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Colorful Folders

by rohitnahar-offical
5
4
3
2
1
Score: 56/100
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Description

Automatically adds color-code folders, tags, and your Graph View with premium palettes, and auto-assign smart icons to visualize your structures instantly

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Stats

13
stars
7,162
downloads
1
forks
43
days
1
days
1
days
8
total PRs
0
open PRs
1
closed PRs
7
merged PRs
19
total issues
1
open issues
18
closed issues
658
commits

Latest Version

5.0.2
2 days ago

Changelog

Updates for Colorful Folders

🛠️ 5.0.2 - Performance, Auto-Detect Icons, Mobile Dividers & Sync

This release restores ultra-fast (~0ms) startup speeds, introduces an automatic Self-Check & Auto-Detect Icon Packs tool in Settings, fixes section dividers on mobile devices, eliminates UI freezing in the icon picker, and adds real-time PC & Mobile sync proofing.

⚡ 1. Ultra-Fast Startup & Non-Blocking Initialization

  • ~0ms Startup Lag: Plugin initialization and layout-ready hooks are non-blocking; initial folder styles render immediately (<1ms) while local icon scans run in the background.
  • Parallel Icon Scanning: Parallelized SVG file scanning on disk using Promise.all for fast local asset loading.
  • Targeted Workspace Observers: Scoped style-stripping mutation observers strictly to file explorer containers instead of watching doc.body.

🔍 2. Auto-Detect & Self-Check Icon Packs

  • Self-Check Icon Packs Tool: Added an "Auto-detect existing icon packs" button in Settings -> Custom icon management that scans local vault storage (.obsidian/icons and colorful-folders/icons/), repairs registrations, and reports accurate icon counts.
  • Comprehensive Alias Detection: Installation detection now recognizes all pack ID aliases (tb-, si-, fa-, ri-, local SVGs) so Featured Icon Packs accurately display ✓ Installed (X icons).

🚀 3. Freeze-Free Icon Picker & Divider Rendering

  • Chunked Batch Grid Rendering: IconPickerModal renders icons in smooth incremental batches of 60 items with scroll-based lazy loading and 150ms search debouncing to eliminate main-thread freezes.
  • O(1) DOM Template Cloning: Parsed SVG template elements are cached and cloned with cloneNode(true) for fast DOM cell creation.
  • Safe Divider Icon Renderer: DividerModal header previews and setting buttons safely support custom SVGs, emojis, Lucide icons, and fallbacks without JS errors.

📱 4. Mobile Dividers & Real-Time Cross-Device Sync

  • Mobile Dividers Support: Section dividers now render properly in mobile phone file lists with smart text trimming and touch controls.
  • Real-Time Cross-Device Sync: Vault modification listeners on data.json and custom icon directories automatically sync settings and icons between PC and Mobile in real-time across Obsidian Sync, WebDAV, Git, or iCloud.

Full Changelog: https://github.com/RohitNahar-Offical/colorful-folders-obsidian/compare/5.0.1...5.0.2

See all version on GitHub

README file from

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🌈 Colorful Folders for Obsidian

Transform your Obsidian file explorer from a dull list into a vibrant, organized, and high-performance visual dashboard.

Colorful Folders automatically applies premium color palettes, smart icons, and structural intelligence to your vault. Whether you prefer a strictly organized, monochromatic workspace or a neon-glowing cyberpunk aesthetic, this plugin makes navigation intuitive and your workspace absolutely beautiful.

Updates for Colorful Folders

🚀 5.0.0 - Architectural Overhaul & New Features

🌲 1. Perfect Folder Scope Hierarchy (New Mode under Hierarchy Mode)

  • Matching Colors by Tree Depth: Notes and subfolders at the exact same depth level receive matching colors for a clean, balanced layout:
    • Level 1 (Root folders & root notes) = Color A
    • Level 2 (Subfolders & notes inside root folders) = Color B
    • Level 3 (Deeper subfolders) = Color C
  • No Level Mismatches: Notes align visually with their exact folder depth in your sidebar.

⚡ 2. Instant Auto-Icons (Offline & Free)

  • No API Keys Needed: Automatically pick perfect icons for your notes and folders in seconds—completely offline, private, and 100% free!
  • Blazing Fast: Classifies hundreds of notes in less than a second.
  • Smart Matching: Connect your favorite local AI models (via Ollama) for intelligent icon selection.
  • Live Progress Bar: Watch real-time scanning progress as your vault gets automatically styled.

🤖 3. Smart AI Icon Assistant

  • Context-Aware Styling: Automatically style your vault based on the actual topics and content of your notes.
  • Automatic Icon Fallbacks: If a suggested icon isn't installed, the plugin automatically finds the closest matching alternative from Lucide, Simple Icons, or FontAwesome.

