Obsidian Tutorial

Obsidian is a personal knowledge base and note management tool based on Markdown files, mainly used for organizing knowledge, recording notes, and building a personal knowledge system.

Obsidian uses local file storage; all notes are saved as plain Markdown documents, making them easy to migrate, back up, and manage long-term.

The biggest difference between Obsidian and traditional note-taking software is not that it can take notes, but that it turns notes into a connectable, extensible, and computable knowledge network.

Why Use Obsidian?

Most people encounter a problem during learning: they learn many things, but forget them after a while, or know they took notes but cannot find them.

Ordinary note-taking software is usually just an information warehouse, while Obsidian is more like a knowledge hub.

The core idea of Obsidian is:Connect scattered notes and let knowledge grow on its own.

What Obsidian Can Bring

Capability Description
Knowledge Linking Automatically build relationships between knowledge through bidirectional links
Local Storage All notes are plain Markdown files, not dependent on cloud databases
Knowledge Graph Automatically generate a knowledge relationship network graph
Plugin Extensions Supports plugins for calendars, task management, AI, Git, mind maps, etc.
Cross-platform Supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS

Common Problems with Ordinary Note-taking Software

After recording a large amount of content, many people experience:

  • They bookmark many articles but cannot find them.
  • Knowledge points become more numerous and messier.
  • Repeatedly record the same content.
  • Things already written cannot be reused.
  • Notes keep increasing, but knowledge does not grow.

Obsidian's goal is not to make you write more, but to make you connect more.


Who Is It Suitable For?

Not everyone needs Obsidian; it is more suitable for people who accumulate knowledge long-term and continue learning.

User Type Applicable Scenarios
Programmers Technical notes, code snippets, project documentation
Students Course organization, postgraduate entrance exams, knowledge review
Writers Material management, article creation, inspiration collecting
Researchers Paper management, material organization
Heavy learners Build a long-term personal knowledge base

Who Is It Not Suitable For?

  • Only want to record temporary matters.
  • Only write to-do items.
  • Do not like configuring software.
  • Want real-time multi-person collaboration.

If you just need simple recording:

Buy groceries today  
Afternoon meeting  
Weekend dinner gathering

Using a plain sticky-note tool may be more straightforward.


Related Links

Other Extensions