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re: Obsidian.md anyone here using it

Posted on 6/23/22 at 11:02 pm to
Posted by RebelOP
Misty Mountain Top
Member since Jun 2013
12481 posts
Posted on 6/23/22 at 11:02 pm to
It makes sense to have a master note in each file, but would you consider a separate "daily notes" folder? And then link that to the master note?

For example, if you had three clients in one day. In each client's subfolder, there is already a MOC. Would your daily note contain three links, one for each client?
Posted by Chromdome35
NW Arkansas
Member since Nov 2010
7010 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 9:56 am to
This is a picture-heavy response, I think it is the best way to show you how I do this.

My Top-level Folder Structure


My top-level folders expanded. Each of the sublevel folders ie Accounting has a MOC Note which acts as my focal point note for that entity. In the Home folder, you will see a daily notes subfolder, that's where all my daily notes go. I have a monthly MOC note for my daily notes so I can easily see all the notes from a month.


This is my daily note from yesterday (redacted).
1) The top section shows any open todo items from any of my notes
2) The Today's Notes section is used to capture the days notes. You can see a combination of inline notes and linked notes. I use templates and hotkeys to make this easy to do. If I have a meeting, I press the hotkey for New Meeting Note and a new meeting note opens up using my meeting note template. The new note is automatically logged on my daily note page.
3) At the bottom you see a section called unfiled notes from today. As new notes are created, they go into the Home - New Notes Folder. I drop them here because, during a meeting, I'm talking and taking notes in my shorthand. Afterward I'll clean the note up and file it in its appropriate folder. By showing a list of unfiled notes at the bottom of my daily note, I have a visual reminder of unfiled notes.


This graphic may help













Posted by RebelOP
Misty Mountain Top
Member since Jun 2013
12481 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 12:05 pm to
This really helps! Thanks a lot I’ll digest and circle back. I’ve been using Todoist and really enjoy that software. That’s how my brain works but I didn’t have a system for notes.
Posted by Chromdome35
NW Arkansas
Member since Nov 2010
7010 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 12:33 pm to
I was using Todoist for my task list prior to switching to Obsidian
Posted by TAMU-93
Sachse, TX
Member since Oct 2012
959 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 2:37 pm to
You got another one hooked

I have a client with a custom accounting system. The accounting system is comprised of 1200 programs. And of course, none of those programs are documented.

I've been proto-typing how I might use Obsidian to document this system. I'll write a script to parse the source code. The script will create a .md file for every program. The .md file will have backlinks to every program the parsed program can branch to. This will give me a graph that shows how all the programs relate to each other.

Then over the next few months, I can start fleshing out the documentation. I plan on adding the menu number, menu name, and a brief description of the program's function.

Posted by RebelOP
Misty Mountain Top
Member since Jun 2013
12481 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 7:53 pm to
I am trying to figure out how to use this with an insurance company. Life insurance underwriters make a lot of notes as they examine client medical records. Doctors / medications / medical conditions / diagnosis, etc...

I want to figure out how to structure the client folders, notes, and how the links should work so we can refer back to them later on and track certain metrics.

I assume that a "MOC" is the most important document in a folder. Can someone give me an example of how an MOC might look if that is the case? A screenshot maybe?

I want to be able to quickly generate/view an overall health history using all the underwriter's notes when pulling up a client's profile. Sorry for the long post, but i'm going down a rabbit hole. It's Friday night, and knowing my brain....I'm not getting to sleep anytime soon until I can figure this crap out.
Posted by Hulkklogan
Baton Rouge, LA
Member since Oct 2010
43454 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 8:09 pm to
quote:

1200 programs. And of course, none of those programs are documented.



Amazing how something like that can happen, and yet it is incredibly common.

I've had to clean up large networks with zero documentation, but at least network equipment generally has built-in protocols to help you see attached devices.

Doing that with code would be absolutely painstaking without something to help you map it out.



