Hello everyone and welcome back to the channel! I've always been keen on utilizing keyboard shortcuts for executing commands within the apps that I use. However, in Obsidian, I've begun to accumulate too many hotkeys due to the sheer quantity of commands available from both the app itself and the various community plugins I use. This led to a problem where I was assigning hotkeys to features I didn't frequently use, an approach that wasn't justifiable. Consequently, I found myself often wondering, "What was the shortcut for that command again?" Now, while Obsidian does feature a command palette that I make extensive use of, having an accessible button at your fingertips can prove to be even quicker! In today’s video I want to introduce you to "Commander", a very useful community plugin that helps you with that. But before we start, if you are new here, don’t forget to hit that subscribe button and ring the notification bell so you’ll never miss any of my future content. And now, without further ado, let’s get started! First of all, install the Commander plugin by opening the Settings, Community Plugin, Browse, and search for “Commander”. Once you have installed and enabled it, open the option panel, and this is the place for managing all the commands you desire. As you can see, it allows you to add commands to various parts of the UI. Let’s take a look at each one of them. The “Ribbon Menu” is the space here on your left side, and it already contains some commands by default. The "Tab Bar" is the bar positioned above here and includes the "Navigate back" and "forward" arrows, your note's file path, the "switch view" button, and the "File Menu". It's noteworthy that you can add commands to the “File Menu” as well. The "Status Bar", situated at the bottom right corner, displays other relevant information, such as the count of words and characters used in the note. The "Editor Menu" opens when you right-click on a selected section of the note or anywhere within the note's body. This is another location where you can add commands. The "Explorer" is the menu located at the top of the file explorer. Lastly, for the users who enjoy using Obsidian on their phones, commands can also be added to the Toolbar. Now, before we delve into the "Macros" section, let's take a moment to create some commands. Depending on your usage frequency and the nature of the commands, you can determine to assign them to hotkeys or incorporate them into the UI sections I previously showcased. This is completely up to you. However, I will provide examples of the commands that I've integrated into my UI using Commander and their specific placement. Let's start with the "Ribbon Menu". This is where I incorporate all the commands related to content creation. As you can see, I have added a command each for generating a note for Medium articles, video scripts, and blog posts. I removed the command that I use to create new Twitter threads, so we can create it together. So, open the Settings, then navigate to the "Ribbon" tab and select Add Command. For the command, I pick "New Twitter Thread", and choose an icon to represent it. Give it a name, and click on "Save". If you'd like, feel free to adjust the color as well. Now when you click on this button, a new Twitter Thread note will be automatically created. Now, I enjoy using another plugin known as Linter, which nicely formats and styles my notes with a variety of rule options. This plugin helps me to keep my notes structure well organized. For example, I've set it up to capitalize headers. It also makes sure there's a space separating the “property” section and the header, in addition to an empty line after each header. Lastly, it automatically adds the file's last modified date. I've prepared an example here, and thanks to Linter, I can format this note by using a simple command named “Lint the current note”. I could assign this function to hotkeys. However, I don’t use it frequently enough to necessitate that. When I write, I don’t want to think about the style and format. I simply write. It's only after my writing sessions that I lint my note. This is why I prefer to include a button in the "Tab Bar". So, open the Commander settings, then the "Tab Bar" section, click on "Add command", look for "Lint the current note", and hit "Save". Now, if I click on the button I just added, as you can see it automatically formats my note. Another command I like to add through Commander is "Run local backup". This feature creates a local backup of my vault through a plugin named Local Backup. This time, I want to add this command to my “Explorer Menu”. So, go to Commander settings and select the “Explorer” tab. “Add command”, search for “Run local backup”, choose an icon, and click on “Save”. If I click on this button, I will be able to create a local backup of my vault with a single click! Let's now turn our attention to the final tab within the Commander options panel: the Macros. A macro is a sequence of commands activated by a single action. To create a macro, simply select "Add Macro", give it a name, select an icon, and then add the commands you want. For example, suppose we want a button that allows us to create a new note and automatically split it to the right in source mode.
To accomplish this, select the command "Create new note". Then, for more effective command execution, I prefer to insert a brief delay between one command and the subsequent one. Now, add the command "Split Right", insert another short delay, and finally add the command "Toggle live preview/source mode". Click on "Save", and let’s add this macro into the ribbon menu. Now, if I click on the button, it will create a new note, splitting it to the right in source mode. So, any text written on the right side will be displayed in markdown format, while the left side provides a real-time preview of the content. And that’s a wrap. Much like myself, I am confident that the majority of you utilize a lot of keyboard shortcuts in Obsidian. Having an addition like the Commander plugin can be immensely beneficial in reducing the number of hotkeys you have to remember and use. If you
liked this video, give it a thumbs up and share your thoughts in the comments below. Remember, you can follow me on X and Mastodon, and you can also join my Discord server and subscribe to my website for further content about productivity, PKM, and note-taking. I will leave all the links in the description down below! Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next video. In the meantime…stay productive!
