AppRift
How-To

How to Set Up Obsidian for Note-Taking: A Complete Beginner Guide

Get started with Obsidian in under 15 minutes. We cover installation, core plugins, and the vault structure that scales.

By AppRift Team

Getting Started with Obsidian

This guide walks you through setting up Obsidian from scratch. In 15 minutes, you will have a working vault ready for serious note-taking.

Step 1: Install Obsidian

Download Obsidian from obsidian.md. It is available for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. The desktop app is completely free.

Step 2: Create Your Vault

A vault is simply a folder on your computer. When you first open Obsidian, choose "Create new vault" and pick a location. We recommend creating it inside a cloud-synced folder (Dropbox, iCloud, etc.) for backup.

Step 3: Understand the Basics

  • Notes are Markdown files (.md)
  • Links connect notes using [[double brackets]]
  • Tags organize notes with #hashtags
  • Folders provide traditional organization

Step 4: Enable Core Plugins

Go to Settings > Core plugins and enable:

  1. Backlinks — see which notes link to the current one
  2. Graph view — visualize your note connections
  3. Templates — create reusable note structures
  4. Daily notes — auto-create a note for each day

Step 5: Set Up Your Folder Structure

Start simple:

My Vault/
  Daily/
  Projects/
  References/
  Templates/

Do not over-organize upfront. Let your structure evolve as your vault grows. The linking system means you do not need perfect folders.

Next Steps

Once comfortable with the basics, explore community plugins. Start with Dataview for querying your notes and Calendar for navigating daily notes.