Obsidian
Local Markdown notes that link into a graph of your own thinking



1/4Obsidian is a note-taking and knowledge management app that keeps everything as plain Markdown files in a folder on your own device, so notes work offline, stay private and remain readable without the app. Notes are joined with links and can be viewed as an interactive graph, while Canvas gives an infinite surface for laying ideas out spatially, and thousands of community plugins and themes built on an open API let people reshape the app around their own workflow. It is free to use, with optional paid add-ons: Sync for end-to-end encrypted syncing, version history and shared vaults across macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, and Publish for turning a set of notes into a public site. A Web Clipper extension saves pages from Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and other browsers, and a command line interface reads, searches and writes to a vault from the terminal.
- Notes stored on your device as plain Markdown files you own
- Link anything to anything, and see the backlinks both ways
- Graph view for the relationships between your notes
- Canvas, an infinite space to brainstorm, diagram and lay out ideas
- Thousands of community plugins and themes, built on an open API
- Sync with end-to-end encryption, version history and shared vaults
- Publish a vault as a site with graph and full text search
- Command line interface to read, search and script against a vault
Based on what people have said
Every answer links back to the mentions it came fromHow do people handle quick note capture on mobile?
Several users find the standard Obsidian app too slow for rapid capture, leading them to use external tools like Apple Notes, Drafts, or custom shortcuts to append text to their daily notes. Others use voice-to-text plugins or dedicated capture apps that sync directly into their vault to avoid the friction of opening the main application.
21 mentions · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/macapps · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · Aug 2026
Is Obsidian difficult to set up and maintain?
Opinions vary; some users warn that over-engineering a system with too many plugins can lead to burnout and performance issues, suggesting instead that new users start with basic folders and only add complexity when a specific need arises. Conversely, others find the app's extensibility and community-built themes to be its greatest strength, though some acknowledge that initial configuration can feel like a side project.
16 mentions · r/ObsidianMD · r/vibecoding · r/ObsidianMD · r/digitaljournaling · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · and 3 more · Aug 2026
How do users manage PDFs and research materials?
Many users integrate Zotero with Obsidian to handle citations and metadata, often using plugins like PDF++ to annotate files. Some users keep PDFs in a separate folder indexed by Obsidian, while others use scripts or external tools to convert PDFs into Markdown files before importing them to ensure they are searchable and linkable.
15 mentions · r/traveller · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · Aug 2026
What are the options for syncing vaults across devices?
Users report success with a variety of methods: the official Obsidian Sync is praised for its speed, ease of use, and end-to-end encryption. Alternatives include using iCloud, Dropbox, or self-hosted solutions like Seafile and Syncthing, though some users note that free options may lack live-sync capabilities or require more technical setup.
11 mentions · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · Aug 2026
Can Obsidian be used for project management and task tracking?
Yes, users track tasks and projects using templates, properties, and plugins like Dataview. Some users prefer to keep everything within Obsidian, while others find it more effective to use it alongside dedicated task managers like TickTick or OmniFocus, using Obsidian primarily for documentation and knowledge management.
9 mentions · r/ObsidianMD · r/traveller · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · r/ObsidianMD · Aug 2026
These summarise counts and dates only. Read the quotes themselves under what people are saying.
What people are saying about Obsidian
45% neutral“Personally I'm an advocate for keeping everything in the same vault but the beauty of obsidian is that if you find that your brain works better when you use a separate vault for each theme as you put it, then you can use a different vault for each theme, I find that the added friction of switching vaults for me means that I'm actually less likely to load up a vault that's not the one that opens on startup which is elevated by having everything in the same vault”
“Hi, i’m just starting my journey with obsidian, as a quick background, so i’m at the last year of my bachelor, in this year my schedule is not very busy, so i’m trying to use obsidian in the most efficient way and also to improve the way I keep the important information, one of my goals is to do a master and learn Deutsch, so do you recommend to keep an specific vault for each theme (bachelor, master, language, etc) or keep everything in the same vault?”
“What are your main issues with obsidian sync? its hard to recommend an alternative when you don’t tell us why the first party option didn't work. it’s the easiest sync method.”
“I’ve had zero issues with Obsidian sync. It’s worth it and zero maintenance.”
“Do everyone using Obsidian, gets color graph ???”
“Running the model inside Obsidian's own process bypasses that failure mode entirely — is that right?”
“I’ve not yet connected Obsidian to that flow yet as I mainly use it as my context harness, but sounds like this is what you’re getting at?”
“easiest fix is to base64 encode the font and stick it right in your css snippet, you can use a site like transfonter to convert the woff or ttf file and it spits out the css with the data uri already built in, then just copy paste into your obsidian css”
“How to make a font used in Windows stay the same when using Obsidian in my iPad?”
“Maybe the Obsidian browser plug in. You'd only be able to use on the Chrome or Firefox browser on a computer though.”
“Obsidian is more for long term thinking - storing things so that you can find them later, keeping notes that are quick for your future self to read, and that reflect your understanding of something that you can build on later, etc.”
“It's incredible to start seeing different aspects of my life start clustering together, e.g. work, university, family, hobbies.”
“Is there a way to link/sync liked social media posts ((specifically tumblr)) to obsidian? Sometimes I wish I could search through my liked posts instead of scrolling for what I'm looking for, so I was wondering if anything in obsidian could possibly help me with that. I'm also open to any app/site/program recommendedations that might help with my issue.”
“If you're new to obsidian, plugins might seem like extra work. Installing and learning how they work takes some time. But the value these plugins offer in habit tracking and scheduling+visualising tasks is worth it for me. Good luck.”
“plugin:word-smith:51303 Word-Smith: this Obsidian build offers no way to ask the file explorer to sort again, so a dragged row may not move until the folder is folded and reopened.”
“check out https://obsidianvaulthub.com/”
“But don't forget that at the same time you're learning your science & math you're going to be learning Obsidian. Doing so will shift your focus somewhat away from the subjects you should be learning to one you don't necessarily need to learn and which might become an obstacle to your note taking.”
“I keep the videos and songs in the Google Drive, and paste the link in obsidian.”
“i would definitely check the obsidian discord/forum as there are alot of great examples there (especially the discord)”
“The power of Obsidian is its search, linking (back and forwards), pretty formatting, oultines. Tags, Aliases. Fast open by name or alias without navigating my paths.”
“Does anyone have an Obsidian vault or template that’s similar to what I’m trying to do?”
“Like many of you here, I rely on Syncthing to sync my Obsidian vaults across my devices. The official client is long deprecated, and the existing fork is still stuck with an ancient UI and frequent Android storage/permission headaches.”
“What Obsidian does help with is linking your notes so you can browse around effectively. But I'm not sure this ability is all that useful for the sort of stuff you're doing, and for a class that's already linking those things up for you.”
“It is, well, 'just' an editor (and an environment) for Markdown. Pretty good one, to be honest.”
“Is Obsidian worth using?”