Open Tab Settings

by jesse-r-s-hines
5
4
3
2
1
Score: 65/100

Description

The Open Tab Settings plugin enhances navigation in Obsidian by providing greater control over how files open and tabs behave. It offers options to open files in a new tab by default and intelligently switches to an existing tab if a file is already open, avoiding duplication.

Reviews

  • Steve King
    Reviewed on Feb 22nd, 2026
    Does exactly what I wanted. No issues.

Stats

140
stars
49,384
downloads
14
forks
480
days
8
days
8
days
40
total PRs
0
open PRs
7
closed PRs
33
merged PRs
38
total issues
0
open issues
38
closed issues
96
commits

Latest Version

8 days ago

Changelog

  • Update to use the new Obsidian Settings API. Settings are now searchable!
  • This does drop support for Obsidian older than 1.13
  • Also update "Disable on this device" option to use a vault-local flag. If you had the plugin disabled, you'll need to re-disable it.

README file from

Github

Open Tab Settings Test

This plugin adds settings to customize how Obsidian opens tabs and navigates between files, including options to:

  • open in new tab by default
  • switch to existing tab instead of opening a duplicate file
  • customize new tab placement and order
  • open new tabs in the opposite pane when using a split workspace

Using these settings can enable a more familiar workflow for those used to working in editors like VSCode. With the "Always open in new tab" toggled, Obsidian will always open files in a new tab, whether they were opened via links, the quick switcher, file explorer, etc. Never accidentally lose your tabs again!

Features

settings

The primary settings can also be toggled via commands.

Comparison with similar plugins

There are several plugins that attempt to solve this problem with different pros and cons. However, most other options either only work in specific menus or have a noticeable timer delay before opening new tabs. "Open Tab Settings" works by patching some of Obsidian's internal methods to achieve consistent and seamless new tab and de-duplication behavior throughout Obsidian. It is inspired by the Opener plugin which worked in a similar way, but is no longer maintained and broken on the latest Obsidian (though it has since been forked). "Open Tab Settings" also adds a few improvements over Opener, including making non-file views such as the Graph View also open in new tabs and adding several customization options for new tab placement.

Plugin compatibility

Open Tab Settings should be compatible with most other plugins, if you encounter any plugin incompatibility problems please submit an issue.

Some known plugin interactions:

  • The PDF++ plugin customizes the opening behavior of PDFs which can override Open Tab Setting's behavior. You can make the plugins play nicely together by setting the "How to open..." options to "new tab" in the PDF++ settings.

Contributing

Clone the repository and build the plugin with:

npm install
npm run build

This plugin has end-to-end tests using wdio-obsidian-service and WebdriverIO. Run them with:

npm run test

If you'd like to help with translating, add just a new locale file under src/locales.

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