How I’m ACTUALLY Using The Obsidian Canvas

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// Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:14 - How To Use Canvas
07:07 - How I Use It
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[@FromSergio]

To learn more than ever from important non-fiction books, join me on Shortform: shortform.com/fromsergio You’ll get a 5-day free trial and a discounted annual subscription.

[@ladystalker3953]

Hi Love the idea of mind mapping personal data. But all my stuff is in MP3 recordings. Been thinking of getting everything transcribe back into written form 1st, then feed them into Chat GPT, in order to use it as my own personal data bank. Not t ech savy so this Obsidian thing sounds pretty intimidating to me, but I'm willing to take the time. Question is do you know if this program could do the same with recordings?

[@GarryFisherProRider]

This is what Obsidian community needed. Obsidian is easy to use for beginners but extremely complex at the same time. Your tips are very easy to digest although you're talking about quite advanced stuff... and useful in real life. Some of the other guys seem to talk about Obsidian as a tool for "advanced procrastination", as if Obsidian was created just for itself, so you can spend time moving things around in a very sophisticated manner.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Garry, much appreciated! I know exactly what you mean and it's too easy to fall into that trap!

[@EdwardVarner]

I think Canvas is the missing piece I need for my process. I am a visual thinker so I literally draw out mind maps in my head first, but then have no efficient way to memorize them or translate them into notes. This is an excellent tutorial, thank you!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Edward :)

[@serotragtmantel3982]

Thank you ! I have been watching all your videos for the last 2 days and thank you very much for taking the time to explain everything. All your explanations, examples as well as your approach are just great. I look forward to more videos from you.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Sero! That means a lot :)

[@productivity8696]

the manual resizing of every single note/card after every single editing would make me go crazy

[@smoocher]

Fabulous video with great information that is very clearly explained. Thanks!

[@WalidDingsdale]

very neat and nice tutorial for Obsidian canvas, thanks for sharing

[@charlesianima]

Amazing, I learn so much from your videos and was curious to pick your brain on CANVAS, I just got into it myself and love it.

[@FromSergio]

I had to take my time with this one, I'm happy I did as so much changed in canvas and I really wanted to wait and see how I used it! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@ARNBNDL]

Totally mindblowing how clear you are!

[@FromSergio]

Wow thank you! That means a lot as that is my main focus :)

[@pdraskov]

Sergio, as always really, really useful. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

[@FromSergio]

Thaks for the encouragement Paul :)

[@florianberenice1178]

Great work Sergio, as always. Really glad to have you as content creator for Obsidian but also the PKM community.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Florian, that means a lot :)

[@elixirfun]

Yep, top-quality material.

[@yasafvolinsky7427]

this is very good - keep up the good work

[@ZayedDabaja]

Thank you for this informative and quick intro to Canvas. Just strait to the point! perfect!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Zayed :)

[@ciaspo]

Great video, informative, useful, and perfectly structured. Thank you! 👍🙏

[@MGlennRoss]

Excellent video. I'm about to plan a speech and wanted to use canvas for brainstorming. But that mind map you showed near the end demonstrating how you planned this video was even more helpful! Thanks!

[@FromSergio]

Glad it was helpful Glenn! :)

[@eriksolberg2530]

Really nice job with this, I like your approach!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Erik!

[@medicussapiens]

Once again, a very helpful and well presented tutorial. Thanks!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Heinz: :)

[@divinusfilius3771]

You can also use the right mouse button to press and hold to move canvas around so there's no need to hold space, whichever one finds more convenient. Glad both options are available.

[@cblackall21]

Excellent, as usual. Thankyou.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Christopher :)

[@netneutrality2024]

Recently Obsidian amazes me almost every day. Canvas is exactly what I need. Thanks, Sergio.

[@FromSergio]

I'm glad! :)

[@prospernglazi7444]

You are mind reader or something, I was just looking at your channel for any canvas videos and boom!

[@FromSergio]

That has to be the quickest comment i've ever had! We are in sync! I JUST pressed published

[@prospernglazi7444]

@@FromSergio Great minds, am I right? Quick question, do you use AI tools such as chatGPT or Midjourney in your PKM? I would like to see how you go about it in future videos. Thanks again for the great content.

[@user-gh2uz2ix2o]

hahaha same here!

[@FromSergio]

@@prospernglazi7444 Thats a topic for a future video! :) Been using it for a month or two but need to see if it's something that's more of a novelty or an actual useful tool for me personally!

[@albertsitoe7340]

Maybe you are an npc

[@jabuci]

This is really useful and easy to use. I tried Excalidraw before but that was a bit complicated for me. Thanks for this awesome video!

