If you want to practice making decisions on setting up folders, (1) grab my templates: Note System 22 and Note System 75 (2) Follow along with the video (3) Try different examples to find what works for you Download the templates here: www.linkingyourthinking.com/join/master-organizing-your-folders-in-obsidian
i bullet journal, we spend SO much time on keyboards, i literally forgot how to write. also, flipping through a book i can always carry with me is MUCH quicker than any digital method i've tried (one note, evernote...) bullet journaling has gone down this rabbit hole of art and decoration and people posting videos of their layouts, and people get turned off from it because they think THAT is what it's all about. but i tell people, kinda just like you said. start from the bottom, with the basics, use the basic system and then adjust to what you need. the best system for you is the system you create for yourself. take what works for someone else as a starting point for ideas, but make it your own, you're more likely to stick with it and use it. but i'm looking for a way to organize things, like info for tax season, grocery lists, maybe track grocery spending over time. i'm going to be buying a house in 2 years, so i need to think about what i want and save ideas, the framework for that can be in the bullet journal, but article clips, photos etc can be in obsidian maybe. i like that it's cross platform, i use windows, linux and iOS, and android.
this finally feels like content for people getting into this. I feel like a lot of content creators fall into the trap of “curse of knowledge” where they dont know how much we dont know so they explain the details while leaving out the foundation or basics. I followed along perfectly with this. bravo thank you!
I truly appreciate your time, kindness and commitment, in making your videos.....I retired from the Police Service, aged 52yrs. Five years later, I found Obsidian, and yourself....For personal health reasons, my mind felt like an Escher Drawing. Obsidian and you, are helping that improve...Thankyou ❤❤
This is the ONLY video on Obsidian one could ever need to get started. Very well done, very thoughtful. Truly reflects what the bottom up journey looks like. Thank you so much!
@15:55 If I was using the PARA framework as Tiago created it, I would suggest time based notes go into a "calendar" sub folder under areas. As I understood the idea behind areas, it is an important topic in your life that you return to often and it does not have a definitive deadline. However, as you pointed out, these are guidelines to help define what works best for us within our own system.
I have 3+ years now with obsidian and my vault(s) and have tried PARA and other things over the years. I totally agree with the idea of starting bottom up over time once you have a lot of notes. Your ideas about things will change over time. Thanks for putting together another great video Nick!
This is a very good and honest video. It encourages people to learn their most efficient way of dealing with information, and that is half the journey. In my case, I learned my brain doesn’t work well with folders, I’m rather a tags and labels guy. I use tags/labels in my personal email, work email, and my pkm in Obsidian. One Cabinet folder holds everything. Search feature algorithm has to be good to help you find and navigate. At my early days I started with folders but then realized that moment when you have to decide where to put the note creates too much friction. Sometimes I found myself into hours of just trying to organize and decide where thousands of notes should go and then moving them to their most related folder, just to forget a few days later what my rationale was. Nowadays I don’t deal with this anymore. I create the note, label it (five tags at the most), and move along. That let me focus primarily on writing ideas and linking them, investing time in content instead of maintaining the system.
This is the best message to send, make the system your own. Your brain is unique, your system should also be. I've personally, with time, evolved into a mix of popular system with specific folders that nobody else would use but are critical for me, and it does wonders! Thanks for the great examples 👏
Nick, this was so very helpful. Thank you. As another has said, I appreciate not skipping over the foundational principles. Being new to Obsidian and PKM, there is so much to absorb and we become easily saturated. This kind of video helps us to keep moving forward in building our own PKM. That said, I appreciate your emphasis on individualizing one’s vault and there are many ways to do so. I appreciate the sandboxes to figure things out without disrupting our own space. Your videos are the best and easiest to understand. You are much appreciated.
This is a great introductory video. I watched all your old videos years ago when I first started using Obsidian. I found it a bit too hard to fathom how I was supposed to use that system back then. I like how you take people on a journey of how systems tend to evolve, and how to make your own system without going on for too long. I found this video because I was reviewing the ways my system hasn't been working and I was questioning whether I should use something like tags instead of folders. This is a great data point about one way to use folders effectively. The Inbox where information needs to get processed is probably most important part I've been missing.
Hey Nick, loved this very down-to-earth video about "Folders 101" and the fact that you stressed that its all about bottom-up evolution. I very much agree. It's interesting to see, that after a condensed 3-folder setup, you are currently again in a divergent phase, cycling back to a broader top-level structure. I used PARA for years and tried ACE for a bit, but nowadays mostly worked out my own method. It has some very interesting parallels to your current setup, only it focuses more on personal development, value-driven growth. PS: As for your question about PARA: it doesn't recognize "time-based" notes. You need to think differently. Most likely your daily notes would go to an Area called "Journal" or "Journaling".
Appreciate your perspective Dennis, especially regarding my divergent phase. Hope your structure continues to treat you well. Thanks for to insights on where daily notes could go as well!
Hi there! Thank you so much for the hard work you put into this video-it’s really appreciated! I wanted to share how I organize my Obsidian vault. I currently have four main folders: Everyday: This is where I keep my daily notes. Misc: A space for archived notes or those that don’t need to be categorized, like my statistics notes, which just contain heatmaps. Notes: I use a flat structure here, linking notes through anchor notes. For example, I have a note called 'dev' that connects with various technologies like JavaScript. In a note related to JavaScript, I place a link to the 'js' note at the bottom instead of using tags. Then in the Graph view I can see relations between my notes. Projects: Here I store my project-related notes, including simple to-dos with lists of materials or notes in a kanban format. Thanks again for all the insights you’ve shared-it’s super helpful!
Thank you so much for this! When I first started using obsidian I didn't need any folders. But yeah it came back to bite me in the ass and I now have 450+ notes (and I'm planning to migrate some notes from another vault). I desperately need the folders but I don't have any ideas where to start. This video is such a huge help! It will take a lot of time before I can completely organize every notes but this video is a huge start
Always like your calm and thoughtful videos. Always very helpful. Each system has it’s advantages. I have to say that most good apps can handle this type of organisation, but some apps do make things more difficult, even Obsidian. Each app has a different way of doing things and unless you follow and learn ‘their’ process, it can become difficult to get things done. Some apps have a folder structure, but don’t have tags. Some have tags and no folders. This is a reason to find out what works for yourself, but then pick an app and stay with it, learn it and then when you can save, input and move things around effectively, then it will be easier to decide if the app is working for you or not. I spent so much time trying different apps that I wasn’t actually taking many useful notes and I wasn’t learning the ins and outs of what the apps could actually do. App jumping is a problem for a lot of people. I fell into it. We want perfection, but I haven’t found a ‘perfect’ app. Every app I’ve tried has had some UI/UX issue that drove me nuts, but I would admit that I never stayed long enough to figure out the best way to work with that app either.
Thank you for showing people the proper way to build structure! Some feedback for you @linkingyourthinking , the first 30 seconds here were incredibly effective. Challenging the dominant narrative with confidence and clear arguments immediately built trust in your authenticity. How could we not continue to watch? Don't worry about content length, because the quality is there. Well done! 🖖🏼
As someone who uses folder based PARA, the way I deal with journals is keeping them in a separate section of my vault. The PARA structure is within the root folder "notes", while journals are in the "journal" root folder
One reason I like folders in Obsidian (coupled with the setting to save attachments in the note's folder) is that I can easily zip the folder of a specific interest/area and give it to my colleague/friend, etc. - an easy way to share your knowledge.
