First, structuring you notes in s tree like structures using folders is a valid approach (independent on real files structure).
Second, some people, including me, expect that their notes can live longer that tools, in this case it makes sense to not rely on tool features too much.
This is not for everyone, I agree. I don’t see how it ties my notes to any specific tool, however. It doesn’t impact the contents of notes. It’s just a different way of interacting with them.
@gelberhut@biscotty@obsidianmd I agree with gelberhut. Folders are to organization as plaintext is to data, and are one of the keys to a files-first, future-proofing approach. #Obsidian could break and refuse to open, and I could still navigate my notes in any file manager and open and use them in any text or #markdown editor. That’s going to be a lot harder to do if you’ve dumped all of your thousands or tens of thousands of notes in root. #PKM
@EpiphanicSynchronicity@gelberhut@biscotty@obsidianmd I do both: indexes and MOCs and individual projects are organised into directory structures, "cards" go into one folder with little organisation but only after they're tagged or linked into the indexes in ways I'm pretty sure I can access if/when #obsidian passes.
@Colman@gelberhut@biscotty@obsidianmd I use MOCs, tags, etc., too. #Obsidian lets you link freely across folders, which don’t comstrain you from using other organizational methods concurrently.
@Colman@gelberhut@biscotty@obsidianmd I don’t think assigning a directory to everything is any more “artificial” than assigning a tag or an MOC, but I do use several inbox folders for notes I want to process later.
@austingovella@EpiphanicSynchronicity@Colman@gelberhut@biscotty@obsidianmd I use folders where it makes sense to me to do so. Where they add value to my workflow. Some sections of my vault have folders 2 or 3 deep, because that's what I need for those topics.
I also have a folder called ALL THE NOTES (my folder names are always in capitals, for easy differentiation from files) where everything else is dumped.
Works great for me! There's no true religion for organising your stuff.
I also have a folder called ALL THE NOTES (my folder names are always in capitals, for easy differentiation from files) where everything else is dumped.
Works great for me! There's no true religion for organising your stuff.
To me the only reason for a second vault is for sharing or collaborating with others. Obsidian really doesn’t care how many notes you have in your vault so maintaining separate vaults just adds additional steps in getting to your info. (Obsidian doesn’t care about directories either for that matter.)
I’ve a single vault with everything in it - personal journal, research projects, writing projects, random notes, all of it. I separate it all in a folder structure when I can, and use tags for finding the random notes and files otherwise. I’ve got notes from Kindle and Zotero books that get pulled in when necessary, as well as Fleeting Notes. I keep my vault synced on my desktop, laptop, and Android phone via a home-grown GitHub sync script.
I have a large collection of stuff in a OneNote notebook, which stays there until I need it. No sense taking the time to move over stuff I may not need right now.
I do a lot of my writing in it using Longform, as well as just in a note for shorter pieces. Those include some crappy creative writing and slightly less crappy technical articles.
I run RPG games for my friends. I create a new vault for each adventure. I typically create document folders like: locations, npcs, objects, events, rules, notes.
For common stuff that I use in every adventure, I just copy those files and folders into the new vault from the most recent old vault (the rules folder, for example).
I love how lightweight and simple this is in Obsidian.
I use links where it makes sense to me, and I don’t worry overly much about link counts or the graph view. (I use both, I just don’t stress over it). The tool should work for me, not vice versa.
I don’t use plug-ins, but I do use style sheets and game specific fonts. Autohotkey is also great for making repetitive and/or complicated formatting easier. Getting the fonts embedded into the first project was a technical nuisance, but now I just copy that into every new vault.
Watching YouTube videos made by Obsidian power users, I’m super impressed by the things some people do with it. But I prefer keeping my workflow fairly simple. If I spend too much time messing with the tool, that feels counterproductive to me.
For some types of metadata, I’ve used dataview to make a list of notes missing the key fields I want, then I can go back from time to time when I’m bored, and add the new data.
I also use this to summarize things like meeting notes after a day or so to digest what I heard.
I have two vaults: one for general purpose notes, and one for the homebrew D&D campaign I’m running. In the regular Notes vault, there’s very little cross-lining except for one section where I was studying for a certification. In the D&D vault, I use links and tags quite a bit.
Part of my creative projects vault is ideas for a homebrew D&D campaign! What's yours like? I need to flesh out my world a little and add a few spicy situations before it's ready for players.
I’m actually really happy with how world building went. I came up with a basic idea: a world where magic and non-humans hadn’t existed for thousands of years, but suddenly magic begins to return–kind of like Shadowrun, but without the cyberpunk. Then I added in a group modeled vaguely on the Overseers from Dishonored to be a force of anti-magic social sentiment.
The next step was a couple of prequel oneshots. Since I’m bad at oneshots, those ended up being 4-5 sessions each. They were set about 30 and then about 15 years before the return of magic, and allowed the players to become familiar with the basic setting and to introduce some places and characters.
The crucial step was then doing a few rounds of Microscope with the players. Using that as a worlbuilding tool after we already built a shaded understanding of the basics of the world allowed us to collaboratively generate a really detailed and interesting history.
Between the oneshots and Microscope, the players are all really invested in the world they’re playing in. I can throw out references to things and they actually catch them and are excited by them, because they’re either things that their oneshot characters did or experienced, or they’re things they created themselves in Microscope.
Needless to say this all made for tons of notes in Obsidian.
Resilio Sync works very well for this too. I had looked at syncthing, but there was a reason I chose Resilio. Just can’t recall what that reason is at the moment
One of the limitations of Obsidian linking, and any markdown linking to be precise, is the fact that you cannot define the type of link. So, just use sentences next to the links. This way, you can evolve your locations saying what is in , next to or part of
As an example of evolving your locations and making the connections flexible, imagine that I start working on locations I care about. I am naming the locations and then slapping note content as they evolve.
<span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - a company is inside a [[City A]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[Department A note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - this department is inside [[Company A HQ]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A HQ note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is inside a [[City A]]
</span>
While developing my location notes I clearly mentioned a company as a location which I later find out it is wrong. Specially because Company A has warehouses in two cities. Fixing now.
<span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - owns various locations
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - owns [[Company A HQ note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - owns [[Company A Warehouse 1 note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - owns [[Company A Warehouse 1 note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A HQ note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is in [[City A note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A Warehouse 1 note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is in [[City A note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[Company A Warehouse 2 note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is in [[City B note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is in [[ABC Industrial Complex note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">[[ABC Industrial Complex note]]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;">tags: #location
</span><span style="color:#323232;">---
</span><span style="color:#323232;"> - is just outside [[City B note]]
</span>
My point is that you need to use sentences as ways to link locations. And maybe use tags to keep track of what is or is not a location. Things change after all.
Also, if you have not done this already, please enable “Show backlinks” to keep track of notes linking to the one you are working on if you have not done that already. It is massively useful.
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