# [[How I structure my Obsidian vault (Obsidian tour)]] ![](https://youtu.be/vAwS-js2iB0) plugins:: "[[Novel Word Count plugin]], [[Obsidian Dataview]], [[obsidian-playbook/Obsidian Plugins/Core Plugins/Obsidian Publish|Obsidian Publish]], [[Obsidian Buttons]], [[v1.2.0 - Obsidian Bookmarks]], [[Periodic Notes]]" Here's how I structure my Obsidian vault using tags, folders, links, metadata (used in conjunction with Dataview queries), and bookmarks. This is an Obsidian tour of my main vault, and we're starting with organization. As with anything on this channel, don't take what you see here as gospel. I'm just sharing my approach in case it sparks ideas for some of you. ## Pre-production ### Thumbnail ![[2023-035 How I structure my Obsidian vault (Obsidian tour).png]] ### Title 1. How I structure my Obsidian vault (Obsidian tour) ### Hook When people ask me how I organize my Obsidian vault, I hesitate to tell them. Because it seems like most people do it differently from me, and my "method", if you can call it that, might leave people shuddering in dismay. In this video, I'm giving you a tour of my main Obsidian vault and showing exactly how I structure everything (and how I don't). ### Structure - General philosophy - Avoid binary organization (it's either there or not) - Build with scalability in mind (will you still be doing this when you have 1, 5, 10, 100 thousand notes?) - Add Context (Try to apply ideas to different contexts, make sure your organization structure adds context) - Don't Duplicate (Store something so that it's applicable for multiple contexts that are relevant to you, if possible) - What I don't use much - Tags - Folders - What I DO use - Links - [[Maps of Content and which is best|Maps of Content]] - [[Fork My Brain]] - [[Lightning rods#Notes by the number of outgoing links, top 50]] - [[Ops Tools]] - [[Grafana Labs]] - [[Performance Testing]] - Dataview queries - [[Crowdfunding Projects Backed]] - [[ttrpgs/Temporary White Circle/World|twc]] - similar for meetings and people - [[Video database]] - Bookmarks - Daily notes - Downsides of this approach (and my counterarguments) - Can be complex - Folders are universally understood - What I say: Time for a new paradigm. My notes are primarily for me, and they should reflect the way I see the world: as things that don't fit conveniently into segregated boxes. - Not as futureproof - What I say: - Links are not new. Apparently the word *hyperlink* was coined in 1965. If I lost Obsidian, I'd convert all Wikilinks to Markdown links (trivial to do programmatically) and I would still have my notes on GitHub, which automatically parses links. - I've seen in the past when I've used folders, I've always gone through periods of overhauling them because the way I want to organise knowledge evolves. I would argue that for me, it's *less* futureproof because it makes my brain itch to look at a folder structure that isn't optimised. ### Outro I like to structure my notes with some organization and a lot of what others see as chaos-- but what I see are opportuntiies to spark serendipity, continually challenge what I think, and prompt me to apply ideas to different contexts. What I've shown here is how *I* arrange my notes, not the way *you* should. In the end, your notes should reflect *you*: the way you think, the way you find information, the way you make sense of new ideas. If you'd like to see more information about the differences between metadata, links, folders, and tags, check out this video. Thanks for watching! And also - do you listen to Girl in Red? ### Related videos and resources ### Pinned comment ``` THEME: AnuPpuccin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-SOwxpZQNI) PLUGINS: Novel Word Count, Dataview, Obsidian Publish (core), Buttons, Periodic Notes, Bookmarks (core) ``` ### Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:22 General philosophy for organization 02:14 Tags and nested tags 05:18 Folders and why you're a folder heathen 11:46 Links, Map of Content, structure zettels 14:19 Dataview queries 16:39 Bookmarks 18:05 Why this approach works well for me ## 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. - [ ] Schedule on YouTube. - [x] Add video to relevant playlist(s), or create a playlist if necessary. - [ ] Schedule on Twitter. - [ ] Schedule on Mastodon. - [ ] Promote on Discord (NVDH). - [ ] Create a blog post on [site](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com). - [ ] Add to [video-database](obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-playbook&file=video-database%2FVideo%20database).