Using The Archive with Obsidian - Chapter 732

jemscott

Hi, all
Forgive my starting a new thread on this, but two days of my life have gone by fighting with this issue (including the blind avenue of consulting AI, more fool me...). Here's the set up I'm trying to create:

1. A single folder of notes, my Zettelkasten, currently in .txt format but if I have to batch convert to .md, then that's fine. This is stored on DropBox. (This is what I currently have, not converted to .md as yet).
2. I want to keep using The Archive as my canonical, main editor and tool.
3. BUT I would love to be able to use THE SAME set of notes with Obsidian to take advantage of some of its features, primarily the visualisation tools.
4. HOWEVER, my Archive-inspired link syntax ([Title of note][[NOTE ID]] doesn't work with Obsidian. This is well documented in other threads here.
5. The syntax [[NOTE ID Title of note]] would work in Obsidian, but then I'd have to change all the links across my archive AND the links would break if the note title was changed at any stage. It's desirable to be able to change note titles without messing up everything else.
6. I've tried the plugin created by Dylan (see other threads), which I can't get to work for some reason. It sort of works, but for some links and not others. No idea why! I'm not proficient in coding, using GitHub, Terminal etc. I don't know what I'm doing wrong on this one, as this seems like the ideal solution.
7. In short: I would like to be able to use Obsidian as a sort of window into my archive for specific projects, but continue working in The Archive most of the time in terms of maintaining my zettelkasten as a whole.

Has anyone out there managed to achieve this dream, or am I simply wasting my time?

Many, many thanks in advance as always, and hope everyone's well.

jemscott

Meant to add: I'd like it to function so that if I edit a note in Obsidian, then that edit is saved back to the original and thus accessible via The Archive too.

GeoEng51

@jemscott Not sure if this response is all that helpful, but I've migrated my Zettelkasten a couple of times, once from The Archive to Logseq and then again from Logseq to NotePlan. Each of these apps have small differences in how their links work, how searches work and whether or not titles have to match file names. In each case, I had to figure out the differences, then write a simple program (in my case, in Python) to massage all of my ZK files so that they would work with the new app/system.

You may have to use a similar approach, but in your case you first need to figure out a file name / linking format that works in both The Archive and Obsidian.

erikh

@jemscott : I feel your pain. Based on a discussion here last week, I convinced myself that I needed to try out Obsidian. At first sight, after having renamed all the files to .md, it looks deceptively like The Archive. Upon deeper inspection though, the difference is day and night. Obsidian is complexity where The Archive is clarity.

I could now write a long rant about my frustrations with Obsidian’s complexity, but instead I’m going to quote Mike Johnston (theonlinephotographer), who in 2004 wrote about the Leica, one of those other German precision instruments. For me, it perfectly captures the difference between Obsidian c.s. and The Archive:

“Most people these days buy cameras off the spec sheet and the feature list. Not counting setup parameters such as loading and rewinding the film, attaching the lens, and setting the ISO speed, the Leica MP has precisely six operating controls on the camera. (You may have to read that again: it did say six.) Namely, the film-advance lever, the focusing ring, the aperture ring, the shutter speed dial, and the shutter release. That’s five. The sixth is a little lever that allows you to preview the viewfinder frames for other lenses when they’re not on the camera.

I know. That sixth feature, although convenient, isn’t absolutely necessary. Leica went nuts.

In an era when a leading digital SLR may have eighty controls and a more powerful CPU than an early personal computer, there is something to be said for simplicity and directness. You always know where you stand with a mechanical Leica such as the MP: it is supremely unconfusing. Each control is mechanical, and each knob, button or lever is given only one unambiguous function. The Leica never second-guesses you, it never thinks on its own, and it never obstructs you or gets in the way. You always know exactly what it’s doing. And it does just exactly what you tell it to – no more, no less – quietly, and quickly.”

Amontillado

One thing I've learned from The Archive is that it can be much more important what you do with a resource than what the resource does for you.

Another, of course, is that linking via searching is brilliant.

Sascha

@erikh That is exactly what we are aiming for. Perfecto and thanks!

jemscott

Thanks, all, as ever. You know what? Sod it. I’m just going to stick with The Archive and ‘visualize’ some other way. Again, I really do appreciate you folks taking the time to reply and contribute. Best to all.

jemscott

@erikh @Amontillado Thank you. You’re both right. Problem solved.

jemscott

By the way, brilliant post @erikh. Spot on. Loved the quote from Johnston. Thank you.

jregan

@Amontillado said:
One thing I've learned from The Archive is that it can be much more important what you do with a resource than what the resource does for you.

Another, of course, is that linking via searching is brilliant.

Totally agree. I recently tried Obsidian and concluded that the Archive better supports my workflow. Having used the Archive since 2019, I have developed a process that functions with much less friction.