📚 Document Manager - User Guide

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Your complete guide to organizing and browsing documents in Obsidian

🎯 What is Document Manager?

Document Manager transforms Obsidian into a powerful document library. Browse your files visually with thumbnails, filter by metadata, and organize with tags, categories, and ratings—all without leaving Obsidian.

Supported File Types

📝
Markdown
.md
📕
PDF
.pdf
📖
EPUB
.epub
🖼️
Images
.png, .jpg, .gif, .webp, .svg

🚀 Getting Started

Opening Document Manager

Option 1: Ribbon Icon

Click the 📚 library icon in the left ribbon

Option 2: Command Palette

  1. Press Ctrl/Cmd + P
  2. Type "Document Manager"
  3. Select "Open Document Manager"

Option 3: Custom Hotkey

Configure in Settings → Hotkeys → Search "Document Manager"

🖼️ View Modes

Document Manager offers three ways to view your documents:

🔲 Grid View (Default)

Visual card layout with thumbnails—perfect for browsing covers and visual content.

Best for: Visual browsing, book collections, image galleries

☰ List View

Compact list with metadata columns—efficient for scanning many files quickly.

Best for: Quick scanning, large collections, metadata comparison

📊 Table View

Spreadsheet-style data view with sortable columns for detailed analysis.

Best for: Data management, exports, detailed comparison

💡 Switching Views

Use the toolbar buttons at the top: 🔲 Grid | ☰ List | 📊 Table

🏷️ Document Properties (Frontmatter)

Add metadata to your markdown files using YAML frontmatter:

YAML Frontmatter Example 
---
title: My Document Title
cover: covers/my-book-cover.png
category: Books
status: Published
rating: 5
author: John Smith
description: A brief summary of this document.
tags:
  - fiction
  - adventure
  - favorite
---

# Document Content Starts Here...

Property Reference

Property Type Description Example
title text Display title (overrides filename) My Book
cover path Path to cover image covers/book.png
category text Document category Books
status text Workflow status Draft, Published
rating number 1-5 star rating 5
author text Document author Jane Doe
description text Brief summary A guide to...
tags list Tags for filtering - fiction

🖼️ Cover Images & Thumbnails

Auto-Generated Thumbnails

Document Manager automatically creates thumbnails:

Custom Cover Images

YAML Method 1: Simple Path 
---
cover: covers/my-cover.png
---
YAML Method 2: Relative Path 
---
cover: ./images/cover.jpg
---
YAML Method 3: Absolute Vault Path 
---
cover: Library/Covers/book-cover.png
---

💡 Setting Up a Covers Folder

  1. Create a folder called Covers in your vault root
  2. Add your cover images there
  3. Reference by filename: cover: my-cover.png
  4. Document Manager will search the Covers folder automatically

🔍 Filtering Documents

The sidebar provides powerful filtering options:

🔎 Search

  • Title
  • Description
  • Author
  • Tags

📁 By Type

  • 📝 Markdown
  • 📕 PDF
  • 📖 EPUB
  • 🖼️ Image

📂 By Category

  • Documents
  • Books
  • Articles
  • Notes

📋 By Status

  • Draft
  • In Progress
  • Review
  • Published

🏷️ By Tags

Click tags to toggle them on/off. Multiple tags use AND logic.

⭐ By Rating

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars)
  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)
  • ⭐⭐⭐ (3 stars)
  • ⭐⭐ (2 stars)
  • ⭐ (1 star)

🧹 Clearing Filters

Click "Clear All Filters" at the bottom of the sidebar to reset all filters.

📊 Sorting Documents

Sort Option Description
Title Alphabetical A-Z or Z-A
Modified Most/least recently modified
Created Most/least recently created
Type Group by file type
Category Group by category
Rating Highest/lowest rated first

💡 Sort Direction

Click the ↑/↓ button in the toolbar to toggle ascending/descending order.

🖱️ Context Menu Actions

Right-click any document to access these actions:

Action Description
Open Open document in current tab
Open in New Tab Open document in new tab
Edit Properties Edit frontmatter metadata
Set Cover Image Choose a cover image
Set Rating Quick rating selector (1-5 stars)
Copy Path Copy file path to clipboard
Reveal in Explorer Show file in system file manager
Delete Move to trash

⚙️ Settings

Access settings: Settings → Community Plugins → Document Manager

Display Settings

Setting Description Default
Default View Grid, List, or Table Grid
Thumbnail Size Card size in pixels 180
Grid Columns Number of columns 4
Show Extension Display file extensions Off
Show Word Count Show word count for markdown On
Show Date Display modified date On

Behavior Settings

Setting Description Default
Auto-generate Thumbnails Extract thumbnails automatically On
Index on Startup Scan documents when Obsidian starts On
Open in New Tab Open documents in new tab Off
Default Sort Initial sorting option Modified

Folder Settings

Setting Description Default
Include Folders Only show these folders (empty = all) Empty
Exclude Folders Hide these folders .obsidian, node_modules, .git, .trash
Cover Folder Default folder for covers Covers

🎨 Customizing Your Library

Creating a Book Library

YAML Book Template 
---
category: Books
status: Reading
rating: 4
author: Author Name
cover: covers/book-title.jpg
description: Brief book summary
tags:
  - fiction
  - favorite
---

Creating a Research Library

YAML Research Template 
---
category: Research
status: Review
author: Research Team
description: Study on topic X
tags:
  - research
  - 2024
  - topic-x
---

💡 Organization Tips

  • Consistent frontmatter: Use templates for consistent metadata
  • Dedicated covers folder: Keep cover images organized
  • Tags for details: Use tags for fine-grained categorization
  • Categories for groups: Use categories for broad groupings
  • Descriptions: Add descriptions for better search results

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts & Commands

Commands (via Command Palette)

Command Description
Open Document Manager Open the document browser
Reindex all documents Force refresh of document index
Clear thumbnail cache Clear cached thumbnails

Navigation

Action Shortcut
Navigate documents Arrow keys
Open document Enter or double-click
Focus search Click search box or Tab to sidebar

❓ Troubleshooting

Documents Not Appearing

✓ Solutions:
  1. Check if folder is in "Exclude Folders" list
  2. Verify file type is supported
  3. Click refresh button or run "Reindex all documents"

Thumbnails Not Loading

✓ Solutions:
  1. Check if "Auto-generate Thumbnails" is enabled
  2. Verify image paths in frontmatter are correct
  3. Run "Clear thumbnail cache" then refresh

Cover Image Not Showing

✓ Solutions:
  1. Verify the cover path is correct
  2. Check if image file exists
  3. Try absolute path: cover: Covers/image.png
  4. Ensure image is in supported format

Slow Performance

✓ Solutions:
  1. Disable "Index on Startup"
  2. Use folder filters to limit scope
  3. Reduce grid columns on slower devices
  4. Clear thumbnail cache