[@FromSergio]

Just saw this! I never got into excalidraw but have been using canvas since release! I also felt it was a bit complicated!

[@geoffreybonn]

these vids rock! thank you for the clear instructions. i use obsidian but your vids help me reach my final form... obsidian power-user! 👑

[@FromSergio]

That's great to hear :) Thank you!

[@mrt.1903]

I was really considering not picking Obsidian as my PKM choice due to its complexity but you made it look easy and simple. And the Canvas feature is just something else. I couldn't see its utility until this video

[@FromSergio]

Super glad to read this! That was my goal entirely! Glad it was helpful :)

[@williamcase426]

I'm glad you're ACTUALLY using canvas.

[@ericowen56]

Enjoyed your video.

[@firanguistrangeiro]

great content dood, just subbed cause of it, thanks!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks! I appreciate you!

[@nananashigure8022]

This function is absolutely amazing! I like that you can access your notes in the mindmap, this beats xmind. But it's still lacking two core features of Xmind that I use daily: to expand and collapse branches, and to create relational links between any two nodes regardless of their positions in the branches. Hope somebody makes a plugin someday.

[@ARNBNDL]

Still the case 4 months after?

[@graphicmaths7677]

Very useful thanks. I've been using Obsidian for general notes for a while, but I've tended to use xmind for planning books, articles etc. I've never been totally comfortable with xmind's proprietary format, or the fact that I can't easily search across all my mind maps. I think Canvas might be the way to go, especially because I already have a lot of other stuff in my Obsidian vault.

[@paxvostrum4824]

I just faced a choice what instrument to use for mind map, this it awesome, since I already use obsidian for notes. Thank you for tips!

[@milos4779]

Thank you very much, I learned a lot!

[@FromSergio]

Glad to hear that! :)

[@SayaAmirulSyamim]

super great video thanks bro

[@FromSergio]

I'm glad! :)

[@chandra11116]

Thanks!

[@igorescalona]

Cuando vi este video me explotó la cabeza, que buena herramienta....

[@FromSergio]

Que bien! :)

[@danclark9987]

Sergio, many thanks for this great video. But even more thanks for helping me understand why a canvas is so useful! For many people, life is complex. Obsidian and it’s canvas helps us make sense of that complexity. And that complexity can be unique to each person. Unlike some tools (and people who recommend them), we can adapt Obsidian to our lives, our way of thinking, our unique complexity, and the way that our complexity changes over time. I think that is what makes Obsidian unique and wonderful. You have shown how Obsidian canvas can be used as a great tool to reduce our complexity. And one if the best things you wrote is that a canvas can be removed when it’s no longer useful. As we adapt and grow, we can toss out the old canvas and create a new one for the new phase in our life. Best, Dan.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Dan much appreciated! Fully agree with everything you said. :)

[@kbxbr]

Your content is really usefull and great, Sergio! I'll try those features right now, but hope someday obsidian team give us an AI to automate Canvas mindmap creation by our local vault material. Thank you so much for explaining so well and objectively

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Karlos, I could see that happening, I wouldn't benefit from it personally as the manual process is a big part of the appeal for me :)

[@rogue_lele6167]

love the video

[@OllieDagois]

great work

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Ollie! :)

[@Narcissistic_Penguin]

I just finished an essay for uni and my plan note was a MESS. This would have been a much better way to work, I’m almost looking forward to the next one!

[@FromSergio]

Planning is the worse part! Glad this helped!

[@johnsonjayaraj7209]

Great video Sergio, Following your videos to learn Obsidian and to get benefited from them

[@FromSergio]

Glad you liked it! :)

[@armynyus9123]

Wow!

[@souIsynapse]

Yeah alright subscribed lol you keep popping up, keep up the great content friend

[@FromSergio]

Just saw this - Thanks for finally giving in :)

[@MarkPanado]

Been using Obsidian for 2 years now but really don't use canvas. But I will now start utilizing it instead of using third party tools like Miro to create architecture/diagrams for a project. Thanks for the tips!

[@FromSergio]

Just saw this, glad I was able to help :)

[@saracosta620]

Great presentaion.

[@FromSergio]

Thanks Sara :)

[@_Slaze]

This feature is really cool. I love that you show different use cases so we can get an idea of how we can use it ourselves

[@FromSergio]

I'm glad you appreciate that, I always try to :)

[@master_ki]

Finally, a useful video.

[@FromSergio]

😅 I'm glad!