Seeing Chromdome's note system is inspiring, tbh. What I currently do is better for me than any previous note taking systems I've done, but I can see that I could make my notes incredibly better. I just dont have time to dive into it right now.
This post was edited on 6/24/22 at 8:10 pm
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 8:39 pm to
OP's suggestion of looking into how others use it to help develop your own system is solid, however maybe you can't find anything that feels good to you. It seems and looks complicated, but the real beauty of it is the simplicity. At its core it is just plain text files linked together however you want. Just start writing and collecting your data. Put it all into a catch-all "inbox" folder until you've collected enough that some sort of organization structure emerges from your particular data. A lot of times starting with a strong structural foundation can help, but other times maybe the structure is too rigid and it holds you back.

Avoid the analysis paralysis and just start writing. Obsidian makes it really easy to reorganize later.

quote:

I assume that a "MOC" is the most important document in a folder. Can someone give me an example of how an MOC might look if that is the case? A screenshot maybe?
It can be very simply just a list of links to related documents, or you can flesh it out with notes as well because it is a note just like any other. Just start writing and linking and I think you'll figure out how you want to organize. Don't get overwhelmed with the formatting and plugins and such, just get a feel for the basics of generating content and linking it together. After that things will start to fall into place, and Obsidian makes it really easy to shuffle content around.
Posted by RebelOP
Misty Mountain Top
Member since Jun 2013
12481 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 9:25 pm to
quote:

Obsidian makes it really easy to reorganize later.

This makes me feel better. I do tend to fall into the
quote:

analysis paralysis
category.

Posted by Chromdome35
NW Arkansas
Member since Nov 2010
7010 posts
Posted on 6/24/22 at 11:27 pm to
I will post a screenshot of one of my mocs tomorrow.

Part of the power of obsidian is there is no right or wrong way to use it. The extendability of the software with plugins makes it very easy to build a system that works for you.

There are several plugins I highly recommend:

Dataview: is at the top of the list.
Tasks: to add a task management system
Templator: robust templates
Quick Add: works with templator to make it easy to hotkey templates
Calendar: adds a Calender to obsidian that works well for daily notes
Periodic Notes: Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly notes.

The majority of plugins are very easy to use. Dataview is probably the most complex as it even supports JavaScript. The query language is similar to SQL but much more limited.

Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/12/24 at 11:34 am to
Bump to see if we can get more discussion going.


After a couple years of barely touching it, I'm going to give Obsidian another go. Looks like the Tasks plugin has gotten some major improvements. It's more of a full-featured task management tool now.
Posted by TAMU-93
Sachse, TX
Member since Oct 2012
959 posts
Posted on 8/12/24 at 3:05 pm to
I've been using Obsidian since I completed that system documentation project I mentioned earlier in the thread. My daily notes typically look like this.

quote:


2024 -08-12

## [[Acme Manufacturing]] missing cash receipts
15:00 - 15:30

[[John Smith]] called.

John's [[cshent.dbm|(G.04.) Cash Receipts Entry And Editing (cshent)]] post from [[2024-08-11]] is not showing up on the [[artbal.dbm|(G.05.) Print AR Aged Trial Balance (artbal)]] report.

Transactions are in [[moncsh.ddf]] but not [[aropen.ddf]]. John probably aborted the post because aropen was in use.

Ran [[clrfil.cmd]] to clear file locks.

Restarted [[pstcsh.dbm]].

Returned call. Left message with [[Jill Smith]] that John's issue has been resolved.


The note for all those objects in double quotes will have a linked mention to this daily note.

If I'm doing billing at the end of the month for Acme Manufacturing, Acme Manufacturing's note will mention that I did work for them on 2024-08-12.

If someone calls me in three months with the same problem, I can look at the cash receipts program note and easily find this solution in the linked mentions.
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/12/24 at 4:47 pm to
quote:


I've been using Obsidian since I completed that system documentation project I mentioned earlier in the thread.
That might be what it takes for it to stick with me, a large-ish project with clearly-defined goals that I can plow through and get used to all the features and workflows. Before, I tried to use it mostly for task management, but it just wasn't at the level of the other tools I use (mostly in terms of convenience). I'm loving the power, though, and I think I'm willing to sacrifice a little convenience to get that.

