https://workyoucanexplain.com/tags/obsidian/ Recent content in Obsidian on Work You Can Explain Hugo en-US Copyright © Work You Can Explain Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/college-record-keeping-vault/ Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/college-record-keeping-vault/ <p>When students start using Obsidian, they often mix everything into one large vault folder structure: daily class notes, active group assignment drafts, administrative receipts, personal journals, and technical concept summaries. At first, having dozens of subfolders feels organized. But after a semester or two, finding an exact record or knowing which notes are safe to archive becomes frustratingly difficult.</p> <p>A personal knowledge vault should not try to mimic a busy course directory or a team project workspace. Its explicit purpose is to store <strong>extracted, synthesized knowledge</strong>—understandings rewritten in your own words, conceptual frameworks, and reflective learning logs—rather than raw data, program source code, datasets, or runtime artifacts that belong in a dedicated project directory. It works best when organized by <strong>lifecycle responsibility</strong>—separating incoming raw notes, original event logs, durable conceptual knowledge, active personal tasks, and long-term archives.</p> https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/obsidian-or-notion-start-with-your-requirements/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/obsidian-or-notion-start-with-your-requirements/ <p>Obsidian and Notion can both hold notes, but they begin with different working models. Do not choose from screenshots or feature counts. Write your requirements, test each tool on the same small workflow, and choose the one that creates fewer important compromises.</p> <h2 id="start-with-the-work">Start with the work</h2> <p>Describe one situation, not your entire academic life:</p> <blockquote> <p>I need personal course notes that remain available offline, can be searched across courses, and can be exported without reconstructing them.</p> https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/use-obsidian-notion-git-and-office-without-duplicating-everything/ Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://workyoucanexplain.com/posts/use-obsidian-notion-git-and-office-without-duplicating-everything/ <p>Using several tools is not automatically a problem. Duplication becomes a problem when two copies both appear authoritative. Assign each tool one clear responsibility, keep one canonical source for each artifact, and use links or short summaries across boundaries.</p> <h2 id="divide-by-responsibility">Divide by responsibility</h2> <p>A useful default is:</p> <table> <thead> <tr> <th>Tool</th> <th>Canonical responsibility</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Obsidian</td> <td>Personal concepts, learning notes, and private connections</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Notion</td> <td>Shared coordination, structured group state, and discussion</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Git</td> <td>Technical source, tests, configuration, and project documentation</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Office</td> <td>Required rich-format collaboration and deliverables</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>These are defaults, not ownership claims by a product. A course requirement, institutional policy, accessibility need, or project constraint can change the assignment.</p>