The Problem with Obsidian is…

As of writing, Obsidian is arguably one of the most popular management apps. Since it has much going for it, its popularity is no surprise. However, it never worked for me. In this post, I’ll explain why Obsidian is not the best fit for me and, by extension, perhaps not for you.

What this article is and what it’s not

Before going into the whys, I want to set up a framework of what this article is and what it’s not.

This post is highly opinionated and based on my personal preferences and circumstances. It is not aimed at bad-mouthing Obsidian. In fact, I believe that Obsidian is a marvelous piece of software, and if it works for you, then by any means, stick to it. There is much to love about it: A fantastic community, extensibility with plugins, the open-source nature, and most importantly, the ownership of your notes. Moreover, if you use and can afford it, I encourage you to support this project.

So, why am I posting this article? Having a working system to capture my thoughts effectively was a time-consuming and painful process for me. I want to share the lessons I learned along the way and, therefore, save you from my hassles. Some insights might be unexpected but even apply to those who intend to stick with Obsidian.

The beginning of my journey

I was always a bit of a scattered brain and, therefore, needed to organize my life as much as possible. Using notes to save my knowledge is, hence, a logical step. However, when I started this process years ago, Obsidian was just one idea in the developer's mind (if at all) among many. No worries, I won’t tell you my life story here, but I will illustrate what I have already tried.

At first, I used Word documents to organize my knowledge, but to no one's surprise, it wasn’t a great solution. Notes got lost once the knowledge base grew, and there was no good way to link them. For that reason, I used the apps/services throughout the years:

• Google Notes
• OneNote
• EverNotes
• Self-hosted Joplin
• Self-hosted MediaWiki
• Static Website Generator
• Notion
• Apple Notes
• Research Roam

I won’t go into great detail about why a certain app or service wasn’t working for me, but in a nutshell, each of these applications had up and down sites. Often, the down sites negated the upsides, and I ended up without a working system. For example, Apple Notes does not support Markdown, a key requirement for me. With a static website, I could use Markdown but had no way of capturing notes quickly.

Obsidian to the Rescue?

At some point, I stumbled across Obsidian. It ticked all the boxes, like Markdown, a mobile app, notes ownership, etc. The package also includes extra features like a knowledge graph and nearly infinite extensibility with plugins. So, without much thought, I jumped ships and was ready to set it up. But what was the proper way to set it up? A somewhat sane person would transfer their setup to Obsidian and evolve from there. However, not me. I wanted it to solve all my note-taking problems, so I started researching while tinkering with Obsidian.

Procrastinating with Obsidian

Admittedly, exploring such a feature-rich new tool was fun and exciting. I watched many YouTube videos and read so many posts about the perfect setup that I fell asleep and woke up thinking about Obsidian. Which plugins will enhance my productivity to the next level? I enjoy being immersed in something that much.

However, the reality was that I wasn’t productive at all and fell into the first trap: procrastinating by setting up my productivity tool. I ended up with so many plugins that creating a new note felt like going through a 20-layer deep decision tree. Where should the new note go? Should it show up in a data table? What should the YAML header look like?

Seeking advice on YouTube or blogs only led to extra plugins and setup time. My problem wasn’t a lack of plugins; I was overwhelmed by them!

Let me set something straight: I don’t blame anybody for my situation at that time. Not Obsidian, which simply gives its users the power to transform it into anything, nor the plugins or the people I sought online advice from. Maybe I’m the culprit here for becoming unhinged, but I’m not the only one falling into that pitfall.

That leads to the first insight: If you don’t know exactly what you need or carefully consider the necessity of adding another extension, you’ll end up like me. So, if you’re too enthusiastic about potential new features and can’t help yourself, like me, Obsidian might not be the right tool for you.

Subscribing to one Idea

Instead of dropping Obsidian altogether, I decided to take another route (I really wanted it to work for me): I bought a template vault from a bigger YouTube creator in the Obsidian space and tried their approach. Imagine this vault as a Linux distribution, packed with plugins and finely tuned so that they work together nicely.

That solved my problem of going down the plugin rabbit hole again. Now everything was happy ever after, right? Well, initially, it worked out nicely, but once the honeymoon phase wore out, I realized the first issues with my approach: You see, note-taking is very personal, and everybody has preferences. So, using this system might work for some, but it didn’t work for me.

That’s when I realized that Obsidian might not be the right tool for me. So, I looked closer at the other things that sold me on it.

The Truth about the Knowledge Graph

One of Obsidian’s outstanding features is the knowledge graph. Some prefer to use it to navigate through their notes, while linking your notes properly is a prerequisite. This might work for some, but not for me. Creating a note while already considering putting the appropriate links to find it later adds too much friction for me. So, I ended up not using the graph for note navigation purposes.

Therefore, what other value does the knowledge graph have then? For me, it is none other than being a distraction - it enabled me to procrastinate by watching it instead of doing things that matter, e.g., refining my notes. Even worse, it can enforce bad note-taking behavior. Allow me to explain:

I got a dopamine hit every time I looked at my knowledge graph. Since other people tend to share their graphs, they might too. However, getting this little kick doesn’t require crafting and linking valuable notes. It just shows how many you have and how interlinked they are. That can lead to the following behavior:

1. Refusing to delete obsolete notes because that sets you back on your knowledge graph. Therefore bloating your knowledge base.
2. Creating more notes than necessary because of growing your graph.

