Tag Explorer
Jorrit van der Heide22 downloadsNavigate your vault through a tag-generated folder tree.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates2
A fork of TagFolder by vorotamoroz.
Navigate your vault through a tag-generated folder tree. Each tag namespace (domain/, source/, status/, …) becomes an independent folder tree. A note tagged #domain/coding and #source/book appears under both domain/coding and source/book simultaneously — the same file in two places at once, like a symlink.
Meeting notes : #domain/work #status/active
Research doc : #domain/coding #source/book #status/active
Book summary : #source/book #status/done
domain/
coding/ → Research doc
work/ → Meeting notes
source/
book/ → Research doc, Book summary
status/
active/ → Meeting notes, Research doc
done/ → Book summary
Changes from upstream
Bug fixes
ignoreTagsnow matches prefixes — addingsourceto the ignore list hidessource/book,source/ai, and all othersource/*sub-tags, not just the baresourcetag.- Deduplication is namespace-aware — notes tagged with both
domain/codingandsource/booknow correctly appear under both namespaces. Previously the deduplication logic would silently drop the note from whichever namespace was processed second.
New features
- Namespace-scoped sub-folders — inside a tag folder, only sub-folders from the same root namespace are shown. Tags from other namespaces no longer bleed in as nested children. Togglable from the toolbar (on by default).
- Cross-namespace filter folders — when namespace isolation is off, a limited set of cross-namespace entry points appears inside a folder so you can narrow down by another dimension without leaving. Depth is configurable from the toolbar.
- Folder icons — assign a custom icon to any tag folder via its context menu.
- Item count — optionally show the number of files next to each folder.
- Compact empty parent folders — toggle collapsing of intermediate empty folders into a single
parent/childentry from the toolbar.
Removed from upstream
- Link tree view and list view (ScrollView, TagFolderList) — this plugin is tag-only.
- Freshness virtual tags.
- Per-tag metadata system (pin/label/mark/redirect) — replaced by a simpler pinned folders list and folder icons.
Installation
Install manually by copying main.js and manifest.json into .obsidian/plugins/tag-explorer/, then enable it in Settings → Community plugins.
Once installed, open the tag tree via Ctrl+P → Show Tag Explorer, or enable Open on startup in settings.
Toolbar
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Sort order | Cycle through sort modes for files |
| Search | Open the search bar to filter tags and files |
| Isolate namespaces | Toggle namespace-scoped sub-folders on/off |
| Filter folder depth | (Visible when isolation is off) Set how many cross-namespace levels deep filter folders appear |
| Compact empty parents | Toggle collapsing of empty parent folders into parent/child |
| Collapse all | Collapse all open folders |
Search
Type in the search bar to filter the tree. Matches are evaluated against tag names.
| Syntax | Meaning |
|---|---|
source |
tag contains "source" |
#source |
tag starts with "source" (namespace prefix) |
-source |
exclude tags containing "source" |
-#domain |
exclude the entire domain/* namespace |
A B |
AND — must match both |
A | B |
OR — match A or B |
Settings
Files
File title format — How file names are displayed in the tag tree: path + name, name only, or name + path.
File sort order — Sort files by display name, filename, modified time, created time, or full path. Direction can be ascending or descending.
Show display name — Show the note's title from frontmatter or the first H1 heading instead of the filename.
Title frontmatter key — Dotted path to the frontmatter field used as the display title (e.g. title or meta.title).
Show item count — Display the number of files in each tag folder, to the right of the folder name.
Tags
Tag sort order — Sort tag folders by name or by item count, ascending or descending.
Intercept tag clicks — When clicking a tag anywhere in Obsidian, navigate to it in the tag tree instead of opening the default tag search. Ctrl/Shift-click adds or removes exclusions from the search bar.
Arrangement
Hide files — Control which files are hidden inside intermediate (non-leaf) tag folders:
- Hide nothing — files appear at every level.
- Only intermediates of nested tags — files are hidden inside nested tag levels.
- All intermediates — files only appear at the deepest level (default).
Isolate sub-folders by namespace — When inside a tag folder, only show sub-folders from the same root namespace. Also togglable from the toolbar.
Keep intermediate empty folders — Prevent empty parent tag folders from being collapsed into a single parent/child entry when all their files live in sub-folders. Also togglable from the toolbar.
Show untagged files at root — Display notes with no tags at the top level of the tag tree.
Filters
Scan only these folders — Comma-separated list of vault folders. Only files inside these folders appear in the tag tree. Leave empty to scan the whole vault.
Exclude folders — Comma-separated list of folders to exclude (e.g. templates, archive).
Exclude notes with tag — Notes that have any of these tags are hidden from the tree entirely. Comma-separated.
Hide tags — These tags and all their sub-tags are hidden from the tree. Prefix matching applies: source also hides source/book, source/ai, etc. Comma-separated.
Archive tags — Notes with these tags are collected under an archive folder at the root and hidden from all other folders. Navigate into the archive folder to see them. Comma-separated.
Advanced
Metadata scan delay (ms) — How long to wait after a file change before refreshing the tag tree. Increase if the tree flickers during rapid edits. Requires plugin reload.