I discovered this app about 3 months ago and have been learning how to use it. It is so free form it takes quite a learning curve to get going. Basically, it’s a place to hold notes, articles, thoughts, interests, etc. Each note is in markdown which is a very basic text document with very minimal formatting. Notes can be read by any app which can read/open a text file which makes them “future proof”. Notes in markdown are extremely small, (i.e., a few hundred bytes or 3-4k for larger ones).
If you take some time to watch a few videos on Zettelkasten, you will see how useful Obsidian can be for writers, creators, learners, or those wanting to connect ideas and discover new insights. Zettelkasten is a note filing system with referencing developed by Nicolas Luhrmann, a German sociologist and prolific writer. Since each file is so small (only a few kilobytes), searches are extremely fast even across a thousand notes. There are several ways to store your notes into a folder structure. Obsidian videos suggest a few but you’ll have to decide what works for you. Fewer folders are better than more to help you stay away from being heirarchial. You can also add tags to your notes to categorize them.
The app comes with basic core plug-ins that are more than enough to get you going. When you find that some tweaking will help, there is a large collection of community plugins to customize your system.
The strength of Obsidian lies in its ability to link notes together forward or backwards. Just type [[]] and fill in the note name in the middle to create a link. Obsidian will suggest, like autocorrect, what to enter as a link. As you build your files the graph view will be useful to see links between ideas. It’s like looking at a constellation with the stars connected by lines around a central cluster/idea. Very impressive and useful by applying filters to show how things are related or connected to each other.
Here are some tips to get started. Next month I’ll go into my experience more deeply.
- Don’t start from scratch. Add notes from sources you already have such as Word, Notes, Evernote or whatever you use to store thoughts and ideas.
- Best to use your own words in a note. If you need to copy/paste until you “digest” the idea further, then use quotes and references.
- Use templates to speed things up and have uniformity. You can make your own or find them online.
- Search your already created notes before crafting something as you may already have it.
- Think as you create a note and add a link… How will I want to use this in the future/what does it relate to? How to name it to find it again.
- Don’t try to make your system or notes perfect. It will evolve over time. Do what works for you. Look at what experts have done and adapt it to your style.
- Avoid too many folders as you try to categorize your notes, let links do the heavy lifting.
- Use the slow burn technique: don’t try to do too much at one time. Start small, build on what you do, ideas will evolve and connect.
- Make non-existent pages. This is a note with only a title or maybe a few words. It is called a fleeting note in Zettelkasten. You just want to capture something before the thought gets away. You can come back to it later to build on it. These notes, if not linked, are orphans and you can easily find them again.
- Since Obsidian resides on your computer, consider how you will back it up. Since the files are local, they are always available whether you have a connection or not. You can use iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
Here are a few Obsidian Gurus you’ll find on YouTube:
Nick Milo – also see his website at www.linkingyourthinking.com
Brian Jenks
FromSergio
Danny Hatcher
Obsidian is free and works on Macs and PCs. Go to https://obsidian.md/