How To Use Obsidian: Dashboards Are OUT. THIS is IN.

[@plus1creator]

Come join my creator community: www.plus1creator.com

[@lilyofthe4lley]

I use both the dashboard and workspaces. It's good for me to have a general view of everything because I'll otherwise forget a lot of stuff. Also if you want to, I'm pretty sure that you can automate it so that if you click on a particular project in the dashboard it loads the corresponding workspace

[@plus1creator]

That sounds like a good balance of both.

[@jun6lee]

Useful. Sold on Workspaces, which until now I've just ignored. This gives me an idea of how I might fold some of my smaller specific vaults into my main one. Cheers!

[@plus1creator]

One more in the Cult of Workspaces! Happy to have you. (Make sure to pay your dues)

[@Rde-enterprises]

Absolutely love your perspective on productivity! 🌟 Dashboards can be so limiting. I think I'll be using a combo to the two. Excited to learn about new approaches! Keep sharing your insights! 🙌

[@plus1creator]

So glad you enjoyed it. 🙏

[@JasonMillerMaryland]

Good to see someone made this video. I started using workspaces when it was released and was so surprised at the practicality, I ended up not creating a Dashboard until recently (for no other reason other than to have an index of areas of that I write or work in). I think of workspaces like rooms in a big house, when I am in this room it looks like x, and I do y while I am here. I version them and try new versions or use them to hold a position of work when I need to pivot to some other activity. Another cool feature is that workspaces sync so I can have different layouts when on mobile to adjust for screen size or activity. Great video!

[@plus1creator]

I like the analogy of a house with rooms; thanks for sharing!

[@ClarkRuell]

Just discovered this channel. Wonderful video. I've subscribed. There are so many videos of yours I need to watch!

[@plus1creator]

Hey! Thanks for the note, for watching, and subscribing! It's the trifecta!

[@Arrow333]

Was watching this while I was thinking about creating a dashboard and you made me reconsider this. My main goal in obsidian is to support some creative process, so it should prompt me to work on notes or the target material instead of making stuff pretty. I already came from the daily notes as that's were I dump my ideas while communiting or not being able to execute on them so I can follow up on them after work (maybe).

[@plus1creator]

Another life saved! 🙏 Yeah, build an environment that gets out of your way & gets you working asap. Hopefully a good workspace can do that for you. (And don't ignore those keyboard shortcuts!)

[@Arrow333]

@@plus1creator Yeah, will do.

[@-nepherim]

One addition I make here is that in my mind the "daily note" thing falls into the same category as dashboards. It's just an extra step to get to being effective and not appearing effective. I just open the relevant note and document straight in there. The argument is usually "so much mental space to decide which note and where" but for me it's either already open, because "project", or searching for it takes 3 seconds. All of that is easier and quicker than Daily Note, Review, Move/Copy over to the final resting place.

[@plus1creator]

Yeah, it's not really *that* much harder to hit cmd+n and start typing.

[@-nepherim]

@@plus1creator sure, but then you spend time reviewing, and organizing stuff to where you actually want it. Just do that up front. Of course there are edge cases where this hey but work, but for be these are few and far between.

[@lilyofthe4lley]

@@-nepherim Sometimes you don't really know how to organize stuff upfront and at the end of the day and week I still want to review what happened so that I can better recognize what I did well and what can I change to get better so I would review the same. And I have automatizations for daily notes and loggin' on them, I can't make a template for every single note upfront. So i log during the day, at the end of the day maybe I logged three items about a single subject or I notice that one thing could be a bigger project and I create or move them to the approriate notes/folders. Sometimes you don't have time to structure a project right away because you have other things to do, you quickly log it in the daily log (i have a shortuct that open a prompt, I write and it appends the log to the daily note with a timestamp) and you know that you take 15 minutes every evening where you can organize things better and also delete things that you realize are irrelevant without having to search them in the vault. And some things just don't have projects, it's cool to have a log of your days and weeks that you can come back to

[@kevinmorris3331]

Love this video. New to Obsidian a couple of months ago, and I am trying to figure out my optimum "Way of Working". This makes so much sense vs. an MOC or Dashboard Note.

[@plus1creator]

So happy to hear you're saving yourself from the pit of dashboards!