Interesting! Is there some sort of application to view md notes on Windows with the links workable? So they could review those notes if they don't use obsidian?
I feel like this video kind of misrepresents PARA in a way that gives it a disservice. You see, PARA relies on creating folder-centric context. The folder is the main way notes are organised, and through this organisation, context is formed. In addition, PARA revolves around Projects, and as such "which note is most relevant to a Project" is one of the defining questions to do with a note. You don't classify a note on the top level folders, like what Nick was doing here. From a typical day, processing of notes in a PARA folder system revolves around a series of questions: 1) Is there a project that this note can contribute to? For example: if one of your Projects is to "buy groceries", a grocery list would help to that project. As such, you make a folder ("Buy Groceries"), and file that note there. 2) If this does not contribute to a project, then does this relate to any Areas of Responsibility that I need to set a standard in? Extending the Grocery example, maybe you have a note on the common grocery staples that you order all the time (rice, beans, chicken, etc.) You would file that grocery staples note under an Area folder (Perhaps Health). 3) If this does not relate to any Areas, then is this something useful to perhaps a hobby, or some interest you may have? If so, then file it under the respective resource folder. Again using the grocery example, if we have a note on recipes you'd like to try one day, then file it under recipes [1]. 4) If no, file it under Archives. The PARA method relies on Projects as the lifeblood of the system. Ideas serve the project, and as such notes are classified on how they may advance any Projects we have. If this sounds like it goes against the linking your thinking framework, that's because they both prize different aspects of the PKM world: action, versus Ideas. The video's way of using PARA fails to consider the system's use of projects as a context. Obviously, the way the method was showcased in the video will fail, and it'll just feel like you're adding notes and have no clue what you are doing. Projects are the waypoint, the north pole from which all ideas are focused on. As such, each project needs a subfolder that stores notes. Through this, the work is then supported by the system. Contrast this with Linked Thinking: it purports that linking is thinking, that the work is only in linking. PARA, however, states that the work relies on the actions you take, and that the actions you take relies on the information you have. So, ultimately, PARA is flexible, because it has you do the work, the way that is needed for you. Whether you're a programmer, or writer, or whatever, PARA helps you take action, and gives a space for Projects to be externalized. [1] You may say that the distinction between Areas and Resources is vague. This is by design, because this distinction is purely up to the person. I classify cooking recipes as a resource because I don't care about setting a standard with it. If you were a chef, for example, then Recipes could be an Area that you need to set a standard on.
Yes. ACE was developed in the video. PARA was was not developed so appeared meaningless. I do not use either of these. My top folders are GTD, work related, reading and learning, and check lists. GTD is tasks, projects, calendar and objectives. Reading and learning is book notes, video notes and so on. Check lists are groceries, packing lists for trips, etc.
@@robertwhite3503 Fascinating! I found it difficult to have check lists in my system. Mostly cause I found it super inconvenient compared to just opening my journal and writing it there. Do you use Obsidian sync to sync notes to your phone, or any third-party sync options?
You are correct, PARA gets short shrift. For me, i originally gravitated towards PARA as it made sense at the time. However. your description highlights the increased efforts required to 1) make relevant decisions 2) maintain over time. Obsidian allows for note linking, so folders become less relevant as a classification. the same thing can be done with tags and/or properties. You are correct thI am not advocating for ACE necessarily, but simplicity is something I seek. PARA required a lot of maintenance and thus failed for me.
Excellent post, thank you. I also use PARA and find that using it like a Marine with R-resources as a base of fire works best (resources as the LOG chain). Projects are targets, and areas are maintenance and ongoing proficiency. Visualize projects on a conveyor moving by, as you take action on them with things from the resource bin while maintaining core competencies from the area section. I played with SMEAC and rapid planning -like what is done on MEUSOCs but in the end I integrate those into the PARA. But they are very helpful in defining the mission and end state goals - measured against resources available. Obviously, very helpful for the biz owner but not so helpful for the student.
This has been my biggest painpoint -- how to structure folders for notes now that I have thousands of them. I'm leaning towards adopting PARA, but as you also noticed, it's not always clear where things fit in PARA. The ACE method looks neat, I haven't heard of it before; thank you for sharing! I noticed CyanVoxel did a combination of PARA and Zettelkasten, but this seems like overkill and adds to more confusion. If I do go with PARA, I'd probably tweak it as follows: * * * 00 - Indexes (maps of content) * 01 - Daily Journal * 02 - Projects * 03 - Areas * 04 - Resources * 05 - Archive And using Google Keep or Apple Notes as the inbox, since Obsidian isn't as great to use on mobile.
This is how I'd organize the notes he had. Folders: 'capture', 'daily notes', 'knowledge-repository', 'life', 'projects', 'school'. (I don't differentiate between projects and efforts.) I currently have 'knowledge repository' split into a number of sub-folders but you could do this with a property: 'theoretical', 'activity' (activities would be like write a proof', 'procedure' (practical steps) 'quote', 'person', etc. All those notes like 'calculus 101 class x' would be in capture. Then while encoding the information it transfers to the knowledge repository. I'd also keep track of the notes by week in a file (calculus101) in the school folder. I atomize the notes into single concepts, actions, etc.
For me: - Personal notes go in a physical journal (reflection journal, bullet journal/calendar, etc) - Study/research notes go into their own vault, with no folders and notes organized by tags. - Gaming notes go into their own vault organized by folder for each game - Quick scratch notes go into non-Obsidian text files that are stored in their own synced folder which are easy to find and access and search from anywhere on any device.
What made it all click for me was this simple rule: folders categorise file types (like daily notes, literature notes, etc) whereas links create connections based on content. I also have a file type tag that is redundant with the folders but will allow me to completely change the folder structure (or remove it) at any point if I need without losing the organisation by file type.
I was overdue some vault renovations which this video prompted me to complete :) I also have a templates folder to make it easier to concentrate all Obsidian templates I have a shortcut to. And I also have a "people" folder where I keep notes about people I interact with (sort of like a bio page) which is particularly useful at work. Every file on the "people" folder starts with an @ symbol, which means I can easily link notes to people I mention in them by starting [[@...]]. When I want to see every note/discussion I had with one particular person, that's viewable in the graph. Cheers!
@@Lohithdhaksha I had never heard of it, but looking at the quick 1 min. description I can say it's not for me at least for the time being. It just feels like I'd be spending too much time on organization Vs. writing/linking notes. I prefer a balanced approach and I thought ACE (+ the extra Milo folders) made sense for my vault. I tried going with purely tags, but that's on the far end of the chaos spectrum. Thks for sharing though.
Put time based notes in 1. Projects Definition: Short-term efforts with a specific goal and deadline. Characteristics: Clearly defined objectives. A start and end point (time-bounded). Examples: "Prepare AWS Certification Exam," "Plan Family Vacation," "Complete Quarterly Work Report." Purpose: Organize all actionable steps, documents, and ideas related to completing a specific outcome.