🚀 4. Butter-Smooth Performance & Zero Conflicts

  • Rebuilt Styling Engine: Redesigned how colors are rendered under the hood for faster updates and zero layout glitches.
  • Zero Lag in Large Vaults: Ultra-optimized calculations keep scrolling completely smooth, even in vaults with 10,000+ files.

✨ Core Features

🎨 Vivid Color & Visual Hierarchy

  • Color-Coding Hierarchy: Automatically assigns beautiful, distinct colors to top-level and nested folders.
  • Visual Wayfinding: Glowing connector lines create a clear "breadcrumb trail" to your currently active file.
  • Smart Rainbow Logic & Text: Cycle files through your palette, enable custom rainbow text gradients on individual items, or use the Adaptive Heatmap to sync colors.
  • Curated Palettes: Premium built-in palettes (including Tailwind UI, Tailwind UI Dark, Cyberpunk, Nord, and Pastel).
  • Minimalist Modes: Force subfolders to inherit parent colors, or use Outline Only Mode to remove background tints while keeping bright connecting lines.

🤖 Smart Iconography & Custom Packs

  • Auto-Icon Engine: Automatically injects high-fidelity icons based on item names (e.g., Journal -> 📅, Finance -> 💰).
  • Local Icon Pack Support: Drop any custom SVG icon pack into .obsidian/icons for instant, parallel-scanned icon loading.
  • Custom Open/Closed Icons: Define custom global defaults or per-item overrides for open and closed folder states.
  • Built-in Offline Libraries: Includes Material, FontAwesome, Lucide, Tabler, Simple Icons, and Vibrant packs for instant offline rendering.
  • Universal 18px Sizing: All icons are standardized to a professional 18px baseline with perfect vertical centering.

📁 Advanced Customization & Typography

  • Right-Click WYSIWYG Menu: Select "Set Custom File Style" on any item to easily override its color, icon, border radius, and text formatting.
  • Custom Border Radius: Adjust border-radius per folder or file using a smooth range slider in the style modal.
  • Advanced Typography: Make key projects pop with bold, italic, custom text colors, and rainbow gradients.
  • Smart Inheritance: Force a specific style down an entire folder tree with a single click.

📐 Organization & Appearance Controls

  • Toggle Collapse Indicators: Easily show or hide folder collapse arrows in the file explorer via settings.
  • Section Dividers: Group files with vertical visual dividers supporting glassmorphic popovers and custom line styles.
  • Dynamic Item Counters: Display recursive statistics showing total folder and file counts.
  • Exclusion Lists: Keep utility directories (like attachments or templates) standard and unaffected.

🎨 Synchronization & Ecosystem

  • Tag Color Sync: Automatically color tags matching styled folder names (e.g., styling "Work" styles #Work).
  • Custom Tag Rules: Manually map specific tags to any styled folder path (e.g., #todo = /Projects/Active).
  • Graph View Sync: Folder colors sync directly into Obsidian's built-in Graph View as color groups.
  • Notebook Navigator Integration: Seamless style synchronization with Notebook Navigator.

🕵️ Stealth & Privacy Engine

  • Visual Privacy: Hide any file or folder from the sidebar instantly via context menu.
  • Ghost Mode: Toggle semi-transparent viewing of hidden items with a sleek blur effect.
  • Password Protection: Secure privacy settings with a custom modal.

🛡️ Stability & Performance Engine

  • Zero-DOM Engine: High-performance adoptedStyleSheets engine with zero GPU lag, even in 10,000+ note vaults.
  • Cross-Platform: Flawless performance across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
  • Strict Network Privacy: 100% private offline styling engine with zero user data transmission.

🛠️ Installation

Via Obsidian Community Plugins (Official & Recommended)

  1. Open Obsidian and navigate to Settings > Community plugins.
  2. Click Browse next to Community plugins.
  3. Search for Colorful Folders.
  4. Click Install, then click Enable.

Via BRAT (For Beta Releases)

Want to test the absolute latest features before they hit the store?

  1. Install the BRAT plugin from the Obsidian Community gallery.
  2. Go to Settings > BRAT > Beta Plugin List.
  3. Click Add Beta plugin.
  4. Paste the repository URL: https://github.com/RohitNahar-Offical/colorful-folders-obsidian
  5. Click Add Plugin.
  6. Enable Colorful Folders in your Community plugins tab.

💡 Pro Tip

Access all styling configurations by navigating to Settings > Colorful Folders. Look for the large "💡 Pro Tip" banner at the top of the settings page to discover hidden tricks, including how to set up custom overriding colors!

👨‍💻 Developer Documentation

Looking to understand the internal architecture, contribute features, or debug the styling engine? Check out our comprehensive technical guides:

Developed with ❤️ by ROHIT-NAHAR

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