I Tried Obsidian Note Taking for a Week... (MD App Review, Guide, Tips, Features, and Setup)

Summary

In this video, the creator shares a week-long experiment with Obsidian, a note-taking app that emphasizes organization and customization. The script explores themes, linking notes, customizable hotkeys, and the IMF note structure. The creator details personalizing the vault, leveraging templates, and enhancing note-taking with tags and links. They conclude that Obsidian's accessibility, customizability, and durability make it a powerful tool for idea connectivity and knowledge management, encouraging viewers to try it for project planning or idea expansion.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Obsidian is promoted as a 'permanent second brain' with a unique methodology for note organization and customization.
• 📝 The speaker underwent a 7-day experiment using Obsidian as their primary note-taking application to evaluate its features.
• 🎨 Obsidian offers a variety of themes that can be mesmerizing, especially for those with specific aesthetic preferences like vaporwave and outrun.
• 🔗 A key feature highlighted is the ease of linking notes within notes and the sophisticated search functionality, which enhances navigation.
• ⌨️ Customizable hotkeys are available for improved efficiency, allowing for quick actions like switching panes and creating notes.
• 📚 The speaker found the customizability of Obsidian to be a powerful tool for elevating their note-taking and information organization.
• 📑 The speaker used Obsidian for an English class assignment and found the pane customization and hotkeys to be more efficient than traditional document formats.
• 🔄 The process of transferring documents from Google Docs to Obsidian was described as inefficient but part of the speaker's adjustment to the new system.
• 🗂️ The speaker explored different workflows and templates from the Obsidian community, such as the PARA and IMF models, to organize their notes.
• 📈 The IMF structure was adopted, which uses an index, maps of contents (MOCs), and fluid frameworks to organize notes systematically.
• 💡 Personalization of the note-taking process is encouraged, with the speaker creating templates and customizing their vault layout to suit their needs.
• 🔗 Obsidian's selling points are its accessibility, customizability, and durability, making it a potentially long-term solution for note-taking.
• 🌐 Notes in Obsidian are in markdown format, stored locally, and easily transferable, with the speaker recommending regular backups for safety.

Q & A

What is Obsidian and what does it claim to be?

Obsidian is a digital note-taking application that claims to be a 'permanent second brain,' emphasizing its unique methodology for note organization and customization.

What was the purpose of the video?

The purpose of the video was to showcase the presenter's personal 7-day experiment using Obsidian as their main note-taking application and to share insights into its benefits.

What are some of the features of Obsidian that caught the presenter's attention?

The presenter was particularly impressed by Obsidian's themes, the ease of linking notes within notes, an intricate search bar, customizable hotkeys, and the overall customizability of the application.

How does the presenter describe the process of importing documents into Obsidian?

The presenter describes the process as initially inefficient, involving copy-pasting documents into Obsidian, and later realizing the need for a smarter way to organize the different materials.

What workflow models did the presenter explore in the script?

The presenter explored the PARA and IMF models, eventually choosing to import the IMF template into their Obsidian vault.

What does the IMF structure consist of according to the script?

The IMF structure consists of three methods for organizing notes: an index as the main hub, maps of contents (MOCs) to organize concepts, and fluid frameworks to organize notes and concepts within MOCs.

How did the presenter adapt the IMF template to their needs?

The presenter personalized the IMF template by introducing a concepts MOC and keeping most of the categories from the IMF template, making adjustments as they saw fit.

What are some of the advantages of using Obsidian for note-taking according to the presenter?

The advantages include accessibility, customizability, durability, ease of creating and connecting new notes, and the ability to creatively organize notes with various features and community plugins.

How does Obsidian handle the storage of notes?

Obsidian stores notes in markdown format on the user's computer storage, which makes it easy to transfer to a new program if needed.

What is the presenter's recommendation for someone considering trying Obsidian?

The presenter recommends downloading Obsidian and trying it out for a day or two on a specific topic to see if the user interface and features complement the user's personal preferences.

