Taking notes on people in Obsidian

[@nicolevdh]

THEME: AnuPpuccin: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bV62gKqupb-EhKs PLUGINS MENTIONED: QuickAdd, Dataview, Dice Roller, Obsidian Publish, Obsidian Sync, Meld Encrypt

[@the1gofer]

And text expander

[@nicolevdh]

Text Expander isn't a plugin, but yeah, I used to use it. I actually recently transitioned to Espanso, which I like much better! pulse.ly/ses6asm8b7

[@stamatispsarras]

Thank you for that but I know all of those, and I don't understand which one was used to identify the type of template to be used? Reminder, you clicked on a link with a non existent page. person:: [[Hannah]]. and it picked a person template!

[@Ben-S-Man]

​@@stamatispsarrasthis is my question too! How did it do this automatically??

[@mcwhinns]

around 3:30 there's a CMD+P call for thing called QuickAdd for the meeting, but from there the attendee automatically drew up a person template. @@stamatispsarras

[@MrSomethingred]

Bruh, imagine your in a meeting and the person goes to share their screen and accidentally opens up your "Flaws" section

[@linkingyourthinking]

Taking notes on people is a compliment :)

[@nicolevdh]

Happy you think so, because I've got a note with your name on it, Nick. ;)

[@kevinfernandes7216]

I like your videos showing how you're using obsidian and using examples rather than just talking in a general manner. I think people can internalize the information better when they're seeing a "real life" example exactly as you're using it.

[@nicolevdh]

Thanks, Kevin! Yeah, theory only takes you so far... I don't think Obsidian would be useful at all if it didn't help me, you know, actually get stuff done. :) I'm glad you liked the video!

[@Trecoolerok]

Definetly. I can even take some Nicole's ideas for my own vault. And it's always, you know, helpful for beginners like me - that spending so much time for this is not just for joy, but also for useful stuff.

[@nicolevdh]

Happy to hear that, Ilya! :) Joy + useful is the goal!

[@mcwhinns]

I've had the experience of being told that I'm weird for writing a reminder on my calendar about other people. "Why isn't it important enough for you to just remember?", but this is me remembering in a very permanent way.

[@lucyaquari7018]

Huh people have such different perceptions sometimes. Imo the fact that you’re making an effort to remember something by writing it down is an indication that it’s important to you.

[@JeffreyStarke]

Really great idea! At 4:25, how does Obsidian know to create the new note in your people directory? and how do you configure it to automatically apply the person template?

[@Jorge0812]

Hey Jeffrey! To automatically apply the person template, you can use the plugin "Templater" (Nicole has a video on that plugin as well). In short, you assign a template to a folder, so everytime you create a note inside, the template is applied. As for how to create a note on the people directory automatically, I'm unsure on the method Nicole used here, but I usually just write the folder before the name, so instead of doing [[Hanna]] I would [[People/Hanna]] and this works. Only need to do it once, though, because once "Hanna" has been created, no need to reference People anymore. Hope this helps, even if 2 months later :)

[@JeffreyStarke]

@@Jorge0812 super helpful, thanks!

[@Jorge0812]

@@JeffreyStarke pleasure! I'll see if I can find out how she creates it automatically on the right folder, as I also need it

[@GaelyneGasson]

I love the role playing game additions - being able to 'get to know' a person by using some of the tools available is fantastic. I'm aware there's fiction writers that use some of the same tools for bringing their characters to life. Having back stories really helps with that kind of thing and I imagine with a good note taking system like this when you do chat with or perhaps interview people, you would have more interesting questions to ask than the basics. It makes for good material for interviews and meetings, I'm sure. Meld encrypt sounds interesting but I'm wondering how that could work with Dataview? I'm looking forward to trying these templates out - and I must install the dice roller plugin. So many ways to have fun with that! Cheers!!

