Retired Techie

Introduction

After working with Obsidian for a few days (previous video), I realized I needed to adjust a few default settings and plugins to better support my developing workflow. I’ll focus strictly on the technical configuration here, no personal methodology.

On this dinosaur’s journey back into Obsidian, I’m focusing on the technical, settings and configuration, not personal methodology. One thing that confused me the first time I tried Obsidian was that some tutorials emphasized workflow before I understood the technical basics.

After using Obsidian for a few days, I want to change a few things from the default experience. For example, increase the default font size so it’s easier to read and setting a default start page.

I also want to explore using the templates and daily notes plugins in conjunction to create a simple journal.

To keep this simple and consistent, I’m starting from a default vault in this video. I’m avoiding non-default starting configurations, because they can make the video harder to follow. This won’t cover any advanced setup, but it matches where I am right now.

Adding Content

Before changing anything, I want to add some additional content to the default Obsidian vault. I will create a few files and folders. I’m doing this here because they will be will be needed when changing settings, and it is easier to follow along if I am not jumping back and forth.

• Click the “create a link” option on the Welcome page to create a linked page. A feature that makes Obsidian easy to use is not needing an existing target, type the link, and when you click it, the target page is created.
• Select the Folder icon in the left side command bar, then the “Folder Plus” icon below it to create several new folders: Attachments, Journal, and Templates.Desktop Tips and Tricks
• Select the paper-and-pencil icon just below the left command bar, and click it to create a new file. Name it “@VaultContent”. This will be your Map of Content (MOC) file. It should contain sections and links to key parts of your vault. Since this is a test vault, there isn’t much content yet. Starting the name with “@” often helps it appear near the top of the file list.

Desktop Tips and Tricks

Before jumping into settings, I want to cover a few Obsidian desktop features I recently discovered.

First: Tabs in Obsidian.

• Above the workspace is the tab bar. You can open multiple documents, and each shows up in its own tab.
• You can switch between tabs by left-clicking them.
• Right-click a tab to open a menu with tab actions.
• For example, “Split down” creates another editor pane below the current one.
• The same menu also includes actions like closing the tab and deleting the file.

I mention this because I didn’t realize this menu existed until recently.

Next: the left/right sidebars.

• You can drag icons from the left or right command bars into the left or right sidebars, and have multiple functions visible at the same time.
• To undo it, drag the sidebar items back to the command bar.

Settings Changes

From the application command bar (bottom-left of the Obsidian desktop), select the gear icon to open Settings.

On the left side, you’ll see overall option categories: system-wide options at the top, and plugin-specific options at the bottom. When you select a category, the related options appear on the right.

After browsing Settings, there are a small number of changes I want to make. These are personal preferences, so they might be different from what you choose.

• Under General, I turn automatic updates off. I installed Obsidian using the KDE Discover application, and I’ll update it through that path to avoid confusion over the version.
• Under Files and links, I set Obsidian to open a specific file at startup. “Default file” was set to last opened; I changed it to select a specific file and use my MOC as the startup page.
• Also under Files and links, I set the default location for new attachments to the Attachments folder I created.
• Under Appearance, I increase the font size a bit and enable Quick font size adjustment, which uses Control and the mouse scroll wheel.
• For Core plugins, I expand my selection to include Daily Notes, Properties View, and Templates.
• In plugin configurations, I set the Daily Notes folder to Journal, and set the Templates folder to my Template folder.

After these changes, I’m ready to jump back into Obsidian and see how everything works for me. To make sure the changes applied correctly, I’ll restart first.

Working With Templates

I will try out templates first, since I plan to use them elsewhere, like in Daily Notes. Since I’m getting into specifics now, I’m going into template settings.

I created the template folder earlier, now I will set it. Two template variables I use a lot are date and time, and those are the other two values available in the template settings. I’m leaving them as the default for now, because I want to try different formats via template coding.

