Obsidian introduces new 'Properties' feature for enhanced metadata capabilities

Obsidian, the well-known note-taking app, has launched a new "Properties" feature. This functionality lets users add metadata such as tags, aliases, and dates to their notes. Supported property types include Text, List, Number, Checkbox, Date, and Time, with Text and List types also supporting internal links. Users can manipulate properties through commands to add, clear, or edit file properties. The upgraded Obsidian version also contains a visual editor for properties, available in both Live Preview and Reading mode.

The Properties feature brings Obsidian closer to Notion database and metadata capabilities, while maintaining its note-taking and knowledge management features. The update includes two additional sidebar panes: "All properties" and "File properties". "All properties" displays a comprehensive list of all properties in the user's vault, including usage frequency. "File properties" shows properties specific to the currently active file, aiding in efficient note management. The app now stores properties within the note as YAML-encoded frontmatter, making note metadata accessible in plain text apps and ensuring compatibility with various YAML frontmatter-supporting tools. The update also supports plugins that interact with YAML metadata, such as Dataview and Metadata Menu. Dataview allows users to query note properties and display results as indexes, lists, or tables. Metadata Menu provides detailed control over property suggestions, allowing users to manually define suggestions and use FileClass properties as metadata templates.

The tag autocomplete feature has also been enhanced with a fuzzy search algorithm for quicker, more accurate results. The PDF viewer now includes options such as "Copy as quote" and "Copy annotation" in the context menu, improving PDF annotation capabilities. In addition, the platform has transitioned to Mermaid v10 for improved diagram and visualization performance and functionality. The update also resolves several bugs, including issues with the PDF Viewer single page view, unclickable PDF viewer search settings, and modal persistence. You can learn more in the official release notes.