Admittedly, that might sound extreme, but the problem is it’s a slow and sneaky process.

For some, the knowledge graph is a viable alternative to avoid folder structures, for example. My point is to be cautious and question how much you benefit from it. If not, ignore or deactivate that feature.

The Mobile App

As much as I like the desktop app, I never fell in love with the mobile app (iOS). It’s by far not the worst app I’ve used, but it feels clunky and overloaded. That’s mainly because it tries to resemble the desktop app on a mobile platform. Although some will like the many settings and plugin support, I require something that works, looks nice, and lets me add/update notes on the fly, ideally with gestures.

For example, I would like to use gestures to search for and create notes. However, I can only set up one gesture: swipe down. Therefore, I have only 50% of the feature set I need to work effectively with the mobile app, even though I can customize a myriad of other things.

Let me be clear: I’m not blaming the app for not fulfilling my needs. Its developers made decisions that made sense to them, or the iOS platform forced them to do it that way. The gist is simply that the mobile app does not work for me.

Replacing Apple Notes is not possible

As you may have already guessed, I use Apple devices for my entire productive life. Although I use other platforms in other areas of my life, I don’t need my notes app to be on those. At the end of the day, I always have my phone to capture notes quickly.

Although I did not like Apple Notes, while using Obsidian, I couldn’t ditch it entirely because of handwritten notes. Occasionally, I need to sketch something or write something down by hand. Obsidian has no practical solution for that as of writing.

Obsidian didn’t work, what's next?

Defeated, I was looking for other solutions when I stumbled upon posts about Bear 2.0. I tried it, and although I was initially skeptical, it grew on me. It offers features that were always important to me, like markdown support, exporting my notes, a great iOS app, wiki links, image and drawing support, etc. Another nice addition is that tags work similar to folders while maintaining their benefits.

Few people proposed it as an alternative to Obsidian or Notion, which I found stunning. Sure, it’s not as feature-rich as those alternatives, but it offers all the features I need. And for me, that’s its biggest selling point: It suits my needs without additional distractions.

That said, Bear fits my needs in my specific setup. If Bear solves your issues, too, you’re welcome! However, it has downsides, too. For example, it’s tied to the Apple ecosystem, and your notes are in the cloud, so you have to manually back up your notes to have them locally. Those are tradeoffs I can live with, but perhaps not you.

There are undoubtedly some of you who know plugins that will solve my issues with Obsidian. For those of you, thank you for your effort, and feel free to let me know in the comments below. I still love Obsidian as a project and like to experiment with it in my spare time when I feel so. Does that mean I wait for my perfect Obsidian setup to make the switch? No, I don’t intend to switch from Bear anytime soon. The truth is, I’m happy with my setup as it is, and I have already spent more time setting it up than I would like to admit.

Verdict

Keep an open mind

Every so often, the best solutions come from unexpected places. Keep an open mind, and don’t immediately discard a tool or idea because it isn’t common in your niche. That is especially true when searching for solutions: If you are set too much on an idea, you might miss some potentially good options.

That said, it’s true for the other way as well: Don’t lose yourself in the myriad of options because having no solution is worse than a bad one.

Know your requirements

Therefore, consider your requirements before searching for a solution. If you have a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves, many options will be sorted out naturally.

More features aren’t always better

Be careful with additional features that you don’t need. Treat them as a liability, not as a benefit. For example, a feature that is getting in your way is bad because it adds friction and needs to be treated as a downside. Features that neither add benefits nor downsides to solve your problem should be ignored and are irrelevant to your decision process. That way, you end up with a list of tools that are simpler but more tailored to your needs.

Cal Newport coined the term craftsman approach in his book Deep Work. This mindset is applicable here.

Never change a running system

If you have a great solution that works for you, stick to it, regardless of how shiny the newer one might appear. Otherwise, you will likely waste plenty of resources for a similar or even worse result.

However, keep in mind that your circumstances evolve, and you are not married to your initially picked set of tools. So, if the gains exceed the opportunity costs, you should consider your options carefully. Often, you can solve your issues with less drastic measures than jumping ships. However, if necessary, move swiftly and with full force.

Focus on what matters

Setting up a knowledge base is not what matters. It’s just a means of achieving the real goal: Creating notes and filling your second brain with actual knowledge that helps you excel.

Final thoughts

So, what would be my approach today if I had to start again from scratch? I would do the following:

1. Consider the major features you need and categorize them into must- and nice-haves. Take your time, as this is the foundation of your decision-making process.
2. Search for possible options while keeping search terms broad, e.g., search for “notes app” instead of “knowledge base app”. You can omit all options that don’t fulfill your must-haves immediately. Keep the others on your list.
3. Rank the remaining apps by examining their features more closely. Consider additional features that add friction as a downside and ignore features that don’t have an impact, as they would not exist otherwise. In doubt, ignore the feature.
4. Discard all apps with features that will add friction. If none remain, either start from scratch or pick the one at the top.
5. If you have options left, pick at most your three highest-ranking apps and get a feeling for them. Choose the one that feels best for you. At this point, it shouldn’t matter what app you pick.
6. Keep focusing on what matters and stick to your app until it gets in your way.

I hope this helps you on your journey to master your notes and become more productive. In the comments below, let me know what app you chose, why you chose it, and what challenges you faced when you started.