Obsidian is the note-taking application for people who want to own their knowledge rather than rent it from a cloud service. It stores notes as plain Markdown files in a folder on your computer — files you can read with any text editor, back up with any tool, and keep indefinitely without depending on any company’s continued existence. We go deeper on the whole subject in our Complete Guide to Software and Apps.
But local-first storage is only part of what makes Obsidian distinctive. The graph view and the linking system that powers it transform a collection of individual notes into a genuine knowledge network where ideas connect and reinforce each other. This guide covers the full workflow from first vault to a genuinely connected knowledge system.
Vaults, notes, and Markdown basics
A vault is the root folder where Obsidian stores all notes. Everything inside — notes, attachments, plugin configurations, templates — lives as a standard file in the file system. Open Obsidian → “Create new vault” → choose a name and location → Obsidian opens it as a folder of text files.
Strategic vault placement: put the vault folder inside a folder already synced by iCloud, Dropbox, or OneDrive, and it syncs automatically across devices without the paid Obsidian Sync ($8/month). The vault is also trivially backed up — it’s just a folder of text files that can be copied to an external drive alongside everything else on the computer.
Notes in Obsidian are Markdown files. The key Markdown syntax:
# Heading 1,## Heading 2,### Heading 3**bold**and*italic*- itemfor bullet lists;1. itemfor numbered lists`code`for inline code;```code block```for multi-line[[note name]]— the wikilink, the internal link that is the foundation of Obsidian’s connected system
Create a note: Ctrl+N or the “New note” icon. Notes save automatically as you type.
The dual-pane view is one of the most productive aspects of Obsidian. Right-click any note tab → “Split right” or “Split down” to open two notes simultaneously side by side. Use it to keep a meeting note open on one side and a permanent note on the topic being discussed open on the other — pulling insights from the transient meeting note into the permanent note during or immediately after the meeting.
Building links and the knowledge graph
Type [[ anywhere in a note to trigger link autocomplete. As you type a note’s name, Obsidian searches existing notes and shows suggestions. If the note doesn’t exist yet, typing the name and pressing Enter creates a link to a not-yet-created note — it shows in orange until the destination is created. This “link-ahead” approach builds a network of anticipated connections that guides the next note-creation session.
Heading and block references: [[note name#heading]] links to a specific heading; [[note name^block]] links to a specific paragraph. Block-level linking allows citing specific paragraphs from source notes anywhere in the vault.
Alias links: [[target note|displayed text]] — the displayed text differs from the note name. “The capital of France” can link to a Paris note without displaying “Paris” as the anchor text. Aliases make prose flow naturally while maintaining the link structure.
Graph view: Ctrl+G — a visual network of all notes and their connections. Each note is a node; each wikilink is an edge. Hover any node to see its connections highlighted. Increase the link strength filter to show only highly-connected notes — the most central nodes represent the ideas that connect the most concepts, typically the most important concepts in the vault.
Use the graph view quarterly to identify which topics have become hubs of connection (worth developing further) and which notes are isolated islands (candidates for linking or pruning).
Backlinks panel (right sidebar → Backlinks) shows every note that links to the currently open note. Backlinks surface unexpected connections — seeing which other notes reference a concept reveals how it appears across different contexts in the vault. When writing a new permanent note, check its backlinks panel: the notes already referencing this topic provide context, related arguments, and possible contradictions that should inform the note’s content.
Properties, templates, and the Daily Note
Properties are structured metadata stored at the top of any note in YAML format — they transform Obsidian from a pure linking system into a lightweight database. Click “Add properties” at the top of any note, or manually add YAML: --- followed by key-value pairs. Properties support text, numbers, dates, checkboxes, and lists.
A book note might have properties for author, publication year, status (reading/read/want-to-read), and rating. A project note might have start date, deadline, and status. The Dataview plugin can then query these properties across all notes — displaying all books with status “reading,” all projects due this month, or all notes tagged with a specific concept.
Templates: Core plugin → Templates → enable → set a template folder. Create notes in that folder for recurring note types — book note template, meeting note template, project note template, daily note template. Apply: Ctrl+P (command palette) → “Templates: Insert template” → choose the template. Include date/time variables ({{date}}, {{time}}) that auto-fill when the note is created.
A book template with properties (author, genre, status) and sections (Summary, Key Ideas, Quotes) gives every book note the same structure — easy to review any book note later without reconstructing where the information is.
