Modern file explorer for Obsidian

Visual previews. Full keyboard navigation. Dual-pane layout. Mobile optimized. Works with 100,000+ notes.

Notebook Navigator Interface
Free Open source
... Downloads
... GitHub stars
Notebook Navigator Interface

Everything you need for maximum productivity

Dual-pane interface

Dual-pane interface

Navigation tree on the left, file list on the right. Drag to resize. Keyboard Tab to switch panes.

  • Folder notes - folders become clickable links with associated notes
  • Show notes from descendants - see all subfolder notes at once
  • Auto-reveal active file with expand and scroll
  • Custom sort order and appearance settings per folder/tag
Tag management

Tag management

Hierarchical tags like #project/work/urgent. Drag & drop to add/remove tags instantly.

  • Favorite tags - pin frequently used tags to dedicated section
  • Drag to "Untagged" to remove all tags from notes
  • Hidden tags based on hierarchy (e.g., hiding "archive" hides "archive/2024" etc.)
  • Context menu for precise tag operations
Rich previews

Rich note previews

Configurable 1-5 lines of preview text. Automatic thumbnail generation with Featured Image plugin.

  • Feature images from frontmatter or first embedded image
  • Date grouping - Today, Yesterday, This Week, Last Week
  • Clickable tags with custom colors for visual organization
  • Slim mode - compact view without previews when needed

Get started in seconds

Install from Obsidian

  1. Open Settings → Community plugins
  2. Search for "Notebook Navigator"
  3. Click Install, then Enable

Built by an industry veteran

Johan Sanneblad, PhD

Passion for coding

With a PhD in Software Development and decades of experience building products for companies like Apple, Electronic Arts, Google, Microsoft, LEGO and Volvo Cars, a year ago I decided to see if I could push the boundaries of what users should expect from a modern note-taking application. After six months of planning and six more months of intense development, Notebook Navigator is finally ready for global release.

Most current note-taking apps like Apple Notes, Bear and Evernote seem to be stuck in old legacy frameworks and complex architectures, making it almost impossible for them to innovate with new features. It was time to create a brand new state-of-the-art note-taking experience that was built from the ground up for scalability, performance, and user experience. Something that could be built upon for years, if not decades.

When you use Notebook Navigator I hope you will experience something that has become very rare in the tech industry today: software that is so well-designed throughout that it feels like a natural extension of your brain. This is exactly how Notebook Navigator feels to me, and this is why I built it.

If you have feature suggestions, please post them in our wiki. And if you just want to say hi, you're very welcome to join our Discord server!

Support the project

Notebook Navigator is free and open source. If you love using it, consider supporting development.