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Your First Five Steps to Set-Up a Slipbox in Obsidian

January 26, 2022 by Eva Keiffenheim


Take smart digital notes with the Zettelkasten approach.

Photo by Daniel Ă–berg on Unsplash

I recently switched to Obsidian because it beats RoamResearch in terms of speed and data privacy.

Similar to Roam, Obsidian is a note-taking software many people use for knowledge management.

While both tools use markdown and share some functionalities, they look and work differently.

Here are the first five steps I took to set up my slip-box (aka Zettelkasten) in Obsidian.


1) The basic commands you want to know

In your left panel, you can create a new folder and a new note.

For formatting your notes, there are a couple of commands you might want to keep in mind.

For writing italics, utilize the *this* or _this_ command. For bolding the text use a double combination like ** this** or __ this__ .

Hashtags set the size of your heading. Make sure to include a space after the hashtag otherwise you create a tag.

Source: Obsidian Help Desk

The last basic command you need is the [[ ]] for linking. Similar to Roam, Obsidian will create a new note out of an existing note, if you bracket a word or sentence. Yet, you need to click on the bracketed word to actually create the note. You can also use files and links and tags and embed notes in others.


2) Create the templates for different notes

To quickly create the three different Zettelkasten note types, you want to use templates. Here’s a quick recap about the different types of notes in a Zettelkasten:

  • Fleeting Notes: Fleeting notes are ideas that pop into your mind as you go through your day. They can be really short, just like one word. You don’t need to organize them.
  • Literature Notes: You capture literature notes from the content you consume. It’s your bullet-point summary from other people’s ideas. I create these notes for all books, podcasts, articles, or videos I find valuable.
  • Permanent Notes: When you create permanent notes, you think for yourself. In contrast to literature notes, you don’t summarize somebody else’s thoughts. You don’t just copy ideas but develop, remix, and contradict them. You create arguments and discussions. By writing your idea down, you put pressure on your thinking and transform vague thoughts into clear points.

In Obsidian, templates work differently from the ;; command in Roam. But once you set it up it’s quite intuitive.

First, you create a new folder and call it “Templates”. Then, head to “Settings” on the bottom left corner, select “core plugins” and enable the Templates.

Lastly, head back to the settings, scroll to the very bottom, select “Templates” and assign the Template folder location to your newly created page “Templates.”

Next, you can create templates for your literature notes and your permanent notes. Depending on your preference and slipbox structures, yours might look different.

Here’s how I set up mine: Similar to my Roam Zettelkasten, I use an orange icon for literature notes and a green book icon for permanent notes. Here’s the exact structure:

The nested tags in the status help me see items I have to finish as a tree instead of a flat list.

Source: obsidian help desk

3) Set up your slipbox structure

Next, you might want to set up three new folders: one for your fleeting notes, another for your literature notes, and one for your permanent notes.

The fleeting notes will serve the same function as my default option for noting down any atomic idea or note.

The literature notes are the highlights imported from Readwise (more on that in the next steps) with additional notes. The permanent notes folder contain my original writing.

I don’t use a content map and I’m not planning to number the notes. I used to do this in RoamResearch but it has been slowing me down and I don’t see many benefits.


4) Connect Readwise to Obsidian

Readwise was the superpower behind my Zettelkasten in Roam and will hopefully remain the superpower in Obsidian as well.

In essence, it is a service that imports all your highlights (e.g. from books, kindle, Twitter, podcasts, medium articles, browser) and exports them in a customized format to your note-taking tool (e.g. Notion, Roam, or Obsidian).

I see it as my personally curated search engine. It contains all highlights from the past 100 books and 1000 articles I read and highlighted within the last two years.

To connect Readwise to Obsidian, you want to launch your obsidian vault, click on settings, select “community plugins” in the left panel, and toggle off Safe mode.

Then, search for “Readwise Official”, click install and enable. In the panel, scroll down to “Readwise Official” and click on connect. Weirdly I had to wait for around two days until the import was fully functioning.


5) Create a workflow that works for You

The most sophisticated tool is useless until you integrate it into your processes.

In the beginning, you might ask yourself whether you’re doing it right. The setup options you have with tools like Obsidian can distract you from actually using them.

With 25 core plugins, 439 community plugins, and 113 themes, plus custom styling, you can adapt Obsidian to work and look exactly to your needs.

One thing that has helped me is not worrying too much about the perfect structure. The researchers who digitized Zettelkasten’s inventor’s notes found inconsistencies in his labelling and interlinking — his Zettelkasten was far from perfect and still made him one of the biggest scientific contributors of his time.

