Here Are Some Markdown Tips And Tricks To Improve Your Note Taking In Obsidian

Obsidian is one of the newest entrants in the note-taking space. It uses a markdown editor to draft pages; so if you are coming from traditional apps like Apple Notes, OneNote, or Evernote, you may find it difficult to get started. Unlike these apps, Obsidian doesn’t have a standard toolbar at the top to format text and insert other elements. It uses a robust markdown editor to create a new note from scratch. If you are unfamiliar with markdown, check out these top tips and tricks to boost your note-taking efficiency on your laptop.

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What is a markdown editor?

Markdown is a lightweight markup language to format your plain text using syntax. This means you won’t find any buttons or menus to format your text. It’s entirely different from WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) within a block editor that’s present in apps like Notion, Craft, and others.

Apart from Obsidian, other popular apps like Ulysses, Bear, and iA Writer also use a markdown editor by default. As for Obsidian, the company has done a commendable job with implementing markdown. Unlike other apps, it doesn’t keep the formatting code visible all the time. Instead, the software converts it into a live preview in real-time.

Overall, a markdown editor gets the job done without distracting you from your main goal. It delivers a simple, fast environment to get you straight to drafting notes and documents.

Markdown tips and tricks

Let’s start with several editing styles that we commonly apply in every note. After that, we will go over advanced tips for inserting internal and external links, embed images, quotes, tasks, tables, and more.

Basic text formatting

Most of our notes carry common elements like headings, bold, italic, highlight, and more. Here’s how you can apply such styles in an Obsidian page.

Headings

It’s quite simple to add headings in Obsidian using # symbols. Let’s glance over the complete list.

When you insert #, make sure to hit space before you insert the heading. Otherwise, Obsidian will turn it into a tag. Check the screenshot below for reference.

Once you type the heading, hit enter to insert a new line, and Obsidian turns your heading into a live preview and hides # signs.

Bold

Adding a bold effect to any text doesn’t require much of an effort. You can simply type ** before and after text to apply bold effect. Here’s what it should look like.

**this is bold text**

Italic

You can simply remove one asterisk on both sides and apply the italic effect in no time.

*this is italic text*

Strikethrough

While strikethrough isn’t as commonly used as bold and italic, here’s how to apply it to any text in Obsidian.

~~this text is strikeout~~

Highlight

If you want to highlight important text or phrases in Obsidian, add the==symbol before and after the text. It uses the highlighter in yellow color only. You will be disappointed if you wish to use another color.

==Highlighted text==

Bold and italic

Do you want to apply both bold and italic format to any text in Obsidian? You can type three asterisks before and after the text, which makes sense as the sum of the styles.

***This text has bold and italic effect***

External links

Markdown supports external links, too. You need to add link text in [] brackets and URL in (). Don’t add space between these two, though. When you hit enter, Obsidian hides the URL and shows a direct link underlining the text, like a hyperlink.

[Parth XDA](https://www.xda-developers.com/author/parth-shah/)

Image embeds

Do you want to embed an image from the web in Obsidian? Since it doesn’t have an extension, use the markdown trick. You need to add ! before an external link, and you are good to go.

![XDA]( https://static1.xdaimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/social/xda-og-img.png)

When you hit enter, Obsidian hides the markdown text and only shows the associated image.

Quotes and code blocks

You can add quotes by inserting> before a sentence or paragraph.

> The writer is an explorer. Every step is an advance into a new land.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Developers will also appreciate code block support within a sentence. Make sure to add `backticks` to format any text into a code.

If you want to add a code block, insert “`, hit enter and type your code.

Lists

If you want to create a bullet list in Obsidian, type – before text. It converts your text into a bullet point, and you can hit Enter to add more bullet points.

To-do list and horizontal bar

While Obsidian doesn’t support reminders, you can create a task list using the format below.

• [ ] Task 1
• [ ] Task 2

Since Obsidian turns your task list into a checkbox, you can simply click on it to complete the to-do list.

As for adding a horizontal bar, you can add three or more stars or hyphens and hit enter.

Tables

Inserting tables via a markdown requires a bit of effort. You need to use a combination of vertical bars and hyphens to get the job done.

When you hit enter, Obsidian highlights both columns and lets you create the database in minutes. You can use the Tabs key to keep adding more cells to a table.

A markdown editor also lets you format content within a table or create a diagram. Head to the Obsidian support page to learn more about advanced formatting syntax.

Other tricks for using the Obsidian editor

As you can see from the list above, a markdown editor requires some time to get used to. Thankfully, Obsidian does support / command and a right-click menu to format text without using any symbols, if you prefer an alternate method.

You can simply type / and mention the formatting style you want to add. It’s a part of core plugin that’s enabled by default under the Obsidian settings menu.

You can also right-click on any area and pick your desired style for your note.

Master note-taking in Obsidian

A markdown editor may require some learning curve, but once you get past the initial stage, you can swiftly format your Obsidian pages without needing to move your fingers from the keyboard. What are you waiting for? Memorize these simple markdown tricks and start your Obsidian journey in style. If you want to explore more productivity tools, read our dedicated guide to learn more.