Skip to main content
Version: 2.9.0

What is Gallery View

Gallery View is an Obsidian plugin that lets you create interactive image galleries directly in your vault notes using obs-gallery code blocks.

A justified gallery in a note, opening a photo in the full-screen viewer

Features​

  • Display images in thumbnail grids, carousels, masonry columns, justified rows, or a mosaic of large and small tiles
  • Click any image to open a full-size viewer with a slideshow, zoom and image details
  • Scan folders recursively for large collections
  • Load images from external URLs, Immich, or Nextcloud (shared links and authenticated connections)

Supported Source Types​

The plugin supports multiple image source types today:

  • Local vault images (local) — load images from folders and files in your vault.
  • External URLs (external) — load images from remote URLs.
  • Immich shared links (immich-share) — load images directly from public Immich shares without any account configuration.
  • Immich authenticated (immich) — connect to your personal Immich library using an API key to display albums, favorites, recent assets, and more.
  • Nextcloud shared links (nextcloud-share) — load images directly from public Nextcloud folder share links or Photos app public albums.
  • Nextcloud authenticated (nextcloud) — connect to your Nextcloud instance via WebDAV using app password credentials to display folders with filtering, globs, and subfolder scanning.

Quick Example​

The plugin uses a sources + view configuration model inside an obs-gallery block. Here is a simple example:

```obs-gallery
sources:
- type: local
path: Photos/Vacation
view:
type: thumbnail
```

Editor Tools​

Gallery View includes built-in editor tools to make writing gallery blocks faster:

Instead of writing YAML by hand, use the Gallery View: Insert gallery command from the command palette. This opens an interactive modal where you can:

  • Choose a view type (Thumbnail, Carousel, Masonry, Justified, Mosaic, Embed)
  • Enable pagination for large collections, and set the images per page and whether the page controls sit above or below
  • Add and configure one or more sources using form fields
  • Preview the generated YAML in real time before inserting it.

Build Custom Mosaic​

The Gallery View: Build custom mosaic command opens an editor for mosaic patterns: drag across cells to merge them into large tiles, leave cells blank, and save the pattern by name. A mosaic gallery then uses it with pattern: and that name. See Mosaic view.

YAML Autocomplete​

When your cursor is inside an obs-gallery code block, Gallery View provides IntelliSense-style completions for:

  • type: — suggests valid source types (local, external, immich, immich-share, nextcloud, nextcloud-share)
  • connection: — suggests your configured Immich and Nextcloud connection keys
  • view: — suggests valid view types
  • pattern: — suggests your saved mosaic patterns
  • fit: — suggests crop or contain for mosaic galleries
  • assetType: — suggests image or video
  • sort.order: — suggests asc or desc
  • List items inside albumIds, tags, or people — fetches live data from your Immich server

The Showcase Generator​

If you want a hands-on way to explore the plugin's features, Gallery View includes a built-in showcase generator.

From the Obsidian command palette, run Gallery View: Create showcase notes. This will generate a safe-to-edit GalleryDemo/ folder in your vault containing working examples of local sources, views, external URLs, and templates for Immich sharing.

It also includes a Local test lab note backed by a GalleryDemo/_assets/ folder of generated images. The images vary in aspect ratio, size and format (PNG, JPEG, WebP, animated GIF, AVIF, SVG), and the folder includes awkward file names, a deliberately broken file, and a bulk set for pagination. Use it to check how each view handles real-world variety before pointing a gallery at your own folders.

Where to go next​