How to Bulk Move Obsidian Files with Dataview Plugin

Summary (Technological concepts / features / guide)

The video shows how to bulk move Obsidian notes within a vault when notes are scattered across folders (for example, book notes inside the resources folder).

The workflow uses:

• DataView: dynamically selects the set of notes to move via a query.
• File Cooker: a community plugin that performs batch file operations on DataView results.

Problem being solved

Notes previously had to be moved manually because relevant notes (not just book notes) were located inside a single folder such as resources.

The presenter proposes an automated workflow to move notes from one folder to another without manually locating each file.

Tools / required setup

To follow the workflow:

• Install and enable File Cooker via Community Plugins.
• Ensure DataView is installed, since the process relies on DataView queries.

File Cooker’s focus in this video is moving multiple notes based on:

• DataView query results
• Optionally, other “source” result types

Workflow (core tutorial)

1. Create a new note and write a DataView query that selects the notes to move.
2. Use selection logic such as:
   • A tag (e.g., notes tagged #book) to identify relevant notes.
   • Alternative mentioned: using links inside notes if tags aren’t consistent.
   • Alternative source: selecting from a specific folder, though the presenter notes this is harder when the folder contains many mixed file types.
3. Preview the DataView query so results render correctly.
4. Open the Command Palette and run File Cooker:
   • Use: “move data view query results to …”
   • Important detail: select the actual DataView query (not just the “list from …” part) before running File Cooker.
5. Choose the destination folder, confirm, and verify results (the operation reports success).

Key feature notes / edge cases

The video explains that moving may fail partially if the query conditions don’t match how metadata is stored.

One attempt didn’t move all notes because the #book tag location differed:

• Some notes stored the tag in YAML front matter (.yml)
• Others stored the tag in the body

As a result, the search returned only a subset on the second attempt.

Fix: create a DataView query that matches the front-matter-tag variant (e.g., searching for a pattern like “book hashtag”), then rerun File Cooker.

Additional capabilities mentioned (not fully demonstrated)

File Cooker can also perform other batch operations, such as:

• Batch editing properties
• Deleting multiple files
• Other file operations besides moving

Main speakers/sources

• Speaker: YouTube presenter/instructor (name not provided in subtitles).
• Sources used:
  • Obsidian DataView plugin
  • File Cooker community plugin
  • Obsidian Command Palette (to run batch operations)