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Copy, move or delete files outside Obsidian while it is open — from your file manager, a script, a sync client — and the File Explorer pane can fall behind what is actually on disk. It keeps listing files that are gone, and misses files that arrived.
The usual remedy is Reload app without saving, which discards your whole session to refresh one pane and is slow on a large vault. This plugin refreshes only the file list: the entire pane, a single folder, or a folder and everything beneath it.
More screenshots
Demo vault
The documentation is a demo vault. The feature has a note that explains what it does and why you would want it, with a nested folder to refresh.
Start reading here — it is plain markdown, so it works on GitHub with nothing installed.
A copy of the vault ships with every release. You can access it via any of the following:
- Running the
File Explorer Reload: Open demo vault command. - Downloading
file-explorer-reload-demo-vault.zipfrom the Releases. It unzips into a singlefile-explorer-reload-demo-vault-<version>folder. - Browsing its source in
demo-vault/in this repository.
What it does
- Reload File Explorer rebuilds the whole pane from disk, from the Command Palette. 01 Reload file explorer
- Reload Folder and Reload Folder with Subfolders do the same for one part of the tree, from the folder right-click menu — the first shallow, the second all the way down. 01 Reload file explorer
There is nothing to configure.
See also
| Plugin | Features | How File Explorer Reload differs |
|---|---|---|
Auto Refresh Explorer |
Periodic polling of configured folders; adds new synced files; desktop/mobile | Broader reconciliation: adds and removes files; any folder/vault on request |
Rebuild Vault Index |
Indexes hidden folders; rebuilds metadata cache; reloads plugins | Different scope: reloads ordinary vault folders |
Symlink Refresh Button |
Unlisted; explorer button renames symlink folders out/back to trigger reread | Same refresh goal; reads folders directly, symlinked or ordinary |
Vault File Refresh |
Periodic whole-vault reconciliation; new/changed files; on-demand scan | Alternative timing: only on request; folder or vault scope; removes missing files too |
Last searched for similar plugins on 2026-10-26.
Installation
The plugin is available in the official Community Plugins repository.
Beta versions
To install the latest beta release of this plugin (regardless if it is available in the official Community Plugins repository or not), follow these steps:
- Ensure you have the BRAT plugin installed and enabled.
- Click Install via BRAT.
- An Obsidian pop-up window should appear. In the window, click the
Add pluginbutton once and wait a few seconds for the plugin to install.
Debugging
By default, debug messages for this plugin (id: file-explorer-reload) are hidden.
If you need to enable them refer to the documentation.
Changelog
All notable changes to this project will be documented in the CHANGELOG.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING to get set up.
Support
Filing an issue (for AI agents and humans)
Open issues through the issue forms, not as blank issues.
To report a bug from inside Obsidian, run the File Explorer Reload: Report a bug command. It opens the bug form with the plugin version, the Obsidian version and your operating system already filled in.
Filing from the CLI or the API (gh issue create --body, or an AI agent filing for you) skips the form, and gh issue create --template cannot load an issue form. In that case, open the matching form in .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/, copy every field as a ### <label> heading in the form's order, and fill in each one. Always state the plugin version, the Obsidian version and your operating system.