And again it looks like the Tasks plugin has been under heavy development, and I love the idea of writing todo's right there in the context of the notes they are related to, and building task lists via queries.
Posted by LSshoe
Burrowing through a pile o MikePoop
Member since Jan 2008
4085 posts
Posted on 8/12/24 at 10:19 pm to
I use a sort of combination of obsidian and logseq. Mostly logseq which is both journaling/date based and focuses on bullet points as "blocks". Obsidian more for personal wiki things. They don't 100% play nice with each other but both are markdown so both have access to the complete set of notes while also being able to mostly stay in their own lane. Not perfect but its worked for me over the last couple years and since its all markdown it's at least mostly exportable. Main thing I wish I had a better handle on are things like shopping and todos. I can make it work in either but neither quite work as well as I'd like.
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/13/24 at 11:21 am to
quote:

Main thing I wish I had a better handle on are things like shopping and todos.

Yeah I'm still working on using Obsidian for the way I like to handle these things. The Tasks plugin is pretty great, but it's not perfect for my workflow. I had a minor issue because it doesn't differentiate between todo's and lists/checklists, but the workaround for that is to add a #tag to the header above checklists and then exclude that #tag from your tasks queries with:
quote:

heading does not include #tag

The other issue is I use a lot of tags on tasks, and I like to interactively filter by multiple tags. For example, I might choose two or three tags and maybe I want to see tasks with *any* of them or with *all* of them.

And just as I was about to write that I couldn't figure it out, I got it solved with some dataviewjs.
Posted by Chromdome35
NW Arkansas
Member since Nov 2010
7010 posts
Posted on 8/13/24 at 6:36 pm to
I still use Obsidan constantly. One of the things I've found very powerful is using Tag combinations combined with queries to keep track of things related to people.

For example, Say you have six direct reports and want to be able to assign tasks to them, talk to them about something, and remember to bring up something next time you talk.

When I'm taking notes and there is something I want to discuss with one of my people, I create a to-do item inline and embed a tag as part of the title. The tag would be like this: #ToBringUpPersonName. If I assign something to a person, I tag it #AssignedToPersonName.

I have a page for each person, and on that page, I have queries written that show me the items categorized together. A typical query looks like this:

> ```tasks
> not done
> tags include #AssignToBrooke
> short mode
> hide task count
> ```

This is a screenshot of a blank note with the ToDo item creating it and assigning it to someone. You can see the two drop down sections above where if I have any tasks due today or past due, they will show up in that area.


This is a screenshot of a typical person page that I keep for people I work with. You can see the To Do item from the note, is appearing here on Brooke's page. This is instantaneously added when I make the to-do item with the tag.


At the top level of my note system, I have a page called Task List. On this page I have a variety of queries written that show me different views of all my open tasks.


One thing to keep in mind, you can "dock" a note into the left or right sidebars. This allows me to dock my todo list and have it visible all day in the sidebar.




Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/14/24 at 9:00 am to
Great stuff right there.

The basic formula here, an open and flexible storage format, pluggable architecture, scriptability, etc. makes Obsidian essentially a Life OS. A few days in this go 'round and I'm making it an integral part of my everyday life.

If anyone wants to try my task filter script, I'll post the code below. I have this code in a note by itself, and I filter tasks by tags via changing the tags on the note itself. I make a ton of tasks, hundreds active at any time (many of them recurring), and many of them don't have dates attached so I need some way to filter down to what I need to do or can do at the moment to make the list manageable. I use a lot of tags so that I can mix and match and filter quickly. For example, maybe I have some time to sit down and make some calls, so I filter by #call and #work and I get a list of all the work-related calls I need to make.

