obsidian-tips

Obsidian Power Tips

Get more out of Obsidian with these productivity features.

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Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Quick Switcher (find any page)	Ctrl+O
Global Search	Ctrl+Shift+F
Search in current file	Ctrl+F
Toggle Edit/Preview	Ctrl+E
Open Graph View	Ctrl+G
Open Command Palette	Ctrl+P
Create new note	Ctrl+N
Open link in new pane	Ctrl+Click
Go back	Ctrl+Alt+←
Go forward	Ctrl+Alt+→

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The Quick Switcher (Ctrl+O)

This is your best friend. Type any part of a filename to jump directly there.

Tips:

• Type term to find terminology.md
• Type qual to find quality.md (search for “quality”)
• Use arrows to select, Enter to open

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Graph View (Ctrl+G)

Visual map of how pages connect.

Local Graph

1. Open any page
2. Click the “Open local graph” button in the right sidebar
3. See only connections to/from that page

Global Graph

1. Press Ctrl+G
2. See all pages and connections
3. Click any node to open that page

Graph Filters

In the graph view settings (gear icon):

• Filter by tags
• Adjust link distance
• Change node colors

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Backlinks Panel

See every page that links TO the current page.

1. Open right sidebar (click the icon or drag from edge)
2. Look for “Backlinks” section
3. Click any backlink to navigate there

Why it matters: Find related content you might have forgotten about.

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Split Panes

Work with multiple pages side-by-side.

• Ctrl+Click a link to open in new pane
• Drag pane headers to rearrange
• Right-click header → “Open linked view” to link two panes

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Templates (Optional)

1. Create a templates/ folder
2. Add template files (e.g., templates/new-page.md)
3. Settings → Core Plugins → Enable “Templates”
4. Use: Ctrl+P → “Insert template”

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Tags

Adding Tags

In frontmatter:

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tags: [quality, process, reference]
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Or inline: #quality and #processes

Finding Tags

Click any tag to see all pages with that tag, or search: tag:#quality

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Search Tricks

Advanced Operators

Operator	Example	Finds
Exact phrase	"detection timing"	Exact match
Tag	tag:#quality	Pages with tag
In file	file:terminology	In specific file
Path	path:company	In specific folder
Heading	section:overview	In section headings

Combining

tag:#quality path:company "root cause"

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Starred Pages

Quick access to frequently used pages — click the star icon in the header.

Recommend starring: terminology.md, index.md, pages you’re currently editing.

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Recommended Plugins

Plugin	Purpose
Calendar	Navigate daily notes
Outliner	Better bullet list editing
Advanced Tables	Easier table editing
Git	Git integration in Obsidian

Install: Settings → Community Plugins → Turn off Restricted Mode → Browse → Search → Install → Enable

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Sync Options

Git (Current Setup)

git pull   # Before editing
git add -A && git commit -m "msg" && git push   # After editing

Other Options

• Obsidian Sync ($10/month, automatic)
• OneDrive/Dropbox folder sync
• Syncthing (free, self-hosted)

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Troubleshooting

Links Not Working

• Check spelling matches filename exactly
• Check path is correct ([[folder/file]])
• File extensions not needed ([[page]] not [[page.md]])

Graph View Empty

• Make sure you have the vault open
• Check there are .md files in the folder
• Try: Ctrl+P → “Reload app without saving”

Search Not Finding Content

• Wait for indexing to complete (progress bar at bottom)
• Try simpler search terms

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Related Pages

• connect-ai - AI agent integration
• edit-wiki - Contributing content

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Last updated: February 2026