[@feloneewebster3420]

I use obsidian for notes as a peer assessor for a social interaction assessment at my undergrad college. I assess the actions, professional online presence, and key behaviors of students in a group discussion and I use obsidian to note observations, assessor consensus, narrative feedback with my student, and written feedback. Additionally, I think notes on people helps with biographies like Austin Kleon offers the idea of building a family tree of influences in his book, Steal like an Artist. Research people you admire/inspiring/influential and discover their influences and repeat. I note all of my medical/mental health appointments and work meetings too. I also started taking notes for events like at a conferences and summits, workshops, lectures, etc…But I like the idea of taking notes of people we encounter too. Thanks for sharing this method. 😊

[@stamatispsarras]

Very interesting ideas for a people template! I was curious about a very small part of your presentation, which might have been also editing magic! When you clicked to create Hanna's page, it looked like templater already knew this was a "person" template. How did you do that? Awesome video as always!

[@alex-rb9dc]

I'm going to guess "through a hotkey" :)

[@stamatispsarras]

@@alex-rb9dc unfortunate! I would have like something that based on the metadata key would pick the right template for me! :)

[@mariselgarcia-lahoz8850]

I think is with a Macro from QuickAdd

[@330toSRT8]

Great info, thanks!

[@lillithsleeps]

Thank you, a thousand times thank you!

[@marketingpower]

Ahahah, when you say "I take note on people" it sounds a bit creepy yes, but when you approach it with a business angle, what you're doing it just a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) extended to your personal life also. It's the basis of any efficient sales team to use a CRM, it enhances your abilities to build relationship, it's a productivity tools like we use a lot of them in everyday life so relax it's actually only smart on your part and show that you are a great businesswoman 🙂 Loved the video! I'm learning Obsidian, need to tackle this big frontmatter/dataview thing. You video helped a lot! Obsidian is a life saver! Thank you 🙂

[@nicolevdh]

THEME: AnuPpuccin PLUGINS MENTIONED: QuickAdd, Dataview, Dice Roller, Obsidian Publish, Obsidian Sync, Meld Encrypt

[@TeambitDK]

Hi Nicole I'm wondering what I need to set up to have my Vault know that when I cmd + click "Hanna", the Vault knows that's it's creating a new person using the correlating template for that. Seems it's defaulting to the note template at the moment. Can you give me a hint?

[@Scott_Stone]

Yeah, I also tried to keep track of when I last talked to people. Turns out I'm extremely asocial and there is no point in tracking that - the stats are too depressing when you pull them. I mean 2 years is a good result!

[@dradic9452]

I'm trying to get into the habit of doing this. I think it is a good idea to remember things about people. But I'm thinking maybe ill setup up a template with my details, so people can use QR code to scan it directly into their vault. :)

[@aliasgur3342]

I've been taking notes on people the past year and it's been so effective I've been struggling to understand why I didn't do it before. You imply at the outset that people may consider it weird - I'd not considered that but yes they _would _ consider it weird! Perhaps that's the explanation - subconsciously I recognised it was weird so never did what should have been obvious.

[@d3lta_p]

Using knife theory for your coworkers and aquaintances is unhinged and I am absolutely going to use it in my vault :)

[@Negative_Light]

Interesting. I meant to start doing this. Going to try your method a bit.

[@nicolevdh]

Cool! I think it's been worthwhile. People are always surprised by how much I "remember", when actually I just took notes and reviewed them just before seeing them.

[@williamdenny9674]

I take contact notes for work, but never thought about taking more overall personality notes. Also TIL about knife theory! Thanks for the video!

[@nicolevdh]

I don't do it for everyone, but those that I've done it for have come in handy on many occasions. It helps me strike up meaningful conversations with people even when I haven't seen them in a while.

[@Trecoolerok]

Thanks for the video, really useful as I wanted to take notes on people I know (it's the second brain in the end). I'm not sure - If anywhere is information about naming? For me this problem is huge, I'm always confused in how way name my new note. How many info I should pass in the title? Or some parts must be in tags, etc. Thanks for your videos! It's a treasure for me. I stated using obsidian in 2020 or 2019, but I quickly dropped it. Now I really wanna make my system more useful and more structured. Your videos are great for such purposes

[@nicolevdh]

Hi Ilya! Naming is down to personal preference. For my own notes, I just name notes the way I need to so that I can find them later. That means using words I would be searching for. I don't put metadata in the title-- I put that on the note itself. you can always change the name of the note and also put aliases in case you want to call it something else, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. :)

[@Trecoolerok]

@@nicolevdh thanks for the answer - I will definetly think about your way.

