I’ve been publishing about Obsidian for two months, with one and a half of these months being through the publication Obsidian Observer. Yesterday’s article was my thirtieth on the subject.
This has added up to a lot of my knowledge about Obsidian being spread across different pieces of work.
This article’s here to change that.
I’m going to go through all the work I’ve published, linking them into one coherent guide that covers all the topics you want to learn about in Obsidian.
You’ll want to bookmark this one.
I intend to update this guide again in a couple of months’ time with all the new content that I publish in that time.
I’m going to split the article into three different sections:
- Note-taking theory
- Plugins/settings/features
- Workflows/use cases
With each section giving the relevant articles, so that if you’re interested in learning about just one part of Obsidian, you can scroll through until you find that section.
Let’s get started…
Note-taking theory:
It would be a good start to explain why I chose to use Obsidian. It comes down mainly to the extensibility that the plugins provide, because you can integrate the app with other tools within your system.
I Tried Tana, Anytype and Notion, Then Bought an Obsidian Catalyst Licence. Here's Why
Why Obsidian is the best notes app for building a functional, no-frills productivity system.
If you’re starting out, my guide on how to make Obsidian easier to learn would be a good point to begin from as well.
Tips to Overcome Obsidian's Learning Curve Quickly
It's all about simplicity and focusing on what you want to produce rather than learning.
I’ve used a few different major resources to learn most of what I know about taking notes, including Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte and How to Take Smart notes by Sönke Ahrens.
4 Resources to Upgrade Your Note-Taking
The most influential pieces I've read on PKM and Obsidian that shaped my approach to knowledge management.
Inspired by the Zettelkasten method as well as the Building a Second Brain framework, my system fuses elements of both. It was developed myself, true to how I wanted to use the software, because nobody knows your personal use case, meaning you should prioritise building your own system rather than copying the system of others.
Fusing the Two Most Powerful Note-Taking Systems in Obsidian
The two note-taking strategies of Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten and Tiago Forte's PARA in Building a Second Brain have dominated managing many people's personal
Don't Copy my Obsidian Setup and I Won't Copy Yours
Notes on building your own productivity system through slow iteration rather than blindly copying others.
Plugins/settings/features:
This has been the focus for most of the information that I’ve provided in my articles, and why shouldn’t it be? After all, I’ve just said that these things were the main reason for me selecting Obsidian as a note-taking app.
You’ll want to read my most popular articles about plugins, settings and features first. They cover topics like folder notes, YAML metadata and the app’s appearance.
Your New Obsidian Superpower - How to Use Folder Notes
The secret feature that skyrocketed my PKM system's effectiveness...
Obsidian's YAML Metadata Feature is Underrated (With Examples)
Organise, integrate and sort your notes with this powerful feature...
Obsidian Has a New Icon - Here Are Some Tips to Upgrade The App's Appearance
Tips for themes, snippets and more...
Again, if you’re starting out, I recommend you read my article on the plugins that make Obsidian easier to use.
Low-maintenance plugins to improve your quality-of-life in Obsidian.
6 Obsidian Plugins for Ease of Use
After all, they’re the base of the app, on top of which everything is built, so they’re important to nail early on.
I have articles that go into more detail about more complex plugins too…
There’s an article for if you want to learn more about what the most efficient power users do to manage their system. I offer this along with an article about some minor tweaks that help you better navigate your vault and an article about cleaning up and keeping your vault neat.
If you want to learn about plugins for specific use cases, you’ll most likely find what you’re looking for in the next section. However, there are a few articles I’ve published about plugins in wider general uses that wouldn’t have fitted into that category containing more information about specific workflows…
They are articles that many are interested in within Obsidian at the moment — plugins for academic writing (which is one of the bigger attractions of a ’linking your thinking’ tool like Obsidian), plugins for implementing the power of AI in your vault, and plugins for online creators looking to elevate their workflows.
The Best Obsidian Plugins for Academic Writing
Build a complete academic writing system in Obsidian with reference management, manuscript writing, and document generation.
AI for Obsidian Users — Enhance Your Second Brain with the Power of Large Language Models
Are you an Obsidian user that feels left out when looking at the AI offerings of other tools? This article shows you how to integrate AI into your favourite notes app.
Now I’ve covered the plugins, settings and features at large, you can read about the specific use cases and workflows that these customisations allow you to facilitate…
Workflows/use cases:
These are what everyone’s come here to see…
‘It’s all well and good telling us about these features and plugins, but give us some inspiration as to how to put them to use!’
Again, I’ve written about a lot of different scenarios where you can put the power of Obsidian to use — some of the most popular are my complete workflow for information and idea capture, my workflow for writing academic pieces, and my guide to supercharging your tagging across your vault.
A Complete Workflow for Information Capture and Idea Creation in Obsidian
Make consuming content worthwhile by capturing the best of what you encounter...
Academic Writing in Obsidian — Complete Workflow
> If you’re not a Medium member you can still read this piece for free by clicking my friend link here — Academic Writing in Obsidian — Complete Workf...
Power-Up Your Tagging in Obsidian With The Secret Building a Second Brain Bonus Chapter
Tiago Forte suggests tagging for actionability - here's how to do this in Obsidian...
Many have also enjoyed my articles where I’ve made my case for Obsidian over other popular productivity apps. You can read about how I recommend replacing Notion using Obsidian, and the same with Todoist.
You Can Use Obsidian to Replace Todoist - Here's How
Manage your tasks in Obsidian and prevent context switching...
I also spent a lot of time covering use cases of AI within Obsidian. This includes how plugin dev Christian Houmann uses AI in his vault, from his talk at the third Linking Your Thinking Conference, as well as how to generate ideas using the power of AI in Obsidian. Of course, I exercise caution using AI’s skills — you can read my article about where you shouldn’t use AI in content creation and PKM.
Obsidian Plugin Dev's Tips for Using AI in Your Vault
Christian Houmann, developer of QuickAdd, shared secrets for using AI in your Obsidian vault, at the last day of the 3rd LYT conference.
AI in Obsidian: The Correct Way to Generate Ideas
There is a correct way to generate ideas with AI and an incorrect one. The quality of your writing depends which one you choose.
Where AI Fails in PKM and Content Production
There are some things you shouldn't ever use AI for in PKM and content creation.
The last article I want to mention is the one that started this writing about PKM for me. It’s a piece that tells you how to create an AI writing team that generates realistic articles, all within Obsidian. I know it’s not the most useful piece, but it was the start of all this, so I wanted to say thank you to everyone who read it, and everyone who’s come along for the ride since then.
Making an AI Writing Team that Generates Realistic Articles in Obsidian
I use four prompts that replicate the action of a real-life editing team, inspired by WritingGPT by Thomas Smith.
I hope to spread more knowledge about Obsidian in the future!
P.S. Don’t forget to bookmark. You’ll want to reference this later, I promise!