OBSIDIAN - A Writing App Every Blogger Must Have

in GEMS2 years ago

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I have used several writing editors in the past and was never able to find the one I really liked and used for a long time. I was able to find a coding editor, and Visual Studio Code has become my default code editor a while ago. When it comes to writing posts, articles, or simple notes, my search hasn't been as lucky until I discovered Obisidan. Before Obsidian I would end up using simple text editors like TextEdit on Mac, and Notepad on Windows. That is because there was an alternative I liked. I have tried many differed paid apps as well. But for some reason I would go back to TextEdit or Notepad.

Recently, I discovered Obsidian and I am super impressed with what it does. I haven't even explored all of its features yet. I am sure I will learn more about its features as it is becoming my default app for anything text. My primary devices are made by Apple, and I do like using Notes app for quick notes and I like how these notes automatically become available on all of my devices. However, I never have seen a need to use Notes app for writing longer content like posts, articles, ideas, documents, etc. And Notes have always played a special designation of quickly looking up things, rather than building a knowledge base.

Building a knowledge base is what Obsidian is offering by keeping various notes and ideas separate and linked together at the same time. Linking notes is one of the powerful features of Obsidian. It also provides ability to visualize how these notes are linked with each other. But this is not what attracted my attention about Obsidian. I was looking for a simple markdown editor without noise, that can help with organized and focused writing experience. I also was looking for a feature that would automatically make all these writings available in other devices like phones, laptop, and desktops. Obsidian does have all these features.

Obsidian has apps available for iOS and Android devices, and it also has apps available for macOS, Windows, and Linux machines. I tried apps for an iPhone and an iMac. Both worked great. To start out we don't need all these fancy features. After all, we just want to write without distraction. It doesn't have two windows where one windows would show text with markdown tags and the other shows how the writing would look like when published. There is no need for two windows. We can see both in one simple windows. Markdown tags are visible when editing, otherwise text displayed with applied markdowns. While themes and colors are customizable, the default theme is dark and works great. Developers have done a great job making the app work as intended from the very start with very little effort in initial configuration.

One feature I really wanted to have in any writing app is ability to switch devices and continue the writing on any other devices. I couldn't figure this out right away. Because one confusing thing about Obsidian was that they offer an add-on paid feature called Sync. Syncs costs $8 a month and as the name suggests it would sync works on multiple devices. That seemed strange and overpriced for a simple feature. There had to another way and there is. In fact, Obsidian itself does provide the solution to sync vaults across all devices without using the Sync. We can achieve this by using other cloud services we already use. In my case it is iCloud.

In Obsidian we can create vaults where all the notes and writings are kept organized. The trick to make these vaults available on other devices as well was creating a vault using iCloud Drive. In other words the vault uses iCloud Drive as the path to store the files in. I did just that on my iPhone first. Then I opened the same vault in my Obsidian app on iMac. And all the notes appeared without any issues. Now I should be able to open this vault and its contents on any of my devices that use iCloud Drive. I believe the same can be achieved for those who use other cloud services like One Drive, Google Drive, etc.

Obsidian does have paid plans for commercial use. However, anybody can use Obsidian for free for personal use. There is no need to create an account or sign up. This free option also gives access to plugins, API, and community support. It does look like they have a growing community. It is great to see communities built around great platforms and ideas that are built to provide real benefits. While Obsidian is 100% free to use for personal use, it does have a paid Catalyst option, which is mainly meant to support further development. It is a one time fee of $25+, and comes with early access to insider builds, special badges in the community and access to exclusive dev channel. That is actually a great model. Looks like developers have chosen to give away this awesome app for free, and also open to accept support from the community if they choose to.

Obsidian is also built with privacy in mind and all of our files live in local folders and users have the full control of their content and don't have to worry about losing their data because of some cloud service shuts down or decides to decline services. Even when using their Sync feature, they still provide privacy of keeping files in local folders and encrypting all data when syncing with other devices.

Obsidian can be used for many purposes. It can be used for simple to-do tasks, quick note taking, writing articles, working on business documents, or even writing books. What is really cool about it, it empowers all writers with a tool that connects their notes and ideas. These notes and ideas can later be visualized and used for improvements. We can link to other notes with new ones and they appear in the new note without a need to rewriting them. If we want to take quick daily notes there is calendar button that creates a new note with the current date. I think it is cool too, for daily tasks and to be able to look back in the future and find notes quickly.

Both mobile and desktop versions are designed to be effortless regardless which one we are using. For example, the mobile version has special row with buttons that represent certain actions that can be done quickly while taking notes, writing documents or articles. We are also able to add images to our notes. The more I use Obsidian, the more I like it. Feel free to visit Obsidian website to learn more about it and see if this is something you would find useful. If already an Obsidian user let me know your experiences in the comments.

