My Obsidian Workflow

Even the longest journey starts with a single step. I was searching for a way to organise knowledge and remember it, and there are many very good systems that can help. The best option might be to find a system you like and then customise and reorganise it to fit your needs.

Directories

• 00_Fleeting_inbox

  • Fleeting notes or inbox directory is a place where fresh notes start. This is a starting point for notes that still need to be refined, quick thoughts, and work in progress. Conduct a weekly review; completed notes should move forward into one of the following categories.

• 01_Reference

  • This directory is for practical knowledge. From tools and software to life and philosophy, reference notes are here to quickly scan through if needing a reminder.

• 02_Ideas_and_projects

  • These are my own ideas and personal thoughts. A place to start and manage personal projects, akin to a cooking pot with different ingredients, almost ready to be served. Unlike references, these are my own views on particular subjects which can but don't have to be right.

• 03_Literature_notes

  • Literature doesn't have to be a physical book, it can be a digital article or a blog post. While 01_Reference directory have very practical notes, literature notes are wider range of ideas and personal thoughts about different concepts. When taking literature notes be mindful of a structure but also take note of important metadata.
  • Read more about structure of literature notes

• 04_Expressions

  • After collecting enough knowledge and different ideas, when there is enough to encapsulate written words into my own expressions, I will share them online. This is the directory where everything comes together.

• 05_Archive

  • Never delete notes, archive them
  • Place for all notes that you wish to remove from the current structure. Never delete them; keep them in the Archive so you can search them, read them, and maybe even revive them in the future.

Important properties

There are two types of properties i will use, essential and optional. Essential properties must be included since those will help indexing and finding the relevant notes. Some plugins like Dataview requires metadata to be included so you can query relevant information. In future i will probably use some static site generators or frameworks to publish my notes as an online digital garden. Such frameworks require properties like title and description to improve search engine optimisation, or published being set to true or false which enables you to store the written note as an draft while you still work on it.

Create the Dataview index to query the list of available frontmatter properties. It is important to review the index file with key-value pairs that are used often and don't create new key-value pairs if it is not necessary. If i already have source: web there is no need to create additional source: article and source: blog. If i already have URL property there is no need to create additional link property. Not going to wide will help later when you need to search for information.

Type property

Utilising YAML frontmatter, type is essential property that must be set for every file and with only one value written as a double quoted string.

It would be a mess going to wide with different types of notes. It will for sure loose the purpose. When i see a need to expand the list of available values i will for sure add more.

Current type values

Plugins

• Dataview

  • Treat your Obsidian Vault as a database which you can query. Create dynamic views of your notes. For instance, you can create a table of all notes tagged with #project or a list of all #reference notes with a specific tag. It provides a JavaScript API and pipeline-based query language for filtering, sorting, and extracting data from Markdown pages. More info can be found at GitHub repository.

• Templater

  • Templater is a template language that lets you insert variables and function results into your notes. It also lets you execute JavaScript code manipulating those variables and functions. With Templater, you can create powerful templates to automate manual tasks. Documentation is available at silentvoid13.com. To execute templater code and show output, use the following command: Templater: Replace templates in the active file or by shortcut alt + R

• Excalidraw

  • The Obsidian-Excalidraw plugin integrates Excalidraw, a feature-rich sketching tool, into Obsidian. You can store and edit Excalidraw files in your vault, embed drawings into your documents, and link to documents and other drawings. For a showcase of Excalidraw features, browse the GitHub repository.

Linking Notes

Most, if not all my notes have listed additional reading materials or references at the bottom. Since note systems have a tendency to grow over time it would be wise to review them on a regular basis and include both inbound and outbound links to new notes or reference material if it becomes available. Frontmatter can have status variable to indicate the level of maturity or completeness. There is a dataview index file tracking the status stages of the whole vault.

Large number of notes can be time consuming to review. Try using dataview queries as an index page and try to build a maps of content that will help with establishing connections between related topics.

References

• index page - personal note
• literature notes structure - personal note
• maps of content - personal note
• my note on notetaking - personal note
• building a second brain - book reference
• How to take smart notes - book reference