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Workspace++

by s1m4ne
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Description

Obsidian workspace session plugin with a native-feeling UI/UX

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Stats

19
stars
10,765
downloads
3
forks
128
days
1
days
1
days
60
total PRs
0
open PRs
0
closed PRs
60
merged PRs
66
total issues
2
open issues
64
closed issues
444
commits

Latest Version

0.11.0
2 days ago

Changelog

Phones and desktops keep their own layouts

Obsidian keeps two workspaces, workspace.json and workspace-mobile.json. Workspace++ kept one layout per session, so a phone and a desktop sharing a vault overwrote each other's. A phone's sidebars are drawers, and a desktop given them builds two empty sidebars, which needed a restart to recover (#124).

Each session now keeps one layout for desktops and one for phones and tablets. The name, place in the list and group stay shared. A session you have never opened on this kind of device shows the other device's notes and keeps your own sidebars. Existing sessions need nothing: a phone's layout is recognised by its drawers.

Changes made on another device are merged, not overwritten

Sync tools such as iCloud, Dropbox and Syncthing move whole files, sometimes a minute late. A device that saved before the other's change arrived could wipe it: a session created on the phone vanished from both devices, and a deleted one came back.

  • A session created on one device is kept even if the other device saves first.
  • A deleted session stays deleted, even if the other device used it in the meantime. Deletions are remembered for thirty days. Restoring a backup or importing still brings a session back.
  • Each kind of layout keeps whichever was saved last.
  • The session file is checked every five seconds, so a change shows up shortly after your sync tool delivers it. Before, it could wait a minute or more.

Version history survives syncing

Each time another device's changes arrived, the version history of every session was dropped, and the next save emptied history.json. That was the history that could have undone the overwrite. Restoring a backup and importing did the same. All three keep it now.

Devices still on an earlier version don't record deletions. Update every device, or a deleted session may come back while an older one is in use.

See all version on GitHub

README file from

Github

Workspace++

Workspace++ is an Obsidian community plugin for saving, switching, and organizing workspace sessions. It is built for people who want Obsidian layouts to feel fast, native, and keyboard-friendly.

Workspace++ session manager workflow

Highlights

  • Save the current workspace layout as a named session.
  • Switch sessions from the status bar, quick switcher, command palette, hotkeys, or session manager.
  • Use automatic save-on-switch, or turn it off for a manual save workflow.
  • Organize sessions into groups.
  • Customize status bar click, middle-click, right-click, and modified-click actions.
  • Scroll on the status bar to switch sessions.
  • See a status bar warning when a manual-save session has unsaved layout changes.
  • Save, reload, duplicate, rename, delete, reorder, and bulk-delete sessions.
  • Keep per-session version history and restore previous layouts.
  • Export, import, and restore session backups.
  • Load sessions from note frontmatter with workspace-session.
  • Save the current note name as a session and write the matching frontmatter automatically.
  • Use Workspace++ in 21 interface locales.

Features

Quick switching

Cycle through sessions with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Enter, or move backward/forward with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+, and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+.. You can also register numbered or name-based session switch commands for custom hotkeys.

Workspace++ quick switching overlay

Session manager

Open the session manager to switch, create, rename, duplicate, delete, reorder, bulk-delete, and group sessions.

Workspace++ session manager overlay

Create, duplicate, delete

Create sessions from the current layout, duplicate the active session with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+M, or delete it with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Backspace.

Rename and reorder

Rename the current session with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R, right-click sessions for context actions, and drag sessions to reorder them.

Status bar workflow

The status bar shows the active group and session. By default, click opens the quick switcher, Cmd/Ctrl+Click saves the current session, right-click opens the session menu, and Cmd/Ctrl+Right-click restores the latest version history entry.

You can customize status bar click actions in settings, including save, save as, reload without saving, rename, duplicate, previous/next session, blank session, version history, and "save current note name as session".

Save modes

Workspace++ defaults to automatic save-on-switch. If you prefer a manual workflow, turn auto-save off and use explicit save/reload commands. In manual mode, Workspace++ can warn before switching away from unsaved layout changes and highlight the status bar when the current layout differs from the saved session.

Manual-save tools include:

  • Save current session.
  • Save current session as a new session.
  • Save the current layout to another existing session.
  • Reload the current session without saving local layout changes.

Session groups

Groups let you organize sessions without deleting or duplicating them. You can switch groups, show all sessions, move sessions between groups, remove sessions from groups, and disable the group feature if you do not need it.

Session restore scope

By default, switching a session restores the main editor area and both sidebars. Restore sidebars can be turned off in settings, so that switching replaces only the main area and leaves the current sidebars alone. Turn it off if your sidebars come back empty after a switch.

