functionalities of Notion. This evolution is promising, as Notion's databases are among its most praised features, and this brings Obsidian nearer to that level while preserving its unique qualities as a note-taking and personal knowledge management tool.
Plugins to Enhance Your Experience
Since the Properties feature is built on YAML metadata, you can continue to utilize all plugins that rely on or interact with YAML-encoded values. Below are a few notable examples:
Dataview
Following the update announcement, many users inquired about the ability to query note properties and display the results. Thanks to the YAML basis of properties, the Dataview plugin remains effective—your queries will still function as intended without needing adjustments, since the underlying YAML structure remains unchanged. Dataview can be employed for creating indexes, lists, and tables for all note properties.
Auto Note Mover
I recently discovered the Auto Note Mover plugin, which has proven invaluable for maintaining an organized and consistent vault. It allows you to set conditions for moving notes into designated folders. For example, I use it to transfer unpublished article outlines to an archive folder once the unpublished tag is updated to published. This feature helps keep my Content folder focused on current projects.
Although I would typically include MetaEdit in this list, the recent update has rendered it non-functional—attempting to run the command yields no results. This plugin was designed to facilitate quick editing of file metadata (now Properties) from anywhere within the note, with customizable suggestions and hotkey commands for ease of access. I hope it will soon be operational once again.
In conclusion, this new feature update in Obsidian marks an exciting step forward. I’ll be sure to share more insights as I continue exploring these functionalities, and I anticipate new plugins related to these changes will emerge soon. For now, I hope you find this information beneficial, and thank you for reading!
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Chapter 2: Recommended Videos
In this chapter, we will explore some insightful YouTube videos that delve deeper into the new Properties feature in Obsidian.
Enhance The New Metadata Properties in Obsidian MD with These Plugins
This video discusses how to maximize the use of the new Properties feature with various plugins to enhance your metadata management experience.