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How I use Obsidian (2023)

stephango.com

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Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#21

Post by KPGv2 »

Simboo wrote: post #10

Don’t over complicate this everyone. This is the best file-explorer GUI ever made hands down. All your files map 1-to-1 with the OS filesystem. No double clicking files over and over again. No getting lost in endless unsorted directories. Launch any file extension type straight from the same explorer GUI. I use this app less as a second brain and more as a personal document vault. (Markdown is ugly sorry about it) I…

I use Calibre to maintain my PDFs. I've even got my taxes in there, but have been thinking recently that they don't belong in a library and probably should just be printed and stored with other important things like passports and birth certificates.

But every PDF I download, ebook, academic article, it goes in Calibre and out of my Downloads path.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#22

Post by afcool83 »

kepano wrote: post #15

How I use Obsidian

It’s a truly remarkable app you and team have built. I’m going to use the term _simple_ but please understand that that’s high praise.

To me, obsidian is a thought-taking app, not a notetaking app. Thoughts are amorphous and incomplete no matter how much you embellish them. They don’t belong in only one place with only one label or pinned to only one date. They reach out to each other. Merge and split. They sit inside each other sometimes.

Obsidian gets that. It offers _just enough_ structure and automation and operating system (of a kind) to force the binary file system on some silicon to work like our brains do...and not the other way around.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#24

Post by rickcarlino »

Since it is just markdown files and a tiny bit of JSON meta data, it’s trivial to use Obsidian as the GUI for a static site generator. I have some thin ruby scripts that compile my notebook to HTML and upload to my blog via SSH. I removed my previous static site generator library and just use simple markdown rendering libs now. https://rickcarlino.com/notes/

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#25

Post by gbraad »

I use Obsidian, but would never use someone else's Vault template; as these are script files, you neverknow what can be in there without reviewing this. Just a friendly reminder to be cautious

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#26

Post by MrDarcy »

afcool83 wrote: post #13

Just for context, Steph Ango is the CEO of Obsidian. His approach to notetaking in his own app made the rounds in the PKM (personal knowledge management) community for how _counterintuitive_ it was. He eschews a lot of the common wisdom pushed by influencers in this space who tout "the one true way™" to stay organized. File splattered in the root? Sure. Unresolved links to notes that don't exist and probably never wi…

Half of my tasks are in my people folder and half my people are in my tasks folder and it all works out fine in Obsidian.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#27

Post by rjh29 »

KPGv2 wrote: post #19

ever since I first heard about Obsidian, the vibe I get is that it's a solution in search of a problem. Every use case I get pitched, there's a better solution, or it's a "problem" that doesn't need to be solved. If you aren't a researcher in a field, why do you need personal knowledge management? Even when I learn a subject, I find just...taking a flat note file to be way better than all these Zettelkasten stuffs. I…

It's literally just a folder of markdown notes with a handy search and file list if that's what you want it to be. That's all I use it for. I think the hyper-organisation stuff is more of a hobby. It's not about productivity it's enjoyable for its own ends.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#28

Post by laurieg »

People who do lots of work and ship lots of projects tend to have a certain level of mess in their workshops. Creation is repeated cycles of trial, play, reflection and tidying.

For anyone thinking about trying out Obsidian, here are some problems I have solved with it:

- Remembering where I met someone, what we talked about and then connecting up with them at a later date. My ability to remember names is easily 10x because of obsidian.

- Seeing who in my family's birthday is coming up soon and their address so I can send them a card.

- Graphing how far I've run for each day/week and any quick training notes.

- Showing me friend's restaurant suggestions on a map when I've got a free evening and I want to try something new.

And all of this stored locally and synced onto many devices.

If you're curious I highly recommend starting simple. Don't worry about plugins, just write a quick daily note every day about the information that is important to you. When you feel like you're outgrowing that, adopt a structure that fits you and solves your problems.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#29

Post by codazoda »

Love it. I try to follow an absolutely minimal process. Even more minimal than this.

I even built my own “second brain” tool to make my own writing absolutely frictionless.

A dump of all files in one folder is the only thing that keeps me sane. I do not want to sort.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#30

Post by fred_tandemai »

Curious how people here are using obsidian when taking notes during meetings in the context of AI note taker. I find myself incapable of using features like links as I'm interacting with say a client. I've found AI note takers to be really powerful to help free my mind during meetings though.
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