Start using Obsidian and you will soon discover whether you need more functionalities or a better design. There’s still much to discover and I’m excited about the features it offers.


Sign-up free for the weekly Learn Letter and receive tools and resources that accelerate your learning. And if you want to accelerate your online writing, sign-up free here.

Filed Under: 📚 Knowledge Management Tagged With: learning, obsidian, Productivity

Why and How to Switch From RoamResearch to Obsidian

January 12, 2022 by Eva Keiffenheim


A 3-step process to migrate all of your notes.

Photo by Fabian Irsara on Unsplash

I’ve been a RoamResearch power user for over a year before I fell out of love.

Roam is an online workspace for organizing and evaluating your knowledge. Unlike linear cabinet tools, the software allows you to remix and connect ideas, where each note represents a node in a dynamic network.

Networked note-taking with Roam transformed my writing process and cut my research writing time in half. It increased my productivity and helped me think better and have more original ideas.

Yet, about half a year ago, I fell out of love. Here’s why and how I switched from Roam to Obsidian.


Two Reasons Why I Switch From Roam to Obsidian

My entire writing process used to happen within Roam. Every morning, I’d start by opening my headline practice template. Once I decided on the headline, I’d create a page for the chosen title and use my article template to get started.

How I start writing an article using my Roamkasten (Recording by Eva Keiffenheim).

Performance issues and slow load time

About 50% of the time, when I started my writing process, Roam wouldn’t load. I’d need three to five attempts reopening the software until my graph finally loaded.

Roam’s performance issue is not new. Other users reported having slow load time as well, and a Reddit user writes: “I’m concerned that this is an issue at this level of product maturity and wonder if there’s any roadmap to resolve these issues.”

Alexander Rink measured Roam’s performance times and writes: “Roam Research is still usable with the 10,000 pages data set, but you need good nerves when using the high-linked pages because the application keeps you waiting and jerks.”

Ten thousand pages might seem like a lot, but it isn’t. If you’re an avid reader and connect Readwise to RoamResearch and consistently create permanent notes, you’ll soon have a few thousand pages with page links.

Rink concludes: “I’m pretty sure that Roam Research will need some algorithmic enhancements to reduce the bottlenecks at references and backlinks because they will be even more dramatic the bigger the database (and the number of backlinks) gets.”

Data security

The other issue around Roam is data security. Even though Roam is a cloud service, the software doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption. A hack, or anyone guessing your single password, would make your private data vulnerable.

A leak of my notes about book summaries wouldn’t worry me. But Roam serves as my second brain and contains sensible personal information.

I’m not alone with this concern. Mark Mcelroy writes: “If you care at all about the integrity and security of your personal knowledge management system, Obsidian may be a better solution than Roam.”


The 3-step Process to Migrate All of Your Notes

1) Export Files from Roam

First, click on the three dots on the top right corner and select “export all” and the “markdown” format. All you have to do afterwards is to unzip the file “Roam-Export-xxxxxxxxxxxxx.zip”.

2) Download Obsidian and Open Folder as a Vault

Next, click on “Open” next to open folder as vault. Pick the folder you just unzipped to.

3) Use the Markdown Format Converter to format your Notes

In Obsidian, on the left side, click “Open Markdown Importer.” Turn on the first three options and start the conversion.

Obsidian now converts from Roam’s variations of Markdown format and link convention to Obsidian format. For example, it will turn #tag into Obsidian [[links]] and also convert Roam’s ^^highlight^^ into Obsidian’s ==highlight==.

Optional: Connect Readwise to Obsidian

To connect Readwise to Obsidian, you want to launch your obsidian vault, click on settings, select “community plugins” in the left panel, and toggle off Safe mode.

Then, search for “Readwise Official”, click install and enable. Then, in the panel, scroll down to “Readwise Official” and click on connect. Here is a short video tutorial by Readwise.

Before you initiate a sync, you want to ensure to enable a couple of options: set the resync frequency to your desired interval (I chose 1 hour). If you want to review your highlights in your daily notes, check out this article.


In Conclusion

Even if I fell out of love with RoamResearch, I admire the software. I’m grateful it introduced me to the power of networked note-taking and bi-directional linking.

If at some point, they resolve the performance and data issues, I might return to the software. Until then, I’ll start getting acquainted with Obsidian. And I’m in good company — with more than 45,000 members in their Discord chat and 20,000 members on their forum, Obsidian has one of the largest note-taking communities.


Do you want to build a consistent writing habit?

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Filed Under: 📚 Knowledge Management Tagged With: learning, obsidian, roam

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