Obsidian Plugins

Much of Obsidian's power comes from its plugin marketplace.

Plugins allow users to extend Obsidian from a basic Markdown editor into a Swiss Army knife with unlimited functionality, according to their needs.

Obsidian plugins fall into two main categories:Core PluginsandCommunity Plugins, which can be enabled and viewed in Settings.

1. Core Plugins

• Definition:These are officially maintained functional modules bundled with Obsidian. They are installed by default in every Obsidian instance, but can be enabled or disabled as needed.
• Purpose:Provides the basic and important features of the software, such asbidirectional links、graph view、daily notes、templates、tag paneletc.
• Examples:
  • Daily Notes:Quickly create and jump to the current day's note, perfect for daily logs or task tracking.
  • Canvas:Allows you to freely arrange notes, images, and web pages on an infinite whiteboard for visual thinking organization.
  • Templates:Allows you to define reusable note structures (e.g., book notes, meeting minutes) to improve efficiency.

2. Third-party Plugins

• Definition:These are third-party feature extensions created, maintained, and shared by Obsidian users (developers) worldwide.
• Characteristics:They are numerous and varied in function, greatly enriching the Obsidian ecosystem.
• Security:Before installing third-party plugins, Obsidian enables Safe Mode by default.Safe Mode. Installing plugins requires manually turning off Safe Mode. Obsidian will warn users about security risks (it is recommended to install only plugins with high download counts, high ratings, and clear functionality).

For beginner users, here are some of the most popular, powerful third-party plugins that can quickly improve your experience:

How to Install and Manage Plugins

1. Enter plugin settings

1. Click the"Settings"(gear icon)
2. In the sidebar, find"Core Plugins"and"Third-party Plugins"。

2. Steps to install third-party plugins

1. Go to"Third-party creation"tab.
2. Turn off Safe Mode:Obsidian will prompt you to do this.
3. Click"Browse"。
4. Enter the plugin name in the search box (e.g.,Dataview）。
5. Click the plugin, then click"Install"。
6. Activate the plugin:After installation completes, click"Enable"button. Only then will the plugin start working.

Tip:After a plugin is installed, you can usually access it from the left sidebar, right sidebar, or through theCommand Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) to invoke its functions.

Obsidian Core Plugins

Obsidian includes more than ten core plugins. By default, some are enabled, while others need to be manually enabled.

Daily Notes: Daily Notes

Daily Notes is a core plugin for journaling. It gives you a fixed note every day for recording, planning, or reflection.

Enable and Configure

In Settings → Core Plugins, enable "Daily Notes".

Key configuration options:

Daily Note Template Design

Quick Actions

Click the calendar icon in the left sidebar, or search for "Daily Notes: Open today's daily note" in the Command Palette.

Obsidian will automatically create the daily note file for the current day in the specified folder.

You can also set"Open today's daily note on startup", making the Daily Note your default entry point.

Canvas: Infinite Whiteboard

Canvas is Obsidian's built-in infinite canvas tool that uses cards and connections to organize thoughts, plan projects, and draw diagrams.

Create a Canvas

Right-click in the file list and select "New Canvas", or search for "Canvas" in the Command Palette.

Canvas files are stored with the.canvas.canvas extension, and are essentially JSON files that can be viewed and edited with a text editor.

Adding Cards

Double-click an empty area in the Canvas to create a card, or drag in the following content:

• Markdown note files (linked cards are created automatically)
• Images (display immediately when dragged in)
• Web links (embedded cards are created automatically)

Connections and Grouping

When you hover over the edge of a card, connection points appear; drag to another card to create a connection line.

Connections can have text labels (e.g., "depends on", "causes", "references"), and you can choose the color and line style.

After selecting multiple cards with a selection box, right-click and choose "Create Group" to add a background color and title to them.

Use Cases

Canvas is different from the graph: the graph is automatically generated by Obsidian based on your bidirectional links, while Canvas is actively laid out by you manually. The former is discovery, the latter is planning.

Outline: Outline Panel

The Outline plugin displays the heading tree of the current document in the right sidebar.

Core features

• Automatically parses the# ## ###headings in the document and generates a hierarchical tree
• Click a heading to quickly jump to the corresponding position in the document
• The heading you are currently reading is highlighted
• Drag headings to rearrange chapter order in the document

The Outline panel is especially useful for navigating long documents—when you have a 3,000-word study note, you no longer need to manually scroll to find a certain section.

Backlinks and Outgoing Links

These two panels are the core UI presentation of the bidirectional link feature.

Backlinks

Displayswhich notes link to the current note。

Each backlink shows the context where the link appears (a few lines before and after), letting you judge the related content without jumping.

Expand each backlink to see more context, or even directly expand the full content of that note.

Outgoing Links

Displayswhich other notes the current note links to。

Corresponding to Backlinks, it displays the list of external notes that the current note points to.

Using the two panels together gives you a complete understanding of a note's position in the knowledge network—who cites it, and who it cites.

Panel filtering

Both panels have a search filter box at the top; enter a keyword to quickly filter:

• Filter by path: only show backlinks within a specific folder
• Filter by keyword: only show backlinks containing specific text

Graph View Advanced

Basic graph features were introduced in an earlier chapter; here we go deeper into configuration tips.

Creating Meaningful Groups

In the global graph settings, click "New group" and use query syntax to define grouping rules:

Depth control

The "Depth" setting in the graph determines how many levels of link relationships are displayed:

• Depth 1: only shows the direct neighbors of the current note
• Depth 2: shows neighbors of neighbors
• Depth -1: shows all associations

It is recommended to use depth 1-2 during active work to keep the graph clear, and use depth -1 during review and reflection to discover distant associations.

Centering force and repulsion

Adjusting the graph's physics parameters:

• Centering force: after increasing, related nodes become more clustered
• Repulsion: after increasing, the distance between nodes becomes larger
• Link force: after increasing, connections become shorter and linked nodes become closer

You don't need to look at the graph every day. Its most valuable moments are: after writing a batch of new notes, observe which areas have become denser; or when you discover an isolated node, think about which existing knowledge system it should connect to.

Workspaces: Workspace Layout

Different tasks require different panel layouts.

When writing, you may want to collapse all sidebars and leave only the editing area; when organizing notes, you need the file list and tag panel to be visible at the same time.

Saving a workspace

After adjusting the panel layout, click "Manage workspaces" in the "Workspaces" panel in the left sidebar, enter a name, and save the current layout.

Switching workspaces

Click a saved layout in the Workspaces panel to switch with one click.

You can also switch by pressing Cmd+P and searching for "Workspaces: Load workspace".

Recommended workspace layouts

Core Plugins Enablement Checklist

To summarize, it is recommended that all users enable at least the following core plugins: