YouTip

Vault is the most important concept in Obsidian. Vault = Folder: The vault is actually a regular folder on your computer, used to store all your note files. When you first open Obsidian, select the "Create" button at the location for creating a new vault: . !(https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/obsidian-tutorial-tutorial-6.png) If you already have one open, click Obsidian Vault at the bottom left to manage existing vaults, or you can reconfigure the vault: !(https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/obsidian-tutorial-tutorial-4.png) Then give your knowledge base a name (for example: My Second Brain), and choose a local folder location that's easy to find (for example: Desktop or Obsidian Vaults under the Documents folder) !(https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/obsidian-tutorial-tutorial-5.png) After creation, you can see our current vault name, for example TUTORIAL. We can rename the default "Welcome" file to start writing our first note: !(https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/obsidian-tutorial-tutorial-7.png) Change the file name to TUTORIAL-Obsidian Tutorial, and write the following markdown content: ### What is Obsidian?Obsidian is essentially a **powerful note-taking application**, but it's more than just recording text. It's a tool that connects your notes, ideas, and knowledge points, designed to build a **mesh-like, searchable, private knowledge network**, just like the neuron connections in your brain.* **Local File Storage:** All files in Obsidian are stored on your local computer in plain text **Markdown** format. This means: * **Secure and Controllable:** Your data belongs entirely to you, with no need to rely on any cloud service provider. * **Never Outdated:** Markdown is the most universal plain text format. Even if Obsidian stops service, you can still open your notes with any text editor.### Why Use Obsidian? (Core Advantages)You may have used Word, Evernote, or Notion. Why choose Obsidian?| Advantage | Description | Benefit to You || :--- | :--- | :--- || **Bi-directional Linking** | Using the `[]` syntax, you can connect notes like web pages. | You can easily discover **connections** between knowledge points, turning scattered ideas into a complete knowledge system. || **Graph View** | Displays all notes and connections as a visual network graph. | Visually see how your knowledge network grows, find unconnected "island" notes. || **Plain Text & Open Ecosystem** | Based on Markdown and local files. | Strong cross-platform compatibility, high future exportability, easy to use with other tools. || **Highly Customizable** | Thousands of community plugins and themes available. | Whether you're a student, programmer, or writer, you can customize features and appearance according to your needs. | The result is displayed as follows: !(https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/obsidian-tutorial-tutorial-8.png) **Note:** All your Markdown files (.md extension) will be stored in this folder. Obsidian is just a tool for reading and editing these files. * * * ## Vault Directory Structure After creating a Vault, a hidden directory .obsidian will appear in the folder: MyVault/├── .obsidian/ ← Obsidian's configuration file│ ├── plugins/ ← Installed plugins are stored here│ ├── themes/ ← Theme files│ ├── snippets/ ← Custom CSS snippets│ └── app.json ← Main configuration file├── Your First Note.md └── ... > Tip for developers: It is recommended to include the .obsidian folder in Git management. This way your plugin configurations, shortcut settings, and theme preferences will be version controlled, and you can fully restore them when switching computers. The only exception is .obsidian/workspace.json, which records the currently open tab status and can be added to .gitignore. ### Multiple Vault Use Cases Obsidian supports creating multiple independent vaults: | Vault | Purpose | | --- | --- | | Personal Knowledge Base | Tech learning, reading notes, thought records | | Work Project Vault | Current company projects, separated from personal vault when involving confidential content | | Writing Vault | Specifically for long-form writing, with different plugin configurations from the knowledge base | For beginners, start with one Vault and don't over-engineer. ### Hands-on: Create Your First Note 1. Press Cmd/Ctrl + N to create a new note 2. Enter a file name, for example: My First Thought About Obsidian 3. Press Enter to confirm and enter the editing area 4. Try entering the following content: ## Example # My First Thought About Obsidian Today I started learning Obsidian, which is a note-taking tool based on []. ## What I Plan to Use It For - [] Organize tech learning notes - [] Record daily work logs - [] Accumulate interview knowledge points ## First Impressions Compared to the tools I used before, the biggest difference is the concept of bi-directional linking. Note this [] link - when you hover over it, a preview popup appears, and clicking it will jump to the note named "Markdown". If this note doesn't exist yet, it will be automatically created after clicking. You have completed your first Obsidian note with bi-directional linking. * * * ## Use Cases and Boundaries Obsidian is powerful, but it's not auniversal solution. Understanding its boundaries helps you make reasonable tool choices. ### What Obsidian Excels At * Technical knowledge accumulation: Record understanding of a framework, pitfalls encountered, solutions, and connect related knowledge through links * Learning notes: Make excerpts and annotations when reading books/articles,accumulate as your own knowledge * Daily work logs: Use Daily Notes to record what you did each day, problems encountered * Writing drafts: Accumulate materials and polish articles in Obsidian * Personal project planning: Track personal learning plans, side projects ### What Obsidian Is Less Suitable For * Team real-time collaboration: Multiple people editing the same file can easily cause conflicts; Notion is more suitable * Structured data management: Complex databases, spreadsheets; use Notion/Airtable * Primary task management tool: Although there are plugin supports, for professional task management use Todoist/Linear * Large multimedia content: Videos, large images, etc.; storage and management are inconvenient