12 Obsidian Plug-ins I *Actually* Use
## Metadata
- Author: [[YouTube]]
- Full Title: 12 Obsidian Plug-ins I *Actually* Use
- Category: #articles
- Document Note: ---
tags: [obsidian, productivity, note-taking, plugins, pkm]
author: Santi Younger
source: YouTube
reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo
date created: 2024-12-20 14:30
---
# 🏷️ Title: 12 Obsidian Plug-ins I Actually Use
## 🧰 Action Inbox
- [H1] Install Calendar plugin for daily notes — better than native calendar #obsidian
- [H2] Try Omnivore as free Readwise alternative — with sync quirks but functional #reading
- [H3] Use Tag Wrangler for better tag organization — feels native to Obsidian #organization
## 🧭 Table of Contents
- [📝 Summary](#-summary)
- [📖 Main Content](#-main-content)
- [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes)
- [📚 References](#-references)
- [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase)
- [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter)
- [✅ Action Items](#-action-items)
- [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses)
- [📊 Methodology](#-methodology)
- [❓ Questions](#-questions)
- [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research)
- [💡 Implications](#-implications)
- [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment)
- [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment)
- [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment)
- [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity)
- [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis)
- [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion)
### 🔗 References
- [12 Obsidian Plug-ins I *Actually* Use](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo)
- [AnuPucchin Theme Settings](paste-bin-link-in-description)
## 📝 Summary
- A practical review of 12 essential Obsidian plugins that enhance daily note-taking workflows
- Focuses on plugins that add value without creating dependency or future-proofing concerns
- Covers everything from calendar integration to theme customization and tag management
- Author emphasizes choosing plugins that streamline work rather than fundamentally changing notes
- Key insight: Balance functionality with sustainability by avoiding over-reliance on unmaintained plugins
## 📖 Main Content
This video provides a curated list of Obsidian plugins that have proven valuable in daily use, organized alphabetically. The author takes a pragmatic approach, focusing on plugins that enhance productivity without creating excessive dependencies. Each plugin serves a specific purpose, from Calendar's daily note integration to Tag Wrangler's improved tag management. The selection emphasizes plugins that make note-taking more frictionless while maintaining future-proof workflows. Notable mentions include Omnivore as a free alternative to expensive read-later apps, and Style Settings for visual customization. The author advocates for thoughtful plugin selection, warning against over-reliance on plugins that could become unmaintained.
## 🗒️ Notes
#### ⏱️ [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=0) — [H1] Introduction: 12 daily-use plugins
- Key idea: These are plugins actually used daily, not just installed and forgotten
- Evidence: "These are the 12 plugins that I still have installed and use pretty much on a daily basis"
#### ⏱️ [00:00:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=28) — [H2] Calendar by Liam Cain
- Key idea: Essential for daily notes workflow with visual date navigation
- Evidence: "One of the most well-known and most installed plugins in Obsidian"
#### ⏱️ [00:02:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=135) — [H3] Chord Sheets for guitar tabs
- Key idea: Niche plugin demonstrating Obsidian's specialized use cases
- Evidence: "There truly is a plugin for everything" with chord transposition and autoscroll features
#### ⏱️ [00:03:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=222) — [H2] Footnote Shortcuts for easy citations
- Key idea: Streamlines academic writing with hotkey footnote insertion
- Evidence: "I have mine set as CMD+A and it will automatically add a small 1 and move your cursor to the bottom"
#### ⏱️ [00:04:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=275) — [H3] Hider for UI customization
- Key idea: Declutters interface by hiding unused elements
- Evidence: "I mainly use it to hide my vault name and to hide the toggle buttons on the sidebars"
