How To Install Obsidian & Create A Vault
Welcome to the first step of My Obsidian Starter Kit!
I'm pumped you're interested in getting started with Obsidian, as it has been the single greatest tool I've used in my productivity workflow as part of my Personal Knowledge Management system.
Install The Obsidian App
To begin, go to the main Obsidian website to download & install the Obsidian App.
Create A Vault
When you first open the Obsidian app, you'll be prompted to Create or Select a Vault.
Assuming you do not have a vault already, you can go with the quickstart process to create your first vault.
You can always move the vault location later, so it's best to just get started with creating your vault rather than overthinking where to place it.
That said, if you are planning on syncing your Obsidian Vault between your computer & mobile device (phone or tablet), you may want to put locate the vault in a cloud storage service (iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
Alternatively, you can plan to use the Obsidian Sync paid service to sync your vault across devices or with other people.
I talk more about syncing in How To Sync Computer & Mobile Obsidian.
Congrats! You now have your first Obsidian Vault, the beginning of your markdown world 🌎 ✨
Create Basic Folder Structure
Now, one of the superpowers of Obsidian is that it is completely customizable; you can make it whatever you want it to be.
Some people don't use folders at all, others use an intense folder system (almost like a Dewey Decimal system), while others use a hybrid system.
My system is a hybrid, which I talk more about in Smart & Automatic Folders (inboxing & indexing).
That said, I have a few suggestions for Base folders to get you started. Folders with an underscore are "system" folders that I use for plugins, which I explain more in step 2:
- _ attachments
- _ people
- _ templates
- Authors
- Daily Notes
- Sources
- Topics
You can remove the space after the underscore (I needed it to prevent markdown syntax from turning the folder name into italics).
I also have a few other base folders that tie into my own personal system, which I talk more about in Mind Garden Legend (how this system works):
- Atoms (single concepts)
- Molecules (linked concepts tied to Atoms)
- Alloys (published works)
- Literature Notes (part of the Zettelkasten system)
- Digital Garden (the notes that make this website)