Homepage note is frequently cleared blank

[machado-t]

Details

Very frequently, the homepage note is cleared empty. I don't know what's causing this, but i believe this plugin is causing it.

Steps to reproduce

My plugin has the following settings:

• "file" homepage
• Open on startup: yes
• Open when empty: yes
• Use when opening normally: yes
• Separate mobile homepage: no
• Commands: none
• Opening method: Keep open notes
• Manual opening mode: Keep open notes
• Auto-create: No
• Pin: No
• Homepage view: Reading view
• Revert view on close: yes
• Auto-scroll: no
• Refresh dataview: no

Debug information

No response

Checklist

• I updated to the latest version of the plugin.

[mirnovov]

Can you paste your debug information here? It's a button in the bottom of the Homepage settings tab.
Also, have you updated to version 3.5.2?

[machado-t]

Sorry, I just noticed there was a recent update. I was on 3.5.1.

Here's the debug info anyway, but maybe we should wait and see if the problem persists in 3.5.2:

{"version":3,"homepages":{"Main Homepage":{"value":"Dashboard","kind":"File","openOnStartup":true,"hasRibbonIcon":true,"openMode":"Keep open notes","manualOpenMode":"Keep open notes","view":"Reading view","revertView":true,"openWhenEmpty":true,"refreshDataview":false,"autoCreate":false,"autoScroll":false,"pin":false,"commands":[],"alwaysApply":true},"Mobile Homepage":{"value":"Dashboard","kind":"File","openOnStartup":true,"hasRibbonIcon":true,"openMode":"Replace all open notes","manualOpenMode":"Keep open notes","view":"Default view","revertView":true,"openWhenEmpty":true,"refreshDataview":false,"autoCreate":true,"autoScroll":false,"pin":false,"commands":[],"alwaysApply":true}},"separateMobile":false,"_defaultViewMode":"default","_livePreview":"default","_focusNewTab":"default","_plugins":["ai-commander","obsidian-auto-link-title","buttons","calendar","callout-manager","cmdr","obsidian-custom-frames","dataview","cm-editor-syntax-highlight-obsidian","obsidian-excel-to-markdown-table","google-calendar","obsidian-hide-sidebars-when-narrow","obsidian-hider","obsidian-minimal-settings","obsidian-enhancing-export","obsidian42-brat","obsidian-outliner","periodic-notes","recent-files-obsidian","remember-cursor-position","obsidian-rich-links","obsidian-style-settings","templater-obsidian","obsidian-wordy","obsidian-zotero-desktop-connector","bibnotes","dbfolder","obsidian-text-format","markdown-table-editor","workspaces-plus","copilot","text-extractor","obsidian-completr","table-editor-obsidian","obsidian-dictionary-plugin","mousewheel-image-zoom","obsidian-omnivore","notion-like-tables","link-tree","obsidian-plugin-update-tracker","obsidian-importer","dashboards","mini-toolbar","supercharged-links-obsidian","quickadd","homepage"],"_internalPlugins":["file-explorer","global-search","switcher","graph","backlink","canvas","outgoing-link","tag-pane","properties","page-preview","note-composer","command-palette","editor-status","bookmarks","outline","word-count","audio-recorder","workspaces","file-recovery"],"_obsidianVersion":"1.4.5"}

[machado-t]

Can confirm the problem persists with 3.5.2.

[mirnovov]

Can’t reproduce it, even with all your plugins installed. I’m guessing it’s something to do with an interaction between this and another plugin, but I’m not certain. I’ll continue looking into it.

[mirnovov]

@machado-t what kind of stuff do you have on your Dashboard note? and for syncing, do you use a non-Obsidian solution, like iCloud?

[machado-t]

Buttons to perform quick add actions and dataview lists. I do use OneDrive

[mirnovov]

Still can't replicate this. Is this when opening the homepage at startup, or during the course of using your vault? And does it still occur when disabling your other plugins?

Also I'm not too familiar with OneDrive, but ensure that your sync settings are correct so when Obsidian opens your homepage it's available locally.

[machado-t]

I believe it only happens at startup. I don't remember it ever happening during the course of using the vault.
It does not happen always, or it would be easier for me to test.
Regarding OneDrive, in both laptops the folder is designated as "always available locally".
My best uneducated guess is that this is related to using two laptops, sometimes simultaneously.

[mirnovov]

Could very well be possible. Unfortunately I don’t have two laptops to test it but I’ll let you know if I manage to reproduce it

[cabaucom376]

I'm having the exact same issue. I've been dealing with it in the past some but it's become very frequent now. I typically have my laptop plugged in with obsidian running and syncing 24/7. It seems that when I open obsidian on my phone it tries to take me to my homepage file and then opens it blank. As my sync log shows it's detecting changes and then uploading the file on startup.

This causes my homepage file to be replaced instantly on my laptop since it's syncing 24/7, and not only that but I have my laptop syncing with a self hosted backup service and it deletes it off my home server too. I've temporarily disabled the plug-in in the meantime.

Here's my list of plug-ins I'm using:

• Advanced Tables
• Better Word Count
• Commander
• Dataview
• Homepage
• Icon Folder
• Map View
• Outliner
• Projects
• QuickAdd
• Tag Wrangler
• Tasks

[mirnovov]

@machado-t or @cabaucom376 would either of you be able to send me your vaults so I can reproduce this issue? This is quite hard to debug - there's nothing in the code that should affect the file in any way if you have autoCreate turned off, but I've found previously that doing innocuous-looking stuff with the core Obsidian API can have unintended side effects including this. I'm not able to get it to happen myself but I'd really like to get it fixed as user data loss is a serious issue.

I can be reached at anon185441@gmail.com. Feel free to remove any personal/identifying info if that makes things easier.

_{(Another possibility is that the note settings aren't being synced, and then it auto-creates on one device (because it's on by default) before the Homepage file is synced, and then syncs that overwriting the actual file. So ensure that autoCreate is turned off on all devices. But I assume you would have realised that if that was the case.)}

[machado-t]

autoCreate is indeed turned off on all devices.
I'm afraid I cant share the vault right now, as I would need to delete or anonymize some data before sending. Is the homepage .md file of any help right now?

[mirnovov]

Totally understand, just the homepage would be great if you can send that.

[mirnovov]

Thanks for sending the pages - unfortunately I still can't reproduce this. I'll leave the issue open and update it if a cause and/or solution is found.

[Perverance]

I had this issue in the past as well, I encountered my homepage suddenly left blank. At first I thought it was my fault by messing up some setting, anyway I disabled the plugin since then because I found it unsafe for my data. Now I see I might not be the only one.

The question is, is there any news regarding this issue?

Thanks.

[mirnovov]

@Giulidan ~~unfortunately I wasn't able to make any headway solving this issue. I would appreciate a few details from you if you don't mind, it may help me get to the bottom of it.

Do you use a non-Obsidian sync solution? And can you share what OS you've on and the Homepage debug info? (The latter is a button at the bottom of the Homepage settings page).~~

Never mind, I've managed to push a fix, though this appears to be an internal Obsidian problem that has to be worked around.