Set Up for Note-Taking - Justin's Obsidian Setup December 2020 - Effective Remote Work

Obsidian has changed quite a bit in a few months, and so has Justin's workflow.
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[@GeekyNerdDad]

I’m new to Obsidian but I am loving it. At about the 10:00 mark in his private you see he has all the books 0f the Bible listed. I would love to see his structure for Bible notes in obsidian, anyone know if he has posted that anywhere?

[@EffectiveCo]

I don't currently! But I do have something set up for study based on this: github.com/selfire1/BibleGateway-to-Obsidian

[@GeekyNerdDad]

@@EffectiveCo so awesome. Thank you!

[@barryfeatheringill6472]

Have spent most of the first part of the morning watching your awesome videos. Notice that you have a folder “Bible Study” personally would be interested in seeing this folder and how you use Obsidian for Bible study. I am new to all this smart note taking stuff with highlighted book, notebook filled with notes and computer files that I don’t remember where I file stuff on particular topic. Happened to find you on KZbin after doing a morning scan of KZbin home page. Just how do you create Obsidian notes while watching a video. Do you write down a brief note that you later post in Obsidian or do you pause it if it is not a live presentation?

[@EffectiveCo]

For scripture study, I have a version of it pulled into Obsidian as plain text so then I can link notes to direct passages. I'm not too intense with it by any means. When watching videos, I usually have Obsidian open to the side and write thoughts down on the video as I watch it. Sometimes I have to pause if it's not live. I'll also grab the KZbin embed code and paste it into the note. Why? Because you get a great video embed right in Obsidian!

[@hopestreet3452]

Really appreciate you doing these videos for us, Justin - thank you :)

[@EffectiveCo]

Glad you like them! Happy to make them :)

[@fohward]

I'm using sync.com to sync the vault. Most of the advantages of Dropbox, without the potential privacy complications.

[@EffectiveCo]

Great suggestion - thanks!

[@ServantStatusMinistries]

Wait... but are you able to use Markdown apps in sync to add notes? I have sync but had issues trying to do that.

[@fohward]

@@ServantStatusMinistries Hey, I assume you're referring to Sync on mobile? I always work on desktop so I haven't encountered this problem yet. Markor (Android) has a troubleshooting page on Github, have you tried to see if Sync uses a local folder to sync stuff? If so, that could be a workaround. github.com/gsantner/markor/issues/197

[@ServantStatusMinistries]

@@fohward ahhhh I don’t think they do use a local folder because all apple devices are preset to use iCloud...uhhhgggh. I’ll continue to use Dropbox but I will check out that link you sent to use for desktop

[@fohward]

@@ServantStatusMinistries the GitHub link is for Android phones, but on PC I haven't experienced any issues with Sync.com and markdown files 👌

[@rajaloni8704]

how to sync the obsidian with third party cloud right now i was using "git hub repository" which is not effective for cloud storage , would u suggest me some ??

[@arthurmarek8418]

Good content, thank you for the video, it is helping me getting going with Obsidian. Thank you especially for not having music playing, some thing that stops me concentrating on what people are saying in so many videos.

[@EffectiveCo]

My pleasure!

[@joellemorris5684]

Thanks for sharing your structure! It's really helpful as I'm new to Obsidian. Following on what you said about vault encryption and sync.... I wanted to know if you found a solution. I myself tried few things but it didn't work out maybe because I want both of the best world: encryption and sync with versioning.... With my macOS / iOS ecosystem, here is what I tried: I used Dropbox as my syncing server (because we can always access previous vault versions) and Cryptomator to encrypt my Obsidian vault. All worked well on MacOS, Obsidian could access my mounted de-crypted note vault. However issues started with my iPhone. I tested 1Writer and Cryptomator 2 (with my vault syncing done on Dropbox) and I observed that 1Writer was not able to access the mounted decrypted vault on Cryptomator drive.

[@EffectiveCo]

I'm actually using Obsidian Sync! It checks all the boxes :)

[@ReeF83]

Great video Justin. You mentioned that you’re using Dropbox now. How are you syncing data from your iOS ? Do you use drafts or 1writer?

[@EffectiveCo]

I'm actually using Obsidian Sync exclusively now because the mobile app pairs well with it. The Obsidian Mobile app is in beta and coming soon to everyone!

[@ranasamir]

Could you please give some tips to include a system for putting reference sources in text and at end of note? Thanks.

[@EffectiveCo]

I create a note with the reference information in it, then link to the reference note from the note. You can even embed the note in preview by using ![[name of note]]

[@drsamirmahmood]

@@EffectiveCo Great. Thanks!

[@jonellms3778]

Justin - great video. thank you. were there specific disadvantages to using iCloud for sync (vs dropbox)?

[@EffectiveCo]

I personally have had bad experiences with iCloud stopping syncing in the background with no explanation, no warning, and no way to troubleshoot. As of right now, I'd recommend using Obsidian Sync for your vaults -- it's end-to-end encrypted, fast, and has decent versioning.

[@triyasmith4519]

Where do you get your MOC's? Do they emerge naturally, or are there templates? Also, how do you know when to add links to a note or vice versa? Like when I click on a meta-link in my index, do I add the notes inside that link so that the meta link is full of information, or do I create new notes and add a link to the link inside the index?

[@EffectiveCo]

I patterned mine after Nick Milo (Linking Your Thinking), but I built mine by hand. I link my notes when it feels appropriate. I don't have a science for this. Generally, if a note is a structural note (MOC or index), I'll link to the other relevant structure notes. Otherwise, my evergreen notes are interlinked by topic and relevance as I write or groom them. Does that help?

[@llo512]

Thanks for doing this video! I use self-hosted Nextcloud for synching Obsidian.

[@EffectiveCo]

Awesome! I haven't gotten deep into Nextcloud, but is that working well for you?

[@llo512]

@@EffectiveCo Yes, I use a mini-pc running Ubuntu 20.04 with full disk encryption to locally host the Nextcould server. It's really easy to set up the Nextcloud server using snap install on Ubuntu. I've done this with Google Cloud Platform in the past also for Internet access. Nextcloud client works on Mac, PC, and Linux. If you use a Nextcloud folder as your vault, all clients will be synchronized.

[@kareemamr5626]

Can you do a video about organizing notes by topic

[@EffectiveCo]

That's a great idea! I'll add it to the list.

[@tymo3391]

@@EffectiveCo i would also be interested in this!

[@MichaelAye]

This is The Way! ;)

[@basedblackpilled3810]

Thanks for sharing Justin

[@EffectiveCo]

My pleasure!!

[@trap_musiicssj]

I implemented nick milo's system to organize my notes and I think it would be nice to know what 999- title 100-title means?

[@EffectiveCo]

It's simply a way to quickly index topics under a category. Think of it like a shortcut or the Dewey decimal system at the library. If I want to log topics under "100 Productivity" all I have to do is type "[[100" to quickly link to the note.

[@mamunurrashid5652]

Thank you.....Useful ideas...

[@EffectiveCo]

Welcome 😊