#### ⏱️ [00:05:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=318) — [H1] Homepage for vault navigation
- Key idea: Creates a landing page with indexes and MOCs for easy navigation
- Evidence: "Homepage is one of my most used plugins" with automatic opening when no notes are active
#### ⏱️ [00:06:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=408) — [H2] Natural Language Dates for timestamping
- Key idea: Adds current time via hotkey for interstitial journaling
- Evidence: "I use the Natural Language Plugin to quickly add the time at the beginning of each bullet point"
#### ⏱️ [00:07:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=478) — [H2] Omnivore as free Readwise alternative
- Key idea: Free open-source reading app with Obsidian sync, despite some quirks
- Evidence: "Readwise is way too expensive and Omnivore is free so I am willing to put up with its quirks"
#### ⏱️ [00:09:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=555) — [H3] Paste Image Rename for better file management
- Key idea: Prevents cluttered attachment folders with meaningful image names
- Evidence: "I don't want to end up with a ton of files that are called screen grab 1-1-4-3"
#### ⏱️ [00:10:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=608) — [H2] Quick Switcher++ for enhanced navigation
- Key idea: Improved file switching with heading search and recent files
- Evidence: "My most used section of this plugin is the fact that it shows me recent files"
#### ⏱️ [00:11:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=695) — [H3] Remember Cursor Position for workflow continuity
- Key idea: Simple plugin that maintains reading position when switching between notes
- Evidence: "Very helpful if you switch from note to note a lot which I do sometimes"
#### ⏱️ [00:12:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=722) — [H2] Style Settings for visual customization
- Key idea: Enhances theme customization with extensive color and style options
- Evidence: "It does bring me joy especially my rainbow folders on the left"
#### ⏱️ [00:13:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=805) — [H1] Tag Wrangler for advanced tag management
- Key idea: Essential tag organization tool that feels native to Obsidian
- Evidence: "This plug-in is integrated so well that I often forget it's not native to Obsidian"
#### ⏱️ [00:15:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo?t=908) — [H1] Philosophy on plugin selection
- Key idea: Avoid over-dependence on plugins for future-proofing
- Evidence: "I prefer to use plugins that make my note taking a little bit easier and more streamlined but if the plug-in wouldn't exist anymore it's not like my vault would fall apart"
## 📚 References
- [Calendar Plugin by Liam Cain](https://github.com/liamcain/obsidian-calendar-plugin)
- [AnuPucchin Theme](https://github.com/AnubisNekhet/anuppuccin)
- [Omnivore Reading App](https://omnivore.app/)
## 🗣️ Paraphrase
- Calendar plugin transforms daily note workflow by providing visual date navigation and easy note creation, though the word-count dots feature needs adjustment for most users
- Specialized plugins like Chord Sheets demonstrate Obsidian's flexibility for niche use cases, offering features like chord transposition and autoscroll that aren't available elsewhere
- Tag Wrangler significantly improves Obsidian's native tagging system with hierarchical organization, renaming capabilities, and enhanced search functionality
## 📰 Newsletter
**Essential Obsidian Plugins That Actually Matter**
If you're drowning in Obsidian's plugin library, this curated list of 12 daily-use plugins will streamline your workflow without creating maintenance headaches. From Calendar's superior daily notes integration to Tag Wrangler's native-feeling tag management, these tools enhance productivity while maintaining future-proof workflows.
**Key Highlights:**
- Calendar plugin transforms daily note navigation
- Omnivore offers free alternative to expensive read-later apps
- Style Settings + AnuPucchin theme create beautiful, customizable interface
- Tag Wrangler adds essential tag hierarchy and renaming features
**Smart Plugin Philosophy:** Choose tools that enhance your workflow without creating dependencies. Focus on plugins that make note-taking more frictionless rather than fundamentally changing your notes' structure.
