README file from
GithubTrim Whitespace
Trim Whitespace trims unnecessary blank characters from your Obsidian documents. This is a common feature in code editing software, and mostly exists to pare down irksome document clutter.
[!NOTE] Ownership transferred from Zack (@zlovatt) on 3rd of October 2026.
Thank you for starting this plugin. ❤️
Features
The plugin operates on three different types of whitespace, with three different targets.
Whitespace Types
- Spaces - The space character, (
·) - Tabs - The tab character, (
\tor→) - Lines - Newline character, either, (
\ror\n, stylised as¬)
Targets
Trailing
Trim whitespace at the end of each line, or open document.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Hello·World!···· | Hello·World! |
| Hello·World!→→→ | Hello·World! |
| # Hello¬¬World!¬¬¬ | # Hello¬¬World!¬ |
Leading
Trim whitespace at the start of each line, or open document.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| ····Hello·World! | Hello·World! |
| →→→Hello·World! | Hello·World! |
| ¬¬# Hello¬¬World!¬ | # Hello¬¬World!¬ |
Multiple
Trim groups of whitespace (2 or more consecutive inline spaces/tabs, or consecutive lines)
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Hello···World! | Hello·World! |
| Hello→→→World! | Hello→World! |
| # Hello¬¬¬World!¬¬¬ | # Hello¬¬World!¬ |
Commands
- Trim whitespace in document trims all whitespace in the active document, according to the settings below
- Trim whitespace in selection trims all whitespace in the selected region in the active document, according to the settings below
Trim Whitespace also adds a ribbon button to trim document whitespace. Hold shift when clicking the button to trim whitespace in selection instead.
Settings
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Trim on Manual Save | Manually trim document with CTRL / CMD + S |
| Auto-Trim | Automatically trim document when modified, according to the settings below. |
| Auto-Trim Delay | Time to wait in seconds before auto-trimming. |
| Preserve Code Blocks | Whether to preserve whitespace within code blocks. |
| Trim Trailing Spaces | Trim spaces at the end of each line. |
| Trim Trailing Tabs | Trim tabs at the end of each line. |
| Trim Trailing Lines | Trim empty lines at the end of the document. |
| Preserve Indented Lists | Whether to preserve whitespace if used for list indentation. |
| Trim Leading Spaces | Trim spaces at the start of each line. |
| Trim Leading Tabs | Trim tabs at the start of each line. |
| Trim Leading Lines | Trim lines at the start of the document. |
| Trim Multiple Spaces | Trim groups of multiple inline spaces. |
| Trim Multiple Tabs | Trim groups of multiple inline tabs. |
| Trim Multiple Lines | Trim groups of multiple blank lines. |
Installation
To install, either:
- Download from the Obsidian Community Plugin library, or
- Install manually with the zip in Releases
Known Bugs
- Trimming the whole document doesn't reset cursor position properly, if the original location started before the first non-space character in the document.
Contribution
Want to help develop or maintain this plugin? Please do! PRs and input extremely welcome!
Credit Due
- Original author Zack (@zlovatt) for starting this plugin
- Community interest sparked by this forum post
- Plugin basics grokked from @Benature's obsidian-text-format
- Lots of support from the Obsidian Community Discord server