[@commonchild3054]

Very practical video. I'm surprised I haven't seen more videos about Workspaces, and that they aren't enabled by default. I personally like dashboards, but not so much because I find them useful, but more so I like to nerd out and customize things. I actually don't have any in Obsidian, but when I have used Notion, or Anytype, or other database type apps, I love the visual aspect they add to my writing. That said, again, your approach is super practical and focused . Much appreciated!

[@plus1creator]

I appreciate such a well thought out comment; thank you! And I have to agree, dashboards can be gorgeous but I hate how little I get to see it when I really sit down to get work done.

[@nataliyavegera6291]

This makes total sense. Didn't even cross my mind that there was an alternative to dashboards, thanks!

[@plus1creator]

SO glad to hear you say that. Makes my day!

[@albertodominguez8422]

Totally makes sense. I'll try the workspace approach. Thanks.

[@plus1creator]

Right on!

[@FamHolkamp]

Great Video, I'm in #teamworkspaces now. But the trick with the daily note does not work with the periodic note plugin. Any idea why? It is in the command panel.

[@plus1creator]

Not entirely sure what you mean; doing tech support in comments is always a challenge. 🙏 Though, there might be a conflict with the stock daily note function. If you left that enabled, there can be a problem. My advice is to read through the periodic note plugin in "read me" section. Click to the plugin inside your community plugin area of your settings, and you should find it.

[@joshuat603]

Great video, and I completely agree that in many cases dashboards are a waste of time (had a similar experience spending hours setting one up, then never used it). For me, it's search all the way, especially when boosted using Omnisearch. Though I do make use of workspaces for my TTRPG vaults. Also appreciated those (completely intentional) subliminal hints about how we should all be using Raycast, too 😆

[@plus1creator]

I have a video about using Obsidian for TTRPGs AND the one that's out in the morning is about search. Good timing!

[@BKPrice]

I use both. I got some good dashboard templates a while ago so it wasn't hard to get them up and running.

[@plus1creator]

Right on.

[@souIsynapse]

Brilliant. Needed this so badly. Cheers.

[@plus1creator]

Hope I saved you days of frustration. 🙏

[@Allen-ne5dr]

​​ Don't know if totally unsold on dashboards (yet), but coupling your suggested method with appropriate MOC notes per layout may indeed become a likely replacement. Dashboards(++) do have interesting use cases when coupled with dataview. But, that can be said about what you have suggested as well.

[@plus1creator]

Love it!

[@plus1creator]

If you had to get as many "my dataview isn't doing what you said it would" comments like I get on my tracker video, you'd never want to think about dataview ever again. X^D

[@jacobvarney160]

I also don't think Dashboards have to be totally thrown out. They can be a great compliment to workspaces if you know which dashboard is appropriate for whatever the dashboard is meant to achieve. The problem to me seems to be influencers selling the creation of dashboards as the silver bullet rather than demonstrating how to use one as a tool in a larger system. It reminds me of the tendency of bullet journal users to focus on the aesthetics and how the information is organized rather than how to actually use the bullet journal effectively.

[@jacobvarney160]

I personally have a few dashboards for meetings, tasks, and items to process built into my "Start of Day" workspace in the sidebar. It's helpful to have those when I need them.

[@plus1creator]

@@jacobvarney160 Amen! I definitely agree with the bullet journal parallel. It's glorified scrapbooking vs tool to get things done.

[@davidbennettarts2205]

This is so much easier for me to set up and understand!!

[@plus1creator]

Right?! So glad you see the light.

[@voxyloids8723]

Workspaces conflict with Colors. After applying I've lost custom folder colors. But they come back after restart .

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for the heads up. Situations like this prompted me to make this whole video about themes & plugins: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2fQdmxvqJZknKM

[@ScottJohnson-sws]

Loved this, it was perfect timing and nicely paced - returning to Obsidian after a couple of years elsewhere...going at it seriously. Q: how to move files - text and screenshot images - from my other apps to Obsidian. Tried to move some from OneNote via script. Arrived ok but links not visible. Similar with MemX. Did you do a video on this? Please do, if didn't must be lots of us moving home to Obsidian.

