2026-02-24

my setup for obsidian

Productivity and focus when writing .md files.

#tools#short

NOTICE. I've since moved on from Obsidian to my own custom solution that essentially implements the below using Svelte; allowing me to compose notes on the ol' digital typewriter in-browser — with the same aesthetic effect.

It allows you to:

  • create a new note (just start typing!)
    • name your note (the filename, like obsidian)
    • provide an optional description
    • provide an optional ordered set of tags
  • sync notes to a local directory
  • eventually share notes in real-time

Try it out!

Obsidian is a great text editor for Markdown files. It is even better when you customize it to your liking.

Thankfully, someone has already customized it to my liking for me.

I want Obsidian to be a notetaking app where ideas are sketched in Markdown files, before they are finalized (or not) and published here.

Appearance

Themes

Once in appearance, find Themes and click the Manage button.

Filter for the Typewriter theme. Click it.

Click the Install and use button.

Exit out, navigate back to settings.

Community plugins

Once in community plugins, click the Turn on community plugins button.

Find Community plugins and click the Browse button.

Filter for the Typewriter Scroll plugin. Click it.

Click the Install button, then click the Enable button.

Click the Options button.

Enable Zen Mode and adjust the Zen Opacity one to the left or four units from the left end.

Adjust the Zen Opacity to your liking; I adjust it such that the focus is clearly on the current line — centered — with just enough remaining visual cue above and below.

Core plugins

Turn them off. ALL OF THEM. Except for:

  • Files
  • Search

Workflow

Navigation around files:

  • Ctrl+Shift+B: Open/close file navigation
  • Ctrl+Shift+F: Find text in ALL files

Find text in current file:

  • Ctrl+F

Begin/stop editing the current file:

  • Ctrl+E

Boom. Focus. With not many keybindings for what needs to be done:

  • Find and organize files
  • Find text in files
  • Edit text in files

Simple. Obsidian is great for recording and refining ideas!