Obsidian is a tool for notes that a lot is talked about now. What is the phenomenon of this tool, how does it work and is it worth bothering at all? We check.
It happens that one day we have a million things to do and three million ideas per minute. Some of the notes are probably in the head, some land in a notebook or in the infamous “notes on the phone”. Such chaos is worth organizing. And that’s why more and more people are reaching for Obsidian – a note management application that conquers youtube channels dedicated to productivity, but in the first contact gives the impression of something too complicated.
In this article, we take a closer look at Obsidian and check what it offers in practice.
Obsidian – what is it at all?
Obsidian in a nutshell is a multi -platform application (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux), which allows you to create and combine notes in MarkDown format. What does it mean in practice? Well, you can write notes in a simple, text editor and link them freely, creating something like your own knowledge base. Enthusiasts of such solutions like to say that it works a bit like a brain – each fragment can connect to others, thanks to which you have a more network approach to knowledge, and not just a structure in the form of a tree with folders.
A big plus of Obsidian is also such that notes can be stored locally on your computer. So you are not doomed to any clouds, and thus, you have full control over your files. If you value your privacy and do not trust technological giants, this is an impossible argument.
The most important functions that are distinguished by Obsidian
Linking notes in real time
This is, in my opinion, the strongest thing. You have a note about AI and at some point you make a link to the notes about language models. As a result, looking into any of them, you can immediately see the context. It is as if you were annotated in the book: “Hey, remember that it connects to that chapter.” Only here you click and you are in that chapter – zero digging through search engines or folders.
Visualization of graphs in the form of a graph
This is a nice feature for those who like to have macro -view of their notes. Obsidian generates a graphic network of all “flashcards” and their mutual connections. Thanks to this, you can literally see the map of your knowledge – where you have the largest clusters of notes and how individual topics combine. Great thing if you are a visual person.
Plugins and motifs
Obsidian is quite open – you can install plugins that modify certain functions, facilitate integration with other tools or even add a calendar, solutions under the sign of the Zettelkasteten method, trackers of habits and a lot of other goodies. There is a lot of it, but when you like this universe, you will definitely find youtubers who regularly provide you with information about “Top 10 plugs to Obsidian”. Thanks to this openness, you are able to adapt Obsidian to your work style. In addition, you can also change themes if you like to personalize the appearance of the tools you work with.
Work offline and privacy mode
Obsidian does not require a continuous internet connection – you have notes on your disk, in the Markdown files. If you are terribly afraid of the failure of the server of some great supplier, then here you can sleep peacefully (of course only if you are not afraid of the failure of your disk …). Of course, you also have the option of synchronizing in the cloud (e.g. via Dropbox, Icloud, Github), but this is your choice.
Web Clippers, i.e. quick export of the content from the browser
“Clippery” to Obsidian are plugins integrated with browsers, which allow you to “drop” selected content from the website you are browsing straight to your vault. Thanks to them, you can save a fragment of the article, blog post or the whole page in MarkDown format, keeping the structure and links, which later facilitates information processing in Obsidian. This is especially useful when you collect materials for research, write lyrics or just want to quickly capture an interesting fragment of the network, without wasting time on manual copying and formatting.
Who will use the most?
Who is Obsidian for? Here are some suggestions:
- Students – Because it’s finally one of the best ways to embrace notes from various objects and keep them in one place within a sensible structure.
- Content creators – If you write, Obsidian will help you associate facts, combine notes, create extensive concepts of articles or book chapters.
- Researchers and scientists – Working with a large number of materials requires a tool that allows you to quickly link and filter information.
- Entrepreneurs and marketers – Because there is nothing more valuable than a solid knowledge base about products, competition, customer and market trends.
Virtually anyone can be used for Obsidian – from writing a diary (which, contrary to appearances, can be a very creative process) up to managing personal projects or a hobby knowledge base for favorite series.
Practical advice, or what can be useful
- Use tags – Thanks to them you can easily search for notes with a specific topic.
- Make feedback – If you mention Y Y Note X, then in the Y note, add a link to X (Obsidian will also automatically show it). As a result, you will gain context on both sides.
- Export and backup – Although the files are locally at your place, it is always worth making a copy on an external disk or in the cloud to protect yourself against computer failure.
- Use the divided view – Obsidian allows you to divide the screen and display several notes at the same time. Useful if you create new content and want to suspect another note.
- Personalize keyboard shortcuts – The smoother you support Obsidian, the more you gain on time. All you have to do is set your own shortcuts for the most common operations.
Will Obsidian replace other tools?
If you like work with this type of tools, you may now wonder if Obsidian will effectively replace you Evernote or Note. The truth is that each of these tools has a slightly different purpose and style of action. Evernote and Notion are online tools with extensive functions of cooperation in the cloud, which can be very useful in teamwork. Obsidian, in turn, focuses on privacy, flexibility and creation of an offline network knowledge base.
Is it possible to use it in the company? Sure, although it may require a slightly greater configuration (e.g. the use of private clouds, githuba or other synchronization solutions). But if you love to have everything “at home” and focus on very personalized solutions – Obsidian may turn out to be a hit.
Obsidian is a tool that grows before our eyes – the community is developing, new plugins are created, and the approach to notes as related fragments of knowledge is becoming more and more popular. It may not be a “click and work” platform, but a moment of practice is enough to see how much it can improve everyday work and learning. If you are looking for something that will help you build a really extensive and flexible knowledge base, and at the same time you do not want to give your notes to foreign hands, Obsidian is, as much as possible, worth checking. It has a lot of functions, and when something is missing, it can always be expanded with a plug.
Obsidian may seem a bit confusing at first, but this is only appearances. In fact, it gives incredible freedom and flexibility in creating notes, which eventually begin to work sensibly with each other. If you are looking for a tool that will help you efficiently combine information and not change it every now and then in the maze of folders – give Obsidian a chance. Perhaps this tool will be the key to your ideal system of listing and development of ideas.
