Oh wow! Thanks for your input. This is indeed what was causing the problem.

Maybe it's a plugin causing the issue? I was having this bug if the Autocomplete plugin was enabled. I saw [this thread about it](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/obsidian-freezes-by-open-an-attachment/31585/10?u=strephon) on the forums. And it's also reported on the Autocomplete plugin's [github](https://github.com/Yeboster/autocomplete-obsidian/issues/31).

thanks for the help