quote:

```dataviewjs
// THIS NOTE MUST HAVE PROPERTIES `tags` (tags list) AND `all` (checkbox/boolean)
let tags = dv.current().file.tags
// if no tags selected, display all tasks
// future version may have option to display tasks with *no* tags
if (tags.length == 0) {
dv.taskList(dv.pages().file.tasks)
}
let pages = new Set()
let all = dv.current().all

if (all != true) {
// 'all' is not checked, return tasks with *any* of the chosen tags
for (let page of dv.pages()) {
let includePage = false;
for (let tag of tags) {
// check page tags. substring to remove leading space
if (page.tags && dv.array(page.tags).includes(tag.substring(1))) {
includePage = true;
break;
}
// if page doesn't have tag, check individual tasks
for (let task of page.file.tasks) {
if (task.text && task.text.includes(tag)) {
includePage = true;
break;
}
}
}
if (includePage == true) {
pages.add(page);
}
}
} else {
// 'all' is checked, return tasks that have *all* chosen tags
for (let page of dv.pages()) {
let includePage = true;
for (let tag of tags) {
if (page.tags && dv.array(page.tags).includes(tag.substring(1))) {
continue;
} else {
// filter out page missing tag, but add back if task has tag
includePage = false;
for (let task of page.file.tasks) {
if (task.text && task.text.includes(tag)) {
includePage = true;
break;
} else {
continue;
}
}
}
if (includePage != true) {
break;
}
}
if (includePage == true) {
pages.add(page);
}
}
}
let data = dv.array(Array.from(pages));
dv.taskList(data.file.tasks);
```


Edit: Fixed a couple bugs above. There are probably more.

ETA 2024-08-19: Fixed a new bug that cropped up, switched a couple 'contains' to 'includes'
This post was edited on 8/19/24 at 2:39 pm
Posted by Chromdome35
NW Arkansas
Member since Nov 2010
7010 posts
Posted on 8/14/24 at 9:50 am to
Nice

It really is a very powerful tool; however, to really take advantage of the power it provides can be a bit challenging for the non technical.

What Plugins do you use?
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/14/24 at 9:56 am to
Oh, I've also been pondering multi-user capability and shared vaults. I realize Obsidian (and direct editing of plain text in general) was designed with a single user in mind, but Obsidian does allow shared vaults with their sync service so I've been fleshing out the idea of using plain text storage for apps built for small teams.

Usually you would have an app and database as mediators between users and the data to handle auth and such, but often that's overkill and a lot of infrastructure to maintain.

My example use-case might be timesheets, where everyone can record their own time in a set of shared text files. It might work like so:

I add a time block to the Big Project note, and then I digitally sign that single line or block of lines in the note with my private key. The signature goes right there at the end of the line or on the last line of a delimited block of lines. An admin can come behind me and co-sign or post-sign the line or block, preventing me from editing it afterwards.

All of our public keys will be stored in our respective employee notes, so everyone can individually verify every signature. These notes can likewise be signed by admins to prevent tampering.


I'm sure there are a ton of holes and pitfalls in this idea, but it sounds workable to me. Maybe it'll end up being pointless and there's a better way to do it, but I think the possibility of signing segments of documents and having multiple signatures on a single document might fit a lot of use-cases. We do this in real life all the time.
Posted by Korkstand
Member since Nov 2003
28897 posts
Posted on 8/14/24 at 10:16 am to
quote:

It really is a very powerful tool; however, to really take advantage of the power it provides can be a bit challenging for the non technical.
Yep. I've picked Obsidian back up this week mostly because my wife has gotten fed up with Evernote. She also has notes and lists scattered all over (digital and non-), so I think if I can build out a nice easy-to-use platform on Obsidian, it might be something to help her out (and me too, of course).
quote:

What Plugins do you use?
I have restarted my journey as of my bump of this thread, so I've been trying tons of plugins and seeing what sticks. Here is my list so far:

Dataview (of course)
Tasks (of course)
Templater (of course)
Iconize
TimeStamper
Rich Links
Checklist Reset
Meta Bind (just starting to play around, seems useful for making Obsidian more app-like)


I'm sure there are lots more that I will end up using, but that's where I am so far. I will probably try a few of the spreadsheet plugins soon.


ETA: I tried Markwhen, which I think would be really cool if it would pull from regular md tasks instead of requiring dedicated mw files. I think this can be worked around via dataviewjs to produce mw files. I may give it a shot.
This post was edited on 8/16/24 at 1:52 pm
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