Version history and backups

Workspace++ keeps per-session version history for layout changes and can restore previous layouts. It also keeps session backup files in the vault and supports manual export/import snapshots from settings or commands.

Automatic rotation backups are created on save, hourly, up to 3 generations.

Frontmatter sessions

Add this property to a note to load a session when that note is opened:

workspace-session: My Session

Workspace++ also provides a command, Save current note name as session, that writes workspace-session: <note-name> to the current Markdown note and creates or overwrites the matching session using the current layout.

Installation

From Community Plugins

  1. Open Obsidian Settings > Community plugins.
  2. Click Browse and search for Workspace++.
  3. Click Install, then Enable.

Community plugin page:

https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/workspace-plus-plus

From release

  1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release.
  2. Create a folder at <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/workspace-plus-plus/.
  3. Place the three files into that folder.
  4. Open Obsidian Settings > Community plugins and enable Workspace++.

With BRAT

Use BRAT if you want to test unreleased changes directly from GitHub.

  1. Install the BRAT plugin.
  2. Open Settings > BRAT > Add Beta plugin.
  3. Paste this URL and click Add Plugin:
https://github.com/s1m4ne/obsidian-workspace-plus

Commands

All commands can be assigned custom hotkeys in Settings > Hotkeys.

Some commands follow a setting and are hidden when it is off: the group commands need Session groups, and Search sessions needs Show session filter.

Command Default hotkey
Manage sessions -
Create new session -
Create blank session -
Duplicate current session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+M
Rename current session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R
Delete current session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Backspace
Previous session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+,
Next session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Enter, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+.
Switch to session 1-9 Assignable
Save current session Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+S
Save current session as... -
Save current note name as session -
Save current layout to session... -
Reload current session (without saving) -
Toggle auto-save on switch -
Enable auto-save on switch -
Disable auto-save on switch -
Search sessions -
View session version history -
Export sessions snapshot -
Import latest sessions snapshot -
Switch group -
Show all sessions (exit group) -
Next group Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Tab, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+G
Previous group -

Sync and storage

Sessions and settings are stored together in the plugin's data file:

.obsidian/plugins/workspace-plus-plus/data.json

This is deliberate. Obsidian Sync only carries four files out of a plugin folder -- manifest.json, main.js, styles.css and data.json -- so data.json is the only place sessions can live and still reach your other devices. For that to happen, Installed community plugins has to be enabled in your Obsidian Sync settings.

Version history and backups stay on the device that made them:

sessions.backup.json
history.json
backups/

Version history holds snapshots of workspace layouts, and layouts are device-specific -- restoring another machine's snapshot would reproduce the very breakage it is there to undo. Keeping it local also keeps data.json small, which matters because Sync skips files over its per-file size limit.

Keeping sessions in one vault

If you share .obsidian across several vaults, for example with Settings Profiles, every vault sees the same data.json and therefore the same sessions. Turn on Keep sessions in this vault only in Settings > Workspace++ > Advanced to store them here instead:

.workspace-plus-plus/sessions.json

Each vault then keeps its own sessions. Obsidian Sync cannot carry that file -- it excludes dot-folders -- so this trades device sync for vault separation. Third-party tools that sync the whole vault, such as Syncthing, still work.

Phones and desktops

Like Obsidian, which keeps workspace.json and workspace-mobile.json apart, each session keeps one layout for desktops and one for phones and tablets. The two share the session's name, place in the list and group; neither overwrites the other. Opening a session on a device that has never saved it shows the notes from the other kind of device and keeps that device's own sidebars.

Edits on more than one device

Sync tools such as iCloud, Dropbox and Syncthing move whole files, sometimes a minute late, so two devices can each save without having seen the other's change. Workspace++ merges rather than overwrites: a session created on one device is kept even if the other device saves before it arrives, each kind of layout keeps whichever was saved last, and a deleted session stays deleted even if the other device used it in the meantime. Deletions are remembered for thirty days.

It checks the session file every few seconds, so a change appears shortly after your sync tool delivers it. How long that delivery takes is up to the sync tool.

Languages

Workspace++ includes 21 interface locales:

English, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

Video Demos

Quick switching

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b1dc94f7-b979-4b09-97e6-3ebf4837b5ed

Session manager

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/27a02a7b-aaa8-4795-b67d-4348fa4012f7

Create, duplicate, delete

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c86b8000-c49e-442c-8246-17c181a4d921

Rename and reorder

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6041d80f-9c15-4a59-8d27-8a8f39d9dba6

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6c2b5a13-cc9f-43ca-bff1-944c5b318a92

Community

Bug reports, feature requests, and pull requests are welcome. Feel free to open an issue or PR.

If you find this plugin useful, please give it a star on GitHub. It helps others discover it.

License

MIT

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