Obsidian
Launched 2020
175 features found available
In their words
Sharpen your thinking. Obsidian is the private and flexible note-taking app that adapts to the way you think. Read more
Pricing
Our most recent pricing details for Obsidian:
$0 Personal
$25/one time Catalyst
$50/annual Commercial
+ $4/month add sync
+ $8/month add publishing
Features pertaining to how the app comports itself visually
The app allows note content to be created & viewed with minimal formatting and today's date as the default note title
Display option where the editor shows black background with white text
A mechanism is provided to have more than one note concurrently open for editing in a separate viewing window contained within the application
Different sets of colors can be chosen to alter the appearance of the app window
Custom CSS can be included by the note editor to effect a specific theme via CSS
A note can preview content embedded from another note in the same pane as the note itself
A note can preview a specific block/section embedded from within another note or section
Editor can show content exactly as it will be exported/printed
AI integrations offered by the app or a first-party plugin.
Tasks from notes can be viewed on a calendar
What kind of content can be uploaded or inserted into notes?
Content of the PDF can be viewed inside the note, rather than clicking on PDF and having it open in an external PDF viewer
Interactive preview of a Tweet will be displayed, including any rich content
Playing and interacting with YouTube videos is possible from within a note
Features that pertain to how the app interfaces with its customers
There is a dedicated venue such as Discord where users can chat about the product in real time
The company has a specified URL at which users can discuss the product and ask questions in a format where answers can be upvoted to pinpoint the best one
There exists a publicly accessible site upon which users can upvote features they want to see implemented
The company offers a version of the product that can be used indefinitely at no cost, without a note limit
Company has averaged at least one blog post or change log per month over the past year that details recent product updates
The company provides a list of the app's upcoming and newly added features for public consumption
What measures are taken to ensure customer data remains private, even to employees of the companies themselves?
Can enable two-factor authentication from within the app (not only via third parties) to protect account access
App can be used without providing any personal information (including email)
Note data can be encrypted before leaving the user's device such that the decryption key is not shared with the note app provider (sometimes referred to as "end-to-end encryption")
Documented claim that all note data is encrypted at rest, on the server
An explicit policy describes how security is implemented, and what access employees have to data.
Note content can be created such that even a user who gained access to the note app's cloud database (employee or intruder) couldn't decrypt content (i.e., they couldn't obtain a usable decryption key even if possessing the database contents)
A documented claim exists that note content will not be accessed by employees
A private web server can be used to sync note content across devices
What options are available for formatting text and related content in a note?
Audio can be placed in a note with embedded controls to start and stop the audio
a vertical bar formatted to the left of the selected text allows for an indented "quote" styling
dotted points are used at the beginning of a paragraph to assemble unordered lists
A sub-list contained within an unordered list
Bullet items can be "folded," "collapsed" or "contracted" such that their nested content is hidden from view
As text is written in the code block, the level of indentation survives an "enter" press
Does text formatted as code get syntax highlighting?
Multiple languages can be selected to define the code syntax highlighting
Note body text can be "collapsed," "contracted," "folded" or otherwise hidden under its (non-bullet list) header
Text or images can be linked from a particular string of text in the note (not just URLs)
A formatting text style that slants the letters evenly to the right
A monospace font with its own background color can be invoked without breaking a line. Sometimes referred to as "inline code"
Numbers are used at the beginning of the line to assemble ordered lists
A sub-list contained within an ordered list
text characters are smaller than regular text, and are set below the baseline (subscript), or above the baseline (superscript), commonly used for mathematical expression
A set of links to each header in the note can be inserted into the note or sidebar
Videos can be placed in the body of a note, with controls to start and stop the video
An open canvas view where blocks of text, images, and other content can be dragged to any horizontal or vertical coordinate
What functionality specific to images is possible?
The note app allows the edges of the picture to get dragged so it becomes larger or smaller
An image (such as jpeg, png, gif) can be inserted and viewed in the note editor
A plugin system allows images to be processed/modified via custom-written code
What features are provided for interoperability between apps? How much lock-in is there?
Built in importer for Roam Research preserving all linked content
App includes a built in importer for any markdown notes (MD)
App automatically syncs note & image data to the cloud without implementing extensions, and without signing up for a secondary account on a storage provider
A list of different versions of the note from past various points with the ability to revert to any of them
What features does the note provider offer in terms of third-party integrations and utilities adjacent to the note content itself?