Resources: [Obsidian Community Plugins](https://obsidian.md/plugins), [Plugin Development](https://docs.obsidian.md/Plugins/Getting+started), [Theme Gallery](https://obsidian.md/themes)
## ✅ Action Items
#### DevRel
- Developer advocacy: Create plugin showcase series, demo essential workflows
- Education: Workshop on plugin selection philosophy, maintenance considerations
- Developer experience: Plugin compatibility guidelines, deprecation warnings
- Developer marketing: Highlight community-built tools, creator spotlights
- Community management: Plugin recommendation threads, troubleshooting support
#### Community
- Maintainers: Plugin sustainability guidelines, succession planning templates
- Contributors: Plugin testing protocols, compatibility verification
- Sponsors: Support for essential plugin maintainers, development grants
- Ecosystem: Cross-plugin compatibility standards, shared libraries
#### WordPress
- Plugins: Review sustainability practices, maintenance communication
- Community: Plugin author mentorship, succession planning workshops
- Documentation: Plugin selection guides, maintenance best practices
- Meta: Plugin directory improvements, sustainability indicators
## 🧪 Hypotheses
- Users prefer plugins that enhance existing workflows rather than replace core functionality
- Plugin sustainability correlates with integration quality and maintenance communication
- Visual customization plugins increase user satisfaction and platform stickiness
- Simple, single-purpose plugins have higher long-term adoption rates
### 📊 Methodology
- Survey users on plugin adoption patterns and abandonment reasons
- Analyze plugin maintenance history vs user retention rates
- A/B test plugin recommendations based on workflow enhancement vs feature replacement
### ❓ Questions
- How do we balance plugin ecosystem growth with sustainability concerns?
- What makes certain plugins feel "native" while others feel bolted-on?
- How can plugin selection philosophy improve long-term user experience?
### 🔮 Future Research
- Plugin lifecycle management and succession planning frameworks
- User interface integration patterns that feel native
- Community-driven plugin maintenance models and sustainability metrics
### 💡 Implications
- Practice: Prioritize workflow enhancement over feature replacement when selecting plugins
- Policy: Develop plugin sustainability guidelines and maintenance expectations
- Education: Teach thoughtful plugin selection based on long-term workflow needs
- Funding: Support essential plugin maintainers to ensure ecosystem stability
### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment
Reading level estimate: 7th Grade
#### 👀 Visual learners
- Present: Screenshots of each plugin interface, before/after comparisons
- Improve: Plugin workflow diagrams, visual feature comparisons
#### 🔊 Aural learners
- Present: Full video walkthrough with voice narration
- Improve: Audio-only podcast version, plugin demo recordings
#### 🗣️ Verbal learners
- Present: Clear plugin descriptions, use case explanations
- Improve: Plugin comparison analogies, workflow storytelling
#### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners
- Present: Step-by-step installation guides implied
- Improve: Hands-on setup tutorials, interactive plugin testing
#### 🧠 Logical learners
- Present: Alphabetical organization, clear categorization
- Improve: Plugin selection decision tree, feature comparison matrix
#### 🧑🤝🧑 Social learners
- Present: Community plugin recommendations, developer appreciation
- Improve: Plugin discussion forums, collaborative recommendation lists
#### 🧘♀️ Solitary learners
- Present: Personal workflow examples, individual use cases
- Improve: Self-assessment checklist, personal plugin audit guide
#### 🌿 Naturalistic learners
- Present: Plugin ecosystem metaphors, organic workflow evolution
- Improve: Plugin lifecycle analogies, ecosystem sustainability themes
### 📊 Accessibility Assessment
#### Screen reader semantics
- Present: Clear heading structure, descriptive plugin names
- Improve: Alt text for plugin screenshots, ARIA labels for interface elements
#### Keyboard navigation
- Present: Hotkey mentions for several plugins
- Improve: Complete keyboard navigation guides, accessibility shortcuts
#### Contrast and readability
- Present: Clean interface with good text contrast
- Improve: High contrast theme options, readability testing
#### Text resizing and reflow
- Present: Responsive video player, scalable interface
- Improve: Text zoom compatibility testing, layout flexibility
#### Media and captions
- Present: Full transcript available, clear audio narration
- Improve: Time-synced captions, audio description track
#### Forms and interactions
- Present: Simple plugin installation process
- Improve: Accessible plugin configuration guides, error handling
### 🌍 DEIB Assessment
#### Cultural breadth
- Present: Universal productivity concepts, cross-platform compatibility
- Improve: Multi-language plugin support, global workflow examples
#### Inclusive language
- Present: Gender-neutral terms, welcoming tone
- Improve: Plain language summaries, jargon definitions
