# [[How I refactor notes in Obsidian]]  Related:: "[[Quick Switcher]], [[Outline]], [[Search]], [[Strange New Worlds]], [[Readwise Official]], [[Obsidian ExcaliBrain]], [[Obsidian Excalidraw]], [[Note Refactor]]" Related:: "" ## Pre-production ### Thumbnail ![[How I refactor notes in Obsidian.png]] ### Title 1. How I refactor notes in Obsidian ### Hook In programming, refactoring code means improving your code without changing what it's doing. You might want to do this to simplify, stylistically improve, update, or structurally revamp your code, and it's something developers do regularly as part of their work. How can we apply this to taking notes? In this video, I'm going to talk about what it means to refactor your notes, and I'll take you through an example of how to do it. ### Structure - [[Coding and writing are converging]]: many things that apply to code apply to notes as well. Notes should be: - meaningful - easy to find - usable - Part of [[Continuous note-taking]] is regularly updating your notes along with your knowledge. - Demo: [[Monitoring]] - How to refactor notes? - 1. Inventory: find out what you've got. - [[Search]] - [[Quick Switcher]] - [[Strange New Worlds]] - 2. Structure: do they need to be restructured? - [[Obsidian ExcaliBrain]] - 3. Categorise: Determine whether the headings and categories make sense. Consolidate where possible. - [[Outline]] - 4. Explain - 5. Modularise: Create new notes for smaller ideas that you can break apart. - [[Note Refactor]] ### Outro On one hand, refactoring your notes takes time. It requires sitting down, reviewing your notes, and thinking critically about what you've written. That's not easy work. On the other hand, refactoring your notes is one of the things that differentiates just taking notes from having a personal knowledge management system that is actually usable and genuinely improves your understanding of topics that are important to you. If you'd like to learn more about continuous note-taking and best practices for it, check out this video, where I talk specifically about how I use Obsidian for work-- but it should still be relevant for other use cases. **_Pfiat di!_** ### Description It's not enough for me to just take notes - they have to be useful, too. Here's how I refactor notes in Obsidian using community and core plugins to inventory, structure, categorise, explain, and modularise my notes. Refactoring isn't just for code. It's for notes too! It's only through gradually updating my notes over time that I can begin to reap the benefits of continuous note-taking. ### Related videos and resources Monitoring (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/Monitoring Coding and writing converging (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/Coding+and+writing+are+converging Quick Switcher (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/obsidian-playbook/Obsidian+Plugins/Core+Plugins/Quick+Switcher Outline (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/obsidian-playbook/Obsidian+Plugins/Core+Plugins/Outline Search (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/obsidian-playbook/Obsidian+Plugins/Core+Plugins/Search Strange New Worlds (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/obsidian-playbook/Obsidian+Plugins/Community+Plugins/Strange+New+Worlds Readwise Official (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1L5sxlnuU ExcaliBrain (video): https://youtu.be/gqEtn3gCZF0 Obsidian Excalidraw (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKrXsIwbAg Note Refactor (notes): https://notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/obsidian-playbook/Obsidian+Plugins/Community+Plugins/Note+Refactor ### Pinned comment ``` The example I'm using in this video is a technical one, but I don't think you need to understand the contents of the note to see how I refactor it. CORE PLUGINS: Quick Switcher, Outline, Search COMMUNITY PLUGINS: Strange New Worlds, Readwise Official, ExcaliBrain, Obsidian Excalidraw, Note Refactor THEME: AnuPpucin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-SOwxpZQNI ``` ### Cards 08:24 ExcaliBrain video ### Timestamps 00:00 What is refactoring and why should you do it? 02:07 Inventory - start with what you've got 05:13 Structure - restructuring your notes 09:33 Categorise - organise headings within the note 11:59 Explain - fleshing out your note 13:33 Modularise - break it apart into smaller notes 19:09 Summary of how to refactor notes ## Post-production - [x] Create captions using Rev, then edit them. - [x] Take a thumbnail photo and create one for YouTube (1280 x 720). - [x] Add description. - [x] Include the title and any keywords in the first few sentences, but in a natural way. - [x] Add related videos and resources as links. - [x] Add end screen. - [x] Add cards if necessary. - [x] Add chapters/timestamps for YouTube if longer than 5 minutes. - [x] Add mid-roll ads/check monetization settings. - [x] Add pinned comment. - [ ] Post video preview on Patreon. - [x] Schedule on YouTube. - [x] Add video to relevant playlist(s), or create a playlist if necessary. - [x] Schedule on Mastodon. - [ ] Create a blog post on [site](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com). - [ ] Add to [video-database](obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-playbook&file=video-database%2FVideo%20database). - [ ] Add to other notes in my vault as appropriate.