# Problems with *Ulysses* as an external editor
I’m a huge fan of _Ulysses_ as a text editor and use it daily for certain tasks. Unfortunately, it has shortcomings when used as an external editor for _Obsidian_.
1. In *Obsidian*, we use this syntax for external links : `[Ulysses](https://ulysses.app/)`. Unfortunately, when you edit a text file in *Ulysses*, it converts these links into “reference links”. As long as you edit in *Ulysses*, you don’t see any difference. But when you go back into *Obsidian*, you feel the pain : the link and the reference are separated. You may think it’s not a big deal, but it is for this reason : in PKM, it’s very often that you reorganize your writing, for example extracting some paragraphs from a note and pasting them into a new note — there are even plugins for that. If you do this with reference links, there is a 99 % chance of forgetting to copy the reference. And even if you don’t forget, it’s an annoyance you have to take extra precautions to keep the integrity of your writing.
2. When one uses tags like `#psychology`, `#personal`, `#philosophy` — a LOT of people do — and you have a line beginning with a tag — which is an awfully common thing one does in a PKM program — *Ulysses* insists on considering the line as a level 1 title :
![[Ulysses changing a tag into a heading 1.webp]]
If it where purely a cosmetic issue, we could live with it. **But** when it saves the file, *Ulysses* writes `#⌴psychology`, i.e. it destroys the tag !
1. It’s also very common to use separation lines like this one :
`----------------------------------------------`
Unfortunately, *Ulysses* shortens it to `----`.
1. One would like a workflow where you open a *Markdown* file ⭢ edit it ⭢ close it with <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>W</kbd>. Unfortunately, in *Ulysses*, <kbd>⌘</kbd> <kbd>W</kbd> closes the window, but keeps the file open, which seems illogical. If only *Ulysses* had a command to close the files, we could use this command with a *Keyboard Maestro* command… but it doesn’t have one… unfortunately.
We could live with the issues **3.** and **4.**, but **1.** and **2.** are true *deal breakers* precluding intirely the use *Ulysses* as an external editor in the context of PKM, not only for *Obsidian* users. I don’t understand why on earth it’s doing these things **by default**, ie. without anyone having ever asked for it. Ulysses is being overzealous *à la manière de* MS Word.
Let’s suppose for one minute that *Ulysses* stopped doing these three things :
1. transforming ordinary links into reference links ;
2. changing tags into level 1 titles ;
3. shortening horizontal separators.
We could even imagine that it stopped doing this *at least* or *only* for external, directly opened files ^[This means that it could keep it’s current behaviour everywhere else.]. What would the 1+ million *Ulysses* users loose ? **Nothing !** What would 1+ million *Obsidian* users gain ? A **great external editor !**
And adding a command to close the current file wouldn’t hurt anyone either, would it ?
So, what are the *Ulysses* programmers waiting ? Or what are the arguments against these small corrections ?
 
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<p style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">August 13, 2024
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