Obsidian Vault Management

Vault Structure (PARA-Based)

This vault uses a PARA-like organization:

Quick Reference

Linking Syntax

[[Note Name]]                    # Basic wikilink
[[Note Name|Display Text]]       # Aliased link
[[Note Name#Heading]]            # Link to heading
[[Note Name#^block-id]]          # Link to block
![[Note Name]]                   # Embed note
![[image.png]]                   # Embed image
![[Note Name#Heading]]           # Embed section

Frontmatter Template

---
created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm}}
updated: {{date:YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm}}
title: "Note Title"
type: note
status: draft
tags:
  - tag1
  - tag2
aliases:
  - "Alternate Name"
cssclasses:
  - custom-class
---

Callouts

> [!note] Title
> Content

> [!warning] Important
> Warning content

> [!tip] Helpful tip
> Tip content

> [!info]+ Collapsible (open by default)
> Content

> [!danger]- Collapsed by default
> Content

Available callout types: note, abstract, info, todo, tip, success, question, warning, failure, danger, bug, example, quote

Creating Notes

Daily Note

Create in 06 - Daily/YYYY/MM/ with filename YYYYMMDD.md:

---
created: 2025-12-09T09:00
updated: 2025-12-09T09:00
title: "20251209"
type: daily-note
status: true
tags:
  - daily
  - journal
  - 2025
  - 2025-12
aliases:
  - "2025-12-09"
date_formatted: 2025-12-09
topics:
  - "[[daily]]"
  - "[[journal]]"
related:
  - "[[2025-12-08]]"
  - "[[2025-12-10]]"
cssclasses:
  - daily
---

# Daily Note - 2025-12-09

### Tasks
- [ ] Task 1

### Journal
...

### Navigation
<< [[2025-12-08]] | **Today** | [[2025-12-10]] >>

Zettelkasten Note

Create in 04 - Permanent/:

---
created: {{date}}
type: zettelkasten
tags:
  - permanent
  - topic
---

# Note Title

## Main Insight
**Key Idea**: [Main point]

## Connections
- [[Related Note 1]]
- [[Related Note 2]]

## References
- Source citation

Dataview Queries

For dataview query syntax, see references/dataview.md.

Quick examples:

LIST FROM "06 - Daily" WHERE file.cday = date(today) SORT file.ctime DESC

TABLE status, tags FROM "01 - Projects" WHERE status != "completed"

Templates

Templates location: 99 - Meta/00 - Templates/

For Templater syntax, see references/templater.md.

Common Templater variables:

<% tp.file.title %>              # Current file name
<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD") %>  # Current date
<% tp.file.cursor(1) %>          # Cursor position
<% tp.system.prompt("Question") %> # User input prompt

Installed Plugins

File Operations

Creating a Note

1. Determine appropriate folder based on note type
2. Add proper frontmatter
3. Use consistent naming conventions
4. Include relevant tags for auto-organization

Best Practices

• Use descriptive filenames (avoid special characters except hyphens)
• Always include created and updated timestamps
• Tag notes for discoverability
• Link to related notes bidirectionally
• Use callouts for important information
• Include navigation links in daily notes

Advanced Features

• Dataview queries: references/dataview.md
• Templater scripting: references/templater.md
• Canvas diagrams: references/canvas.md
• Plugin configurations: references/plugins.md

Gotchas

• Bulk operations outside Obsidian don't trigger link-rebuilding — external scripts must signal a :Reindex or wait for the next vault open.
• Dataview cache is per-vault and per-session — CLI script-based DQL queries may see stale state if Obsidian was last open with different filters.
• Templater scripts via CLI run in a different context than the UI — many tp.system.* functions return nil (no UI to prompt against).
• PARA folder moves break tag-based queries — if your queries hardcode folder paths, refactor them to use tags or properties before reorganizing.
• Daily note rotation: changing the daily-note format mid-vault leaves old notes orphaned — they don't auto-migrate to the new format; a rename pass is needed.