Obsidian 1.15.1 Desktop early access improves search and startup

Obsidian released version 1.15.1 of its desktop app as an early access build, published November 3, 2026. The update focuses on search, performance, and several editor and settings changes.

Search gets a new Relevance sort option that orders notes by how closely they match your query. Accents are now ignored in search and in views such as Backlinks, Outline, and Bookmarks, so “cafe” finds “café.” Search also treats characters such as ø, ł, and ß as common equivalents, so “lodz” finds “Łódź” and “strasse” finds “Straße.” Results appear faster when a search matches thousands of notes and update more quickly as you type.

Startup and rendering also got faster. The workspace now appears while Obsidian starts, with progress shown in the status bar instead of a loading screen. Reading mode renders faster, vault indexing is quicker, and large canvases open, pan, and zoom much faster when their content is visible.

Why it matters

Multilingual vaults and large note collections are where slow search and slow startup hurt most. Accent-insensitive matching removes a common reason people miss notes they know they wrote. The changes target everyday friction rather than adding new features.

What to do

If you use the early access channel, update and test search with notes in the languages you work in. New vaults no longer show the ribbon, which can be turned on under Settings → Interface → Show ribbon. If you use URI callbacks, turn Allow URI callbacks back on for each device under Settings → Files and links, since the setting no longer syncs with the vault. Confirm the details on Obsidian’s site before relying on them.