My system is CAP. Capture (record). Analyse (tag n meta data). Process (linking). The flow through means i review and revise my notes regularly so they get better.
I use the ACCESS method that I got from one of your older videos. PARA and Zettle didn't work for me based on how I use Obsidian. But now I am trying to make up my own tailored system. EDIT: I think my biggest pain with Obsidian is knwoing how to name my files/folders. As Obsidian takes the title and makes it the file name, btw thi sis very subjective, I don't personally like spaces in my file names. So I either hythenate-everything or trying of something creative using one word.
i enjoyed this video. Been working on organizing my digital life as well as my actual life lol. I came across the PARA Method earlier this year and restructured my computer and phone and spotify and all of them. I just like the structure. I added a 5th folder which is a network folder, one thats attached across my network. I just didn't like Connected folders in the Main Directory. Because when I am in that folder, It just gives me a RED Alert on my computing that this is connected. Just a ME Thing but it works. Again set the system up that works for You is the key. I just really like the PARA Method. I archive weekly (Data Hoarder) I don't I really only delete redundant stuff every 6 months or so. Back up regularly, and I keep my back ups offline. Been saving my systems since 2015. seem like a cool dude with a nice structured balanced life. Jealous lol.
Very nice presentation, easy to listen to. Apparently, I haven't yet figured out what's so great about Obsidian versus using OneNote or just Windows/Mac file system folders full of Word, Excel, etc. files. I need to look elsewhere if I'm going to stick with Obsidian.
Bro, thank you. I've been hesitating for a year now because I didn't know how to manage and organise my files in an easy way. I have been looking on UA-cam, but so many UA-camrs only show off their complicated Obsidian set ups and give only quick explanations. Anyway, I'm grateful for you making this video and will be following some of your suggestions about mapping.
Still kind of in a state of flux with the structure of my vault but atm I quite satisfied with idea of using a kind of PARA+ structure, partially inspired by this video: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives, Fleeting, MOCs, Dictionary, which ig you could call PARA-FMD. Fleeting is for just quick informal notes, just to get a quick idea down and come back to later. MOCs is for..well MOCs.. altho not strictly where all my MOCs go just where the Top-Level or Misc ones go. Dictionary is for key terms, in folders for each area of interest or misc notes in no folder. Note ab the MOCs in my vault: I kind of have 2 types, standard MOCs ( focussed more on connecting notes with a bit of description has to what kinds of notes are listed ) and D-MOCs ( descriptive maps of contents, which is a note that isn't explicitly for leading to other notes and has value within itself as well but acts primarily as a connecting medium between many key terms from the dictionary and other notes )
Daily notes go to Archive. Anything happened that day could go to relates any other file. When you open that event note, you will have the list of backlinks below including the daily notes. Also, if you are responsible from a class, currently taking it, I would put it in Areas, as it is in my responsibility. But any assignment about that specific course would go to projects, because they are my current projects. I add nything as what I am responsible/ accountable from in Areas. But if it is something i like to collect information (books, interests, ideas, templates, handbooks, guidelines) would go to resources. All done projects, all Areas, and daily notes go to Archive. It works for me. The only thing i do different is, i write the names “1-P” instead of 01-Projects, because it is too long. It gets too long when i add the name of the file somewhere. Always, min effort, max work!
I would suggest that daily notes are Resources. It sounds weird at first but if you think of it as a draft Source of Information that might produce multiple Notes.. like it's a meeting or podcast but with yourself within yourself.. So you always have a reference back to it probably helpful if you wanna see the whole Thinking-Chain on that Day and how did you come up with something and not the other way.. Pardon my English
We need the same concept to explain the tag system... we use a bulk of tags that sometimes we forget so if you can explain how to use a system tag effectively that will be noce
The usage of the word "idea" confuses me with Obsidian videos. Is it like "I want to call my friend tonight"-idea, or is it "Is money equal to happiness" or is it "10 keypoints from the book X"?
For me folders follow this philosophy: Organize notes by the same type of energy and move on that level deeper if it is necessary. And one thing to mention is that folders depends of the main folder the VAULT which the defines the goal of your notes. It is not the same a recipe vault, than a physics formula vault, than a cosmology vault. They are very different and I prefer to work with things separated. And I usually write in Spanish and English but I put normally names on English, or in Spanish if it is only in Spanish.
@@linkingyourthinking yeah and that's another big topic, "what's exactly is a vault and how to define it". I normally use these vaults under these folders: "Docs/My-notes" for my notes "Knowledge/Subjects" like a wiki for everything "Knowledge/vault/xyz" like "recetas-españolas" downloaded vaults from internet like yours "Ideaverse" , "Obsidian vault", etc. And as system I have these folders audio, documents, pictures, videos, software, knowledge, workspaces. And then inside categorized by the author or thematic (Peter-images, saved-images or LYT-videos, Cinema). Sometimes I feel like the author can group all of those but I prefer to put author inside each folder to not expand general folders. I try my folders and files not related to obsidian but as general markdown files in directories for any OS, because sometimes I opened with other editors like vscode, or I put in the cloud, or I move from Linux to Windows, etc.
To summarize for me vaults are like little wikis, that are for specif thematics. The main one is about yourself (projects, thoughts, diary, Todo, goals, etc.) and the one designed to give info about a topic like Recipe wiki, Cosmology wiki, Futurama TV wiki, etc. It's like databases you can put all under one big database, but normally are treated in separate ways. Like a bank, supermarket, newspaper all of those are products with database and information under one city but are treated separately.
I really like this theme that you have provided. I have been using it and I absolutely love it. I have only one request, I want to change the tags property. Since I am using it for my research literature database I need to use tags for author names keywords conference names and so on. I cannot use the tags property since you have a preset properties. I can only use it once and that too with the same predefined name. Is there any way to go around this? Thank you!
I tried using PARA. Love the idea but I found that I was spending more time trying to figure out where the notes go than I was actually using the notes to get things done. Right now, I’m trying to sort things by the 7 areas of life and then I have an Inbox where everything goes that needs to be processed along with an ideas folder. Now if I can remember to process the inbox that would be great 😊.
Yes, but it might not work for you and actually leads to more distraction, frustration, and disappointment because...you didn't build your own folders from the bottom-up.
Nick, did I see a folder called Vaults? Do/can you keep different Vaults in a folder? To me that would sound a Vault with a sub-vault, but I must be wrong here. How would that work/benefit?
I saw in your video that the folder and notes in the left manager have a colored background. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it myself. Could you please tell me which plugin or theme allows this
Thank you for your incredibly inciteful videos, I'm learning a lot from you! I'm still getting into obsidian; I have a folder dedicated to tutorials I'm making for myself to help me learn markdown and the intricacies of obsidian and it's community plugins. I'm completely obsessed with this app, it's incredibly fun to learn how to use such a flexible tool. Much of it is thanks to content creators like you and many others that I have been watching throughout the week so thank you again! Also, I have one quick question. You point offscreen when referencing the theme for the vault during chapter [Random Attempts]. I really like that theme but I have no idea what you were pointing to and I am wondering if you or anyone else can tell me what that theme is called.