What resources does the presenter suggest for further exploration of Obsidian?

The presenter suggests visiting the Obsidian forums page and watching other YouTubers like Bryan Jenks and Linking Your Thinking for more organization and structuring ideas.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Embracing Obsidian for a Digital Note-Taking Transformation

The narrator begins their journey with Obsidian, a note-taking application that promises to become a 'permanent second brain.' They are intrigued by its organizational methodology and customizability. The video documents a 7-day personal experiment, exploring features like themes, linking notes, and a powerful search bar. The narrator also discusses the convenience of customizable hotkeys and the initial steps in transferring documents from Google Docs to Obsidian, aiming to cultivate a new digital brain.

05:02

🎨 Customizing and Organizing the Obsidian Vault

The second paragraph delves into the narrator's experience with Obsidian's customization options, including themes and hotkeys, and their efforts to import and organize various documents into the application. They discuss the adoption of the IMF note organization model from the Obsidian community, which includes an index, maps of contents (MOCs), and fluid frameworks. The narrator also shares their process of personalizing this structure, creating templates for note-taking, and their approach to reading and note organization inspired by 'How to Take Smart Notes.'

10:02

🔗 Reflecting on the Obsidian Experience and Future Outlook

In the final paragraph, the narrator reflects on their week-long experiment with Obsidian, highlighting its benefits in accessibility, customizability, and durability. They discuss the ease of creating and connecting notes, the potential for long-term use, and the availability of community plugins. The narrator emphasizes the importance of finding a personal note-taking preference and encourages viewers to try Obsidian for themselves. They conclude by recommending resources for further learning and invite feedback on their experience.

Keywords

💡Obsidian

Obsidian is a note-taking and knowledge management software that emphasizes a unique methodology for organizing and customizing notes. In the video, it is presented as a 'permanent second brain,' highlighting its extensive features and customizability that the narrator found beneficial for their digital note-taking experience.

💡Note Organization

Note organization refers to the systematic arrangement of notes to enhance accessibility and retrieval. The video discusses how Obsidian's linking features and search bar make navigation easier compared to traditional methods, such as using Google Docs, by allowing users to create interconnected notes that form a web of knowledge.

💡Customizability

Customizability in the context of the video refers to the ability to tailor the software's interface and functionality to the user's preferences. The narrator mentions being 'blown away' by Obsidian's customizability, including themes, hotkeys, and templates, which contribute to a personalized and efficient note-taking process.

💡Vaporwave and Outrun Aesthetics

Vaporwave and Outrun aesthetics are visual and thematic styles that the narrator appreciates and finds in Obsidian's themes. These aesthetics are characterized by retro-futuristic and nostalgic elements, which the narrator finds mesmerizing and in line with their personal taste, enhancing their experience with the software.

💡Hotkeys

Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts that allow for quicker access to certain functions within a program. The video script mentions the narrator's use of hotkeys in Obsidian to switch between panes and perform actions like closing and creating notes, which streamlines their workflow and reduces reliance on the mouse.

💡Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text, which is the format in which notes are taken in Obsidian. The video mentions that all notes are in Markdown format, ensuring that they are easily transferable to other programs if needed, and promoting a simple and flexible note-taking experience.

💡IMF Template

The IMF (Index, Map of Contents, and Fluid Frameworks) template is a note organization system mentioned in the video. It is used to structure the narrator's vault in Obsidian, with the Index serving as the main hub, MOCs for organizing concepts, and Fluid Frameworks for arranging notes within those concepts.

💡Knowledge Management

Knowledge management involves the processes and strategies used to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable the utilization of knowledge within an organization or individual. The video script describes how Obsidian aids in knowledge management by allowing the narrator to create a personal knowledge management MOC and take smart notes.

💡Zettelkasten

Zettelkasten is a German term for 'note slip box' and refers to a method of organizing notes into a system of interconnected ideas. While not explicitly mentioned in the script, the principles of Zettelkasten are implied in the video's discussion of note linking and the creation of a knowledge web in Obsidian.

