How many Obsidian plugins do you have? At last count, I have 34 — and that's after deleting quite a few. Oh, and that's not counting beta plugins that don't appear in the list. Not all of those generate icons in the sidebar, but enough do that it had become more of a chore to sort through than a convenience. Ironically enough, the first suggestion I found for cleaning it was to add even more plugins, but I thought there had to be a better way.

There is, and it's hidden in your Obsidian settings menu. And I use "hidden" loosely. Navigate to Settings -> Appearance. Beneath the Interface bar are several options, but we're only looking at the final two in that section: Show Ribbon and Ribbon menu configuration. From there, it's easy to add or remove icons from the sidebar (or hide the sidebar entirely, if that's what you want to do).

When it comes to maintaining a usable interface, less is more.

I can actually see the icons I want to use

No more hovering over each one to see what it does

If you regularly use only a few plugins, their location is likely second nature to you. I have my core set of plugins that I use, but I also spend a lot of time testing new plugins.

A lot.

Not every plugin has an icon, but enough do that my sidebar is a constantly rotating carousel of symbols. It's kind of like New York City architecture: always changing. The Ribbon menu configuration setting isn't widely advertised, but it's so intuitive that I don't believe anyone would have trouble figuring it out. Now only can I add/remove plugins, but I can rearrange their order, too. It seems like such a minor tweak, but dropping the number of icons down to just a handful prevents my interface from becoming overly cluttered.

Want a more minimalist setup? Hide the sidebar entirely

You might not miss it as much as you think

There are a lot of ways to tweak the appearance of your Obsidian vault to your personal tastes. While I am very far from minimalist in my approach, there are plenty of users who want a cleaner look. Hiding the sidebar is as simple as flipping the toggle in the settings menu, although I would recommend against this unless you're experienced with keyboard shortcuts. Almost every Obsidian plugin can be triggered from the command palette, so if nothing else, learn how to quickly pull it up and type in the plugin you're looking for.

It will save you a lot of time in the long run. On Windows, this command is Ctrl + P, and on macOS, this is Cmd + P. Once you pull it up, you can easily trigger a plugin just by typing its name and selecting the command from the list.

Should it stay or should it go?

Pride of place depends on usage

Once I figured out how to organize those icons, I had to determine exactly what I wanted to keep easily accessible and what could be set aside. Some plugins (like BRAT, for instance) don't really need an icon and are only accessed sporadically. Those were automatic removals. Others, like MediaDB, I use pretty often. Every couple of weeks, I go through and update my bases with anything I've read or watched. Entering the command repeatedly through the command palette would get tedious quickly, especially when I can just click an icon, so that one stayed.

Then there were those that fell into a bit of a gray area. NeuroVox is a fantastic plugin for voice notes and audio transcription, and it has a "start recording" icon that sits in the sidebar. But here's the thing: I don't really use it for voice notes that often. Instead, I use its powerful transcription features to translate recordings from my phone into Obsidian. That feature doesn't have an icon; to trigger it, I have to use the command palette, anyway. I removed the icon, but someone who takes a lot of voice notes directly in Obsidian might prefer to have it readily available.

Cleaning up your interface won't help if you have too many plugins

Sometimes, uninstalling plugins is the better move

Think of a storage bin. You can organize it for hours, but if you have too much stuff, it won't really make much of a difference. Obsidian is the same way. If you have a lot of plugins installed that you don't use, you're better off removing them than leaving them enabled for no reason. Like I said before, I test a lot of different tools, and some end up part of my day-to-day workflow while others are removed after just a few days. At this point, I have enough things installed that I use frequently enough to justify keeping them in my vault, but not so frequently that I need to see its icon all the time. If you're struggling to make sense of your plugins, maybe it's time to do a bit of cleaning.

Plugins are the heart of Obsidian's customization

The plugin library is one of the primary features that makes Obsidian so powerful and versatile, but there can be too much of a good thing. Use the settings menu to keep things nice and tidy, and don't be afraid to change your approach on the fly. Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking to figure out exactly what works for you. On the other hand, no amount of tidying up your interface will solve the problem if you're running too many plugins — and aside from the clutter, it can slow down Obsidian's performance, too.