Atomic notes don't necessarily have to be "small" (which is an arbitrary description anyway) If you have a long note and it's still about a single idea that can't be split any further into smaller ideas, it counts as an atomic note.
Tl:dr for me: - PARA methos=> 4 folders name: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives - ACE method: Atlas, calender, effort => Build from the bottom, don't copy, must try to find your.
So far, it seems to me that PARA is great for organizing one's complete life. So, Areas include - household, health and fitness, etc. I'm thinking that ACE makes more sense where we're cultivating our "idea verse." I think I'm gravitating to keeping my life stuff in Apple Notes and using Obsidian for my "idea verse." This is partly because Obsidian is so powerful (and my skills so low), I'd end up wasting too much time creating tasks, dashboards, trackers, etc. in Obsidian.
Bro where did you get that killer thick black paper notebook with the ragged edges shown at 0:21?! That's an absolute must have for my game design world!
Nice video. (even if for me like GTD user this sorting was quite painful xD) Obsidian lost me on three basic things or 'what OneNote is doing better' (or maybe I wasn't only able to set correctly in Obsidian?): 1. All notes and folders are in one 'window/dashboard'. I don't want to scrool this long list. OneNote has one dashboard for Notebooks (Folders) and it's Sections (basically sub-folders), second dashboard for Pages (Notes) in selected 'folder'. 2. I want full custom sorting of folders and notes (as OneNote does). Not only by date of edit, alphabetically etc. I can do number-coding in names of folders, annoying, but ok. But do it also in notes??? No way, I have too many of them. 3. Small one but also very annoying to me - OneNote doesn't need to name the note, it can make name of note by copying the about first sentence of note's body. Obsidian just gives me Untitled *number*. OneNote can also update that title every time you change that first sentence. As I do daily quite a lot of quick notes it's very useful feature for me.
should course things like for school go in their own folder or is that bad to do? Everytime I see calculus 101 i think of a calculus 101 folder for all that as its school related id probably end up with 100 different notes for it. same with world history 101 I would think to put that in its own folder labeled world history 101. That is how my brain works probably because in highschool i would have a separate binder for each course. Is it bad to do it this way for some reason? For linking things can they only link to the same folder? I just feel like after a couple courses I would no longer be able to find notes on stuff if its all in one folder.
I would place journal and time base activity including daily notes into area of responsibilities. I was told that resource have info you are willing to share with anyone .....and areas is private
i drew inspirations from both Nick and Tiago for mine, maybe this will provide some insight for someone: + Self Life Knowledge + for everything utility. Self for journals (daily notes included), plans, goals, aspirations, self reflection, any thing self/psyche related, etc. Life for PARA, dividing life into Areas from work to interests to health to finance to social, etc, projects and action plans that necessarily correspond to areas of life also go in here. Finally, Knowledge for knowledge and ideas, similar to Nick’s Atlas, with an adapted implementation of Zettelkasten. this structure makes much sense to me currently. it goes from the core of my being, to my immediate living experience, to the universe that contains all. i find folders to be BEST at differentiating types, and worst for topics/content
I think we dont need folders in obsidian. The folders only required when the documents are outside the obsdian. To link the location of the files outside the obsidian, we only require the name of the file and place them insdie out obsidian notes. Searching is enough to dig out the files. Ecternal files and folders can be put on onedrive etc.
I like your approach. However, no folders for me. The biggest reason is that you can only put a file in 1 folder. So I use 1 folder and every file gets file properties to find my content. (tag, type, source, url, backlink, etc.). Make it as fuzzy as you can and you will find everything within a few seconds.
A vault is like a master folder. Generally a single vault is recommended (to maintain universal searching and linking) unless you have special use-case for multiple vaults (like making one vault publicly accessible for sharing knowledge vs a vault for private knowledge).
Umami seems shortsighted to me. So do all the others in that category. Every quick note you make belongs to a topic/category. It should either go in a folder specific to its topic, or, if it's too quick-and-dirty to deserve a spot there, you should delete it after a while. If you don't have a folder for that note's topic/category, come up with one.
how i just move a folder like drag and drop? i just want this and nobody knows, i never found the solution, this is fucking hard, i just want this to be happy using this program
Please listen to him. Honestly he gave you what you need in the first 25 seconds because you should NOT be organizing and setting up an obsidian vault that has less than 100 notes
Some of us switched to Obsidian precisely because the "guided" Notion UI was too annoying and distracting 😄 Markdown is quite simple and it's also transferrable to other places like flat-file CMS' (see Kirby or Astro) if you want to publish your content.
@@jay.jarosz I understand the differences and motives to choose either but, a option to make Obsidian more UI oriented would nice. Of course, always a option, if you want to keep using straight markdown it would retain that workflow. A good implementation would use UI to insert markdown in the file and if you disable the UI assist, you could just type md as always.
If you want to practice making decisions on setting up folders, (1) grab my templates: Note System 22 and Note System 75 (2) Follow along with the video (3) Try different examples to find what works for you Download the templates here: www.linkingyourthinking.com/join/master-organizing-your-folders-in-obsidian
Very helpful video ... may I ask for the link to the theme?
i bullet journal, we spend SO much time on keyboards, i literally forgot how to write.
also, flipping through a book i can always carry with me is MUCH quicker than any digital method i've tried (one note, evernote...)
bullet journaling has gone down this rabbit hole of art and decoration and people posting videos of their layouts, and people get turned off from it because they think THAT is what it's all about. but i tell people, kinda just like you said. start from the bottom, with the basics, use the basic system and then adjust to what you need. the best system for you is the system you create for yourself. take what works for someone else as a starting point for ideas, but make it your own, you're more likely to stick with it and use it.
but i'm looking for a way to organize things, like info for tax season, grocery lists, maybe track grocery spending over time. i'm going to be buying a house in 2 years, so i need to think about what i want and save ideas, the framework for that can be in the bullet journal, but article clips, photos etc can be in obsidian maybe.
i like that it's cross platform, i use windows, linux and iOS, and android.
this finally feels like content for people getting into this. I feel like a lot of content creators fall into the trap of “curse of knowledge” where they dont know how much we dont know so they explain the details while leaving out the foundation or basics. I followed along perfectly with this. bravo thank you!
Thank you, that means a lot because the "curse of knowledge" is real and takes effort to mitigate
Precisely! Like this will be the last video you will see before you (and at the same time it pushes you into) start using Obsidian, finally.
I truly appreciate your time, kindness and commitment, in making your videos.....I retired from the Police Service, aged 52yrs. Five years later, I found Obsidian, and yourself....For personal health reasons, my mind felt like an Escher Drawing. Obsidian and you, are helping that improve...Thankyou ❤❤
This is the ONLY video on Obsidian one could ever need to get started. Very well done, very thoughtful. Truly reflects what the bottom up journey looks like. Thank you so much!
@15:55 If I was using the PARA framework as Tiago created it, I would suggest time based notes go into a "calendar" sub folder under areas. As I understood the idea behind areas, it is an important topic in your life that you return to often and it does not have a definitive deadline. However, as you pointed out, these are guidelines to help define what works best for us within our own system.