💡Community Plugins

Community plugins are additional features or tools created by the user community for a software program. The video script refers to these as enhancing existing features or adding new functionalities to Obsidian, such as calendars and mind maps, which further customize the user's note-taking experience.

💡Vault

In the context of Obsidian, a vault is the container for all of a user's notes and the central repository of their knowledge base. The video script describes the narrator's process of transferring documents into their Obsidian vault and organizing them using various templates and methods.

Highlights

Obsidian is a note-taking application that emphasizes a unique methodology for note organization and customization.

The video showcases a 7-day personal experiment with Obsidian as the main note-taking application.

Obsidian offers a wide range of features and customizability that impressed the user.

Themes in Obsidian are mesmerizing and can cater to specific aesthetic preferences like vaporwave and outrun.

Linking notes within notes and an intricate search bar are highlighted as functional features.

Customizable hotkeys in Obsidian improve the quality of life and workflow efficiency.

Obsidian's customizability provides an abundance of tools for note-taking and information organization.

The user utilized Obsidian for writing an assignment, finding it easier to traverse text compared to .docx format.

Obsidian's convenience is in its note-taking experience, and the user plans to transfer all documents from Google Docs.

The user experimented with different Obsidian workflows, including the PARA and IMF models.

The IMF structure was adopted for organizing notes with an index, maps of contents (MOCs), and fluid frameworks.

The user created a template for computer gates to streamline the note-taking process in Obsidian.

Obsidian promotes creative organization and idea connectivity, which the user finds appealing.

The user suggests trying Obsidian to see if its user interface and features align with personal preferences.

Obsidian's selling points are its accessibility, customizability, and durability in note-taking.

The user plans to store notes on the cloud and maintain a backup on the computer for safety.

Obsidian notes are in markdown format, making it easy to transfer to a new program if needed.

The user recommends the Obsidian forums and other YouTubers for additional insights and organization ideas.

Transcripts

If you've been looking for new methods

of taking notes on your computer

you've probably heard of Obsidian.

It claims to be a permanent second brain putting emphasis

on its unique methodology for note organization and customization.

if you're interested in switching up your digital note-taking

I hope my experiences can provide some insight

towards the benefits of using the program.

In this video I hope to showcase

my own personal 7 day experiment

with using Obsidian

as my main note-taking application.

Will the features overwhelm me?

Or am I gonna start the cultivation

of a new digital brain?

I was blown away by all the features and customizability

Obsidian has to offer.

If you're not familiar with its features

I'll give you a rundown on some things

that caught my eye when I first started using it.

Seeing as I've spent the past few months

looking at completely black screens

when taking notes

the themes on Obsidian have been mesmerizing to work with.

I've always been a fan of vaporwave and outrun aesthetics

and to see a theme that perfectly complemented my tastes

instantly hooked me.

Anyways, a more functional feature

I'm eager to experiment with is

the easibility of linking notes within notes

paired with the easily accessible and intricate search bar.

I feel like Obsidian would make navigation way easier

compared to having to individually open each document in Google Docs.

To add on to the accessibility and flow of the app,

there are countless customizable hotkeys

that provide immense quality of life changes.

For example, I'm able to switch between the different panes open

using alt and WASD

which saves the hassle of having to constantly

switch my hand between my mouse and keyboard.

Furthermore, I'm able to instantly close

and create notes within a few key presses.

As I'm typing up the script

interacting with the program and discovering

all of the intricate features

it provides feels euphoric.

The customizability of Obsidian

has given me an abundance of tools

to work with to help take my note-taking

and information organization to a completely new level.

I haven't done much note-taking yet,

but I've been able to use Obsidian

for writing an assignment

I have for my English class.

The customizability of the panes

paired with my hotkey for switching about them

have made it easier to traverse

through text compared to a linear layout

like the .docx format

I was so used to.

I'm able to create a main hub

or good copy for my project

with my brainstorming and ideas

organized into separate notes

which looks and feels productive.

