Summary of "Give Me 15 Minutes. I'll Teach You 80% of Obsidian"

What Obsidian is (technical basics)

Vault: a folder of plain-text notes on your computer (Markdown files). Local-first, portable, and future-proof — you can open notes in other apps (VS Code, TextEdit, Ulysses, etc.).
Data ownership: you own the files. Sync is optional via cloud storage or Obsidian Sync (official paid service offering end-to-end encryption and version history).
Small core team; CEO estimates ~5–10M installs.

Create notes as Markdown files. Link notes wiki-style with [[double brackets]] — links create/backfill graph nodes and generate backlinks.
Uncreated links appear as placeholders in graph/search and can be turned into notes by opening them.
Backlinks panel shows mentions and lets you inspect the context of links.
Embeds: prefix a link with ! to embed another note or display external images (e.g., ![[Note]] or ![alt](image.png)).

Visual network of notes. Configurable and useful for spotting clusters and maps of content.

Add note properties/fields (dates, checkboxes, text, numbers) for structured metadata (frontmatter).
Obsidian “Bases” provides database-like features to organize, sort, and query notes by properties.

Visual whiteboard for dragging notes, images, and cards — useful for brainstorming and organizing ideas spatially.

Drag-and-drop images, PDFs, audio. Core audio recorder for voice memos. Embed YouTube, tweets, and other external media.

Community themes and a large plugin/theme ecosystem. (Video recommendations: start with Anapuchin, add a “Soft Paper” theme on top.)

Enable Files & Links → “Automatically update internal links” to prevent broken links when renaming notes.
Set a default attachments folder to avoid cluttering the vault root/sidebar.
Start with a small, intentionally simple folder structure (big buckets). Example schema:
- Atlas — timeless ideas/knowledge (MOCs / maps of content)
- Calendar — time-based notes (journals, daily notes)
- Efforts — projects, tasks, time-bound work
Prefer Maps of Content (MOCs) over excessive tags/folders: use MOCs as hubs that link related notes.
Use daily notes for quick captures that later get linked into your IdeaVerse.

Don’t import all old notes at once — start fresh and selectively bring in useful material.
Avoid plugin overload early. Focus on link-first note taking before adding advanced plugins (kanban, advanced tables, Dataview dashboards, etc.).
Don’t overfolder — deep folder hierarchies often break for idea work; earn structure as patterns emerge.
Learn hotkeys to speed up note creation and navigation.

(Mac notation in the source; use Ctrl/Alt on Windows)

Formatting
- Cmd/Ctrl+B = bold
- Cmd/Ctrl+I = italic
- # headings, ~~strikethrough~~, ==highlight==, > quote
- - bullet, numbered lists, - [ ] checklist
- `inline code`, triple backticks for code blocks
Linking
- [[double bracket]] — internal note link
- [text](url) — external link
Navigation and UI
- Cmd/Ctrl+T = new tab
- Cmd/Ctrl+W = close tab
- Cmd/Ctrl+P = command palette
- Cmd/Ctrl+F = find
- Cmd/Ctrl+Option+Left/Right = navigate back/forward

Insert tables via the Command Palette or the built-in table plugin.
Use structured properties (frontmatter) for metadata; helpful for sorting/filtering in Bases or with plugins like Dataview.
Combine templates and properties to create repeatable note types (journals, evergreen notes, project templates).

Obsidian does not include built-in AI — you choose integrations (local or cloud).
Pick an AI integration based on your privacy needs. Example from the video: Claude (Anthropic) used for querying notes, research, and populating properties.
Best practices:
- Back up your vault before processing it with external AI tools.
- Keep AI outputs separated from original thinking and mark AI-generated notes clearly.

The referenced video condenses the “80%” of Obsidian you’ll use into ~15 minutes.
Free Ideaverse starter template (creator’s vault template) and a step-by-step setup guide were provided in the video (scannable link/QR).
Follow-up videos and guides mentioned:
- How to install recommended themes (Anapuchin / Soft Paper)
- Essential plugins overview
- Guides for Bases and Canvas setup
Community resources cover deeper dives into themes, plugins, Bases, Canvas, and the Ideaverse template.

Video presenter / creator of the “Ideaverse” template (demonstrates Obsidian features).
Obsidian (the app) and its small core team / CEO (quoted install estimate and product context).
Obsidian Sync (official paid sync service).
Claude (Anthropic) — example external AI integration used by the presenter.
Community themes/plugins (Anapuchin, Soft Paper, and core plugins like Templates and Audio Recorder).