I have 3+ years now with obsidian and my vault(s) and have tried PARA and other things over the years. I totally agree with the idea of starting bottom up over time once you have a lot of notes. Your ideas about things will change over time. Thanks for putting together another great video Nick!
This is a very good and honest video. It encourages people to learn their most efficient way of dealing with information, and that is half the journey. In my case, I learned my brain doesn’t work well with folders, I’m rather a tags and labels guy. I use tags/labels in my personal email, work email, and my pkm in Obsidian. One Cabinet folder holds everything. Search feature algorithm has to be good to help you find and navigate. At my early days I started with folders but then realized that moment when you have to decide where to put the note creates too much friction. Sometimes I found myself into hours of just trying to organize and decide where thousands of notes should go and then moving them to their most related folder, just to forget a few days later what my rationale was. Nowadays I don’t deal with this anymore. I create the note, label it (five tags at the most), and move along. That let me focus primarily on writing ideas and linking them, investing time in content instead of maintaining the system.
This is the best message to send, make the system your own. Your brain is unique, your system should also be. I've personally, with time, evolved into a mix of popular system with specific folders that nobody else would use but are critical for me, and it does wonders! Thanks for the great examples 👏
Nick, this was so very helpful. Thank you. As another has said, I appreciate not skipping over the foundational principles. Being new to Obsidian and PKM, there is so much to absorb and we become easily saturated. This kind of video helps us to keep moving forward in building our own PKM. That said, I appreciate your emphasis on individualizing one’s vault and there are many ways to do so. I appreciate the sandboxes to figure things out without disrupting our own space. Your videos are the best and easiest to understand. You are much appreciated.
You have no idea how helpful these videos are. The latest theme you shared has made working and writing so much more pleasant and fun :)
I REALLY like hearing this. It takes a lot of effort, but I really wanted to create a definitive Folders 101 video for the Age of the Linked Note.
This is a great introductory video. I watched all your old videos years ago when I first started using Obsidian. I found it a bit too hard to fathom how I was supposed to use that system back then. I like how you take people on a journey of how systems tend to evolve, and how to make your own system without going on for too long. I found this video because I was reviewing the ways my system hasn't been working and I was questioning whether I should use something like tags instead of folders. This is a great data point about one way to use folders effectively. The Inbox where information needs to get processed is probably most important part I've been missing.
Ahh, many thanks!
Was banging my keyboard before finding the peace I got from this video, thanks for doing these in such a thoughtful and calm reassuring way
Hey Nick, loved this very down-to-earth video about "Folders 101" and the fact that you stressed that its all about bottom-up evolution. I very much agree.
It's interesting to see, that after a condensed 3-folder setup, you are currently again in a divergent phase, cycling back to a broader top-level structure. I used PARA for years and tried ACE for a bit, but nowadays mostly worked out my own method. It has some very interesting parallels to your current setup, only it focuses more on personal development, value-driven growth. PS:
As for your question about PARA: it doesn't recognize "time-based" notes. You need to think differently. Most likely your daily notes would go to an Area called "Journal" or "Journaling".
Appreciate your perspective Dennis, especially regarding my divergent phase. Hope your structure continues to treat you well. Thanks for to insights on where daily notes could go as well!
Hi there! Thank you so much for the hard work you put into this video-it’s really appreciated! I wanted to share how I organize my Obsidian vault. I currently have four main folders:
Everyday: This is where I keep my daily notes.
Misc: A space for archived notes or those that don’t need to be categorized, like my statistics notes, which just contain heatmaps.
Notes: I use a flat structure here, linking notes through anchor notes. For example, I have a note called 'dev' that connects with various technologies like JavaScript. In a note related to JavaScript, I place a link to the 'js' note at the bottom instead of using tags. Then in the Graph view I can see relations between my notes.
Projects: Here I store my project-related notes, including simple to-dos with lists of materials or notes in a kanban format.
Thanks again for all the insights you’ve shared-it’s super helpful!
Thank you so much for this! When I first started using obsidian I didn't need any folders. But yeah it came back to bite me in the ass and I now have 450+ notes (and I'm planning to migrate some notes from another vault). I desperately need the folders but I don't have any ideas where to start. This video is such a huge help! It will take a lot of time before I can completely organize every notes but this video is a huge start
Always like your calm and thoughtful videos. Always very helpful. Each system has it’s advantages. I have to say that most good apps can handle this type of organisation, but some apps do make things more difficult, even Obsidian. Each app has a different way of doing things and unless you follow and learn ‘their’ process, it can become difficult to get things done. Some apps have a folder structure, but don’t have tags. Some have tags and no folders. This is a reason to find out what works for yourself, but then pick an app and stay with it, learn it and then when you can save, input and move things around effectively, then it will be easier to decide if the app is working for you or not. I spent so much time trying different apps that I wasn’t actually taking many useful notes and I wasn’t learning the ins and outs of what the apps could actually do. App jumping is a problem for a lot of people. I fell into it. We want perfection, but I haven’t found a ‘perfect’ app. Every app I’ve tried has had some UI/UX issue that drove me nuts, but I would admit that I never stayed long enough to figure out the best way to work with that app either.
Thank you for showing people the proper way to build structure! Some feedback for you @linkingyourthinking , the first 30 seconds here were incredibly effective.
Challenging the dominant narrative with confidence and clear arguments immediately built trust in your authenticity.
How could we not continue to watch?
Don't worry about content length, because the quality is there. Well done! 🖖🏼
As someone who uses folder based PARA, the way I deal with journals is keeping them in a separate section of my vault. The PARA structure is within the root folder "notes", while journals are in the "journal" root folder
Thanks for sharing!
One reason I like folders in Obsidian (coupled with the setting to save attachments in the note's folder) is that I can easily zip the folder of a specific interest/area and give it to my colleague/friend, etc. - an easy way to share your knowledge.
Really good point. This ability to package and share "packs" isn't usually talked about, but it's important for many.
Interesting! Is there some sort of application to view md notes on Windows with the links workable? So they could review those notes if they don't use obsidian?
This guy is great! Thanks for the comprehensive and thorough reviews.
I feel like this video kind of misrepresents PARA in a way that gives it a disservice.
You see, PARA relies on creating folder-centric context. The folder is the main way notes are organised, and through this organisation, context is formed. In addition, PARA revolves around Projects, and as such "which note is most relevant to a Project" is one of the defining questions to do with a note. You don't classify a note on the top level folders, like what Nick was doing here.
From a typical day, processing of notes in a PARA folder system revolves around a series of questions:
1) Is there a project that this note can contribute to? For example: if one of your Projects is to "buy groceries", a grocery list would help to that project. As such, you make a folder ("Buy Groceries"), and file that note there.
2) If this does not contribute to a project, then does this relate to any Areas of Responsibility that I need to set a standard in? Extending the Grocery example, maybe you have a note on the common grocery staples that you order all the time (rice, beans, chicken, etc.) You would file that grocery staples note under an Area folder (Perhaps Health).
3) If this does not relate to any Areas, then is this something useful to perhaps a hobby, or some interest you may have? If so, then file it under the respective resource folder. Again using the grocery example, if we have a note on recipes you'd like to try one day, then file it under recipes [1].
4) If no, file it under Archives.