Although Obsidian's convenience

lies in the note-taking experience

I'm gonna try and transfer all my stuff

from Google Docs into one vault.

This probably isn't the best idea,

but I'll keep making adjustments as i see fit.

And so, I went to work,

unefficiently copy pasting

all my relevant documents into Obsidian.

Whether it be anime reviews,

book summaries or english essays

I put everything in here with the hopes

that somehow connections can be miraculously made

from such distinct categories.

Here's what my web looks like

after importing everything.

Upon further consideration, I should probably think of

a smart way to organize the different material

I have in here.

Should I separate references from ideas?

Previous works from ongoing projects?

I've already spent quite a bit of time today

so tomorrow I'll spend some more time

organizing and thinking about

how to approach this.

With my extensive experience in

Minecraft and Terraria storage organizing

I think I'll come up with something.

Today I spent some time researching

different Obsidian workflows

I could incorporate into my vault.

And luckily for me,

I came across this post on the Obsidian forums.

The original poster had made a .zip file

for different storage templates.

So, I decided to download it myself

and see if any of them were fit for me.

The two that piqued my interest

were the PARA and IMF models.

And as of writing this I've imported

the IMF template into my Obsidian vault

and I'm planning on transferring

my recently imported documents into it.

Credit to Nick Milo for popularizing this concept.

He also has a YouTube channel

for Obsidian tips and tricks and just explanations.

So if you're interested in that

check out the link in the description.

The IMF structure uses three methods for organizing notes.

First is the I which stands for index.

The index acts as the main hub

for the entire organization system

and helps transition into the second level

which are maps of contents, also known as MOCs.

MOCs separate and organize the concepts

that comprise your note system

to organize the notes and ideas within these concepts.

Fluid frameworks are used to appropriately

organize the different notes and concepts within your MOCs.

After finding a promising structure,

I think it's time to personalize it to my liking.

Despite it only being five days since the switch

I'm starting to better utilize the program

through its various features and hotkeys.

I made some notes for the

different kinds of computer gates

I'm making and learning about

while taking the infamous Nand to Tetris class.

Let's take a look. Shall we?

First off, I have some characteristics of the note

like the status and connections it has with other notes.

Credit to Bryan Jenks for the idea.

I would highly recommend his YouTube channel

for Obsidian and zettelkasten knowledge.

Next, I have the title, some quick notes

for the purpose of the gate,

as well as any ideas that popped into my mind.

Lastly, I have the code

I made to create the gate

and a truth table to showcase

the functionality and scenarios of the gate.

There's 16 of these gates

I have to create and having to reformat

every note would be quite tedious.

So, I created a template for these gates

and within the press of a single hotkey

I can use this template

upon the creation of a new note.

Aside from taking notes, I also spent

some time decluttering and reshaping the template

I downloaded yesterday for my own needs.

After creating a simple MOC for my YouTube channel,

I just couldn't help but fantasize of

how organized my notes could actually be.

I like to spend an hour every day in the morning reading

and for today's session

I was hoping to finish the book "How to Take Smart Notes."

Well, the thing is, I only had a few more pages

until I was completely finished the book.

So I still had ample time to spare.

self, wouldn't it be a good idea to,

you know, practice the stuff you just learned about?

And so I did. I went to my personal

knowledge management MOC,

created a wiki link called

"Note Taking" and "Note Systems"

and slowly added more categories

depending on the different topics of my notes.

It was my first time taking decent digital notes,

but I'm really satisfied with the end result.

Being able to use the wiki links and previews

made it easier to navigate through the notes

and I managed to create a decent looking

and functional format for every new note.

I really enjoy how ideas can be briefly listed like this,

but easily expanded by opening the note in a new pane.

Here's what it looks like now.

Once again, I spent some more time

deleting irrelevant categories

and grouping orphan notes.

I still have some progress to go,

but once this is over I can put more

emphasis on making abstract connections

and making it all cozy.

Tomorrow is going to be my last day

for my one week experiment.

