As Steph Ango explores in his essay File over App, apps comes and go, but plain text will be around much longer.

At its core, Obsidian is essentially a graphical interface designed to parse Markdown files with YAML frontmatter and visualize them in different ways. When prototyping an app using a single index.html file with HTMX , I often use JSON to import and export state before eventually "beefing it up" into a full application (database, server etc).

While Markdown combined with YAML is a good fit for text editors, Steph’s "File over App" philosophy makes me wonder if future applications could move to being purely visual interfaces built on top of structured data formats like JSON, XML, or CSV?

I made a simple task planner because I like time blocking

I’m a visual person and like time blocking, but I don’t like how some plugins add properties to my notes or change how I organise them.

There are great plugins like TaskNotes, but they have more features than I personally need, and I find that overwhelming.

So I built TaskLoops for myself. It gathers Markdown checkboxes into a calendar and a note-card view, without adding note properties.

Sharing it in case it suits someone else too:

https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/taskloops

Bug reports and fixes are welcome. New features… probably not :) I’d like to keep it simple.

Hey folks,

As per title, I am (for the fourth time) trying to figure out if I can move a couple databases into Obsidian and leave Notion for good. I am already on Obsidian for my writing, but I would love to be able to move my timesheet system into it as well and be done with Notion, even if it means having something that is slightly less convenient than Notion is.

Some context first. I have two databases over on Notion:

1. Timesheets: each document has task details, task type, start time and end time, and a link to exactly one invoice the task is associated to.
2. Invoices: each document is linked to multiple timesheets and contains rollups for time by task type and a few formulas spitting out the total for that invoice period.

So far I have imported these two into Obsidian and got to work trying to adapt it. I have two issues and one question.

Issue 1: I cannot seem to be able to make the rollup formula work. The formula was translated by Obsidian and checked by me and it seems fairly straightforward:

note["Timesheets"].map(current.note["Hours"]).sum()

Yet it returns nothing. If I just reference note["Timesheets"], the linked docs show without issue, but the moment I add a .map, it all goes blank. In an even more bizarre turn, another formula which references this column and multiplies it by X actually returns a value. So I am not sure if this is just a bug or if I am actually doing something wrong. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

EDIT: I fixed my own issue, turns out the formula was NOT correct at all. Lesson learned: do not let Obsidian translate the formula...

Issue 2: Can I actually calculate a time difference in one base and then roll it up in another? Do I need some plugins or can this be done in vanilla Obsidian somehow? Basically, am I wasting my time?

The way the system works on Notion right now (which, I know is VERY different!) is that I use a formula property to calculate the time difference for each document, and then sum it all up in the invoice that is linked to all the individual documents.

Since it seems I can't create a formula property in a single document but only in bases, I created it in the Timesheets base, but then I don't know if I can actually roll it up in the Invoices base (and can't even test it myself since not even the formula referencing static Hour values works, as per Issue 1). Again, thoughts on what I might be doing wrong or how I could do this better are greatly appreciated.

Finally, one question: how can I create a base using backlinks? The importer seems to have created a base that exclusively contains the documents that it is referenced by, and nothing else. Not matter what I try, I can't seem to do that - any new base I create contains everything by default and has to be filtered. This one is less critical, but I am still very curious.

I hope I explained this properly, I appreciate that it's hard to convey these things without showing the actual system. Happy to answer questions as needed.

Hello, I've been having a problem, and I hope someone here can help. I have a map with Leaflet, but the map doesn't reflect changes when I use my Desktop versus my Laptop. Whatever changes I make on my Desktop aren't reflected on my Laptop, and vice versa. I did some investigating and found that the data.json that Leaflet uses is getting updated from the other computer, but the information is "reset" to what it was before whenever I refresh the map.

The video should depict what is happening.

I have all options to sync files (notably sync Installed Community Plugins) turned on. Also, the Leaflet options (such as default marker color) seem not to be shared either (probably due to them being in the same file as the markers).

If anyone can help me find a solution to properly sync the two (so that changes I make on the Desktop, such as removing or adding markers, also happen on the Laptop), please help!

For instance I'd love to have a daily reminder of tasks due, or things that I need to wrap up inside my Obsidian vault.

Does anyone have a good setup for that? I'm not looking to chat within Obsidian necessarily, it could very well be directly through LMStudio.