The PARA method relies on Projects as the lifeblood of the system. Ideas serve the project, and as such notes are classified on how they may advance any Projects we have. If this sounds like it goes against the linking your thinking framework, that's because they both prize different aspects of the PKM world: action, versus Ideas.
The video's way of using PARA fails to consider the system's use of projects as a context. Obviously, the way the method was showcased in the video will fail, and it'll just feel like you're adding notes and have no clue what you are doing. Projects are the waypoint, the north pole from which all ideas are focused on. As such, each project needs a subfolder that stores notes. Through this, the work is then supported by the system. Contrast this with Linked Thinking: it purports that linking is thinking, that the work is only in linking. PARA, however, states that the work relies on the actions you take, and that the actions you take relies on the information you have. So, ultimately, PARA is flexible, because it has you do the work, the way that is needed for you. Whether you're a programmer, or writer, or whatever, PARA helps you take action, and gives a space for Projects to be externalized.
[1] You may say that the distinction between Areas and Resources is vague. This is by design, because this distinction is purely up to the person. I classify cooking recipes as a resource because I don't care about setting a standard with it. If you were a chef, for example, then
Recipes could be an Area that you need to set a standard on.
Yes. ACE was developed in the video. PARA was was not developed so appeared meaningless. I do not use either of these. My top folders are GTD, work related, reading and learning, and check lists. GTD is tasks, projects, calendar and objectives. Reading and learning is book notes, video notes and so on. Check lists are groceries, packing lists for trips, etc.
@@robertwhite3503 Fascinating! I found it difficult to have check lists in my system. Mostly cause I found it super inconvenient compared to just opening my journal and writing it there. Do you use Obsidian sync to sync notes to your phone, or any third-party sync options?
@@halleyscomet0867 I sync with Google Cloud. I send notes to my Android when a laptop is not the answer.
You are correct, PARA gets short shrift. For me, i originally gravitated towards PARA as it made sense at the time. However. your description highlights the increased efforts required to 1) make relevant decisions 2) maintain over time. Obsidian allows for note linking, so folders become less relevant as a classification. the same thing can be done with tags and/or properties. You are correct thI am not advocating for ACE necessarily, but simplicity is something I seek. PARA required a lot of maintenance and thus failed for me.
Excellent post, thank you. I also use PARA and find that using it like a Marine with R-resources as a base of fire works best (resources as the LOG chain). Projects are targets, and areas are maintenance and ongoing proficiency. Visualize projects on a conveyor moving by, as you take action on them with things from the resource bin while maintaining core competencies from the area section. I played with SMEAC and rapid planning -like what is done on MEUSOCs but in the end I integrate those into the PARA. But they are very helpful in defining the mission and end state goals - measured against resources available. Obviously, very helpful for the biz owner but not so helpful for the student.
This has been my biggest painpoint -- how to structure folders for notes now that I have thousands of them. I'm leaning towards adopting PARA, but as you also noticed, it's not always clear where things fit in PARA. The ACE method looks neat, I haven't heard of it before; thank you for sharing!
I noticed CyanVoxel did a combination of PARA and Zettelkasten, but this seems like overkill and adds to more confusion.
If I do go with PARA, I'd probably tweak it as follows:
*
*
* 00 - Indexes (maps of content)
* 01 - Daily Journal
* 02 - Projects
* 03 - Areas
* 04 - Resources
* 05 - Archive
And using Google Keep or Apple Notes as the inbox, since Obsidian isn't as great to use on mobile.
This is how I'd organize the notes he had. Folders: 'capture', 'daily notes', 'knowledge-repository', 'life', 'projects', 'school'. (I don't differentiate between projects and efforts.)
I currently have 'knowledge repository' split into a number of sub-folders but you could do this with a property: 'theoretical', 'activity' (activities would be like write a proof', 'procedure' (practical steps) 'quote', 'person', etc.
All those notes like 'calculus 101 class x' would be in capture. Then while encoding the information it transfers to the knowledge repository. I'd also keep track of the notes by week in a file (calculus101) in the school folder. I atomize the notes into single concepts, actions, etc.
Obsidian is so powerful.
true
For me:
- Personal notes go in a physical journal (reflection journal, bullet journal/calendar, etc)
- Study/research notes go into their own vault, with no folders and notes organized by tags.
- Gaming notes go into their own vault organized by folder for each game
- Quick scratch notes go into non-Obsidian text files that are stored in their own synced folder which are easy to find and access and search from anywhere on any device.
What made it all click for me was this simple rule: folders categorise file types (like daily notes, literature notes, etc) whereas links create connections based on content. I also have a file type tag that is redundant with the folders but will allow me to completely change the folder structure (or remove it) at any point if I need without losing the organisation by file type.
There is also a plugin that automatically move notes to folders based on specific tags called Auto Note Mover
I have used Windows for over 20 years so I live in folders. I love learning better ways to organize my folders.
Happy to hear you're always curious to learn
Nice work, again! Very useful videos!
I was overdue some vault renovations which this video prompted me to complete :) I also have a templates folder to make it easier to concentrate all Obsidian templates I have a shortcut to. And I also have a "people" folder where I keep notes about people I interact with (sort of like a bio page) which is particularly useful at work. Every file on the "people" folder starts with an @ symbol, which means I can easily link notes to people I mention in them by starting [[@...]]. When I want to see every note/discussion I had with one particular person, that's viewable in the graph. Cheers!
Did you check Johnny decimal system ?
@@Lohithdhaksha I had never heard of it, but looking at the quick 1 min. description I can say it's not for me at least for the time being. It just feels like I'd be spending too much time on organization Vs. writing/linking notes. I prefer a balanced approach and I thought ACE (+ the extra Milo folders) made sense for my vault. I tried going with purely tags, but that's on the far end of the chaos spectrum.
Thks for sharing though.
Great video for someone to start with obsidian
Put time based notes in 1. Projects
Definition: Short-term efforts with a specific goal and deadline.
Characteristics:
Clearly defined objectives.
A start and end point (time-bounded).
Examples: "Prepare AWS Certification Exam," "Plan Family Vacation," "Complete Quarterly Work Report."
Purpose: Organize all actionable steps, documents, and ideas related to completing a specific outcome.
That works for projects. But what about journal entries, random thoughts, interesting observations?
My system is CAP.
Capture (record).
Analyse (tag n meta data).
Process (linking).
The flow through means i review and revise my notes regularly so they get better.
hey nick thank you for sharing this video - where do you put your outputs? is it in atlas works or in effort notes?
I use the ACCESS method that I got from one of your older videos. PARA and Zettle didn't work for me based on how I use Obsidian. But now I am trying to make up my own tailored system.
EDIT: I think my biggest pain with Obsidian is knwoing how to name my files/folders. As Obsidian takes the title and makes it the file name, btw thi sis very subjective, I don't personally like spaces in my file names. So I either hythenate-everything or trying of something creative using one word.