[@marcorobbe9003]

Hi and thanks for that great video. On thing I am missing here in the video or as function in canvas. Is it possible to collaps and expand different parts of the mindmap. And is it possible to set it up in a way, taht the map int otal then is colapsing or expandin? Meaning, the different cards or nots get rearranged as mindmap tools normaly are doing it? Something like markmind ... . Thanks, Marco

[@yapayzeka]

4:15 is a very important tip

[@4rkt0s]

Great video. I'm super new to Obsidian and have no coding background... I was wondering if there was any way to make the arrows straight? Some of my cards are close together and the lines get weirdly curvy and long for such a short distance. Any help would be appreciated!

[@divinusfilius3771]

Really super useful video, especially because you provide example on how to use and what to use it for. To me that's crucial in understanding features. I just am so puzzled with the canvas feature in the Android app, there is NO WAY to add anything to it!... and I cannot find any answers as to how or why. 😔😢😅

[@__4_9_9__]

Solid video. Thank you

[@FromSergio]

Glad you liked it!

[@samsg]

Your eye lashes are gold 😊

[@FromSergio]

Until they go inside my eye :(

[@divinusfilius3771]

I think canvas is truly a BRILLIANT, POWERFUL feature! It does remind me a lot of some of my mind mapping apps. If you've used those before and a smart guy like you I'm sure you have, I was wondering, if I may ask, how do you find canvas compared to mindmapping software - is it more powerful and versatile than your typical mindmapping app? Etc. Please, and thank you! ☺

[@divinusfilius3771]

Ahh, pardon, you've literally answered this question almost exclusively at the 8:00 minute mark!! 😁, yeah! Cuz it's all there, you don't need to refer to original docs, you can literally have them there, all together! Nice! Some mind mapping apps can also import full docs, but only by making new copies of it that aren't linked nor sync any updates to the original Doc. Thank you! ☺🙏♥

[@dremaro2967]

Hey, thanks for the video ! just a feedback, you should make your a head a little more tiny, cause it takes too much place in the screen, unfocusing us from what you are showing at your screen

[@PUNITHKR]

Hi, following you for a while, I keep waiting for more of your content. My canvas leaves a vertical gap on the left side of each card when I apply colour to it, Any idea how to solve this?

[@tobiaspucher9597]

Hey im very interested in how you would structure a vault for both private, uni, and work (IT) life. Or if you already do have a video where i can find it! thank you so much

[@FromSergio]

I don't have a video on it but I do use more than one vault, have a video on the subject in general but not on the specifications as that would depend on each person!

[@VeryStrangeweather]

Where did you learn about selecting and Pressing Shift + 2 will zoom into the object? I am trying to search in the hotkey bar and in the docs I can't find it :S...

[@Mr.MiddIe]

great

[@kellymoses8566]

Canvas would be amazing with an API to create diagrams automatically from data.

[@FromSergio]

That's in the works by Noureddine over on the text generator plugin!

[@martinplattner4508]

Hi Sergio, great video ! may i ask you wich software you use to produce the video with your image in it ? thanks and greetings, martin

[@FromSergio]

Hi Martin, I do it manually using final cut!

[@obuyWw]

this is some nice colors for the eyes. what kinda theme are you using bro?

[@FromSergio]

It's the minimal theme :)

[@joecaz]

2:31 Now, before we move on to cards, you might already be thinking what's the point of this? Or isn't this just like the graph View? And the key here is that when you make in the canvas does not apply to the rest of your Vault. Take this connection that we made right here, these notes are linked in the canvas but they're not linked In your vault. And IF you want to make a note that doesn't stay in your vault and only lives in the canvas, that's when CARDS come in. Adding a card is a similar process to adding a NOTE but you can't drag and drop it from your file explorer because the CARD EXISTS SOLELY WITHIN YOUR CANVAS.

[@jchart4]

On my canvas I can’t get most urls to show a preview. Do you know what may be wrong here? It worked with this KZbin video, but not general articles, etc.

[@robertmaxey5406]

I have resisted Canvas because I can't see a reason why it would be useful in my specific case. I might have to rethink things a bit. Thanks for the video.

[@FromSergio]

I 100% understand you, glad I was able to provide another point of view :)

[@datboyblu3]

Hey Sergio! Running into something weird. I simply cannot drag around my notes in a canvas, nor can I link notes together in canvas. Is there something else that I would have to enable?

[@billjuus2268]

Any idea how I can create the functionality, where I click a canvas item and the note opens up on the right?

[@francesko1763]

Hi Sergio, how do you make the titles fo the notes red?

