Rich Search

🔤 Whole word  ·  🧮 Regex  ·  📁 Search by folder  ·  🗂️ Search by file type  ·  🧩 Cross-format search  ·  🖍️ Highlight on open

Features · Demo · Cross-format · Install · Settings · Development · 中文

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Other plugins I build
Plugin	Description	Install page
Rich Table	Spreadsheet-like tables in notes, and a viewer for Excel files; their content is searchable from Rich Search	Open in Obsidian
Rich View	Show draw.io, Visio and PowerPoint right in your notes; their text is searchable from Rich Search	Open in Obsidian

A powerful cross-file search tool for Obsidian. It matches whole words and regular expressions, limits the search to the folders and file types you choose, and searches the text inside PDF, Excalidraw, Excel, PowerPoint, draw.io and Visio files as well as Markdown files. Results are listed grouped by file; click one, or step through them with the arrow keys, to jump to the match, which is marked in the original.

Features

• A search panel in the sidebar (ribbon icon or the Open search command): drag it to either side. The query box and options stay fixed while only the results scroll.
• Whole-word matching that also works in Chinese, Japanese and Korean text
• Regular expressions, with a clear message instead of an error while you are still typing the pattern
• Case sensitivity toggle
• Searching starts as you type, and Enter searches at once. A new query cancels the one still running.
• Scope: include folders and exclude folders (an exclusion inside an included folder carves it out), and tick the file types to search. Skipped files are never read.
• Open a result in the main area (Ctrl/Cmd+click for a new tab). A note opens with the matching line in the middle of the window, in reading view and in the editor alike.
• Move through the results with the keyboard: ↑ / ↓ select the previous or next result and open it without taking the focus away from the list. The selected result is shown with a background, as in VS Code.
• Matches stay highlighted in every open note, as in VS Code, for as long as the search panel is open and the query is not empty. Clicking, typing in the note and pressing Escape do not clear them. The match you opened is drawn brighter, with an outline, and the others dimmer. This works in the editor, in reading view and in Markdown tables.
• Choose the highlight colour in the settings. Every view that shows a match uses it.
• Search history: press ↑ / ↓ in the query box to step back and forth through earlier searches; each one restores the text, the three options and the scope. A button in the box lists them, newest first: click one to restore it, click the × after it to forget just that one, or choose Clear history.
• Search in a folder: right-click a folder in the file explorer and choose Search in folder. The include list becomes that folder, the exclude list is cleared, and the query already in the box is searched again.
• Excalidraw drawings are searched by the words in them, and clicking a result opens the drawing and zooms to the element (needs the Excalidraw plugin).
• PDF files are searched by the text on each page. Clicking a result opens the page in Obsidian's viewer, and the matches on the pages you scroll through are marked. A scanned PDF with no text layer cannot be searched and is counted among the files that could not be read. The first search of a large PDF takes a while; its text is kept in memory afterwards.
• Excel, PowerPoint, draw.io and Visio files are searched through the Rich Table and Rich View plugins, and clicking a result opens the file at the sheet and cell, the slide, or the shape (see below).
• Many results: the first 2,000 are shown with the true total above them, and a button shows more. Results appear as they are found, notes first.

Demo

Whole word, regex and scope

Type a word, switch on whole word or regular expression, and limit the search to some folders and file types. Results appear as they are found.

🎬 Demo GIF coming soon

Opening a result

Every match stays highlighted in the open note while the panel is open, the one you opened is brighter with an outline, the line is centred, and ↑ / ↓ move through the results.

🎬 Demo GIF coming soon

PDF and Excalidraw

Search the text of PDF pages and the words in an Excalidraw drawing. A PDF opens at its page with the matches marked; a drawing zooms to the element.

🎬 Demo GIF coming soon

Excel, PowerPoint, draw.io and Visio

With Rich Table and Rich View installed, their content is searched along with your notes. A result opens at its sheet and cell, its slide, or its shape.

🎬 Demo GIF coming soon

History and searching in a folder

Open the history list to pick, forget or clear earlier searches. Right-click a folder in the file explorer to search only inside it.

🎬 Demo GIF coming soon

Cross-format search

Notes are not the only place your text lives. Rich Search reads the text a person would actually see in other files and lists it next to your notes. It does not read raw bytes, and it does not carry its own parsers: for formats Obsidian cannot show, it asks the plugin that already renders them.

Installation

Community plugin browser (recommended):

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for Rich Search and install
3. Enable the plugin

Manual: copy main.js, manifest.json, styles.css to <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/rich-search/

Minimum Obsidian version: 1.8.7. Works on desktop and mobile.

Settings

In the settings tab:

In the search panel's Scope section:

Development

npm install
npm run dev          # watch
npm test             # unit tests
npm run test:e2e     # browser tests (first run: npx playwright install chromium)
npm run verify:ci    # clean install, build, changelog check, tests

License

AGPL-3.0: derivatives must be open-sourced under the same license.

For commercial licensing: [email protected]

Support the Project

Rich Search is free and open-source under the AGPL-3.0 license. If this plugin has improved your workflow, you can support its ongoing development with a voluntary donation. Every contribution helps fix bugs and add new features.

💳 PayPal

🧧 WeChat Pay / Alipay

WeChat Pay	Alipay

Thank you for your support! 🙏

Feedback

Issues and feature requests: GitHub Issues