How And Why I Use Obsidian To Take Notes

If you are someone who takes note-taking seriously, then you understand the importance of having a system that is both organized and accessible. With so many note-taking applications available today, it can be difficult to choose one that meets all your needs.

When I first started taking notes seriously, I used cherrytree. I still love cherrytree. It’s free, it’s open source and simple to use. But, it has limitations. Namely, by default, it saves notes in XML file or SQLite format. While you can export to PDF, HTML, and plaintext, it would have been nice to see it save in a simple format like markdown. There are some converters out there, but there is no way to do this directly from inside cherrytree. It also seems to hang on really large note files. After using cherry tree religiously for a year or 2 during my certification exam studies, I was looking for something else. Enter Obsidian – a free for personal use markdown-based note-taking application. Obsidian is not open source, unfortunately, which is probably the only drawback for me (yes, I know there’s Logseq, but it didn’t quite provide the same experience for me).

Obsidian is built around the idea of a “graph database”. In simpler terms, it allows you to connect your notes and ideas in a web-like structure, making it easy to find and connect related information. This graph database structure makes Obsidian a powerful tool for organizing and connecting knowledge, making it the ideal solution for knowledge management.

One of the standout features of Obsidian is its use of markdown syntax. Markdown is a simple and easy-to-learn syntax that allows you to format your notes in a way that is both readable and easily convertible to HTML or other formats. This makes it ideal for note-taking, as it allows you to format your notes in a way that is both readable and easily convertible to other formats. The major advantage of this is that if Obsidian were to disappear or you want to move to another application at any point, all of your notes are easily accessible by just about any application.

Another feature of Obsidian is its integration with various other applications and services. For example, you can integrate Obsidian with a task management tool like Trello, a bookmarking tool like Pinboard, and even a knowledge management tool like Roam Research. This integration makes it possible to connect your notes and information in a way that is both organized and easily accessible.

Obsidian also has the ability to add plugins and extensions. These plugins and extensions can be used to add new features and functionality to Obsidian, making it an even more powerful tool for knowledge management. For example, you can use plugins to add a to-do list, a calendar, or even a weather widget to your notes. The growing community of users and developers are constantly adding new features and plugins. This means that Obsidian is not only a powerful tool for knowledge management, but also a constantly evolving and improving one.

If you are looking for a note-taking solution that is both powerful and flexible, then Obsidian is definitely worth checking out.

Here are some of my most useful Obsidian commands:

Add heading (up to 6 levels):

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3
#### Heading 4
##### Heading 5
####### Heading 6

Add bold text:

**bold text**

Add italicized text:

*italicized text*

Add strikethrough text:

~~strikethrough text~~

Add highlighted text:

==highlighted text==

Add ordered list (can be indented using tab as well):

1. Item 1
2. Item 2
3. Item 3
	1. Indented item 1

Add unordered list (can be indented using tab as well):

- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3
	- Indented item 1

Add checklist (can be indented using tab as well):

-[] Item 1
-[] Item 2
-[] Item 3
	-[] Indented item 1

Add block quote:

>block quote

Add code blocks:

```bash
some code
```

Add footnote:

Text with footnote[^1]
...
...
[^1]: footnote

Add tables (this one can be a bit tedious):

|title|description|
|-----|------|
|title 1|description 1|
|title 2|description 2|

Add link to another page:

[[page link]]

Add external link:

[text](https://external.link)

Embed page:

![[page name]]

Embed media (media files must be inside vault – can also be dragged and dropped):

![[image.jpg]]

Supports many other media formats, including: md, pdf, png, jpeg, gif, bmp, svg, mp3, wav, webm, m4a, ogg, 3gp, flac, mp4, ogv