Search...Search plugins and themes...
⌘K
Sign in
  • Get started
  • Download
  • Pricing
  • Enterprise
  • Account
  • Obsidian
  • Overview
  • Sync
  • Publish
  • Canvas
  • Mobile
  • Web Clipper
  • CLI
  • Learn
  • Help
  • Developers
  • Changelog
  • About
  • Roadmap
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • System status
  • License overview
  • Terms of service
  • Privacy policy
  • Security
  • Community
  • Plugins
  • Themes
  • Discord
  • Forum / 中文论坛
  • Merch store
  • Brand guidelines
Follow us
DiscordTwitterBlueskyThreadsMastodonYouTubeGitHub
© 2026 Obsidian

Open Tab Settings

jesse-r-s-hinesjesse-r-s-hines34k downloads

Adds options to customize how tabs are opened, including open in new tab by default, preventing duplicate tabs, and more.

Add to Obsidian
  • Overview
  • Scorecard
  • Updates36

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 It is inspired by the Opener plugin which worked in a similar way, but is no longer maintained and broken on the latest Obsidian (though it has since been forked).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

You can 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

This will automatically download the latest Obsidian version and test the plugin against it.

HealthExcellent
ReviewPassed
About
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, and open new tabs in the opposite pane when using a split workspace.
NavigationFilesWorkspaces
Details
Current version
2.1.1
Last updated
Last month
Created
Last year
Updates
36 releases
Downloads
34k
Compatible with
Obsidian 1.8.3+
Platforms
Desktop, Mobile
License
MIT
Report bugRequest featureReport plugin
Author
jesse-r-s-hinesjesse-r-s-hines
github.com/jesse-r-s-hines
GitHubjesse-r-s-hines
  1. Community
  2. Plugins
  3. Navigation
  4. Open Tab Settings

Related plugins

Notebook Navigator

A better file browser and calendar inspired by Apple Notes, Bear, Evernote and Day One.

Recent Files

Display a list of recently opened files.

Homepage

Open a note, base, or workspace on startup, or set it for quick access later.

Vertical Tabs

Offer an alternative view that displays open tabs vertically, allowing users to group and organize tabs for a better navigation experience.

Remember cursor position

Remember cursor and scroll position for each note.

Quick Explorer

Perform file explorer operations (and see your current file path) from the title bar, using the mouse or keyboard.

Reveal Active File Button

Add a button to the top of the File Explorer, to reveal the active file.

Home tab

A browser-like search tab for your local files.

Omnisearch

Intelligent search for your notes, PDFs, and OCR for images.

Local REST API with MCP

Unlock your automation needs by interacting with your notes over a secure REST API.