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How I use Obsidian (2023)

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Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#81

Post by FireBeyond »

Jonovono wrote: post #12
FireBeyond wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a bit more lightweight I don't want to be overly negative, but no plugins are mandatory, there's no "47 step setup guide" unless you want to heavily customize. And as far as I can tell you mostly replaced some of the weight with AI? AI "Search Notes", "Organize Notes", "List and filter, tags", "Clean up notes" I guess I just see this as weight in a different area? You've pushed a lot of the weight and plugins to cl…

It’s a BYOK so the ai is optional. (And if you really don’t want it it’s a package in the open source app that can easily be pulled out) Since it’s markdown and on filesystem you can just edit your notes with Claude code if you want similar to obsidian. By lightweight I mean it’s not a super heavy and bloated electron app on desktop and a slow and janky capacitor app on mobile that takes 10 seconds to launch and that…

I appreciate the feedback - being a bit more modularized like this makes more sense!

And yeah, if you're referring to the whole Electron stuff there, I entirely agree!

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#82

Post by dzjkb »

laurieg wrote: post #28

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…

how do you do graphing/maps? I'm guessing it's some plugins?

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#83

Post by conception »

jpfromlondon wrote: post #56

The PKM pipeline is : Discovering PM solutions upon entering the workforce and deciding to use them for your personal life. Shortcomings drive you to discover PKM software like Notion and Obsidian. Picking either one or the other. Switching from Notion to Obsidian or vice versa. Starting to write your own PKM. There is no class of software more entropic because everyone's requirements are so specific to the individua…

Only todo/task apps have the same churn.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#84

Post by daheza »

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…

For me as a engineering manager

I keep a weekly folder where I toss notes in My todo list exists here my performance log for employees

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#85

Post by jpfromlondon »

conception wrote: post #83
jpfromlondon wrote: post #56

The PKM pipeline is : Discovering PM solutions upon entering the workforce and deciding to use them for your personal life. Shortcomings drive you to discover PKM software like Notion and Obsidian. Picking either one or the other. Switching from Notion to Obsidian or vice versa. Starting to write your own PKM. There is no class of software more entropic because everyone's requirements are so specific to the individua…

Only todo/task apps have the same churn.

Good point, I overlooked this because the overlap is huge.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#86

Post by phito »

laurieg wrote: post #28

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…

I've been using obsidian for about 3 years now and the only thing I've used are daily notes. I'm unsure where I should go from that.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#87

Post by phito »

seivan wrote: post #68
nivcmo wrote: post #66

[dead]

I've been doing this as well, but using regular editors. What benefit does Obsidian give here that a text editor doesn't give? You just want to write/paste something for storing but I never understood why I needed a different editor for it.

I feel like the only reason I use Obsidian is because of the "real time" markdown editor. If I could have this in Zed (not split view between source and render) I would probably not used Obsidian anymore.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#88

Post by bpavuk »

dzjkb wrote: post #82
laurieg wrote: post #28

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…

how do you do graphing/maps? I'm guessing it's some plugins?

if you mean "graphs" as in "plots", you can just use matplotlib with some Markdown parser. the Templates plugin (built-in) helps maintaining cohesive structure that helps both parsing and human comprehension.

for maps, there is an Obsidian Maps plugin. recent addition, built-in as well. I personally don't use it much, but I know the kind of person who would be very happy about it!

and then there is an up-and-coming Obsidian CLI, which is in paid beta. the license is cheap, around $25 for forever access to current and future betas, but it's optional.

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#89

Post by kepano »

jdejean wrote: post #31
brcmthrowaway wrote: post #20

How does it compare to notion

No databases, views, nested pages, automations, or collaboration. It’s a flat list of files with folders. You can supplement these features with plugins but it’s not the same. Notion is objectively more powerful but if you care about data ownership or minimalism you might prefer Obsidian

Views were added in Obsidian 1.9 (Aug 2025)

https://help.obsidian.md/bases

Collaboration was added in Obsidian 0.14 (May 2022)

https://help.obsidian.md/sync/collaborate

Re: How I use Obsidian (2023)

#90

Post by stanpinte »

seivan wrote: post #68
nivcmo wrote: post #66

[dead]

I've been doing this as well, but using regular editors. What benefit does Obsidian give here that a text editor doesn't give? You just want to write/paste something for storing but I never understood why I needed a different editor for it.

The integration of notes and tasks - that’s unbeatable. While I journal stuff during the day adding tasks is one macro away, and these task can then be searched easily. Your journaling becomes a database of stuff to do.
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