Explain strengths & uses of tags, folders, & links

[colintedford]

I’d like to have a page about the strengths and uses of tags, folders, and links, since the topic arises often and we have a sense of the possibilities and how people use them. The page should mention common use cases like “only status tags” and “tags instead of folders”. This is obviously lower priority than making sure Obsidian is completely documented, but I’d expect this link to be shared frequently.

Resources we could draw from:

• https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/694233507500916796/1110515852723372104 by Craftidore
• https://www.obsidianroundup.org/yet-another-hot-take-on-folders-versus-tags/ by Eleanor Konik
• https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/710585052769157141/1304780644437463071 by harr
• https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/710585052769157141/1312806444063658014 by Handorin
• Brief advice from macbikegeek https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/710585052769157141/1312814340272951348
• Countless discussions in the knowledge management Discord channel and forum category.

There may be other knowledge management topics we can distill into the docs, but this is the top one that comes to my mind. I think we should avoid getting into the weeds of systems like PARA and Johnny Decimal; they might be worth mentioning, or it might be better to not even point out that rabbit hole.

[sigrunixia]

Do you have any suggestion on where this could go in the help docs as is?

I am not sure if the official help docs should be where it goes, or if we should do something on the HUB, and then link to the hub.

[colintedford]

Do you have any suggestion on where this could go in the help docs as is?

Good question! The 3 items in question are in 3 different sections.

I think I’d put either:

• A single comparison page in “Getting started”, or
• A section each in Internal Links and Tags, with a mention & link to the other. Since folders are so well known and there isn’t a page about them, they could just be discussed briefly as a contrast in each section. (Folders could be discussed in File Browser but it doesn’t quite feel right to me.)

I am not sure if the official help docs should be where it goes, or if we should do something on the HUB, and then link to the hub.

I think official docs (obviously). I see it as augmenting “here’s what this feature is and how its controls work” with “here’s how and why you might use it.” There's a bit of this in Help already. For example, in https://help.obsidian.md/Getting+started/Link+notes:

While Obsidian is great for taking notes, the true power of Obsidian lies in being able to link your notes together. By understanding how one piece of information relates to another, you can improve your ability to remember them and to form deeper insights.

I don’t think it should be an in-depth knowledge-management treatise, just a quick overview.

[Kalimbim]

Adding examples of typical use cases to the help pages should go a long way. I also think that the sequence of examples and explanations matters. Start with a simple example that captures the essence. Explain the nitty gritty laters.

For example https://help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Tags:

• start with hashtags and move YAML to the end.
• add a GIF that shows a paragraph with a hashtag next to it and what happens when you click on the hashtag. This will look very familiar to anybody who has used hashtags before.

I consider hashtags the default use case and YAML a special case. Tags work without Properties. But it's good to know that it is also possible to use Properties for tags and that there is a special list Property called tags.

[Kalimbim]

(…) we should do something on the HUB, and then link to the hub.

Is the hub still being maintained? Last time I checked it looked like a heap of outdated tidbits from Obsidian's early days.

[colintedford]

Is the hub still being maintained? Last time I checked it looked like a heap of outdated tidbits from Obsidian's early days.

It still receives updates — see the #hub-website channel on Obsidian's Discord server — tho I share the impression that swaths of it are dusty.

[sigrunixia]

Adding examples of typical use cases to the help pages should go a long way. I also think that the sequence of examples and explanations matters. Start with a simple example that captures the essence. Explain the nitty gritty laters.

For example help.obsidian.md/Editing+and+formatting/Tags:

• start with hashtags and move YAML to the end.
• add a GIF that shows a paragraph with a hashtag next to it and what happens when you click on the hashtag. This will look very familiar to anybody who has used hashtags before.

I consider hashtags the default use case and YAML a special case. Tags work without Properties. But it's good to know that it is also possible to use Properties for tags and that there is a special list Property called tags.

If you have specific examples you want to use, feel free to PR it.

Unfortunately the support box (my primary responsibility) has been busy enough that I do not have enough time to work on the help docs as of late. 🤞🏼 it eases up soon.