So, hopefully, I can finish customizing my vault

for a desirable end result.

I'll skip talking about

the note taking I did today

as it was nothing special.

After some further tweaks and organization,

I was finally able to end up

with this beautiful web

I can call my second brain.

Here's a quick overview.

The structure of my vault is still pretty basic and empty,

but it'll only expand as I continue

to read more and take more notes.

As for the overall layout, I like to have

my graph in the top left for aesthetic purposes,

with the search bar and starred notes in the bottom left.

As for the rest of the screen,

the amount of panes I have open

depends on the kind of writing I'm doing

but I tend to just keep it on preview mode

as I don't mind the hashtags and square brackets.

As for the organization, I mostly kept

the categories from the IMF template

with the introduction of a concepts MOC.

The rest of the categories themselves

are pretty self-explanatory and are quite empty

considering I just started

taking note taking seriously a week ago.

When looking at my notes in the graph view

there's the occasional group of interweaving notes,

but most of the time it's stuff lazily

shoved into a single category.

Hopefully, I can start making connections

to these different notes later on.

For each layout of my notes

I use a simple template

that allows me to create connections,

tags and list references.

I haven't really been creating tags that often,

but I'm planning on adopting Bryan Jenks'

approach to using tags and links.

And, yeah, that's really all there is to it.

After spending a week using Obsidian

as my all-in-one note-taking platform,

I think it's time I share my opinions

about the program.

Prior to using Obsidian,

I wasn't too fond of taking notes.

I find physical notes to be

too tedious to navigate through

and as a result I rarely come back

to a note again after writing it.

Using Google Docs to help write general notes

for the different books I read

helped me remember the ideas I learned,

but the lack of connections in idea organization

has led to writing the same ideas over and over again.

Fortunately, Obsidian solves both these problems.

The various methods of note retrieval

helps reduce the friction of finding previous ideas

and the flexibility and accessibility of taking notes

makes it easy to create and build upon whatever

ideas and topics I come across.

Instead of writing the same idea over and over again

I can dig deeper into the text

I'm reading to further expand my notes

and enhance my understanding of the topic.

I think the selling points of this app are

accessibility, customizability and durability.

Creating and connecting new notes is as simple as

creating a wiki link from an already existing note,

importing a template with a press of a hotkey

and then typing whatever comes to mind.

If you like to creatively organize your notes

Obsidian will be a treat to use.

Having to learn the different typing and formatting conventions

might be a bit daunting at first,

but if you're planning on using this in the long run

it's definitely worth the effort to learn them.

There's also still plenty of other features

that I probably haven't mentioned.

Not to mention the different community plugins

you can add to your vault.

Some plugins enhance already existing features

like tables and templates

while some add new things

like calendars and mind maps.

If your vault has a good structure

Obsidian could easily be the last note-taking tool

you use for the rest of your life.

In the off chance that you do want to switch

all the notes are taken in markdown format

in your computer storage.

So it won't be hard to transfer

them onto a new program.

I personally like to store them

on the cloud for safety purposes,

but I'm planning on saving a backup

every week on my computer.

Just in case.

I enjoy using Obsidian as it promotes

creative organization and idea connectivity,

but your note-taking preferences

may be completely different.

On top of hearing my personal opinion,

it's probably best if you just download it

and try it yourself.

You don't have to fully commit

and move all your notes

like how I did within my

second day of using the app,

but I would recommend you spend a day

or two taking notes on a certain topic

to see if the user interface

and features help complement your personal preferences.

You may not see it

as your all-in-one storage like I do,

but you can still use it as a tool

to help plan out projects or connect ideas.

Anyways, that pretty much wraps up

my one week experience with using Obsidian.

If you have any questions

I'd recommend you go to the forums page

or watch other youtubers

like Bryan Jenks and Linking Your Thinking

as that's where I copied my organization

and structured ideas from.

If you found my advice helpful

be sure to share and like this video

and subscribe for more content like this,

Stay mindful.