[@plus1creator]

Glad you enjoyed it. Help me understand more about what you're trying to do. Were you moving markdown files from a directory outside of your Obsidian vault into your Obsidian vault? Were there existing notes in your vault that referenced the old pathways, or something? Assume 1) this is tech support and 2) the person helping you is an idiot.

[@OllieDagois]

great content. very well presented and very interesting. thank you

[@plus1creator]

Thanks Ollie, I appreciate you.

[@nxtsnow]

Everytime you say loadout i picture myself spawning in a game w my obsidian plugins. 😂 Very informative. I agree with the dashboards. Many of us gets stuck trying to make our dashboard lookin pretty than actually the actual studying unfortunately

[@plus1creator]

Obsidian-Bots! LOADOUT!

[@wellurban]

Interesting video, thanks! Am I right in assuming that Workspaces don’t do much for mobile, since there isn’t much space for different layouts? 95% of my Obsidian use is on my phone at the moment, so I might wait until I get to the stage where I’m using it on a bigger screen before I delve into Workspaces more. But I might be missing something?

[@plus1creator]

It technically works on mobile too. But, yeah, there's not much to play with on mobile.

[@justpassingby997]

Your collaborative approach to organization with your wife sounds like the dream relationship I’m chasing.

[@plus1creator]

It was still stressful, but I can't imagine how much MORE stressful it would have been if we weren't both on the same page with organization. 🙏

[@hernandoando]

Very interesting, thanks!

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for watching & dropping a comment. Glad to hear from you. 🙏

[@maxcrash44]

Good video, and I do agree, for the most part, with your view on Dashboards. I do have them, but I use them sparingly and they are not my main goto. They exist for specific purposes, and I open them, when I need them. Like you, I rarely close Obsidian, and tend to load Workspaces when I want to work on a specific project. That said, I did have a problem with this video, and that was with the bouncing around trying to show things when you weren't certain where they existed or which command or option to choose. This type of video appeals to some people, because it shows that even the pros make mistakes while working, but in my case, it causes a real problem for me. I'm Autistic and I remember everything you do and my mind builds associations with your actions nearly immediately. So when I watch you do an action, I remember it. If it's wrong, unfortunately, that is the first action my mind remembers the next time I try to perform the same action you were attempting and I end up fighting my own mind to not remember your errors. I'm probably an extreme edge case in this instance, but I wanted to let you know as "food for thought" on putting out videos with little errors in them... Overall, this particular video, to me, was a bit chaotic and my mind is still struggling to process it. I've watched a few of your videos today, and overall, you're making great content, so thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience! 👍

[@plus1creator]

I appreciate you letting me know how your mind works with my videos. My reasoning is that I'm not a pro, I'm not a coder, and I can still get Obsidian to work the way I need it to. That way it can help people feel confident in using it who might otherwise be intimidated. That's why I keep the "mistakes" in it.

[@choylicook7021]

Not an extreme edge case - I have the same experience. I can't watch more than 5 min without searching for something else.

[@JevVan]

A new obsidian news are here on my third or fourth day now. I don't even know what a dashboard is but I've watched enough videos on obsidian in the basics that my mind is overflowing with amazing ways that I can use it in all the different pieces of data I have in so many different programs that I feel I can bring all together into obsidian. That said I really like your philosophy. Part of what appeals to me the most about obsidian is the ability to put links where I will need them so that when I need them they are there. I made it to the 7 minute mark in your video and I'm going to actually stop because I've decided I don't want anyone else's ideas on the best way to use obsidian to affect all my own creative ways that I'm thinking of. And I've made a mental note I will not watch any of the videos on KZbin that I see that say this is how I use it it's the best way. Hahaha. So thank you for your inspiration to carve my own path and make him sitting the most it can be for me in the way that my brain works

[@plus1creator]

I have an art degree. Many friends refused to get formal art education because they didn't want it to influence their styles. The unfortunate result? They wind up spending months & years on ideas that were fully played out 100+ years ago. Had they done their homework on what has come before, they would be better positioned to use what's useful, drop what isn't, and develop the next wave of innovation. So, I resonate with your sentiment of not wanting anyone to influence your thinking, but you are guaranteeing that nobody can influence you for the better either.

