Intro
Hello fellow NosillaCastaways, this is Ed Tobias, also known as Mr. Ed, and I’m here with another app review. This time, I want to talk to you about an application called Obsidian. But as usual, before I talk about the app itself, let’s start with the problem to be solved.
I take a lot of notes. I take notes for all my projects, software, woodworking and photography, notes for ideas I want to remember later, and notes I probably wouldn’t remember if I don’t write them down. Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different note-taking apps, and they all tend to fall into one of two camps. Either they’re very simple and don’t scale well, or they’re powerful but require you to put all of your information into someone else’s cloud, using formats you don’t really control. That’s the part that bothers me.
What I really wanted was a note-taking system that lets me capture my notes easily, keep them locally in a non-proprietary format, an app that works offline, and that can grow with me over time instead of boxing me into a specific workflow. That’s what led me to Obsidian.
What Obsidian Is
At its core, Obsidian is a Markdown-based note-taking application. All of your notes are stored as plain text Markdown files in a folder that you choose on your computer. There’s no hidden database and no required account. If you stop using Obsidian tomorrow, your notes are still perfectly usable with any text editor. That design decision alone puts Obsidian in a very different category from many other note-taking apps. Obsidian runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, and it works entirely offline. Syncing between devices is optional, and you get to decide how that’s done.
Linking Notes Instead of Filing Them Away
The feature Obsidian is best known for is linking notes together. After you write down your ideas in a note, you can go back and select words or phrases that represent another idea you want to explore further. After selecting the text, you type two left square brackets and this [[automatically creates a link]] to that idea. If you then click on that link, it will create a new note with that text as the title and link it back to the original note. It sounds a little complex, but once you try it, you’ll realize that it allows your [[creative thinking]] to grow quickly and organically.
This turns your notes from a collection of separate documents into a network of connected ideas. Instead of thinking strictly in folders, you start thinking in relationships. Obsidian even includes a graph view that shows how your notes connect visually. It looks impressive, but more importantly, it can help you notice relationships you might otherwise miss.
Folder structure
Obsidian’s linking of notes is great, but it also offers a folder sidebar view where you can create a folder structure if you wish. But it is advised that you don’t create a complex folder structure right away. I did when I first started using Obsidian because I love organizing things, and I’m a little OCD that way. But now I feel that doing that has hindered my idea creation. I’m spending more time trying to figure out where my notes go instead of how they relate to each other. So my advice is to just start writing and linking notes, and the optimum folder structure will reveal itself naturally.
The top folder in your Obsidian directory is known as a “vault”. You can have as many vaults as you want by selecting “open vault” in the file menu and clicking on “Create new vault”. So you can have one for personal, one for work, one for hobbies, but be careful because you can’t create links between notes in different vaults, so make sure you want that separation.
After you create your structure, it is very easy to drag and drop notes or folders wherever you want within the vault. Or if you need to move a note to a folder that isn’t easily visible, you can right click on it and choose where it goes from a list of folders. If you do move notes around, not to worry, all of their linking follows automatically.
Customization Through Plugins
Out of the box, Obsidian is intentionally fairly minimal. You can use it as a lightweight note-taking app, and it will serve you well. But if you need more capability, it has an extensive plugin system. There’s a large and active community that has created plugins for task management, calendars, daily notes, kanban boards, mind maps, and much more. And you can browse and add these plugins all from inside the settings window of Obsidian.
This plugin feature means Obsidian can be very simple or very powerful, depending on how far you want to take it. The downside is that it’s easy to get distracted by customization. My advice is to start simple, use it for a while, and add plugins only when you actually feel you need them. Plugins are also vault-specific, so if you want to create a separate vault for a specific need, you can just add plugins to that vault.
Local First, Sync Optional
As I said, the one thing I appreciate most about Obsidian is that it is local-first. It works perfectly without an internet connection, and there is no requirement to store your notes in the cloud.
If you do want syncing, Obsidian offers a paid sync service that handles encrypted syncing between devices. You can also use your own solution, like iCloud, Dropbox, or other file-sync tools. Again, the key idea here is that you get to choose. I chose to store my Obsidian files in iCloud, and it syncs well with both my Macs and iOS devices.
Mobile Experience
As I mentioned before, Obsidian has mobile apps for both iOS and Android. They work well for reading notes and making quick edits, but the experience isn’t quite as smooth as the desktop app, especially for heavy writing or organization, and it gets really sluggish if you use a lot of plugins. You can disable any plugins in the app settings of each device, and it will provide better performance for that specific device. For me, that’s fine, since my serious knowledge management happens at a keyboard, and I use my iPhone for capturing notes on the fly. I haven’t completely found the perfect process for myself yet. I’m leaning toward capturing my inspirations in my Drafts app on my phone, and when I get back to my desk, I “Bart” those ideas and put the survivors into Obsidian, where I can flesh them out more and link them together.
Where Obsidian May Not Be the Best Fit
Obsidian isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like Markdown, you’ll probably find it frustrating. If you need real-time collaboration with other people, this isn’t the right tool. And if you want a system that enforces strict structure for you, Obsidian intentionally does not do that.
There is also a learning curve. Obsidian is powerful, but it doesn’t hold your hand, and it can take some time to settle into a workflow that works for you. Like I said, I’m still working on mine.
Final Thoughts
I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what Obsidian can do, and actually, that’s one of its strengths. It’s a tool that can grow with you over time instead of being something you outgrow. If you care about owning your data, working offline, and building a personal knowledge base using open formats, Obsidian is absolutely worth a look. Like many of my favorite tools, it’s not flashy, but it’s thoughtfully designed, flexible, and built for the long haul.
If you decide to give it a try, I’d suggest starting simple and letting it evolve as your needs evolve. That’s where Obsidian really shines. It has a freemium cost model, so it is free to use forever, and if you choose to try their syncing or publishing features, the price is quite reasonable. You can download Obsidian at the Obsidian website.