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Here is a post I can probably comment in a meaningful way (hopefully; you'll let me know).

I have used Notepad (I think the correct name was Notepad++ or something like that) when I had a Windows machine. That brings me back in the middle of the 90ies. Then, in the Apple environment in which I live for so many years, TextEdit is not bad. Whereas practical for quick views of text files, I am often going quickly far from it (because everything I do, even writing letters, ends up programming it).

Today, mostly every text-editing task I do is done within VIM, a terminal-based text editor. And by everything, I mean it: coding, writing posts, etc. The only exception is related to writing scientific articles, for which OverLeaf is quite powerful as a collaborative package.

Therefore, despite Obsidian looks interesting, I won't probably take the time to check it out. For what concerns taking notes, I have my Remarkable tablet that keeps me organised for some time now (I was one of the early adopters of their Remarkable 2 product).

Cheers!

Take a look at Typora, I use it alongside obsidian, very clean and focused look, not free but well worth the small life time license fee.

I've been using Obsidian for some time now primarily for notemaking and journaling. I use the daily note as a short journal & ideas/todo list with a plugin that will roll over every todo item not completed to the next day's note. So my ideas/todo list has everything thing I've added to it.

"How to Take Smart Notes" by Sonke Ahrens is a great book if you're interested in learning the Zettlekasten concept that Luhman used.

One of the big things that sold me on it was that if the program goes away my files can still be accessed since they are text files. I have a WD Passport drive plugged into my computer where all my important files are saved to automatically. I also have a cloud drive attached to my home router that I can access from any where. My Obsidian files are backed up to there regularly.

Did you know that Obsidian also has a paid publish feature you can use to create publicly available content? I've been watching a guy create a book in public using it.

Hey @geekgirl. Just letting you know I've downloaded this app and I'm going to use it. It is looking like a life changing app! I'll let you know how I go. Thank you very much for writing articles like this to bring good things to our attention!

I use Obsidian for my personal knowledge and for writing. I love how easy it is to use, particular with keyboard commands.

I tried using it at work. However, I found it lacking in file management. Instead, I use The Brain ( https://thebrain.com ) for work. It does a great job with file management, other than markdown. It saves me a lot of time searching for files.

Obsidian and The Brain have a lot of overlap. But, the simplicity of Obsidian makes it especially helpful for writing.

So, one thing I do is that I will create notes in Obsidian. And, I use The Brain to link to those notes. In other words, both can somewhat share the same files. This is particularly useful for journaling, which I sometimes do from Obsidian or The Brain.

Just returning to say I downloaded Obsidian and it is uber cool so thanks again for the head up!

I'll be looking at using it for a project now. So much more than just note taking!

I'm going to try a build a knowledge base with it :)

Obsidian is too much for me tbh. I just use vs code with markdown addons :)

Love it!

I've recently been looking around as well for something like this and tried Evernote. It's pretty good but I abandoned it... I can't even remember why to be honest.

I'm going to have a look at Obsidian next.

Thanks for the heads up! Solid, useful content. Again! 👍💥

Evernote is good. I used it for years. For a while, the apps were bloated and had different experiences depending on what computer you were using. Recently, they have made the experience more uniform.

The problem with Evernote is that they do not make it easy to have a wiki-like setup. It's great for storing information. So long as you keep up with tagging, it's great. However, it doesn't help compose different ideas the way Obsidian does.

Another problem with Evernote is that OSX natively offers many of the features. When Evernote first launched, computers had meager little 500 GB hard drives. Evernote's selling proposition was "remember everything". The offered what was almost unlimited storage back then. But, these days, computers routinely ship with TB drives. Or, if you have iCloud, you can have 2 TB in the cloud. So, your tasks, handwritten notes, images, voice memos, and other files are accessible on your Mac or phone anywhere you log in. In other words, OSX does just about everything that Evernote does. This is why I don't use it much anymore.

Thanks for taking the time to explain further.

It's very helpful.

Yes. I just went to Evernote recently as that was one of the first available waaaay back.

This time around it just seemed a bit meh... I'm trying to finish a book and wanted auto back up / cloud storage / online collaboration (for my editor). Google docs failed on a chapter and I lost a lot of work after I tried to work locally and didn't back up to the cloud. Because my hard drive then crashed and I had to reformat the whole thing.

What are the chances? I actually asked a new contact if they were responsible. Because the whole thing seemed very unlikely...

It was not a productive week!

