Pinned Tab Bar
ren yi146 downloadsMove pinned tabs into a separate sidebar strip and control each one independently: keep it in the strip, send it back to the tab bar, or shrink it to a small badge.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates4
An Obsidian plugin that moves pinned tabs out of the tab header and into a dedicated sidebar strip, so the tab bar keeps its horizontal space for the files you actually switch between.
Nothing is unpinned. The plugin only changes where a pinned tab is displayed, never whether it is pinned.
Features
- Frees the tab header. Pinned files stop eating tab-bar width.
- Per-tab placement. Each pinned file is configured on its own, not by a global switch:
- keep it in the sidebar strip,
- send it back to the tab bar with its full title, or
- send it back to the tab bar as a compact badge.
- Distinguishable at a glance. Badges show the leading characters of the file name plus a color derived from its path, because several Markdown files would otherwise share the same file-type icon.
- Local only. No network requests, no telemetry.
Installation
Community directory
Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search for Pinned Tab Bar.
Manual
- Download
manifest.json,main.js, andstyles.cssfrom the latest release. - Put them into
<vault>/.obsidian/plugins/pinned-tab-bar/. - Reload Obsidian, then enable the plugin under Settings → Community plugins.
BRAT
Command palette → BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing → enter zych2023/Pinned-Tab-Bar.
Usage
Each pinned tab has its own placement, recorded per file:
| Placement | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Sidebar (default) | Hidden from the tab header, shown as a badge in the sidebar strip. |
| Top, full | Stays in the tab header with its complete title. Still pinned. |
| Top, compact | Stays in the tab header, squeezed to about 44 px, showing only the badge. Still pinned. |
So four pinned files can be split any way you like — two in the sidebar, one full in the tab bar, one compact — at the same time.
Gestures
| Target | Action | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Sidebar badge | Left click | Jump to that file; the badge highlights. |
| Sidebar badge | Right click | Placement, unpin, split, open in new window, close. |
| Tab-bar pinned tab | Double click | Send it back to the sidebar. |
| Tab-bar pinned tab | Right click | Obsidian's own menu, untouched by this plugin. |
Commands
- Refresh pinned bar
- Pin current tab
- All pinned tabs to sidebar
- All pinned tabs to top bar
- Diagnose and export layout snapshot (writes
_ptb-diag.mdto the vault root, only when you run it)
Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Language | Interface language: follow Obsidian, Chinese, or English. |
| Enable | Master switch. Disabling restores stock Obsidian behaviour immediately. |
| Sidebar location | Top of the left ribbon (default) / bottom of the left ribbon / status bar. |
| Placement per pinned tab | One row per pinned file, each with its own placement dropdown. |
| Badge style | Leading characters (recommended) or file-type icon. |
| Badge length | 1–4 characters, default 2. |
| Badge size | Size of the badge glyph in pixels. |
Customizing a badge
Add two optional keys to a file's frontmatter:
---
ptb-label: N # text shown on the badge, overrides the file name
ptb-color: 200 # hue 0–360; 200 blue, 120 green, 0 red
---
How it works
- Pinned state is read from the public
ViewState.pinnedfield and changed withWorkspaceLeaf.setPinned(). - The tab header belonging to a leaf is resolved through
leaf.parent.tabHeaderEls, the same index mapping Obsidian itself uses when a tab is clicked. - Placements are stored as
placementMap: { "relative/path.md": "sidebar" | "compact" | "top" }and follow the file when it is renamed.
Privacy
- No network requests of any kind.
- No analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting.
- No clipboard access.
- File contents are never read. The plugin only looks at file names and paths, and only for pinned tabs.
- The single file it writes is its own settings file:
.obsidian/plugins/pinned-tab-bar/data.json.
Troubleshooting
A pinned tab is not hidden from the tab header. Run the diagnose command and open _ptb-diag.md, or disable and re-enable the plugin to force a refresh.
The sidebar strip does not appear. Check that the left ribbon is not collapsed (Settings → Appearance → Show left ribbon). If every pinned tab has been sent to the top, the strip is empty by design.
Double-clicking a pinned tab no longer renames it. Reclaiming that gesture is what makes "double-click to send back" possible. Use the right-click menu to rename instead.