A syntax exists to make numeric or date calculations within the app
Date and time can be evaluated and inserted into a note
Hotkeys can be remapped from their default values
File can be drag-and-dropped into app to create a note, or a file can be dragged into an import directory to become a note
Supports syntax allowing diagrams and charts (Mermaid, etc) to be inserted into a note body
It's possible to setup callbacks to external services when a note changes
Graph nodes can have colors applied based on their properties
Pre-configured content (instructions, tasks, etc) can be duplicated from an existing source note
The app allows users to develop and package extended app functionality. A directory is provided to help users browse and install plugins
Which login types are supported?
Features specific to the mobile experience
The mobile app provides a way to search for text of a note while inside of that note
How well can the app function without internet access?
Attachments can be inserted into a note and viewed within the note when offline, after starting the app whilst disconnected from the Internet
Searching for text inside notes works when offline, after starting the app whilst disconnected from the Internet
Any note can be read when offline, after starting the app whilst disconnected from the Internet
Note content can be created or updated when offline, after starting the app whilst disconnected from the Internet
Quick-searching for notes works when offline, after starting the app whilst disconnected from the Internet
How fast is it?
Which platforms are officially supported?
Includes web apps that can be installed via official PWA or Electron
An iPad app (separate from iOS app) has been published to App Store
What options are there for navigating around the app and finding the note you're after?
For any given note, the app provides a way to browse all other notes that contain links pointing to it
It is possible to have a selection of sorting options for backlinked content
UX is provided to find references to a note (aka mentions of the note title) and quickly convert them into links
The three keyword operators (AND, NOT, OR) limit or expand search results
It's possible to create a link from one note to another note
A list of all notes containing a word or phrase can be produced
Enclosing the search query with quote brackets, the results only show words from within those quotes
Using whatever mechanism the app provides to organize notes (e.g., tags, folders), can that mechanism be used as a full text search filter?
It's possible to assign a hierarchy identifier (such as a tag) to a line of text, such that the line (not the note itself) can be discovered when browsing the note hierarchy
A menu to view available keyboard shortcuts is located within the app
Means provided to link to specific content in another note (be it a heading, paragraph, task, or bullet)
A dialog is provided to look up other notes as link targets while creating a new link in a note
A dialog is provided to look up other specific headers/blocks as link targets while creating a new link in a note
A dialog is provided to lookup and link to a block from any note, without having to type an identifier for the note
The app provides a means by which to arrange notes such that they can be browsed through a tree structure (e.g., tags, folders)
Organization of folders or hierarchical tags can have at least three levels of sub categories
A note can be in multiple navigation hierarchies concurrently (i.e., because it has multiple tags)
Emojis can be used to demarcate note hierarchy members
It's possible to drag-and-drop, or otherwise relocate a branch of the organization hierarchy to a new location
A note can be pinned to the top of the note list for easy access, and will stay there until unpinned
Notes can have metadata or frontmatter ("properties"), which can be used to locate the note later
A hotkey is available that can be used to access an input box that searches notes, and a note can be selected from that list without using the mouse
Save or favorite the parameters of a search to become accessible with one click
Groups of notes can be bookmarked and accessed from a dedicated "Shortcuts," "Starred" or "Favorites" area
The forward slash key can be used to call forth a dialogue with a list of editing & formatting options
What features exist to share notes with the world?
Company provides a hosted space for publishing notes as blog posts, and published notes can be browsed by author
Does the app support formatting data in tables?
Left, center, right-aligned text can be defined per cell, row or column
Allows for basic text formatting (e.g., bold, italics) to an entire row or column of data within a table
What to-do list and scheduling features does the app support?
Text can be prefaced with a completable checkbox, but is not removed from the task list when completed
What functionality is offered to capture content discovered on the internet?
The URL of the web page from whence the capture occurred can be included among the content inserted into note
Web clipper allows choosing a note to insert image into
An official Chrome web clipper extension is offered by the note-app
The clipper can capture an entire web page, even when it is taller than their viewport
When the clipped selection is sent to a note, the title, and body of its text can be found using the apps search function
An official Firefox web clipper extension is offered by the note-app
An official Safari web clipper extension is offered by the note-app
An option to apply new or established tags to the clipped selection
Did we miss something?
We are constantly working to make sure this page stays up-to-date with the features available in Obsidian. If there is a feature you think we missed, please email us a screenshot and the URL where the feature is described to [email protected].
Our goal is to respond to all correction submissions within a few business days.