[@girishkdesh]

NVDH, You are awesome! I am building a people database and am definitely going to add in it though we haven't met yet in person. You have added value to my life many times. Thanks for the video. It is, as usual, awesome... not keeping anything back... sharing it all!

[@nicolevdh]

Awww, that's so sweet, in a very awesomely nerdy way! I'm really happy to have been able to help.

[@falopaideologica4700]

How did you do so that when you create a new note like [[hanna]] the person template is automatically applied? :o

[@lilyofthe4lley]

I was wondering: how do you have the line numbers for the dataview codeblock and how do you highlight dataview syntax while editing the codeblock?

[@kuzco7061]

when you use the meld plugin and create a new encrypted note, can you still use the Persons template within the note? Or does it just work as a blank note? Asking because you didn't do it so I'm unsure if it's possible or not.

[@kevinfernandes7216]

How are you keeping track of how to contact them? I see an email spot on the YAML but what about if you don't have their email? If you have their LinkedIn do you mention anywhere on it if you do? What about if you met them out at a meetup? Do you generally ask people for contact information? Do you include a picture for people on their page? You mentioned taking a selfie with them at an event so where are you putting the pictures? Also, as guy, it's not necessarily easy to just take selfies with people as easily as you could, got any alternate ideas or know of how some other people handle this problem? Thanks!

[@nicolevdh]

I rarely ask people for their email addresses. Their name is the minimum I'll ask for, and since I work in tech, I can usually find other information on them after the fact just from their name. Re: LinkedIn, I usually just connect with them on the spot and then go through my history later and fill in any information in their note in Obsidian. The comment about asking for a selfie as a guy is so interesting, and a good call-out of female privilege. I've never had someone say no or look at me weird for asking if I could take a photo with them, but I can totally understand that might happen! Maybe you could just ask to take a photo of their name instead? Most social media networks will have a photo of them anyway.

[@jimalix6270]

Great video, Nicole! And yes, I think taking notes about people you meet is a great idea! If I had these kinds of tools to easily make notes back when I was still working (i.e., before retirement), I would definitely have done the same as you do! BTW, I'm curious what "NVDH" stands for?

[@pmmeurcatpics]

If I had to guess, I'd say that it stands for "Nicole van der Hoeven", her name

[@thibaultmol]

YES, YES, YES. I've been wanting to do this for half a year now but just keep delaying it for some stupid reason and instead I'm just writing thousands of little tidbits of information in my simple non-obsidian notes app. (Part of that reason was because I just couldn't decide on which software to use... And the way my silly brain works didn't want to pick just one thing and try it out)

[@nicolevdh]

Yay! Time to get that started! :) I have used other apps to create a CRM (the app named Monica comes to mind), but in the end, it was just easier to keep notes on people in the same place I already take notes on other things... :)

[@thibaultmol]

Q: what would be the best way that I could visualize using data view in that person's note, Aldi encounters that I've had with that person from my daily notes (so not meetings like in your example). For ex: let's say that today I played a game with that person online. I went to put that in my daily note. And then in the person's note, dataview should show me a similar table like yours. But it should say "played x game with this person"

[@spesterwecial]

@@thibaultmol One way you can do something like that is with Obsidian’s native in-page search query blocks instead of Dataview-don’t think I can post a screenshot of the rendered output here but the input in your note looks like this: ```query block:("Nicole van der Hoeven") ``` You could add that to your person template with {{title}} in the string quotes with the core templates plugin, or equivalent Templater syntax.

[@mageprometheus]

I should do this and include a photo as I'm rubbish at associating names and faces. The only exception is when I like them and they have red hair. 😄

[@nicolevdh]

The red hair has actually turned out to be quite handy in that regard! I chose it because, well, I like the colour. But if it helps people feel like they can approach me, that's just a bonus! Especially if I like them back. ;)

[@60tiantian]

dame ! make me remember the old time, i take note on my classmate, but my notebook just been stolen by some bad students ，they leak the information for all the class, of course they note too honest by them shortcomings, that make me been isolated, i was 13

[@spesterwecial]

Hi Nicole, thanks as always for your excellent content! How did you automate the application of your person template for a new page link here, for Hanna? 4:23

[@tinokremerNL]

I'm wondering the same thing. Templater can auto assign a template based on a folder, but how does it know this new note is a person?

