Windows Path Links

简体中文

An Obsidian desktop plugin for working with Windows filesystem paths.

Windows Path Links is not tied to Q-Dir. Folder links are opened with the Windows default folder handler. An optional process-name setting can activate the folder manager window after opening it.

Features

• Convert one or more pasted Windows paths directly into Markdown links.
• Keep the original Windows path readable in both the link label and target.
• Preserve Chinese characters and other readable path text in the Markdown source.
• Open folder links with the Windows default folder handler.
• Follow file links and ordinary Obsidian links with Obsidian's native editor:follow-link command.
• Create a folder named after the current note and insert its link at the cursor.

Paste conversion

Pasting:

D:\Projects\work
D:\Projects\work\Reports\visit-20260907.pptx

produces:

[D:\Projects\work](D:\Projects\work)
[D:\Projects\work\Reports\visit-20260907.pptx](D:\Projects\work\Reports\visit-20260907.pptx)

No confirmation dialog is shown. Ordinary text is pasted unchanged.

Commands

• Windows Path Links: Follow link (folders use default folder handler) (windows-path-links:follow-link)
• Windows Path Links: Create folder from current note name and insert link (windows-path-links:create-note-folder-link)

The follow-link command opens an existing folder with the configured folder handler. File links, internal links, web links, and other non-folder links are delegated to Obsidian's native follow-link behavior.

The create-folder command creates a child folder named after the current note inside the configured work directory, then inserts a Markdown link at the current cursor position.

Settings

• Work directory: The root directory used by the create-folder command.
• Folder manager process name: An optional Windows process name used to activate the folder manager window. Wildcards such as * are supported. Leave it empty to only open the folder.

For example, a Q-Dir user may enter:

Q-Dir*

The plugin does not require Q-Dir; other folder managers can be used when they are configured as the Windows default folder handler.

Privacy and permissions

This plugin is intended for Obsidian Desktop on Windows. It reads Windows paths outside the vault to check whether a linked path is a file or folder, opens folder paths with the Windows default folder handler, and can create a child folder in the configured work directory. If a folder manager process name is configured, it also starts PowerShell to activate that process window. The plugin does not use network services, collect telemetry, or upload file contents.

Installation

Community plugins

Install Windows Path Links from Obsidian's Community Plugins settings.

Manual installation

Copy main.js, manifest.json, and versions.json into:

<Vault>/.obsidian/plugins/windows-path-links/

Then enable the plugin in Obsidian's Community Plugins settings.

Development

The repository contains the plugin entrypoint at the repository root:

main.js
manifest.json
versions.json

Edit main.js during local development and reload the plugin in Obsidian after changes. Keep local data.json settings out of version control.

License and attribution

MIT License. The paste-to-link behavior was inspired by Obsidian Open in File Explorer, which is also MIT-licensed. This project uses a different implementation and keeps readable Windows paths in Markdown.