Quickstart

Get up and running with Vim Motions in 5 minutes. This guide assumes you’ve already installed the plugin.

1. Disable built-in Vim mode

For the best experience, disable Obsidian’s built-in Vim mode:

Settings → Editor → Vim key bindings → off

This lets Vim Motions use its enhanced vim engine with Neovim-correct behavior. See recommended-setup for details on what this enables.

2. Try text objects

Open any Markdown file and place your cursor inside some bold text. Press:

• di* — deletes the bold text, leaving the ** delimiters
• da* — deletes the bold text and the delimiters
• ci* — changes the bold text (deletes and enters insert mode)
• vi* — visually selects the bold text

These work for all Markdown formatting: i_ (italic), i` (code), i$ (math), i~ (strikethrough), i= (highlight).

3. Navigate by structure

Jump between document structures:

• ]h / [h — next/previous heading
• ]l / [l — next/previous list item (same indent)
• ]n / [n — next/previous link
• 3]h — jump 3 headings forward
• d]h — delete from cursor to next heading

4. Try EasyMotion

Press <leader><leader>w (default leader is \) to see EasyMotion labels on every word start. Type a label character to jump there. Try these:

• <leader><leader>f{char} — find a character forward
• <leader><leader>j — jump to a line below
• d + <leader><leader>w — delete to an EasyMotion target (operator-pending)

5. Navigate the workspace

Split and navigate panes:

• <C-w>v — split vertically
• <C-w>s — split horizontally
• <C-w>h/j/k/l — focus pane by direction
• gt / gT — next/previous tab
• gd — go to definition (follow link under cursor)

Warning

You may need to unbind Ctrl+W from “Close current tab” in Settings → Hotkeys for <C-w> bindings to work.

6. Use ex commands

Type : to enter the ex command line:

• :e filename — open a file by name
• :sp / :vs — horizontal/vertical split
• :grep pattern — search the vault
• :ob command-id — run any Obsidian command

7. Set up your configuration

Create an .obsidian.init.lua file in your vault root (recommended):

vim.g.mapleader = " "
vim.opt.scrolloff = 8
vim.opt.clipboard = "unnamed"
vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>w", ":w<CR>", { desc = "Save" })
vim.keymap.set("i", "jk", "<Esc>", { desc = "Exit insert mode" })

Or use .obsidian.vimrc if you prefer traditional Vim syntax:

let mapleader = " "
set scrolloff=8
set clipboard=unnamed
set insertmodeescape=jk
nmap <leader>w :w<CR>

The plugin loads these automatically. See lua-config or vimrc for the full reference.

Next steps

• Keybinding cheat sheet — complete reference for all motions and commands
• Lua configuration — recommended configuration method
• Settings reference — configure every aspect of the plugin
• Feature overview — deep-dives into each feature