My first template will be named Date, which is what appears in the template picker. It’s a one-line template that inserts a date into a document:

		Date

		{{date}}

The first line is the template title. The second line is the template variable surrounded by double curly brackets. In base Obsidian (without community plugins), the built-in variables I’m using here are date and time.

Next, I’ll create a template called Time, using a second variable:

		Time

		{{time}}

These two templates use the default date and time formats, since I haven’t changed anything in settings. In the next template, called Date-Time, I’ll override those defaults:

		Date-Time

		{{date:yyyy:MM:DD}}-{{time:HH:mm}}

Common 2, 3, 4, and 5 letter date and time codes are listed in Unicode Technical Standard #35. The colon after date and time lets you specify a different format.

To insert a template, go to the ribbon and click the template icon. You’ll see a list of all template files in your template folder. Select one, and it will be inserted at the cursor in your document. For this example, using all three template files, the inserted output is:

                2026-06-29
                06:46
                2026:06:29-06:46

Journal Template

The next step is to create a template for a journal. Journal seems somewhat more appropriate than daily notes, as I want entries to have some structure. And the best way to achieve this is to create a journal form template.

I am going to fall back on past practices from my paper and pencil days. I kept a list of headings for each entry paper clipped to the cover. It was simple and flexible. I want to recreate this as a template that I can import into each new entry.

I start by creating a new file, which I name “Journal-Form.” Once the file is created, I move it to my templates folder. Because it is in the Templates folder, when I click on the Template icon in the ribbon, it will show up with my other templates.

Since I want to focus more on the technical, I will not be going into much detail about my methodology, just setting up the template. Since the Daily Notes (will cover later in more detail) already adds the date as the title, I don’t need to add it again.

My first section is called Forward. This is where I review the previous day and make any notes I might need or want. This also helps me avoid the empty page syndrome. I simply title it Forward using the H1 heading. I add a quick note about the purpose which I will delete later, and add a line feed or two.

The next section is called Tasks. These are quick one liners as detailed information exists elsewhere and can be linked if needed. I create a check box with the “- [ ] ” key sequence (note you need all the spaces including the last one to get a checkbox). I go ahead and add a few blank tasks and an additional line feed.

Next section is titled Thoughts and is again H1. This is where I enter any free form thoughts. I add a intent note and a couple of line feeds to finish off this section.

The final section is called Log, again H1. Here I will use my time template to add entries of things I am doing, notes, and other stuff. I separate the entries with the time of day. Other than a couple of line feeds this section is initially blank.

And that’s it, my template for Daily Notes in my Journal. This is what it looks like,

Journal Form

# Forward

Review of Previous Day

# Tasks

• – [ ] Task 1 – [ ] Task 2

# Thoughts

What am I thinking today?

# Log

{{time}} – Entry

I just want to note again this is technical how to, not procedural. Some might say use H2 as the page title is H1. But that’s procedural, not technical, and everyone has their own way of doing things.

Daily Notes Journal

Now that I have created a Journal template, I want to use it with Daily notes. I want to enter settings again and verify my Daily notes plugin settings.

In the Daily Notes settings I leave the date format set to default (YYYY-MM-DD). New File Location should point towards the Journal folder. And Template file location should point towards the template we previously made (Templates/Journal-Form).

Now I click on the Daily notes icon in the ribbon, and several things happen. First a new file named with the default date format is created in the Journal folder. Second the Journal-Form template is applied to this file. And just like that I have our first Journal entry ready to fill out. now I just need to flesh out the text.

Conclusion

I have worked through setting up a daily journal in Obsidian, only using what comes with a base install. Does it work? Yes. Could it be made better? Yes. But making it better means actually using it regularly. That’s one of the reasons for keeping it simple, yet consistent and repeatable.

So what’s next? I was thinking about setting up a project process. But then I realized there are a few things I need to wrap my head around first. Two of which I want to work on over the next several weeks, Tags and Properties.

That is the way I plan to master obsidian, taking things one or two items at a time. And letting my work flow and process develop naturally instead of trying rto force someone else’s methodology.