I did have a copy of 5 days work prior from the google doc debacle but still... not good and it's put me off Google docs in full. It's just most folks are using that :(

Evernote - the page formatting wasn't very intuitive for writing. That was it. You reminded me now. So I've been looking for a decent word editor that can be used for formatting for docs / a book and that has cloud storage etc.

Now keen to check out Obsidian.

I must add the even the names and branding of open source stuff and the gaming world kicks any mainstream stuff's ass.

I mean... who wouldn't want to use an app named "Obsidian". Very cool 👍

Thanks again for your time

Perhaps you might consider the Freewrite https://getfreewrite.com

As long as it has an internet connection, it backs up to the device's own cloud. And, it also backs up to Dropbox, Google Drive, or Evernote. Or, when you're done for the day, you can hit a key to email the work to a preset address. And, as a final redundancy, you could always plug in a USB-C cable to copy the data off the device as if it were a thumb drive.

It is a bit expensive. And, you can't edit. All you can do is draft, ignoring any mistakes. You can do editing on Obsidian.

Omgosh. I have to have one! 👀

Out of my league right now financially. I\m rebuilding after a hectic life challenge and massive subsequent shift.

But what a brilliant concept and creation.

Thanks for sharing this :)

Building a knowledge base is what Obsidian is offering by keeping various notes and ideas separate and linked together at the same time.

I'll be checking it out based on that alone. I've been doing a ton of onboarding and creating resources so I need a way to better organize my drafts/notes. And w/ all the mobile developments lately the ability to sync is a must.
Gratitude!

I just downloaded the app on my mobile phone now and I like it. I know I will love it more as I keep using it😊

The file size of the app is cool too. Just 6.5MB. So it doesn't occupy much space.

Thanks alot for sharing this wonderful information.

i will test it because you recommend it and know that your post are really goods :D

@Shadowspub only uses this for her writing and has forever. Good to see you like it too!!

Nice. I used Typora. Interested to see how this compares.

This sounds beautiful. Nothing like an app that enhances productivity and smoothens the flow of a person that’s always writing

Downloaded, and looks promising.

I'm a huge fan of building a second brain inside Obsidian.

My only issue is that its complexity means transferring fleeting notes into permanent notes are a 'task' in itself and thus becomes annoying.

I still use my favourite simple outliner app Dynalist the most.

If you already have something that works, no need to change.
I haven't used Dynalist. Will try that too. Thanks

If you ever use Obsidian as a zettelkasten, then the simplicity of Dynalist is a quick place to take all of your throw away, fleeting notes.

Looking forward to a follow up blog :)

I use Dynalist a lot for project planning. Great tool.

Simplicity :)

I continue to hold out for better integration between the two (they're made by the same people), but I'm pretty sure they're happy keeping them entirely separate.

Actually, I need such programs to write my posts. I use notepad on mobile and word on laptop. It is okay on laptop, however it is difficult to write on mobile.

Thanks for the suggestion.

It is nice to know that you finally found something of your choice.

. It doesn't have two windows where one windows would show text with markdown tags and the other shows how the writing would look like when published.

It is great. Especially when you are working on mobile. Otherwise, moving up and down to see the effectsvof your markdown is irritating.

Thanks for sharing

This will be a vital tool for writers. I think I will be downloading it right away

Thank you for posting this... this looks amazing!

From now i started to use it. Thanks to you.

The app seems to have many useful features. It can be used on phone and PC as well so any user can use it. Thank you for it @geekgirl

Obsidian keeps all its notes within a particular folder to which it refers as a "vault". However, you can create multiple vaults and store them wherever you wish. Such a nice feature.

Will check it out,but I do most of my writings using ecency becuse it auto saves and gives me the flexibility am looking for when I save a draft on my android I can still continue with that on my iPhone using ecency app.

I've been using Notepad++ for years, but you have me curious... Does it open .txt files or create its own type of file?

When I start to read your article, I though: "well, I'm good with VS Code", but when I've read about the linked note, girl, you catch me! Instantly, I've clicked the link to download Obsidian. Thank you for the recommendation.

Three days using obsidian thanks to your post. It’s amazing I really needed it. Thank you @geekgirl!


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Downloaded this a long time ago for research purposes. But haven't got chance to figure how to use it lol

It seems very useful !
I think i should give it a shot !
Thanks for sharing✨

One of the useul content ive read today. Thank you for this @geekgirl. I am going to go through this app and explore further.

One question if you don’tmind me asking: did you pay for this monthly?

Or is the free tool good enough to use this?

Kidy let me know ;)

No, it is free.

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Wow your writing is amazing its compact with information I can learn so much from you just by the way you write.

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