Thanks, I needed this reset, I had this idea in the beginning, but lost it all in the Obsidian chaos of YT
i enjoyed this video. Been working on organizing my digital life as well as my actual life lol. I came across the PARA Method earlier this year and restructured my computer and phone and spotify and all of them. I just like the structure. I added a 5th folder which is a network folder, one thats attached across my network. I just didn't like Connected folders in the Main Directory. Because when I am in that folder, It just gives me a RED Alert on my computing that this is connected. Just a ME Thing but it works. Again set the system up that works for You is the key. I just really like the PARA Method. I archive weekly (Data Hoarder) I don't I really only delete redundant stuff every 6 months or so. Back up regularly, and I keep my back ups offline. Been saving my systems since 2015. seem like a cool dude with a nice structured balanced life. Jealous lol.
Very nice presentation, easy to listen to. Apparently, I haven't yet figured out what's so great about Obsidian versus using OneNote or just Windows/Mac file system folders full of Word, Excel, etc. files. I need to look elsewhere if I'm going to stick with Obsidian.
Amazing as always, excelent video!
Bro, thank you. I've been hesitating for a year now because I didn't know how to manage and organise my files in an easy way. I have been looking on UA-cam, but so many UA-camrs only show off their complicated Obsidian set ups and give only quick explanations.
Anyway, I'm grateful for you making this video and will be following some of your suggestions about mapping.
Happy to hear this felt like a great entry-level video
Thank you so much.🌠 Incredibly helpful!
Thank you! Love your Obsidian content. And this latest stuff is a step up!
I really need preview for notes, like a one more column between folders and notes. any ideas how to get this?
You can get a hover preview for a note by holding cmd or ctrl while you hover over a note
Still kind of in a state of flux with the structure of my vault but atm I quite satisfied with idea of using a kind of PARA+ structure, partially inspired by this video: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives, Fleeting, MOCs, Dictionary, which ig you could call PARA-FMD.
Fleeting is for just quick informal notes, just to get a quick idea down and come back to later.
MOCs is for..well MOCs.. altho not strictly where all my MOCs go just where the Top-Level or Misc ones go.
Dictionary is for key terms, in folders for each area of interest or misc notes in no folder.
Note ab the MOCs in my vault: I kind of have 2 types, standard MOCs ( focussed more on connecting notes with a bit of description has to what kinds of notes are listed ) and D-MOCs ( descriptive maps of contents, which is a note that isn't explicitly for leading to other notes and has value within itself as well but acts primarily as a connecting medium between many key terms from the dictionary and other notes )
Daily notes go to Archive. Anything happened that day could go to relates any other file. When you open that event note, you will have the list of backlinks below including the daily notes.
Also, if you are responsible from a class, currently taking it, I would put it in Areas, as it is in my responsibility. But any assignment about that specific course would go to projects, because they are my current projects.
I add nything as what I am responsible/ accountable from in Areas. But if it is something i like to collect information (books, interests, ideas, templates, handbooks, guidelines) would go to resources.
All done projects, all Areas, and daily notes go to Archive.
It works for me. The only thing i do different is, i write the names “1-P” instead of 01-Projects, because it is too long. It gets too long when i add the name of the file somewhere. Always, min effort, max work!
nice topic and proffesional explanation
You sir are a genius!!! Subscribing now!
I would suggest that daily notes are Resources.
It sounds weird at first but if you think of it as a draft Source of Information that might produce multiple Notes.. like it's a meeting or podcast but with yourself within yourself..
So you always have a reference back to it probably helpful if you wanna see the whole Thinking-Chain on that Day and how did you come up with something and not the other way..
Pardon my English
Hi Nick, what is the name of the theme you are using?
It is a custom theme he has a video about: ua-cam.com/video/lUZjpIhYOEw/v-deo.html
I'm very interested in how you further organize the Atlas folder. Mine gets very big, so there's no way to keep everything top level.
We need the same concept to explain the tag system... we use a bulk of tags that sometimes we forget so if you can explain how to use a system tag effectively that will be noce
Thanks, great video. Have one question: hot to sort the daily notes with the most recent on top?
Hey what's the theme your using on 7:50?
The usage of the word "idea" confuses me with Obsidian videos. Is it like "I want to call my friend tonight"-idea, or is it "Is money equal to happiness" or is it "10 keypoints from the book X"?
Exactly! (Practically, I'd say the last two. The first one is more of a task/todo/action/etc)
@@linkingyourthinking Thank you for answering
What is the theme that color-coded the folders?
For me folders follow this philosophy: Organize notes by the same type of energy and move on that level deeper if it is necessary.
And one thing to mention is that folders depends of the main folder the VAULT which the defines the goal of your notes. It is not the same a recipe vault, than a physics formula vault, than a cosmology vault. They are very different and I prefer to work with things separated.
And I usually write in Spanish and English but I put normally names on English, or in Spanish if it is only in Spanish.
That's a nice, personal approach. I try to limit the amount of vaults I have, but I do have more than one.
@@linkingyourthinking yeah and that's another big topic, "what's exactly is a vault and how to define it".
I normally use these vaults under these folders:
"Docs/My-notes" for my notes
"Knowledge/Subjects" like a wiki for everything
"Knowledge/vault/xyz" like "recetas-españolas" downloaded vaults from internet like yours "Ideaverse" , "Obsidian vault", etc.
And as system I have these folders audio, documents, pictures, videos, software, knowledge, workspaces. And then inside categorized by the author or thematic (Peter-images, saved-images or LYT-videos, Cinema). Sometimes I feel like the author can group all of those but I prefer to put author inside each folder to not expand general folders.
I try my folders and files not related to obsidian but as general markdown files in directories for any OS, because sometimes I opened with other editors like vscode, or I put in the cloud, or I move from Linux to Windows, etc.
To summarize for me vaults are like little wikis, that are for specif thematics. The main one is about yourself (projects, thoughts, diary, Todo, goals, etc.) and the one designed to give info about a topic like Recipe wiki, Cosmology wiki, Futurama TV wiki, etc.
It's like databases you can put all under one big database, but normally are treated in separate ways. Like a bank, supermarket, newspaper all of those are products with database and information under one city but are treated separately.
whats the name of the theme that changes the folder color, you called it by a different name
I really like this theme that you have provided. I have been using it and I absolutely love it. I have only one request, I want to change the tags property. Since I am using it for my research literature database I need to use tags for author names keywords conference names and so on. I cannot use the tags property since you have a preset properties. I can only use it once and that too with the same predefined name. Is there any way to go around this? Thank you!
I tried using PARA. Love the idea but I found that I was spending more time trying to figure out where the notes go than I was actually using the notes to get things done. Right now, I’m trying to sort things by the 7 areas of life and then I have an Inbox where everything goes that needs to be processed along with an ideas folder. Now if I can remember to process the inbox that would be great 😊.
Is there any good method folder structure for writers to create a book any system there to follow ?
Yes, but it might not work for you and actually leads to more distraction, frustration, and disappointment because...you didn't build your own folders from the bottom-up.
Nick, did I see a folder called Vaults? Do/can you keep different Vaults in a folder? To me that would sound a Vault with a sub-vault, but I must be wrong here. How would that work/benefit?
