In my case, I often have screenshots etc in the attachments folder, but for important files that live on my file system (outside the vault) I often refer to them in a note and keep them outside the vault. Drag a file into Obsidian while pressing Option (on Mac) to create a link without adding it to the attachment folder. [A file](file:///path/to/A%20file.pdf) You can even drag in multiple files at a time. You can also use angle brackets to avoid escaping spaces: [Another file]() Relative paths (e.g., ~/path/to/file) don't work (as of 2024-05-27), and you'll need to start from the root directory. That's a disadvantage because it means that external paths don't work if you sync between devices, even if you keep the same folder structure. Don't forget the `file:///` to start with. You can get the path using the terminal, or with pressing Option when right clicking the file in Finder.
For pdf files, you can also open in a pdf reader, select all, then copy and paste into the Obsidian md file. Formatting will be off but Obsidian can search the contents.
Great video and subject. I have been handling attachments this way for a while and for the same reasons you mention. Primarily because I know many of my attachments will be re-used in other notes. So, I want them in a generic location rather than buried down inside of another subject or folder that may or may not be related to the current subject/note I am working on. I appreciate you bringing visibility to this, becsaue I felt like I was kind of rowing upstream or working backwards doing it this way. Thought I was missing something somewhere that would have made the system for handling attachments simpler.
Nice video! One question though... if you have the attachments in a subfolder in the folder you are having your notes in, what happens when you move your note to a different folder? Do the attachments move as well to the new location? If not, this could really end up in a mess pretty quick.
Good question and now you see why I keep all my attachments in a single folder. It's a jumble, but I don't lose them in the shuffle of notes getting moved around.
yes! thats a brilliant approach to develop a second brain that works as a brain - as you mention. it takes the process of creating a note for each doc - which takes time and doubles the number of files (but who cares? maybe my graph!?). i will definitely start thinking differently after your video (though i'm already to single assets folder with Logseq) but i might use the hidden comments instead of creating a note (%% i believe)(and i had never thought of a usage for hidden comments before ^^) thanks
Handy to know about the attachments, as this was one of the things that was putting me off Obsidian. Thanks. As some feedback, you cannot clearly see the options you're choosing because the video of you talking is sitting over the options, which isn't ideal
Thanks for watching, and thanks for the heads up. During recording my video goes transparent when the cursor goes behind it. Totally forgot that it doesn't do that for the finished product. Whoops!
Great video. I would like to know if there is a way to do the following: put properties in the file itself that is taken to Obsidian, as it does not seem to work, for this I would have to open a note and embed the file.
Obsidian is a lightweight wrapper around markdown files, essentially. It's not going to edit the attachments; only show them in the note. To change the file itself (by adding properties to it), it's now trying to be an operating system; which it isn't. Does that make sense?
It's definitely interesting. There are apps to store different kinds of attachments, for example epubs, which allow you to use tags, etc, but the freedom of free form notes ... definitely to be considered.
Thanks for your Video! I switched from ZIM Desktop Wiki to Obsidian and still have my "problems" how to handle attachments. In ZIM there is a special attachments-Folder named like the page (without the filetype-suffix). It will be renamed, when the page is renamed. This way you got all the attachments attached to the page. I like this, because if it comes to synching (I'm using diffenrent vauls on different devices, eg. ym tablet, mobile or task-specific desktop-systems) or publishing single pages or a subset of pages you don't need to puzzle out all the reffered attachments. Second I'm moving files from my Download-Folder into the attachment-Folders outside form ZIm / obsidian. When I attach files into a page by drag and drop, it would be ok, one of the ways obsidian offers (and some additional plugins). But when I add "lose" attachments, they have to be connected to a page, otherwise the will get lost at the next cleanup (delete orphants). May be one solution is to place "lose" file like HTML-Downloads (I use mhtml-Files to archive web content, could be done for annotated PDF'S and pictures as well) in the destination topic-specific folder and generate a matching MD-file, containing the metadata extracted from the file. Or like already mentioned, using links to external directories (synch and publishing then get's mor complex again) Anyway, I will follow the comments here and keep on searchign and testing for the best fitting method (for me).
If you're looking for more extensive options, you might want to watch the video I just released this morning: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TL-pQKbFloU.html
Thanks for sharing. I love obsidian but I find it enoying that files and images become duplicates on my computer. Every time a file is added to the vault it is a copy of a file. From what I understand that would mean that my stoage space will double as fast be full. For Images I use the Imgur plugin mostly. The risk is that if something happens to the website it can all be gone.
Interesting and useful content, thank you. In my early Obsidian days I created a resources folded for attachments and 'dumped' stuff in there. Is there a reasonable way to now clear out the dross, i.e., unreferenced and orphaned attachments? I do like tidy! 🙄
Thanks. This is the way I use images, but nice to see how multiple paths can be made. Can it work similarly for PDFs, but outside the Vault? I have been collecting (and using) academic and research papers for over 30 years and have about 20 Gb of files. I would use any file perhaps a number of times for different papers I am writing, but I don't want my Vault to end up as 20 Gb as my research filling system is well honed. Can links reach outside the Vault?
How are you able to see where the image is located when using the command "Reveal current file in navigation"? My command looks different, and says "Files: Reveal current file in navigation", and only takes me to the Note location in navigation, not the image location, even when I have the image selected
I always put the cursor over the images filename, then right click on the image name/path and then the "reveal in navigation" shows me the image instead of the note's location.
