Performance is design, and every millisecond counts.
Every update in 2025 trimmed Obsidian's load speed. This is quite complex given the number of different configurations and operating systems Obsidian supports.
We employed many different solutions to speed up Obsidian across various syncing methods, operating systems, plugins, vault sizes, etc.
Getting into Obsidian should be instantaneous regardless of vault size. It's absolutely necessary so that ideas can flow without friction.
Today in ransomware, Slack increases pricing by $195k with a week's notice for a non-profit that teaches teenagers how to code.
A few years ago, when Slack transitioned us from their free nonprofit plan to a $5,000/year arrangement, we happily paid. It was reasonable, and we valued the service they provided to our community.
However, two days ago, Slack reached out to us and said that if we don’t agree to pay an extra $50k this week and $200k a year, they’ll deactivate our Slack workspace and delete all of our message history.
One could argue that Slack is free to stop providing us the nonprofit offer at any time, but in my opinion, a six month grace period is the bare minimum for a massive hike like this, if not more. Essentially, Salesforce (a $230 billion company) is strong-arming a small nonprofit for teens, by providing less than a week to pony up a pretty massive sum of money, or risk cutting off all our communications. That’s absurd.
One of my favorite use cases for #Obsidian Bases is custom sidebar views. Here's one I made for "Related notes".
It finds notes that have overlapping links and tags with the active note. The notes are sorted by a count of overlaps.
You can tailor this by counting and sorting other kinds of overlaps, like note titles, embeds, etc — possibly even creating a formula that adds weighting to the overlaps.
Screenshot showing an example of a related notes view with Obsidian Bases
1. You can drag views in the View menu to reorder them. The first one is the default view.
2. Right-click the View button to skip the view picker and edit the current view.
3. Bases can be embedded as .base files or as code blocks (like Dataview). Both use the same syntax.
4. Use [[BaseName.base#ViewName]] to embed a specific view.
5. Views have layout options. For tables you can set row height. For cards you can set card size and cover image.
6. The Results count is clickable and lets you limit results and export to CSV/clipboard.
7. With the Properties menu open, you can navigate to a property in the list using arrow keys, and hold Opt key (Alt on Windows) to move the property up or down the list.
8. Double-click a column divider to reset the column width.
9. You can place base files in sidebars to create custom views, like a recent files view, or attachments view.
10. When embedded in a note, this.file refers to the current note. In a sidebar, this.file refers to the active note.
with #Obsidian Bases you can create embedded views that reference the current file — for example if I put my "Places" base inside Taipei I get only places I saved in Taipei
currently #Obsidian for Android requires full file access permissions because it's necessary for certain third-party sync tools and interoperability — but some users prefer narrower permissions
in an upcoming version we're adding this option, do the tradeoffs make sense here?
Vault location
Pick a location for your new vault
Device storage
- Requires additional permissions.
- Allows Obsidian data to be accessed by other apps.
- Works with third-party sync tools.
Obsidian app folder
- Android will delete your data if you uninstall Obsidian.
- Your data will not be accessible to other apps.
E. M. Forster predicted the gradual decline of Spotify and Sonos in his 1909 short story The Machine Stops:
"I can never be sure of my music now. It gets worse and worse each time I summon it."
"Time passed, and they resented the defects no longer. The defects had not been remedied, but the human tissues in that latter day had become so subservient, that they readily adapted themselves to every caprice of the Machine."
“It is too bad!” she exclaimed to another of her friends. “There never was such an unfortunate woman as myself. I can never be sure of my music now. It gets worse and worse each time I summon it.”
“I too have my troubles,” the friend replied. “Sometimes my ideas are interrupted by a slight jarring noise.”
“What is it?”
“I do not know whether it is inside my head, or inside the wall.”
“Complain, in either case.”
“I have complained, and my complaint will be forwarded in its turn to the Central Committee.”
Time passed, and they resented the defects no longer. The defects had not been remedied, but the human tissues in that latter day had become so subservient, that they readily adapted themselves to every caprice of the Machine. The sigh at the crisis of the Brisbane symphony no longer irritated Vashti; she accepted it as part of the melody. The jarring noise, whether in the head or in the wall, was no longer resented by her friend. And so with the mouldy artificial fruit, so with the bath water that began to stink, so with the defective rhymes that the poetry machine had taken to emit. All were bitterly complained of at first, and then acquiesced in and forgotten. Things went from bad to worse unchallenged.
@csilverman
@frederic 1. what device do you use?
2. can you share the results of your startup time?
go to Settings → General → Advanced and click on the stopwatch icon