I would also watch a similar video on Tags :D
I saw in your video that the folder and notes in the left manager have a colored background. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it myself. Could you please tell me which plugin or theme allows this
Thank you for your incredibly inciteful videos, I'm learning a lot from you! I'm still getting into obsidian; I have a folder dedicated to tutorials I'm making for myself to help me learn markdown and the intricacies of obsidian and it's community plugins. I'm completely obsessed with this app, it's incredibly fun to learn how to use such a flexible tool. Much of it is thanks to content creators like you and many others that I have been watching throughout the week so thank you again! Also, I have one quick question. You point offscreen when referencing the theme for the vault during chapter [Random Attempts]. I really like that theme but I have no idea what you were pointing to and I am wondering if you or anyone else can tell me what that theme is called.
What is the theme called, can it be found in community plugins? I can't open the link in the video.
how do thoughts link to other tabs?
If i wrote about something in one folder and I'm writing about it again, will it somehow show it to me?
Thank You
You're welcome
For PARA, I added "00 Inbox" and had Obsidian route everything into that folder.
Atomic notes don't necessarily have to be "small" (which is an arbitrary description anyway)
If you have a long note and it's still about a single idea that can't be split any further into smaller ideas, it counts as an atomic note.
That’s a beautiful theme. What is it?
It's a custom version of anuppuccin theme. He has a video about it in his channel itself.
Holy crap, stay on topic dude.
Tl:dr for me: - PARA methos=> 4 folders name: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives
- ACE method: Atlas, calender, effort
=> Build from the bottom, don't copy, must try to find your.
So far, it seems to me that PARA is great for organizing one's complete life. So, Areas include - household, health and fitness, etc. I'm thinking that ACE makes more sense where we're cultivating our "idea verse." I think I'm gravitating to keeping my life stuff in Apple Notes and using Obsidian for my "idea verse." This is partly because Obsidian is so powerful (and my skills so low), I'd end up wasting too much time creating tasks, dashboards, trackers, etc. in Obsidian.
Bro where did you get that killer thick black paper notebook with the ragged edges shown at 0:21?! That's an absolute must have for my game design world!
Nice video. (even if for me like GTD user this sorting was quite painful xD)
Obsidian lost me on three basic things or 'what OneNote is doing better' (or maybe I wasn't only able to set correctly in Obsidian?):
1. All notes and folders are in one 'window/dashboard'. I don't want to scrool this long list. OneNote has one dashboard for Notebooks (Folders) and it's Sections (basically sub-folders), second dashboard for Pages (Notes) in selected 'folder'.
2. I want full custom sorting of folders and notes (as OneNote does). Not only by date of edit, alphabetically etc. I can do number-coding in names of folders, annoying, but ok. But do it also in notes??? No way, I have too many of them.
3. Small one but also very annoying to me - OneNote doesn't need to name the note, it can make name of note by copying the about first sentence of note's body. Obsidian just gives me Untitled *number*. OneNote can also update that title every time you change that first sentence. As I do daily quite a lot of quick notes it's very useful feature for me.
@linkingyourthinking Hello! Do you have any idea why Obsidian gets so slow while typing? Can you give us any tips, pls?
Use fewer plugins, start there
should course things like for school go in their own folder or is that bad to do? Everytime I see calculus 101 i think of a calculus 101 folder for all that as its school related id probably end up with 100 different notes for it. same with world history 101 I would think to put that in its own folder labeled world history 101. That is how my brain works probably because in highschool i would have a separate binder for each course. Is it bad to do it this way for some reason? For linking things can they only link to the same folder? I just feel like after a couple courses I would no longer be able to find notes on stuff if its all in one folder.
I would place journal and time base activity including daily notes into area of responsibilities. I was told that resource have info you are willing to share with anyone .....and areas is private
Ehat the name of your theme? Its colourful
i drew inspirations from both Nick and Tiago for mine, maybe this will provide some insight for someone:
+
Self
Life
Knowledge
+ for everything utility. Self for journals (daily notes included), plans, goals, aspirations, self reflection, any thing self/psyche related, etc. Life for PARA, dividing life into Areas from work to interests to health to finance to social, etc, projects and action plans that necessarily correspond to areas of life also go in here. Finally, Knowledge for knowledge and ideas, similar to Nick’s Atlas, with an adapted implementation of Zettelkasten.
this structure makes much sense to me currently. it goes from the core of my being, to my immediate living experience, to the universe that contains all. i find folders to be BEST at differentiating types, and worst for topics/content
Very cool, glad you're making it your own, thanks for sharing!
brilliant
How do we find time to do all these things and put it into obsidian at the same time?
I have all my notes in a folder called 'notes'..... Everything else is in project based folders. Maybe i need to rethink this haha. Thanks Nick :)
I think we dont need folders in obsidian. The folders only required when the documents are outside the obsdian. To link the location of the files outside the obsidian, we only require the name of the file and place them insdie out obsidian notes. Searching is enough to dig out the files.
Ecternal files and folders can be put on onedrive etc.
I put daily notes into 02 Areas > Journal > Days
I like your approach. However, no folders for me. The biggest reason is that you can only put a file in 1 folder. So I use 1 folder and every file gets file properties to find my content. (tag, type, source, url, backlink, etc.). Make it as fuzzy as you can and you will find everything within a few seconds.
Q: Does a folder = a vault? Say I have 10 folders, are those scattered across 10 vaults?
A vault is like a master folder. Generally a single vault is recommended (to maintain universal searching and linking) unless you have special use-case for multiple vaults (like making one vault publicly accessible for sharing knowledge vs a vault for private knowledge).
Umami seems shortsighted to me. So do all the others in that category. Every quick note you make belongs to a topic/category. It should either go in a folder specific to its topic, or, if it's too quick-and-dirty to deserve a spot there, you should delete it after a while. If you don't have a folder for that note's topic/category, come up with one.
Can we add pdf in obsidian?
Yes
In 7:00 click in what?
Sadly, the downloads only contain you example notes, but not you ACE folder structure, which I was expecting 😢
That's precisely the point of the video. Make it yourself if you want it to last.
@@linkingyourthinking I understood that - I wanted to see yours as inspiration!
"Grocery List" in "Atlas" everybody...
how i just move a folder like drag and drop? i just want this and nobody knows, i never found the solution, this is fucking hard, i just want this to be happy using this program
Brother, are you even using a computer? Sounds like a tablet problem. Im doing it right now using a mouse, don't know how that's even possible
Please listen to him. Honestly he gave you what you need in the first 25 seconds because you should NOT be organizing and setting up an obsidian vault that has less than 100 notes
"Umami"
Bro, i heard "your mommy"
You know you look like jesper wung sung
👌
Is possible to make Obsidian more simple to edit? Using markdown stuff is kinda annoying, a more UI guided method like on Notion would be cool.
Some of us switched to Obsidian precisely because the "guided" Notion UI was too annoying and distracting 😄
Markdown is quite simple and it's also transferrable to other places like flat-file CMS' (see Kirby or Astro) if you want to publish your content.
@@jay.jarosz I understand the differences and motives to choose either but, a option to make Obsidian more UI oriented would nice. Of course, always a option, if you want to keep using straight markdown it would retain that workflow. A good implementation would use UI to insert markdown in the file and if you disable the UI assist, you could just type md as always.
How do you know that nobody tells you this
umami is literally the fifth taste. You have 5 taste buds for each fleavor, but not less or more.