Repository combining resources to get started with Obsidian.
Obsidian is a note-taking application available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux that stands out in its fully customizibility throug the use of community plugins. Advertised as "your second brain", Obsidian is also enabling connecting notes, drawings, images, PDFs and more with each other, which is particularly helpful in broad projects, such as research projects. Tools, like the graph view (see below), can help keep track of your files and how connected they are with each other and with the themes/projects they correspond to. Obsidian can be intimidating and/or overwhelming at first due to the extent of plugins available. Through this repository, you will find ideas of steps to undertake to get started with Obsidian for a research academic purpose. No previous Python or coding skills required! (If you do know Python though, you will love this app even more)
Obsidian.Graph.mov
Disclaimer: the Obsidian community is highly active, including the developers of the platform. If you encounter any issues, you can go through https://help.obsidian.md/Home for anything related to the core Obsidian app, or through the specific plugin Github repository to ask questions. There is also an Obsidian Discord!
Download (Obsidian)[https://obsidian.md]
Find a name and a location for your vault. It can be located anywhere on your computer. You can do so by following the instruction directly from the Obsidian Help.
If you already have a folder system in place that you would like to import to Obsidian, while maintaining the same structure, you can open this master folder as your new vault by selecting the Open Folder as Vault option. This can particularly be helpful if you want to use if you wish to later on backup your vault with Github. You can create a local repository through the GitHub Desktop application and open it as your vault for instance. To note, there is a Git plugin available through Obsidian to push updates to Github without going through the Github Desktop app. This will be explained later on in the 3. Community Plugins.
Sync is the paid option for individuals who have various devices and wish to seemlessly sync their vaults across devices. If you are a student and want to pay for this option, there is a student discount!
Once you get into your vault, you can select the settings wheel at the bottom left corner.
Scroll down to the core plugin tab. Core plugins are general options that can be disabled as you see fit. This is where you will be able to customize backlinks (hyperlinks connecting notes with each other), your file recovery options, enabling the graph view, workspaces and more. These are fairly basic but important to look at to understand how Obsidian works. The hotkeys are shortcuts for you to customize and use to make the use of Obsidian faster.
Below the Core plugin tab, you will find the Community Plugins. These plugins are created by passionate individuals who wish to make some tools available for Obsidian users. Most plugins are available on Github on their respective respositories. To start using community plugins, you will first need to Turn on community plugins. Once you did this, you can install your first community plugins.
There are a lot of plugins available out there, which makes Obsidian often a rabbit hole to dive into as you find how to best set up your vault. Here is a list of plugins I personally prefer, after more than a year using Obsidian. Once you install a plugin, do not forget to enable it!
The Calendar plugin creates a widget that will allow you to create Daily notes at specific dates. This is an ideal base to start with to link meeting notes, research updates, tasks, and so on to a date.
Link your online Calendar or add events manually within Obsidian to visualize a timeline of your day, week or month.
Log in Obsidian to find your Homepage instead of blank notes. The home page can be organized in many different ways to help you gather in one space what you need most.
Bonus: use the Banners plugin to add a visual of your choice at the top of the homepage. It makes it even homier!
The one thing I wish I had known before starting to use Obsidian was how I could format my notes through the metadata in a way that could help me summarize and bring the data I am interested in together. The first crucial step is the use of templates and the second step is to query and view the data you need in one place.
To create and use templates. I added examples of the basic templates I used in the folder "Templates" found on this repository.
This is the most impressive plugin to use for folks who do not have a lot of experience with queries in Markdown syntax. However, there is an extensive guide that will help you make it through this plugin and will help gather unread bibliography within one note, undone tasks, and so on.
iii. Zotero Integration
Most useful integration for Zotero users. This can go to a great extent in terms of what you can achieve with this plugin, but I will mostly cover the basics. If you wish to dive more into the topic, I strongly recommend Bryan Jenks' Resources. Bryan tends to do annual updates based on how Zotero and Obsidian update.
This plugin will help you sync your Zotero library with Obsidian, import paper information and annotations to Obsidian and link papers with each other and to a broader topic or manuscript. This plugin is ideal to use in addition to the Citation plugin that will help you add citations directly in a manuscript.
Here is an article that could help to set up and organize Zotero if you do not find what you need on here: Literature Reviews Using Zotero Obsidian
Let's finish with another fun side of the application. Besides its connectivity options to other apps and platforms, what I really appreciate with Obsidian is its design and how much you can customize it. To change the appearance of Obsidian, you can start by looking at the "Appearance" tab, in the Options section of your settings.
In this tab, you will be able to select the theme you want by clicking on "Manage" on the Themes line. Themes are also built by community members.
My favorite theme to use is AnuPpuccin, created by Anubis Nekhet. This theme is fully customizable and fun to use. Extended settings can be applied by using the Style Settings plugin. Tutorials on how to add CSS snipets from AnuPpuccin through Style Settings can be found on both repositories.
Now that you have some basic plugins, you can work through the installation and use templates provided in this repository. I will add resources as questions arise.
Some of my favorites include: - GitHub respositories for each plugin (of course), including the populars mgmeyers, TfTHacker and [Michael Brenan][(https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/) - YouTube channels: Bryan Jenks, Nicole van der Hoeven and FromSergio - Medium accounts: Obsidian Observer, Nuno Campos, TfTHacker and more.
Do not forget that Obsidian can trick you into spending more time finding the ultimate productivity setup rather than actively using the tools and developping your settings in a way that matches your new needs. Some users step away from Obsidian due to that. So, start slow and easy, and build up from there.