Ten key things to know about Obsidian

1. The titles of notes forms a node in a network, so if you rename a note (file), you change every instance of that word throughout the vault.

2. The Quick Switcher – cmd/ctrl O – opens a window for fast searching, with autocompletion, for all your notes.
3. The "Search" field is easily reached with ⌘-⇧-F (for "find"). In particular, it helps you find
4. "Properties" (or "YAML") is a complicated but powerful matter, where metadata is stored for each file. In "Reading" or "Live Preview" mode, you won't see it, unless you use the command Properties view: Show file properties or you have a pane open with the "i" symbol. If you view the raw plaintext for a note, however, these properties appear as "YAML frontmatter," at the top of the file. Do not change this. If a note has properties, and you see, at the absolute first line of the note a string like this: --- And a few lines of properties: value followed by another string of dashes, do not put any text above that or otherwise change the syntax. You can, however, enter values. And, in Live Preview mode, the possibilities for customizing Properties are very cool and powerful.
   • Properties - Obsidian Help
   • Properties view - Obsidian Help
5. The Command Palette – cmd/ctrl-P – opens up a bunch of options for finding commands
   • You can also "pin" commands so that they show up at the top of the Command Palette.
   • Better yet: set Hotkeys
6. Unlinked Mentions are really useful. I even made an explainer video (small, fuzzy text on it – sorry about that):
   • VideoExplainer - How to create links using the "Unlinked mentions"
   • If there are words in the present note that match the title (or alias) of a note somewhere in the vault, then these will show up under "Unlinked Mentions" in the Outgoing links panel (the symbol looks like this a 🔗→ ). If you click on the button there, showing a link to the relevant word, the word in the current note will be converted into a [[wiki-bracketed link]]. E.g., if wrote something here about artificial general intelligence, then that would show up in the Outgoing Links panel, under Unlinked Mentions.
   • In the other direction, we have Backlinks or "Incoming Links". In this case, we can see which other notes contain exact set of words that form the title of the present note. So, to continue the example, if we were in the note titled artificial general intelligence, and we looked in the backlinks panel (🔗←, in the right side panel) we would see the present note mentioned – under "Linked Mentions" (if it was already Wiki-bracketed) or "Unlinked Mentions" (if not)
7. The Core Plugin "Note Composer" offers powerful ways to select text in a file and convert it to a new note, leaving behind a link to that new note (with the "extracted" text). Good when a file gets to be too long. It also works with merging.
   • Note composer - Obsidian Help
8. Local graphs rock, especially in combination with the "Graph Presets" plugin.
   • Try this, from any note, especially one with a few links: Graph view: Open local graph then Graph Presets: Apply "Local Color".
9. Workspaces are key with all these options, the help to bring you back to a consistent layout and point of departure.
   • Try this: Workspaces: Load workspace layout then select Joel Anderson's recommended workspace.
   • Workspaces - Obsidian Help
10. Callouts are a fun way to make text pretty!

A guide to Obsidian