An Introduction to Obsidian: Core Plugins

What Are Plugins?

A different approach to app structure and customisation that Obsidian takes is the concept of plugins. You may have seen and used plugins in other applications, but this is different. The reason is that the entire architecture is based upon plugins. Almost every single feature of Obsidian is a plugin that can be switched on or off.

A plugin is a separate feature or collection of features added to Obsidian to use with your data and the main app. Ultimately this brings the customisation of the app to a whole new level. The downside compared to other applications is there may be more work in getting things set up, to begin with, and adding items as you want as opposed to the features just being there. But the real power comes from building the actual application you need.

An important note is that these plugins work across all versions of Obsidian, including mobile versions.

Core Plugins

There are two main types of plugins. The first and most important type is the Core plugins. These are the plugins built into the Obsidian application and created by the Obsidian developers. These already cover a wide range of functionality, and since not everything is on by default, they are worth exploring to customise Obsidian without needing to install anything else. They can be found in the settings (Gear icon). Activating a plugin requires toggling it in the list of Core plugins. Once activated, many plugins also have a menu for changing their settings. If it exists, it will appear in the Settings under Plugin Options.

This post was created with Typeshare