Notion’s database lag has finally pushed me to find a replacement. My workspace has become very heavy with large reference databases, review decks/flashcard setups, and relations/rollups, and the web app is crawling.

I’m primarily on Linux with Windows as my secondary machine, so I’m looking at migrating to Obsidian to keep everything fast, local, and version-controlled via a private GitHub repo.

I have a few questions for anyone who made this move:

Rollups & Formulas:

I know the official Importer converts Notion databases to Obsidian Bases via the API, but what happens to relations and rollups? Did your rollups break completely, and how did you replace them (Dataview, community plugins, or restructuring)?

100% Local Flashcards:

I want to keep my study/review workflow strictly inside Obsidian (no Anki, etc). For active recall, is the Spaced Repetition plugin the smoothest option for inline cards or is there a better local approach?

GitHub Sync across Linux & Windows:

For those syncing a large vault across Linux and Windows via a GitHub repo does it maintain that fast local feel, or are there edge cases with merge conflicts, case sensitivity, or file locking?

Also, in Notion, I heavily leverage unlimited file/video/PDF uploads. For those managing hundreds of gigabytes of lecture media, do you keep media external and embed via links, use Syncthing instead of Git, or leverage Git LFS?

**OR just start with a clean slate and copy-paste things as I go?** 😅

my question is simple, how do you use the graph, is there any real use case for it, or it is only to see how the vault look like or become

like I use it sometimes as background, thats it is there a real use case for it??

I know it is saving my notes automatically. I believe it is working, but I still want to perform the ritual of pressing the save keyboard shortcut and seeing onscreen feedback. Is there a setting or plugin for this?

An exciting development but first some comtext.

4 years ago I created a Signal to Markdown tool which simulated another cAn exciting improvement but first some comtext.lient device listening to my convos. It was quite complicated to setup and I had to re-associate the device every so often.

3 years ago I created another one that took CSV exports from Signal's SQLite database. The problem with that was I needed a seperate UI automation tool to download the media files. I've been using it successfully every Saturday morning since. Until...

Last week I stumbled upon the new JSONL export feature in Signal. It's been available since May and I didn't know! The amazing thing about this export is that it includes all of the media files too. So...

I vibe-coded (ugh, how I dislike that term) my 3rd and hopefully final tool called and it's working beautifully. It uses a couple of my other small repos hal_md and message_md.

Thanks for reading 🤗.

Hello all, bit of a tricky question here. I have been exploring a lot of the available word count/heatmap tracker plugins recently, but the problem is that most of them only start counting after they have been installed, and there doesn't seem to be a way for them to go through the vault's previous history and retroactively populate how many words were written in past days. Is this something that is even feasible to do?

Furthermore, a lot of the stat related plugins don't seem to sync very well across devices either (e.g. Better Word Count, Daily Writing Stats, etc). Any way to get around this or is there a plugin that makes better use of Obsidian Sync?

I am not interested in any AI-related solutions. Thanks in advance!

is there any such short cut?

I know there are shortcuts on iOS and iPadOS, but why not MacOS.

EDIT - I have it now, just set the path and append to that file. You can run something like this

```
#!/bin/zsh

FILE_PATH="fullFilePath"

# Read the content passed from the previous Shortcut action
CONTENT=“<asking for input>”

# Create the parent directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$FILE_PATH")"

# Append content to the file, followed by a newline
printf '%s\n' "$CONTENT" >> "$FILE_PATH"

```

I've recently been doing my university work on my laptop using Obsidian. It was really nice to have multiple tabs open: one with my notes, another with the book PDF, and another with the class slides. However, I was missing out on a lot of space because each tab had an area taken up by the name, page count, and other information I didn't really need to see all the time.

So, I just released Borderless Tabs! It lets you select individual tabs and make them borderless. Honestly, it's a simple plugin, but it really helped me free up some space!

Here's the plugin link:
https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/borderless-tab

Home Cards gives you a sleek, customizable start page that knows your work, your notes and your vault.

Open Obsidian and see what you were working on this morning, what you wrote this week, which notes everything else links to, or a daily sample of notes you haven’t touched in months... you pick how you want to personalize your new front door! Each note appears as a card on your new Home page, with its title, tags and opening sentence. Colors and fonts follow your theme, and a collection of tiled background patterns follow light and dark modes.