[@nicolevdh]

Hey Ches! I probably should have mentioned it. I have the person template set to be the default one applied for anything in that folder.

[@nicolevdh]

Hey Tino! That is indeed how I'm doing it. It doesn't really know-- it's just always a person if it's in that folder. I found that in my use case, the new notes I create from that folder are person ones. If they're not, then I just create them in another folder.

[@tinokremerNL]

I was thinking in the right direction then... You create the meeting with a Quickadd action and have the default template set to person. In that template I can use tp.file.move, great! Thank you so much!

[@nicolevdh]

Yes, exactly! You got it! :)

[@the1gofer]

How did you automatically create a template when making the “Hanna” page? Was that text expander?

[@nicolevdh]

Hey Jason! No, I defined a template for the entire meeting folder using the Templater plugin. I found that most of the new notes I made from the meeting folder were for people, so I just made that the default.

[@filipstybel7677]

@@nicolevdh how to configure the default people template for new notes from the meeting note? I see also that created Hanna note landed in the specific folder.

[@the_real_marahlago]

Hi Nicole! Just got married 4/29/23 to a Van Prooyen! we have the whole Dutch thing in common! I didn't take his last name, I use it as a middle name. After 58 years as Marah Lago, I didn't wake up one day and suddenly become someone else, but I loved that you were learning Dutch and then moved to the Netherlands! Anyway, thanks for the great content,. It has helped so much. Please keep making it though, since, I am just getting used to Obsidian. While I am "with you" when you are writing syntax, I get uber confused on my own....its frustrating, particularly working with Dataview, yet I dream of queries that save me time and give me info!! LMAO. Sorry to be blathering on, but while I am, how do you feel about either plugin: Metadata Menu, or MetaEdit? thoughts?

[@mikelinsi]

hehe thanks for sharing. i do the same since years. make a bit hard for sharing Acces to the Obsidian. but it more or less works well. Did you find any nice system to filter your "CRM" when you trave, to meet people? like you have have the phone Nr, or the down. how you can find out all the people in the same Town, Country? ah and who did you mange to create the new Document direct in the right folder? 4:24

[@mayyuval]

Hey Nicole, great video, I agree with your conclusion that in the end of the day, it is more flattering than weird, taking these kind of notes. I have a question. What about people outside your work/industry circles, lets say, friends that you see during the week? Do you also regard those interactions as "meetings" that will end up appearing in the dataview query results for meetings?

[@nicolevdh]

Good to know you agree. :) I don't really make a distinction between work and personal the way many people do. Not saying you should do what I'm doing-- everyone is different. For me, a meeting is a meeting. For in person meetings, sometimes I don't have a chance to take notes. In that case, I might just jot what I remember down later, and usually that's just in my daily note. Unless I DO want it to be returned in Dataview queries, in which case I create a meeting for it and type what I remembered in there

[@UnicornRoseDust]

I want a note with my name on your vault!!! that would be soooo cool.

[@BillPetro]

Nicole, You say at 5:20 that this new person file will automatically go into the "people" folder. How do you set that up? Thanks.

[@nicolevdh]

Hey! I use the Templater plugin to use a template for the person that has this: <% await tp.file.move("/private/gente/" + tp.file.title) %> That line automatically moves the note when it's applied.

[@KarlQuinsland]

@@nicolevdh How did Obsidian know to use the person template, though? It looks like you just typed `[[person/hannah]]` which didn't exist. cmd+clicked the link to make it exist @ 4:30 and instead of a blank note, the person template was used.

[@nicolevdh]

Yup, that's right! I had a default template set for that folder so that all notes created within that folder automatically get that template applied.

[@ragadrop]

Yei I live in your vault lol

[@TemperedWambat]

The idea of taking notes on other people is weird. I just keep that stuff in my head.