Obsidian App Notes for Beginners
Photo from obsidian.md
Note #1
Obsidian is a note-taking application that you can download and install directly from its website as a desktop app. You create files called “vaults,” which are essentially folders on your desktop. Each “vault” should contain notes on a specific topic to keep your notes organized. For example, when doing literature research for your thesis, you can use [[ ]] to link your notes together. You can view the relationships between your notes as a graph.
Note #2: The 6 Most Important Markdown Keys
- The Link ⇒
[[something]]
- The Tag ⇒
#concept (you can search for tags: #concept)
- Italics ⇒ emphasize something (single asterisks)
- Bold ⇒ Big Nouns (double asterisks)
- Lists ⇒ Just put a dash and leave a blank, it’ll start a list (
- ); or number it.
- Headers ⇒
# Header-1; ## Header-2; ### Header-3; … you can go further.
Note #3: The 8 Most Important Settings in Obsidian
Gall’s Law: Gall’s Law states that all complex systems that work evolved from simpler systems that worked. If you want to build a complex system that works, build a simpler system first, and then improve it over time. [Josh Kaufman, personal MBA].
- Editor: Spell check
- Plugin: Tag Pane (this will create a list of tags)
- Plugin: Page Preview
- Plugin: Starred (I guess it is a bookmark)
- File: Deleted files (goes to the system trash)
- File: Always update internal links
- Appearance: Dark/Light mode
- Appearance: Custom CSS (special themes, will be explained in the next notes)
Note #4: Custom CSS
Base Mode
- Dark
- Light
- Adapt to system
- Turn on the ‘Community Plugins’ from the ‘Options’ tab of Settings
- Browse for the ‘community plugins’, you’ll see the themes
- Once you like a theme: download it and then enable it
- I use ‘Excalidraw’ since you can also draw in that template! But there are many options, and if you’d like to create one, you can also create your own template.
Photo from YT video named Mind mapping with Excalidraw-Obsidian
Note #5: 8 Important Hotkeys
- Open link in edit mode:
cmd-click on link
- Toggle edit/preview:
cmd-e
- Open Quick Switcher:
cmd-o
- Search:
cmd-shift-f
- Back:
cmd-opt-leftArrow
- Forward:
cmd-opt-rightArrow
- New note:
cmd-n
- Open note in a new window:
cmd-click on note