Obsidian seems to have a reputation of being quite an intimidating tool - there are loads of plugins, a bit of a weird folder structure, and overall it’s just different from other PKM tools. I used to feel the same way when I first started using Obsidian, and sometimes I still do when I look at the complex setups other users have. However, you don’t need to go full-on power user to get the most out of it. You can start small, keep it simple, and get a lot of mileage from its core features.

For me, Obsidian’s appeal isn’t in how complicated your setups can get - I mainly love it for how it handles Markdown, the local vault, and the handy Graph view. Plus, the Obsidian Canvas tool is just such a great way for visual thinkers to control their notes and content. If you’ve been hesitating about getting started with Obsidian, there really is no need to. You can use it in these simple ways I do…

Why Obsidian looks complicated

But really isn’t

If you’re scared of Obsidian, you might have come across content that demonstrates highly sophisticated setups, explores all its plugins, uses complicated automations, or runs scripts. While you can do all these things in Obsidian, you don’t have to in order to reap the benefits of using it.

I think the UI can also be a little off-putting to some. The command palette alone looks like it could be a hacker’s terminal. There are also no visible formatting options since it’s a Markdown-first editor. And sometimes I’m still confused when I step into the Bases window looking for some old projects. But I love it for the simple functionality it gives me.

Notes and drafts

Don’t underestimate Obsidian’s most basic use case

Obsidian’s core functionality is simple and incredibly practical: taking notes and managing drafts. Creating a new note is as simple as hitting New Note and starting to write. The whole app is Markdown by default, so you can just type in plain text or use the Markdown syntax for some basic formatting such as bold, italic, underscore, and headers.

And if you don’t want to learn Markdown, there are shortcuts that let you format in seconds, or you can simply right-click > Format. This alone makes it suitable for anyone - writers, novelists, students, and the everyday person who wants to note things down.

Furthermore, because everything is Markdown and local, Obsidian plays really well with other apps. Every note lives in an .md file on your computer - it automatically gets stored in something called the “vault”.

Quick lists

No need for a separate to-do app

Obsidian does have plugins that give you more elaborate lists, to-dos, and task features. But you don’t even need to bother with those if you just want to keep track of small tasks or project steps. A simple Markdown list works perfectly, and I use them all the time to list my article sections before getting started with the draft.

All you need to do is type - [ ] and it will generate a checkbox on the page. This box is interactive, so you can click it to tick off tasks, or click again to untick. I also like the bullet feature, which just requires you to type the short dash - and hit space. These two simple syntaxes eliminate the need for dedicated to-do apps on my PC.

Linking isn’t that hard

Backlinking happens automatically

You might have heard of people “creating backlinking systems” in Obsidian, and I’ve used this term as well. But that’s not exactly how backlinking works. Backlinks are created automatically on pages that get mentioned in other pages. That’s pretty much all there is to it.

All you need to do to link a page is add the double brackets [[ to a keyword and search for the document you want to link. Opening that linked document will then show you everywhere else that it’s linked under Linked Mentions in the right panel - those are the backlinks. As you can see, they’re automatically generated, but you can, in a way, “create” a backlinking system by strategically linking the same document across multiple other pages.

I mainly use linking to keep track of information for my novel drafts. But it comes in handy for avoiding duplication, quick navigation, instant context, tracking ideas, and things of that nature.

Making the most of the visual features

Graph View and Canvas are your best friends for quick visual overviews

Obsidian is pretty unique in that it ships with the Graph View and Canvas features, both of which are visual representations of your work. Graph View consists of nodes, which represent your files, and connected lines, which represent links. This gives you an interactive way to view and access your entire vault.

Obsidian’s Canvas is one of my favorite parts of the app. It’s an infinitely scrollable digital whiteboard, and I mainly use it as a mind-mapping and diagramming tool. It doesn’t offer much in terms of features; the most you can do is create notes, link pages, change the colors, and connect everything with arrows. I also like that weblinks are scrollable within the canvas. It’s a very minimal but powerful feature every Obsidian user should give a shot.

You don’t need to be an Obsidian power user to get the most out of it

Obsidian can look intense from the outside, and I get why. But most of its power is in simply opening a blank page and starting writing. Linking is as easy as hitting a double bracket key, lists take a split second to create, and the Graph and Canvas tools are easy ways to navigate your work visually. Plus, everything lives locally in Markdown. Obsidian has its quirks, but it’s kind of the perfect note-taking app, even if you’re a complete novice.