Non-Medium Members Can Read the Full Article by Clicking Here.
👆 👆👆👆👆
Everyone should have note-taking software to store all their relevant information.
This place is called the second brain.
There are 3 popular software for this: Notion, Obsidian, and Evernote.
But Obsidian stands out from them all.
These are 10 reasons why I think Obsidian is better than any of them, and why it made me say goodbye to Notion.
🦜 Follow me to learn more about Science and Productivity: Axel
Reason 1: It Is Free And You Have Full Control Of Your Notes
You don't have to pay to use better AI tools or anything like that.
No, everything is free in Obsidian (except for the synchronization with other devices).
If you want to "upgrade" your experience, you can use tons of plugins for free.
And what's more, you have full privacy of your notes.
Because Obsidian saves your notes locally.
Note: there are plugins to create a backup of your notes
Reason 2: You Can Use Obsidian Offline
When using Notion, one of the most annoying things is its online requirement to take and save your notes.
On the other hand, Obsidian works offline.
I can work and take notes anytime I want, without needing an internet connection.
Reason 3: Obsidian's Bullet Speed
I had the impression that Notion was too slow.
When I moved to Obsidian, my note-taking became faster and smoother not only on my computer but on other devices as well.
Obsidian is fast.
Reason 4: Zettelkasten Method And Tag System
I love the Zettelkasten philosophy because it allows you to connect ideas with others, making a full universe of notes.
Obsidian was designed for this.
You can tag your notes to connect them with others, thus organizing your vault beautifully.
Reason 5: Graph View
Additionally, Obsidian displays an impressive node graph for every note you have!
Based on your tags and relations, some notes will be closer or further away from each other, making a beautiful universe of notes.
Reason 6: Custom fonts, colors, backgrounds
What I love about Obsidian is the control you have of your vault.
If you want it, you can use your custom fonts, colors, backgrounds, and more!
You are free to set up your Obsidian as you like.
Reason 7: Custom CSS
And you can take this customization to another level!
If you know some CSS, you can customize your vault as you wish, having full control of how it looks!
You can even modify some theme plugins to not start from 0.
Reason 8: Custom Theme
And this is not only about fonts, background, and more.
No, you can customize and create a brand-new theme!
How cool is that?
Reason 9: Synchronization With Zotero
This is a very personal reason for me.
I'm a PhD candidate and work a lot with Zotero.
A few months ago I found that it was possible to synchronize my notes to my Obsidian, automating a process that took me hours per week.
The plugin for this is called citations, and I wrote an article about it if interested:
Reason 10: Plugins And Incredible Community Of Developers
Obsidians have a ton of plugins for almost anything you need.
Because Obsidian is open source, a lot of developers design plugins that take this software to another level for users.
And all of these projects are documented on GitHub!
For example, there are plugins for databases (perhaps the strongest point in Notion), themes, synchronization, project management, etc.
These are the reasons why I think Obsidian is the best option for your note-taking system and second brain.
However, I also want to mention some disadvantages:
- You have to pay for synchronization with other devices. Notion allows you this for free.
- It takes some time to set up your Obsidian vault. This is the consequence of having full control of your customization and notes.
But this doesn't change my opinion.
Obsidian is the best thing that happened to my academic life.
If you liked my article, here are some ways you can help:
👏 Clap 50 times and respond to this article
🦜 Follow me to learn more about Science: Axel
🗂 Subscribe to get my newest articles
You May Be Interested In:
Thanks for reading!
See you,
Axel