BUG:image block references are broken in hover previews

[frankmeeuwsen]

Have you searched for existing issues (including closed ones)?

• Yes, I have searched the existing issues.

Does this bug persist in a new vault with only Excalidraw installed?

• Yes, I have verified the issue persists.

Your environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.8.1
Installer version: v1.6.5
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 23.4.0: Wed Feb 21 21:45:48 PST 2024; root:xnu-10063.101.15~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8122 23.4.0
Login status: logged in
Language: en
Catalyst license: insider
Insider build toggle: on
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: Obsidian gruvbox v0.2.1
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: off
Plugins installed: 3
Plugins enabled: 3
1: Recent Files v1.7.4
2: Excalidraw v2.7.5
3: Dice Roller v11.4.1

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

Your NotebookLM query

First I added https://excalidraw-obsidian.online/WIKI/09+Video+Transcripts/Videos/Solo-RPG+Adventures+with+Obsidian-Excalidraw as a source for a new notebook in NotebookLM. I asked the question "How do I make a link to an area in one Excalidraw file, so I can hover to see it?"

The answer:
To create a link to a specific area in an Excalidraw file so that you can move your mouse over it to see it, follow these steps:

1. Select the rectangle that defines the area in the Excalidraw file you want to link to.
2. In the Obsidian help panel, click “Copy link to element” and select the area link.
3. The link will now be copied to your clipboard.
4. In another Excalidraw file, select the element to which you want to add the link.
5. Press Control or Command K to add a link.
6. Paste the copied area link.
7. Remove the exclamation point at the beginning of the link because you are not embedding the element in a document, but only adding it as an element link.
8. Now, when you move the mouse over the element while holding Control or Command, the area defined by the rectangle is displayed in the pop-up preview.
   This technique is used in resources to quickly access relevant rules in a game manual while playing a board game in Obsidian

Describe the bug

When I try the above method, the hovered link shows 'Unable to find “^area=Y50amDDhpelW7tOm4okbA” in PNP-Rules'. This is with every link in the Solo-RPG vault from the above video.
This bug also happens when I create two separate Excalidraw files. I create a rectangular area in file 1, create a link to it with the Area button. I put the link in file 2. When I hover over the link, I get the 'Unable to find...' error.
But, when I click the link, I get to the specific area. Also, when I transclude the link directly in file 2, it perfectly shows the linked area. Only when I use it as a link in an object it doesn't work. I did remove the exclamation point, as described in the video. It still gives the error "Unable to find ^area=..."

Steps to reproduce

1. Make a new Excalidraw drawing. Embed an image.
2. Create a rectangular area over the image
3. Rightclick the area, select "Copy [[link]] for selected element(s)"
4. Leave Alias empty, press the button "Area"
5. Create another new Excalidraw drawing. Draw a circle
6. Select the circle and press Cmd/Ctrl-K
7. Paste the link, remove the exclamation point (you might want to do this in a separate texteditor or file, since this is quite impossible in the link-area of the drawing)
8. Hover over the link and see what you get

Expected behavior

To show the area of the embedded link

Additional context

I also tried this in other vaults and even on other machines with other users. They also get the same unintended behaviour.

[zsviczian]

@frankmeeuwsen, please next time add a meaningful title, it helps me immensely to quickly understand the issue.

I am able to reproduce the problem. I will look at this.

[frankmeeuwsen]

My apologies, I totally overlooked the title! Thanks for looking into it.

[zsviczian]

Fixed in 2.8.0, because there are some bigger changes, I will take a few more days before I publish the update.
Why it broke? Apparently, Obsidian changed the format of the "Unable to find" message in one of the more recent updates.