[@NovaNocturneArt]

out of curiosity, do you know of any way to do math functions between cards on a canvas? For example if I had 2 cards, side by side, each with a integer value in it, then a card below with arrow connections from the upper cards joining together at the lower card, where the lower card shows a total of the two integers? It would be so useful for building self-calculating character sheets for TTRPGs, and as good as excel/google sheets is, its a lot less visual. This is a terrible diagram, but maybe it would help illustrate what I mean? □ +1 □+2 \ / + + \ / \ / □=3

[@alejandroraziel7814]

Hello, I realy liked your video. I was wondering if you or anyone that reads this think this could be a good way to make a family tree?

[@FromSergio]

That sounds like an amazing use case!

[@elixirfun]

For your video outlining use case, what's the advantage of using canvas as opposed to, well, a text-based outliner, with folding for easier overview, if needed?

[@FromSergio]

The visual aspect of it mostly, but also the spacial aspect. Like I said, this was an easy one to plan out, but some like the NAS video took a ton of planning, and it was really helpful to place everything on the canvas (images, thoughts, other videos) in different sections. Also - in a text-based outliner I would need subfolders, so it wouldn't be as easy as folding and moving around, whereas with the canvas, it's just a matter of moving the assigned connection to another chapter. Hope this helps!

[@elixirfun]

@@FromSergio Thanks. I suppose it also takes getting used to the visual form, which somehow hasn't stuck to me so far. But I'll definitely give it a try some day, now that Obsidian conveniently has canvas.

[@FromSergio]

@@elixirfun Give it a try, you'll quickly see if it helps you. It helped me a lot. I'm planning my next video with it right now and it would be a dowgrade to go back to outline

[@martinbernerspangberg3862]

Cute dog bro🥰

[@FromSergio]

Thanks! He is ferocious beast. Jk he's afraid of his own reflection 🙃

[@blockthis08]

4:11 Embedded in canvas

[@MaxwellBuba]

I need the Canvas plugin for Obsidian mobile or a canvas viewer for the canvas which I created on PC. I hope they will release it soon.

[@FromSergio]

I'm sure it will :)

[@g_ben_97]

at minute 7:13 how can I get this veiw when I zoom out the contest of the card becomes only a title?

[@user-kx9sk6eg9p]

Select the part you want to focus on then press shift + 2

[@alphoc9201]

There was a problem with the cards, the letters inside were starting to look huge and I couldn't figure out how to fix it. Thanks.

[@scottsmith5953]

Where is the canvas specification available?

[@AFGautonompunk]

do you know how writing functionality is ? bc for a versatile whiteboard, i would want to write formula with pen over LaTeX, when coming up with solutions, i'll probably write a ticket anyway

[@FromSergio]

I don't use LaTeX as much as I used to so I'm afraid I can't help!

[@AFGautonompunk]

@@FromSergio ah thanks nonetheless; i found a quite insightful video of excalidraw creator that might do what i want (there's even formula support w/ LaTeX); regardless canvas currently doesn't support writing, or am i missing something ?

[@usmcboyd]

Are you pumping your unifi protect to blueiris?

[@FromSergio]

Good eye! I am indeed, as a backup!

[@kaelastreet6651]

looks great for a network engineer, apart from that, what is its use? That does not really come accross, except for 'look at me, what can I do' I don't feel I learned anything from your video that could be of help to me.

[@tomer.nosrati]

10/10

[@FromSergio]

Are we in sync for the next one? ;)

[@tomer.nosrati]

@@FromSergio Haha I can't wait to see 😁

[@jeffbrownstain]

Personal AI loaded as . Each subprofile in its own note. Setup a canvas with each subprofile and the main profile. Macros to take output of Main profile, plug into subprofiles > subprofiles feed back into main AI. Boom, self-editing, self-aware Personal AI. Need a machine with the power to run it though, still intensive AF.

[@andynoble1022]

I’m not sure it’s clear how you get from [6:00] to [8:30] (structure and style), and less clear how to get those buttons e.g in [8:20]

[@mikelaurie3850]

It is not true that mind map software is not local. There are many mind map programs that store local only

[@leonard0104]

Damnnm obsidian has media now? Now we are talking

[@guizarbayardoemmanuelisaia1718]

It is just like diagrams with Mermaid on steroids

[@FromSergio]

In a way! Mermaid still has its place, but this, in my opinion, works best for most people.

[@kyle11235]

👍

[@HirohitoWasAsBadAsHitler]

They ripped off Heptabase!

[@rogerdestre9980]

Dog people are crazy.

[@smoocher]

Thanks!

[@FromSergio]

Thanks so much for your generosity :) glad it was helpful!