Workspace navigation

Vim Motions provides Neovim-style window management that works across all Obsidian views. This includes a global key handler that intercepts keystrokes even when no editor is focused, allowing you to control the entire workspace with your keyboard.

Pane and split navigation

Manage your workspace layout using standard Vim window commands. The plugin supports splitting panes, navigating between them, and closing tabs using the <C-w> prefix.

Workspace navigation

Navigate Obsidian panes, tabs, and history following Neovim conventions.

Keybinding	Description	Global
<C-w>h/j/k/l	Focus pane left/down/up/right	Yes
<C-w>v	Split vertical	Yes
<C-w>s	Split horizontal	Yes
<C-w>c / <C-w>q	Close current tab	Yes
<C-w>o	Close all other tabs	Yes
gt / gT	Next/previous tab	Yes
Ngt	Go to Nth tab (e.g., 3gt goes to tab 3)	Yes
g<C-t>	Go to tab by number (e.g., 3g<C-t> goes to tab 3)	—
H / L	Previous/next tab (non-editor views only)	Yes
Ctrl-o / Ctrl-i	Navigate back/forward in history (non-editor views)	Yes
gd	Go to definition — open the link under the cursor	—
gD	Open link under cursor in a new tab	—
<C-w>gd	Open link under cursor in a horizontal split	—
<C-w>gD	Open link under cursor in a vertical split	—
gx	Open URL under cursor in browser	—
gf	Open file switcher (quick open)	—
grn	Rename current note	—
grr	Show backlinks to current note	—
gra	Show context-aware actions for cursor position	—
gO	Open document outline (searchable heading list)	—
g<C-g>	Show document statistics (words, lines, characters)	—
gp / gP	Paste and move cursor past pasted text	—
ga	Show character info under cursor (codepoint, hex)	—
g; / g,	Jump to older/newer change position	—
za	Toggle fold at cursor	—
zc / zo	Fold / unfold at cursor	—
zO / zC / zA	Recursive fold open/close/toggle	—
zM / zR	Fold all / unfold all	—

Link to original

The <C-w> prefix allows for intuitive movement between splits. Use <C-w>h, <C-w>j, <C-w>k, and <C-w>l to move focus to the left, bottom, top, or right pane respectively.

Control-W Conflict

Obsidian’s default Close current tab hotkey is bound to Ctrl+W. You must unbind it in Settings → Hotkeys (search for “Close current tab”) for the <C-w> prefix commands to work. Once unbound, you can close tabs using :q, :quit, <C-w>c, or <C-w>q.

Go-to-definition

Navigate your notes by following links with Vim commands. These commands use Obsidian’s internal link resolver to find the target file.

• gd: Follow the link under the cursor in the current pane.
• gD: Open the link under the cursor in a new tab.
• <C-w>gd: Open the link under the cursor in a horizontal split.
• <C-w>gD: Open the link under the cursor in a vertical split.

Document commands

Vim Motions adds several document-level commands for quick access to Obsidian features:

• gO: Open the document outline (symbols).
• g<C-g>: Show document statistics (word count, character count).
• ga: Show information about the character under the cursor.
• gp and gP: Paste and move cursor past pasted text.
• grn: Rename the current file.
• grr: Show backlinks for the current file.
• gra: Show context actions (code actions).

Folds

Control Markdown folding with standard Vim fold commands:

• za: Toggle the fold at the current line.
• zc: Close the fold at the current line.
• zo: Open the fold at the current line.
• zO, zC, zA: Functionally equivalent to their non-recursive counterparts in Obsidian’s flat heading structure.
• zM: Close all folds in the document.
• zR: Open all folds in the document.

Non-editor view support

The global key handler extends Vim control to non-editor views like PDFs, the graph view, canvas, and the file explorer.

Global Key Handler

When no editor is focused, the global key handler intercepts workspace-relevant keystrokes. If an editor is focused, events propagate to the Vim engine normally.

Scrolling

You can scroll through any scrollable view using standard Vim keys:

• j and k: Scroll down or up by a few lines.
• gg and G: Jump to the top or bottom of the view.
• Ctrl-u and Ctrl-d: Scroll up or down by half a page.
• Ctrl-b and Ctrl-f: Scroll up or down by a full page.

Scrolling Hotkey Conflicts

Obsidian’s default hotkeys for Ctrl-d (delete paragraph), Ctrl-f (search), and Ctrl-b (toggle bold/sidebar) intercept these keys before the plugin can see them. To use these for scrolling, you must unbind the conflicting hotkeys in Settings → Hotkeys.

Standalone Ex Command Line

Pressing : in a non-editor view opens a standalone command modal. This modal supports globally-safe Ex commands like :q, :wq, :e, and :sp.

Non-editor view bindings

Navigate and interact with non-editor views like PDFs, graphs, and canvases.

Keybinding	Description
f	Show hint labels, activate target (click/focus/navigate)
F	Show hint labels, open target in new pane
yf	Show hint labels, yank target URL or text to clipboard
df	Show hint labels, close target tab or pane
Nf	Activate N targets sequentially (e.g., 3f activates 3)
j / k	Scroll down/up one line
Nj / Nk	Scroll N lines (e.g., 5j scrolls 5 lines down)
gg	Scroll to top
G	Scroll to bottom
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Scroll half page down/up
Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b	Scroll full page down/up

All non-editor bindings can be customized via gmap, gnoremap, and gunmap in your .obsidian.vimrc. Use :gmap to list all active global bindings. See vimrc > Global key mappings for syntax.

Link to original

Customizing global bindings

All non-editor key bindings can be customized via .obsidian.init.lua or .obsidian.vimrc. These commands define, override, or remove key bindings that work outside the editor.

-- Add a new binding in Lua
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>f", ":obcommand switcher:open", { desc = "Open file" })

" Or via vimrc:
gmap <leader>f :obcommand switcher:open
 
" Override a default binding
gmap H :obcommand app:go-back
 
" Remove a default binding entirely
gunmap L

The right-hand side supports :obcommand <id> for Obsidian commands and :<ex-command> for global ex commands (:sidebar, :split, :grep, etc.).

Use :gmap in the ex command line to list all active global bindings with their source (default or user).

The non-editor which-key overlay shows available completions when a partial key sequence is pending (e.g., pressing <C-w> shows all window commands). Label your bindings with the desc option in Lua or gwhichkeylabel and gwhichkeygroup in vimrc. See lua-config or vimrc > Global key mappings for full syntax.

Configuration

Workspace navigation is enabled by default. You can toggle it or configure it through the following methods:

• Settings: Toggle via Settings → Vim Motions → Workspace navigation.
• Lua: Add vim.opt.workspacenav = true to your .obsidian.init.lua.
• Vimrc: Add set workspacenav to your .obsidian.vimrc.

See known-limitations > Workspace & hint mode for detailed technical limitations.