Unseen Changes Dot

Unseen Changes Dot shows which notes are new and which existing notes changed since you last viewed them. It adds small markers to the Obsidian file explorer, parent folders, and background tabs without modifying note frontmatter.

Current packaged version: 1.0.31.

What the markers mean

Opening a note in the active tab marks its current version as seen. A new file keeps the stronger new state if it changes before you open it.

Folders inherit markers from unseen descendants. A folder can show both states when it contains both new and changed files.

Features

• Tracks Markdown files by default.
• Can track attachments when enabled.
• Shows markers in the file explorer and on background tabs.
• Lets you choose which states to show.
• Supports circle, rounded, square, and diamond marker shapes.
• Accepts CSS colours, including Obsidian theme variables.
• Keeps tracking data out of note frontmatter.
• Ignores plugin runtime files and task notes marked with task or tasks.
• Prunes state for missing files and stale seen-pulse entries.

Storage and sync

The main state file is:

<vault-config-dir>/plugins/unseen-changes-dot/data.json

Per-file seen pulses are stored in:

<vault-config-dir>/plugins/unseen-changes-dot/seen-pulses/

If your sync service includes the vault configuration directory, data.json and seen-pulses/ can sync between devices. The plugin reconciles synced state against current file signatures.

Do not include runtime state in a release package:

data.json
seen-pulses/
.DS_Store

Settings

• Shown states: show new, changed, or both.
• Track attachments: off by default.
• Sync polling interval: defaults to 5 seconds.
• Fast startup baseline: on by default.
• Unread/new shape and Changed shape: choose the marker shape.
• Unread/new color and Changed color: set any valid CSS colour.

Credits and licence

Miguel Sousa maintains Unseen Changes Dot. The initial structure and file-explorer marker approach were based on Dennis Mojado's Unread Dot.

The project is available under the MIT License. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md for attribution details.