Daily Note: Core plugin → Daily Notes → enable → set file location and default template. Press Ctrl+Shift+D to open today’s note, created automatically from the template. The daily note is where everything goes first: fleeting thoughts, meeting summaries, reading notes, tasks, ideas. Its purpose is a processing queue, not permanent storage. During weekly review, valuable content from daily notes gets extracted, developed into permanent notes with links, and the daily note becomes an archive.
Essential plugins and the community ecosystem
| Plugin | What it adds | Type |
| Dataview | Query notes as a database — display lists, tables, and calendar views built from note properties and tags | Community |
| Templater | Advanced templates with JavaScript logic, date formatting, and automatic template insertion on new note creation | Community |
| Calendar | Calendar widget in the sidebar showing daily notes, allowing navigation by clicking any date | Community |
| Kanban | Kanban board view for notes in a folder — drag cards between columns to update status | Community |
| Excalidraw | Full Excalidraw drawing canvas embedded in Obsidian notes — visual thinking and diagrams with links to other notes | Community |
| Periodic Notes | Extends Daily Notes to weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual notes with their own templates | Community |
| Advanced Tables | Creates and edits Markdown tables with auto-formatting, tab navigation, and formula support | Community |
Install community plugins: Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search the plugin name → Install → Enable. The Dataview plugin is the capability that most frequently converts casual users into dedicated ones — it turns the vault into a queryable knowledge database. A Dataview query: TABLE author, status FROM "Books" WHERE status = "read" generates a live table of all read books from the Books folder, updating automatically as notes are added or changed.
Note-taking philosophy and long-term workflow
Using Obsidian productively requires a consistent approach to note creation. Without one, even a well-structured vault becomes a large collection of disconnected files offering no advantage over a plain folder of documents.
Zettelkasten method (the most widely practised in Obsidian):
- Fleeting notes: quick captures in the daily note
- Literature notes: notes on specific sources (books, articles, podcasts) summarising the source’s ideas
- Permanent notes: self-contained notes on a single idea, written in your own words, linked to related notes
Each permanent note should express one complete thought that stands on its own and connects meaningfully to related notes. The goal: a vault where navigating links surfaces new connections and syntheses.
PARA method for folder structure: Projects (active projects with defined outcomes), Areas (ongoing responsibilities — health, finances, professional development), Resources (reference material on topics of interest), Archive (completed or superseded notes). PARA manages where notes live; the link structure manages how they connect. Both working together produce a vault that is both navigable by folder and discoverable by link.
Periodic review is not optional overhead — it’s the mechanism through which raw captured information becomes synthesised knowledge. A weekly review processes daily notes, develops valuable fleeting notes into permanent notes, and updates active project status. Without review, even a well-structured vault becomes a collection of drafts and fragments. Our guide on using Notion covers the hosted database-and-document alternative for users who prefer less setup friction, and our guide on using Evernote covers the cloud-first option where reliable multi-device sync is the priority over local file ownership.
Obsidian vs other note-taking tools
- Choose Obsidian if: local file ownership matters; data portability is a priority; the link-graph and knowledge network approach appeals; you’re comfortable with Markdown and some technical setup; you want a thinking tool rather than a cloud storage service
- Choose Notion if: the combination of notes, databases, and project management in one connected workspace matters; team collaboration is important; you prefer a hosted solution with less setup
- Choose Evernote if: OCR search of handwritten notes, scanned documents, and images is a key requirement; cross-device sync without manual configuration is the priority
- Choose Apple Notes or OneNote if: free is the hard requirement; ecosystem integration is more important than linking, graph, or plugin extensibility
Getting started without overthinking it
The most common Obsidian mistake: spending days perfecting the vault structure before creating any notes. The best Obsidian vaults evolve from actual use, not from upfront architectural planning.
A practical starting sequence:
- Create the vault in a location already synced by iCloud/Dropbox/OneDrive
- Enable the Daily Notes and Templates core plugins
- Create a simple daily note template (date, Today’s notes section, Tasks section)
- Start using the daily note for one week — don’t worry about linking yet
- After a week, notice which ideas appear repeatedly in daily notes — create permanent notes for those ideas
- Start linking the permanent notes to each other using
[[]] - Install Dataview and Templater only when you have a specific need the built-in functionality doesn’t cover
The vault’s value grows with the number of notes and the density of links between them. This compounds over time — a vault with 500 linked notes is qualitatively more useful than one with 50. The investment is in consistent daily capture and periodic review, not in a perfect structure built on day one. Start simple, note consistently, and let the system’s shape emerge from actual use. See also How to Use Todoist for a related case.