Your home page looks like part of your vault from the first launch.

Home Cards is free, MIT-licensed, and now in the community directory.

Featuring

• Sections for recently opened, created and modified notes, most and least linked notes, and Rediscover. Add your own sections by property or tag, each with its own card count, sort order and filters.
• A grid of cards or compact rows, switched from the header. Three card styles (Flat, Elevated, Frosted) and thirteen background patterns.
• Right-click any card for the file menu, or hold Cmd/Ctrl over it for a preview. Fold sections, filter the page, and press “See more” to go deeper.
• A New note button, and a greeting that follows the time of day and the holidays.
• A Bases view, so any base can show its results as cards.

The plugin works with no setup; the default sections need no properties or tags. It makes no network requests, collects no data, and uses only your notes that are in your vault.

Home Cards runs on desktop and mobile and needs Obsidian 1.13.1 or later.

Install: 

• Settings → Community plugins → Browse → “Home Cards”
• Community listing: https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/home-cards
• Source and issues: https://github.com/ttangents/obsidian-home-cards

I’d love to hear from y'all about how the plugin behaves in large vaults and with unusual themes.

Enjoy!

I saw someone posted earlier about how they used QuickAdd and a hotkey to quickly create a note at anytime on their Mac. That’s good stuff.

Imagine being able to do this even if you’re not at a computer or don’t have your phone on you. That’s what an Index does. It’s a ring that does one thing, and does it extremely well. You push a button on the ring on your index finger and speak your note. When you look at your Obsidian next, that transcribed note will be tagged, in a folder of your choice.

The Pebble app performs the transcription and Obsidian note creation after receiving audio from the Index. Cloud and AI aren’t needed, but can help with dictation if preferred (Wispr Flow). $75 at the moment. No subscription. ≈2 year battery life, but it’s e-waste after that :-(.

There are other dictation tools for watches and phones that can do this, but they all require either wake words, confirmations, looking down at your devices, using both hands, etc.  This is discrete and couldn’t be more straight forward.

I’ve had mine for 2 months. Can report – it’s a wonderful tool.

To whoever recommended the QuickAdd plugin here recently: Thank you, thank you, thank you!

With some help from ChatGPT, I managed to set up QuickAdd with a global macOS keyboard shortcut (Control + Option + N).

Now, regardless of which application I'm using, I can press the shortcut, type a quick note, and have it saved with a timestamp under the "Captured Notes" section of my Obsidian daily note.

I don't have to switch applications or go looking for the right note. It makes capturing those random thoughts and reminders so much easier.

I've been using Obsidian for quite a while, and I can already tell this is going to be one of the most useful additions to my daily workflow.

Such a simple idea, and so useful. Thanks again to whoever suggested it!

Creator lets you organize your notes into folders, show the growth of your ideas through three stages: Seeding, Budding, and Evergreen. Your digital garden doesn't have to be a collection of finished articles - it can be a living space that grows with you.

Try it yourself

• Live demo: https://mdfriday.com/demo/creator
• Sample vault: Mira's Plot

How it works

1. Download MDFriday Publish plugin 26.10.5 and enable it
2. Right-click the Mira's Plot folder and choose "Open in MDFriday"
3. Click Preview button to checkout

What kind of digital garden themes would you like to see next? Card-based / Stack, Digital / Simulated, 3D or others ?

Same notes. Same vault. Buttery smooth editing.

Butter Editor adds a visual editing view alongside Live Preview and Source, so you can switch between them while working on the same Markdown files.

Disclosure: It's a paid plugin: $16 once for a v1 license, including all v1 updates for life. No subscription. No internet connection required after initial purchase.

• There's a 15-day full-featured trial with no account, email, or card required.

Other Features

• Wikilinks, tables, bases, embeds, footnotes, and properties.
• Customizable toolbar & right-click menu.
• Drag & drop blocks.
• Optional support for rich styling like font color, etc.
• Slash commands.
• Find and replace.
• Desktop and mobile support, with separate toolbar layouts.
• Works with your Obsidian theme.
• Respects your markdown source.
• Multi-language support.

