Notes as files: a small knowledge collection
By Oliver Schmalzl · Written: · Archive discovery date:
4 June 2025 · Archive date
A saved link is quickly forgotten. A note becomes more helpful if you also record why the source was interesting and which other thought it connects to. Step by step, a pile of saved items turns into a collection where you can find things again.
Obsidian describes its notes as local Markdown files. The format is interesting because the texts stay readable in other editors too. That property, however, says nothing yet about where extra plugins or sync services send data.
An invented hobby archive
Write down what you plan to do, what is still open and where the information comes from. An idea can point to an open question. Each source gets a title, link, date accessed and two sentences of your own on what it is useful for.
A note saying "check paper thickness" is more useful than a smoothly worded claim that nobody can back up later. Contradictions may stay visible too: perhaps two guides describe different starting materials.
An extra AI search can suggest related passages. The AI gives a hint. Whether it is right, the source shows. What matters is that the actual source can be reached and that what it says is clearly marked off.
Less filing, more connection
A collection does not need a complicated folder hierarchy before the first note is written. A few clear titles, a few links and regularly merging similar texts are enough to start with.
What counts is whether a concrete question can be answered later. Lots of summaries are of little help if the sources are missing. A small collection with traceable connections can be much clearer.
Original finds
These links were the starting point for this post. The assessment in the text is my own; the linked posts are not my own tests.
- Obsidian as a personal knowledge collection
- Finding connections between notes
- LLM wikis: turning collected sources into a knowledge base
- LLM wikis: turning collected sources into a knowledge base
- LLM wikis: turning collected sources into a knowledge base
- LLM wikis: turning collected sources into a knowledge base
- LLM wikis: turning collected sources into a knowledge base
- Tolaria: Markdown with version history
- Borges and the question of relevant knowledge
- Obsidian Copilot with a local model connection for searching and summarising a notes archive by topic.
About the date: This post was written on 11 October 2026. The archive date is the date of the earliest related find in the collection, not of a publication at that time. Technical assessments and sources added later refer to the time of writing.