Entertainment

Give Me 15 Minutes. I'll Teach You 80% of Obsidian

by Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo

📚 Main topics

Why choose ObsidianObsidian makes it easy to capture ideas, connect them with links and backlinks, and develop your thinking using notes stored locally in a portable Markdown format. 0:00
Vaults and basic navigationA vault is simply a folder of Markdown files on your computer. The sidebar, search, bookmarks, tabs, and panels help you find and work with your notes. 0:31
Creating linked notesDouble brackets let you link to existing notes or create placeholders for new ones. Backlinks show where a note is mentioned, while graph view visualizes connections across your vault. 3:11
Settings and customizationAutomatically updating internal links protects connections when notes are renamed. Setting a dedicated attachments folder helps keep the sidebar uncluttered, and themes can customize the appearance. 5:44
Writing and navigating efficientlyMarkdown syntax and keyboard shortcuts handle formatting, links, embeds, search, tabs, and navigation. The command palette can help you discover additional commands. 8:23
Organizing notesUse broad folders and add structure when it becomes useful. Bookmarks, tags, maps of content, and daily notes offer additional ways to organize and connect ideas. 9:56
More note formats and featuresNotes can include images, documents, audio, videos, tables, templates, and properties. Bases can organize and filter notes, while Canvas provides a whiteboard for brainstorming. 12:00
AI in ObsidianObsidian does not include built-in AI, so you choose how to integrate it and what privacy trade-offs to accept. Back up notes and keep AI-generated material separate from original thinking. 13:34

✨ Key takeaways

Keep your data portableYour notes are local Markdown files that can be opened outside Obsidian, and syncing across devices is optional. 0:31
Start with linking, not pluginsBegin with a simple collection of notes and focus on making connections before adding complex plugins or elaborate systems. 3:11
Let organization emergeAvoid importing piles of old notes or creating too many narrow folders; start with broad categories and add structure as patterns become clear. 7:19
Make shortcuts part of your workflowLearning a few essential hotkeys makes capturing, formatting, and navigating notes faster. 7:50

🧠 Lessons learned

Structure should be earnedIdeas often fit multiple categories, so rigid hierarchies can make filing difficult. Broad folders, links, and maps of content can provide a more flexible organization. 10:28
Protect links when renamingEnable automatic updates to internal links so renamed notes do not leave broken connections behind. 5:44
Treat AI carefullyBack up your vault before experimenting with AI and separate generated content from your own notes. 13:34

🏁 Conclusion/next steps

Build a simple foundationStart a vault with broad areas for enduring ideas, time-based notes, and active projects, then create subfolders only as needed. 11:00
Explore graduallyAdd properties, Bases, Canvas, templates, and other features as your needs grow, rather than trying to learn everything at once. 12:32
Continue learningThe creator points viewers to a free Ideaverse template and follow-up videos on the recommended theme and other setup details. 14:05

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Transcript excerpt

0:00 There are three main things that if you care about them make picking Obsidian over other note-taking apps a great idea. First, if you want near zero friction to capture your own ideas. Second, if you value connecting those ideas using links and back links. And third, if you want to improve your thinking, learning, and writing while using an offline local first format you can take with you anywhere instead of being stuck in one app or format. If that's you, I'm about to share the essential 80% of all those features in

0:31 Obsidian and how you can use them to get the most out of Obsidian in the shortest time. Let's start with what Obsidian actually is, which is just a vault, a folder of notes on your computer. Here it is right here on my desktop. It's that simple. Inside this folder, your notes are just individual text files. These files are in a future-proof format called Markdown. Open those files in Obsidian and they look like this. But you can also open them in any other app that reads markdown. Here's the same

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