I’ve probably tried every note-taking app there is, or at least all the free ones. And every now and then, one of them sneaks its way into my permanent note-taking stack. There’s Microsoft Loop, which I still think is a great browser-based app for quick notes, and AFFiNE, which ended up being my go-to PKM app. The rest usually don’t last long beyond the testing phase.

Then there’s Obsidian. It’s a bit of a weird one in my setup because I don’t always use it as my main app, but I’ve also never had a real reason to drop it. Sometimes I drift toward other tools to test them out or try something new, and Obsidian disappears into the background. Then I open it again and am reminded of why I never really left. Everything about it just makes sense…

The vault

It’s the flexibility that keeps me coming back

Everyone loves Obsidian for being local-first and giving you complete ownership over your files and data. But plenty of local-first apps do the same thing already. Control and ownership are not the only reasons I love the vault - I love that it acts like all my other document folders.

The vault has immediacy, flexibility, and seamless file handling. When you create a note in Obsidian, it instantly becomes an .md file in the vault with no delay or sync lag. Folders and folder hierarchies also populate in the vault and auto-sync as you create them in Obsidian. I can copy any parts of the vault, or the entire thing, onto another device, and everything will be exactly as I’d left it. Plus, everything remains accessible thanks to the plain-text compatibility.

It’s the most predictable and dependable note-taking and file management system there is. There’s no database layer or proprietary format to navigate. And only the files you created in Obsidian are in the vault, no hidden app system files, which is what makes it so easy to copy elsewhere. Any changes I make in Obsidian reflect in the vault immediately, and vice versa. It feels the same as working with any other document folder I’ve created on my PC.

The advantages of Markdown

Formatting in Obsidian, portability everywhere else

Another reason I keep coming back to Obsidian is that every note is created in Markdown. The cool thing is that I’m not actually typing in Markdown syntax most of the time, because Obsidian already has all the formatting controls in the interface. Although the Markdown syntax is already pretty easy and second-nature for me, Obsidian’s formatting tools are quicker.

It also has a live preview that renders Markdown in real time, so the special characters don’t get in your way. But you can still view the raw Markdown by just clicking on the formatting, and it re-renders when you click away. This blending of editing and previewing happens in the same view, so I don’t have to constantly bounce between a split-view mode.

Of course, Markdown is also an open-standard format with a plain-text foundation. So I can open them on any device with any operating system using any text editor (and most note-taking apps, too). Some apps will render the formatting properly, but even if they don’t, the text is still readable and the context still makes sense. Chances are my Markdown notes will live as long as I do, and probably for as long as computers exist - they’re completely future-proof.

Useful plugins and integrations

Obsidian handles more than notes

Even though I consider Obsidian a minimalist app in terms of its layout, it’s pretty decked out with plugins and integrations. Many consider Obsidian’s reliance on plugins to be a bottleneck, and I can see where they’re coming from. But I like to keep my workflow streamlined and minimal, so the core plugins it ships with, plus just a handful of community plugins, are more than enough for me.

Personally, I love Bases, as it’s a much simpler solution to databases than Notion’s databases. You don’t need to set them up from scratch and they work globally across your entire vault by default. Canvas is another one of my favorites as I’m a visual thinker, and it lets me map out the connections between my notes visually - plus, it’s just a great space for brainstorming and creating diagrams.

Lastly, I use the Copilot plugin, but I actually hooked up Obsidian to my local LLM through Copilot instead of using one of the cloud models. This keeps my entire workflow completely local, despite being AI-powered. Together, these three plugins give me a very unique experience in Obsidian that I’ve yet been able to replicate anywhere else.

Obsidian is still king

Obsidian isn’t my cup of tea every day, at least not when I’ve found a shiny new app to play with. But I always end up coming back to it because of its reliability. The vault system is incredibly flexible yet predictable, the notes are accessible, and my user experience is very customizable. Obsidian always seems ready to handle whatever I throw at it.