Folder to PDF

Export all notes in a folder of your Obsidian vault to a single PDF.

Features

• Notes in the order of the folder's index note, with a checklist to leave some out.
• A PDF outline (notes, ## and ### headings) and a contents page with page numbers.
• Clickable cross-references between the exported notes.
• Linked notes outside the folder can be added as an appendix.
• Callouts unfolded, and always printed in the light theme.

Requirements

• Obsidian 1.13.1 or newer, desktop only (the plugin uses Obsidian's own PDF printing).
• Optional: the Native TikZ plugin 1.2.0 or newer, so TikZ diagrams print in the light theme.

Installation

From the community directory (recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins and turn on community plugins if asked.
2. Select Browse, search for Folder to PDF, then select Install and Enable.

You can also open the plugin's page: community.obsidian.md/plugins/batch-export.

Manually

1. Download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release.
2. In Settings → Community plugins, select the folder icon next to Installed plugins. This opens <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/.
3. Create a folder named batch-export there and put the three files in it.
4. Select the reload icon next to Installed plugins, then enable Folder to PDF.

Beta versions: install BRAT and add dingzy53/obsidian-batch-export.

Update or remove: select Check for updates or Uninstall in Settings → Community plugins.

Usage

• Right-click a folder and choose Export folder to PDF…, or run the command for the folder of the active note.
• A checklist shows every note in index order. A note is amber when it is unticked but a ticked note links to it, so its cross-references would be dead text.
• Linked notes outside the folder are listed separately and can be added as an Appendix.
• The order comes from the links in the folder's index note.
• Choose the contents-page heading depth in the export dialog. It is remembered per folder.

The PDF has an outline (note, ##, ###), a contents page, and clickable cross-references. Output is always light, whatever your Obsidian theme. The plugin only reads your notes and never writes into the vault.

Settings

Page size, margins, font size, outline depth, contents depth (default for new exports), render timeout.

Privacy and security

• Filesystem: the plugin writes the PDF to the location you choose, using Node's fs. It also writes short-lived scratch files to the system temp folder and reads the finished PDF back to compute contents-page numbers and fix link positions. It never writes into your vault.
• Electron IPC: the PDF is produced through the print-to-pdf IPC call, the same one Obsidian's built-in PDF export uses. Nothing else uses IPC.
• Vault access: notes are only read (vault.cachedRead), never modified.
• Network: none.

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # watch build
npm run build   # type-check and bundle to main.js
npm run lint
npm test

To try a build, symlink main.js, manifest.json and styles.css into <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/batch-export/. See AGENTS.md for design notes.

Releasing

npm version patch   # bumps package.json, manifest.json and versions.json, commits and tags
git push --follow-tags

The tag triggers the Release workflow, which lints, tests, builds and attaches main.js, manifest.json and styles.css to a GitHub release.

License

MIT © 2026 Ding Zheng Yuan