aliases:
- Stacked tabs
- Linked pane
- Pane layout
- User interface/Use tabs in Obsidian
permalink: tabs
Tabs in Obsidian work much like tabs in other apps, such as web browsers.
You can open as many tabs as you want in Obsidian. You can also arrange tabs to create custom layouts that persist until the next time you open the app.
At the top of the application window, next to the last tab on the right, select New tab ( ). Or, use a keyboard shortcut:
Ctrl+t
Cmd+t
Select a link in Obsidian to open it in the active tab.
To open a link in a new tab, press Ctrl
(or Cmd
on macOS) and select the link.
The following are all the modifier keys you can use to open links in various ways:
Action | MacOS | Windows/Linux |
---|---|---|
Navigate | None | None |
New Tab | ⌘ (+ Shift in Source Mode) |
Ctrl (+ Shift in Source Mode) |
New Tab Group | ⌘ ⌥ |
Ctrl Alt |
New Window | ⌘ ⌥ Shift |
Ctrl Alt Shift |
Every tab belongs to a tab group. You can drag and drop tabs to rearrange them within a tab group, move them to a different tab group, or create a new tab group. On desktop, you can drag tabs out of their window to open them in a separate pop-out window.
Tabs in sidebars only show the icon. Hover over the icon to show a tooltip with the tab title.
To change the order of your tabs, drag the tab along the tabs in the tab group.
As you drag a tab, drop zones—areas onto which you can move the tab—become highlighted. The drop zone determines where to insert the tab. Some tabs can only be in of the sidebars.
Right-click a tab and select Split right or Split down to create a new tab group with that tab.
You can also split a tab group by dragging a tab to the bottom of another tab.
To resize a tab group, hover the cursor over an edge of the tab group. The edge becomes highlighted when it can be dragged to resize.
You can resize sidebars similarly to make more space for the tab groups in the middle.
Drag and drop:
Command palette:
To move a tab to another existing window, drag the tab to the window you want to move it to.
To pin a tab, right-click the tab and select Pin. Links in a pinned tab always open in a separate tab.
To unpin a pinned tab, right-click the tab and select Unpin.
Select a tab to switch to it. Or, use a keyboard shortcut:
Switch To | MacOS | Windows/Linux |
---|---|---|
Next tab | ⌃ +⇥ |
Ctrl +Tab |
Previous tab | ⌃ +⇧ +⇥ |
Ctrl +Shift +Tab |
First tab on the left | ⌘ +1 |
Ctrl +1 |
2nd to 8th tab | ⌘ +2 ..8 |
Ctrl +2 ..8 |
Last tab on the right | ⌘ +9 |
Ctrl +9 |
Recently closed tab | ⌘ +⇧ +t |
Ctrl +Shift +t |
You can stack tabs to slide them over other tabs in the same tab group.
To stack notes, select the down arrow at the upper right corner of the tab group, and then select Stack notes.
Tab stacks are inspired by Andy Matuschak's sliding notes.
Linked views are tabs that reference a different tab. When the content of the referenced tab changes, the linked view changes as well.
For note tabs, you can use the following plugins as linked views:
To open a linked view for a note tab:
You can save and restore window layouts using the Workspaces plugin.