# Obsidian Starter Course The [Obsidian Starter Course](https://www.store.dsebastien.net/product/obsidian-starter-course) is a video course to take you from [[Obsidian]] newbie to [[Obsidian]] hero! Links: - https://www.store.dsebastien.net/product/obsidian-starter-course Note that this course is included as a free bonus with the "Knowledge Master" paid subscription for the [[Knowii Community]]. ## Who is this for? - You are just getting started with note-taking or you've recently switched to Obsidian - You want to discover Obsidian and its key features - You wonder how to take smart notes - You want to know how to properly organize your notes and avoid creating an overwhelming mess - You want a solid system that scales - You wonder what Zettelkasten, the PARA method, and the Johnny decimal system are - You have bought the Obsidian Starter Kit and want a full video course to help you get started Getting started with Obsidian is not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how to structure and organize your knowledge base. You have a busy life, and you don't want to spend weeks or even months figuring out the "right" approach. ## What is this? The Obsidian Starter Course is a video course containing 2h20 of content. It's a hands-on guide into the world of Obsidian, Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), and the [[Obsidian Starter Kit]]. Many of the explanations use the Obsidian Starter Kit's vault/structure/plugins, but the explanations about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), Markdown, YAML and recommendations can be applied to many other tools. Moreover, if you're using Obsidian but don't yet have a copy of the Obsidian Starter Kit, then this course is still incredibly useful. It will show you how you can organize your knowledge base, how to take smart notes, and much more! ## What's included? The Obsidian Starter Course is a video course (~2h20) of content covering: - Obsidian: installation, user interface, key features, plugins, automation, tips and tricks, etc - The [[Markdown]] syntax - YAML metadata - [[Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)]] techniques, principles, frameworks and methods such as the [[Johnny Decimal system]], the [[PARA method]], the [[Zettelkasten method]], the [[LIFT principle]], the [[FILE framework]], [[Atomic notes]], [[Map of Content (MoC)|Maps of Content (MoCs)]], [[Evergreen notes]], ... - [[Journaling (MoC)|Journaling]] - [[Periodic reviews]] - Templating and Templates - Automation - Task management - Best practices and recommendations - Hands-on explanations - And more! ## Testimonials "The perfect tool to start using the full power of Obsidian." — Anonymous ## Course timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:28 Installing Obsidian 00:01:05 Downloading and installing Obsidian Starter Kit 00:02:29 Opening the vault 00:03:40 Obsidian User Interface 00:04:36 Left toolbar 00:04:51 Top left buttons 00:05:09 Editor 00:05:20 Sidebar 00:05:38 Collapsing the sidebar 00:05:58 Editor tabs 00:06:58 Splitting the editor view 00:08:29 View and edit modes 00:09:08 Markdown syntax introduction 00:13:01 Bottom left buttons 00:13:06 Open vault view 00:13:32 Using one or multiple vaults 00:15:04 Multiple vaults vs plugins and configuration 00:15:43 Settings 00:16:35 Community plugins 00:19:11 Keep Things Simple 00:20:59 Obsidian help 00:21:49 The value of Markdown 00:23:13 More about Markdown 00:26:25 Creating links 00:28:20 Local Graph view 00:29:51 Navigating forward and back 00:30:14 Bonus: Zwan 00:30:20 Standard Markdown links 00:33:26 Outgoing links and backlinks 00:36:17 Global Graph view 00:38:23 Configuring the Graph view 00:39:10 Linking to non-existent notes 00:40:07 Creating notes 00:41:36 Hiding/showing ribbon icons 00:41:51 Home note 00:43:30 Finding duplicate notes 00:44:09 Finding orphan notes 00:44:32 Exploring random notes 00:45:37 Quickly opening or creating notes 00:46:28 Command palette 00:49:43 Tagging notes 00:50:00 Searching for tags 00:50:22 Tags panel (Tag Wrangler plugin) 00:50:45 Renaming tags 00:52:01 Search view 00:53:50 Organizing files 00:54:51 Outline view (Outline plugin) 00:56:09 Obsidian Starter Kit folder structure 00:56:15 The Johnny Decimal system 00:58:33 Obsidian Starter Kit root folders 00:59:01 Categories 01:00:06 The PARA method 01:02:40 Benefits of PARA 01:03:00 The LIFT principle 01:03:48 PARA folders in Obsidian Starter Kit 01:04:18 The meta folder 01:05:26 The Resources folder 01:05:41 Obsidian Starter Kit User Guide 01:06:54 The Areas folder 01:07:13 Meeting notes 01:08:32 Creating tasks with Markdown 01:09:09 People and Contacts 01:11:43 The Zettelkasten method 01:14:46 Zettelkasten principles 01:14:56 Fleeting notes 01:16:54 Literature notes 01:20:39 Permanent notes 01:23:30 More on keeping things simple 01:23:56 Avoid breaking the vault 01:24:55 Moving notes automatically (Auto Note Mover plugin) 01:27:49 Templating and template 01:28:12 Using templates (Templater plugin) 01:29:33 YAML Metadata 01:29:33 Notes metadata 01:30:15 Adding tags through metadata 01:30:42 Note aliases 01:31:53 Tags 01:32:28 Additional YAML properties 01:33:39 Benefits of metadata 01:34:44 Templates 01:37:47 Using templates 01:39:26 Periodic notes plugin and daily note template 01:40:41 Book note template 01:41:28 Benefits of automation 01:41:55 Templates overview 01:42:58 Special tags 01:43:17 Dataview plugin 01:44:57 MoCs 01:45:30 Capturing quotes 01:46:46 More on tagging 01:47:42 Nesting tags 01:48:02 Attachments 01:50:18 Atomic notes 01:52:58 Journaling 01:54:08 Planning ahead 01:55:05 Using fewer tools 01:55:45 Daily notes 01:58:55 Changed notes plugin 01:59:33 Notes vs Time 02:01:25 Reflecting on the past using weekly, monthly and yearly notes 02:03:10 Knowledge extraction 02:03:43 Planning ahead 02:04:43 More on Knowledge extraction 02:05:34 Recommendation for tags 02:06:16 Linking discoveries to time 02:07:59 Meta notes 02:08:48 Top of mind note 02:09:32 Markdown: Reordering lists 02:09:41 Outline plugin 02:10:31 Waiting for note 02:10:42 Routines 02:10:57 Task management 02:12:45 Kanban plugin 02:15:03 Canvas 02:17:54 Excalidraw plugin 02:18:55 Conclusion 02:18:59 More recommendations 02:20:43 Obsidian Starter Kit updates ## References - Official product page: https://store.dsebastien.net/product/obsidian-starter-course ## Related - [[Obsidian Starter Course - Summary and Transcript]]