[@blackluster_nova1088]

See i have adhd, so this approach wont work for me. I need to have a dashboard with all of my diff notes/projects Im working on otherwise everything is gonna fall apart. I see how this can be useful tho! Good vid!

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for watching!

[@alycekopec4409]

This is the video that I didn't know I was looking for

[@plus1creator]

Made my whole day; glad you found it! 🙏

[@theonly.lightfall]

Actually was thinkging about dashboard yoo and at last a question crossed my mind: "Why do I need this if I use quick switcher anf omnisearch?" And plus I learn programming so I prefer to work with keyboard. Thx for video, really cool and usefull experience sharing!

[@plus1creator]

Glad it helped out!

[@murtadha96]

This is awesome! Thanks for that

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for checking it out.

[@plus1creator]

Are you Team Dashboard or Team Workspace?

[@matthewandalice5989]

Idea sold to me that's for sure

[@plus1creator]

Another life saved! 😂

[@utubiene]

Hi, I am the guy, who watched your Daily Note Video 700.000 times. Your videos are extremely slow, but extremly useful. Just right for me, 😉👍

[@tristen_grant]

That... isn't a compliment. If you needed to watch the video 700,000 times, that means he didn't do a good job.

[@plus1creator]

@@tristen_grant Tristen, he didn't ask you.

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for the note. I make the videos at my speed. Guess that's slow, but it seems to work! 🙏

[@DysektAI]

Was just looking at all the cool and amazing dashboards and found this video after 5 hours trying to customize Obsidian and was already telling myself: "I feel like this is just procrastinating at its finest, making art instead of working on real projects and jobs all this time I just spent" I will say I feel like the video was a bit too drawn out and slow paced I know you wanted to really cover everything in detail but it feels like there were so many thinking moments and pauses throughout that with a little editing could have shaved off minimum of 5 minutes and if you cut out some of the excess or repetitive info like opening and closing the workspaces over and over, this video could have most likely been closer to 10 minutes and had just as much value. Just a constructive critique for the future as it did feel more like a college lecture or ted talk than a youtube video after the 15 min mark with the pauses and unedited raw footage from the computer. Also pro tip even if you do go too fast or just fast enough users need to pause / rewind / slow down the playback speed that boosts the video engagement analytics and retention rate. Where currently if users are skipping or speeding it up say 1.5x you are then losing 50% of that engagement as youtube measures the time the users spends watching/engaged with the video and not the total time of the video so then it seems like its most likely lower quality content if most people only watch 1/4th or a half of the video it seems before leaving. **(proven by this insane person and abused by some others on purpose: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npTFn4quiJ2Le7M )** Not saying to purposely speed up your videos or speak faster than natural but a bit of editing to keep the actual content focused and engaging and maybe fast paced enough that people do rewind can and most likely will result in better rankings for your videos that you may not even realize is most likely a big reason why your channel has been growing slowly as the content is high quality and informative just need to convince the KZbin algorithm that is true with the stats since that's all it can rank it by.

[@plus1creator]

Glad you found it, and thanks for the comment. What's your next video about?

[@DysektAI]

@@plus1creator Not sure yet still finding inspiration I guess the true answer will be whatever I find to be interesting and useful content to share with others to help with issues I faced along the way more or less just whatever I can make that is high quality and provides concise but informative insights on whatever topic or subject that may lead to

[@plus1creator]

@@DysektAI right on; looking forward to seeing it! ::high five::

[@-nepherim]

Totally aligned with your approach. #TeamWorkspace

[@plus1creator]

Happy to hear it! ::highfive::

[@phobosmoon4643]

i think "chat ops" assisted by local large language models will be the dashboard of the future. You know how you can talk to a 'bot' in slack? Imagine if the bot did everything all you do it type @ it.

[@plus1creator]

I can't *wait* for a local AI that ingests my Obsidian vault and then lets me talk to my notes.

[@DeanClark-g6y]

Starts at 7:25

[@phobosmoon4643]

Lol!!

[@plus1creator]

?

[@phobosmoon4643]

@@plus1creatorfunny intro lol.

[@plus1creator]

Thanks!

[@fuzicheewbacca]

Quite slow and boring. So sorry.

[@plus1creator]

Thanks for taking your time to come to that conclusion.

[@alycekopec4409]

I thought it was just right