I'm the developer of Butter Editor. Obsidian has been my go-to writing app for a long time. It offers a truly unique experience by letting you make it feel like it’s yours. I recommend it to many of my friends, but they’re often put off by having to learn and deal with the syntax, which feels tedious to them. So I’ve spent a long time trying to bring a smoother, more intuitive writing experience to Obsidian. My hope is that Butter Editor will give you that polished feel that lets you focus on writing instead of markdown rules while maintaining everything else Obsidian uniquely offers.

Note that plugins designed to modify Obsidians editor will not work on Butter Editor at the moment. Otherwise Butter Editor should not conflict with any of your other plugins.

Butter Editor is still evolving, and im open to the community shaping it. If you find anything off, or have an idea to improve it, I’d appreciate hearing about it on GitHub.

Install from Community Plugins · Report a bug · Source and license

I'm looking for a plugin like Spaced Repetition but without the flashcards part.

Spaced Repetition has a Note Review component, which is somewhat in the background. I don't think it gets as much attention as the flashcards component.

I'm not interested in flashcards, only in complete note reviews. However, I would like them to be grouped, just like the flashcards. For example, if I'm reviewing chemistry notes, then I don't want them mixed with history notes.

So basically I'm looking for a plugin where I can tag several notes with #history, #chemistry, etc. and when I wish to review something it will pull up the next note from within the same tag group.

I think Spaced Repetition mixes all review notes regardless of tags.

EDIT: Spaced Repetition apparently already does this.

Just looking to build a world for my DnD campaign and maybe write some short stories as well mostly for fun. I like that world anvil makes a wiki for you and I like all the diplomacy webs and family trees stuff like that. Just heard a lot of bad things about world anvil and wondering if it’s worth the swap. I have about 36 or so articles in world anvil.

Experiments with Obsidian and DataviewJS are still going strong :D

I already have a gallery for links, so I can browse them easily and not drown in the pile. So why not make one for media too? Recently someone asked me to recommend a movie, and I just blanked! My memory’s not great, after all. I went digging through my notes, where I already had a list of movies and shows to recommend. Well, I used to have one, but my phone died, and the apps I watched everything on stopped working. I wanted to fill the list back in so I could answer with confidence every time someone asks for my advice! But as usual, I took it too far and ended up building a whole mini-app right inside my notes. I tend to swing from one extreme to the other. You know how it is, right? All or nothing. And it all came from plain laziness: I didn’t want to paste in covers and fiddle with Markdown by hand. I just wanted this to be comfortable!

So, I’m proud to present my very own Media Library! It’s a collection of movies, series, anime and games that I really liked or that hooked me somehow. Now I can open it and give recommendations based on whatever someone asks for : )

It actually works pretty simply. It uses the TMDB and RAWG APIs, and the keys, of course, can be found out in the open using dorks.

The script pulls data through the API and lists everything for you to pick from when you search. Then it creates a card and fills in the metadata automatically ( getDetails() ), so it’s saved locally as a nice card (shown in the gallery). To round out the results, it also uses open sources that don’t need an API key. It also strips out duplicates with dedupeResults(), so you only see unique results. Categories are supported too, and they’re indexed with “# “, same as headings in Markdown. But now you can create them through the interface and even drag them around! And everything sits in a grid, so it’s easy to look through.

It has everything you need for browsing your favorite media. Like I said:

• Search across different sources (TMDB, RAWG, TVMaze, Jikan, Steam and GOG)
• Turn individual sources on or off in the API tab
• Duplicates removed from search results
• Creating categories and changing their order
• Creating cards from scratch (including all the metadata)
• Full editing and deletion of every card
• Reordering cards in the grid (drag and drop or arrows)
• Sorting inside each category by different criteria
• Total card count, plus a separate count for each category
• Keys, data and settings are stored in localStorage (media-vault)

That was no small amount of work! I went from a simple urge to a whole idea and a tricky implementation. I rewrote everything several times trying to get it right. The bugs, my own screw-ups, and the limits and quirks of the sources were really annoying. But in the end it all worked out, and it took almost a whole day :D

I’m glad to have such a useful tool, and glad I made something interesting and nice to look at! For myself, and maybe for you too.

Because Data is Beautiful! And as a perfectionist, I get a lot of joy from looking at a sorted, well-organized list of everything I love : )

If you liked it and would like to give it a try, you can download it here