#### Neurodiversity support
- Present: Clear structure, focused single-topic sections
- Improve: Chunked content with clear breaks, consistent formatting
#### Representation
- Present: Diverse plugin creator acknowledgment
- Improve: Highlight creators from underrepresented backgrounds
#### Psychological safety
- Present: Non-judgmental plugin selection philosophy
- Improve: Validation of different workflow preferences, no "right way" messaging
### ✅ Logical Validity
#### Strong reasoning
- Deductive strength: Plugin selection based on clear criteria (daily use, sustainability)
- Inductive strength: Generalizes from personal experience to broader recommendations
- Causal reasoning: Links plugin features to workflow improvements
- Analogical strength: Compares plugins to familiar tools and concepts
#### Fallacies
- Survivorship bias: Only discusses plugins still in use, not failures or abandoned ones
- Appeal to popularity: Uses download counts as quality indicators without critical analysis
#### Tone of voice
- Overall tone: Conversational and helpful, with personal experience emphasis and genuine appreciation for developers
### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis
- Deny: No denial patterns present
- Attack: No attacks on users or developers
- Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender dynamics
- Emotional cues and rhetoric: Positive, appreciative tone toward plugin developers with genuine gratitude
## 🎯 Conclusion
This curated plugin list demonstrates the importance of thoughtful tool selection in knowledge management systems. Rather than installing every available plugin, focus on tools that enhance existing workflows without creating dependencies. The author's philosophy of choosing plugins that make work "more frictionless" while maintaining future-proof approaches offers valuable guidance for building sustainable productivity systems. The emphasis on appreciating plugin developers while being realistic about maintenance challenges reflects a mature understanding of open-source ecosystem dynamics.
## 🧱 Refactor Appendix
### 📚 Literature Split Pad
### [H1] Plugin selection philosophy prioritizes workflow enhancement
> [!quote
- Document Tags: [[reading]] [[obsidian]] [[organization]]
- Summary: 12 Obsidian Plug-ins I *Actually* Use
- URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsRNv4xY1qo
ever since I've started using obsidian I have tried many different plugins and these are the 12 plugins that I still have installed and use pretty much on a daily basis in alphabetical order calendar by Liam K is one of the most well-known and most installed plugins in obsidian calendar Works closely together with daily notes you can create daily notes by clicking on a dates and easily search for previous days months or even years by navigating through the little
widgets that it creates in your sidebar you can add the days of the week as well the only thing that I don't love is that it gives you these dots per day based on how many words you write in your daily notes on that day I have since remedied that by making the threshold per dot really high I think I made the threshold like 5,000 words or something much higher than I usually write in my daily notes so now every single daily note just looks like a single Dot and that is
just what I prefer I also noticed that this plugin hasn't been updated in a while however it's still works great at least on my Mac haven't had any problems with it so let's hope it stays that way since it's one of the most downloaded and one of my most used plugins in obsidian the next plug-in is Court sheets it's a very Niche plug-in but I think that's what's so special about obsidian there truly is a plugin for everything I use Court sheets for my
guitar tabs if you create a code block and add the right command to it it makes it way easier to format Court sheets with lyrics and a chord above it you can transpose kind of like what you see on Ultimate Guitar but without annoying premium locked features popup videos or chords that randomly disappear because of Licensing issues it also has another wonderful feature which is auto scroll I love this feature because when you're like playing the guitar you don't want
to constantly have to stop and scroll down because you get out of time mess up in the middle of a song um it's just not great autoscroll is a lifesaver I love it footnote shortcuts is a plugin that lets you add footnotes really easily by letting you add them as a hot key I have mine set as command a and it will automatically add a small one and move your cursor to the bottom of the page setting you in completely the right place so you can just copy paste a link
or add citation in whatever way you want or are required if you're in University citation is a pain I know it's really simple really only has one single use but a really great one it lets you change the name of the footnote heading and settings if you so desire and yeah it just streamlines your footnote experience a bit as the name suggests Hider is a plugin that lets you hide features in the user interface that you don't use use and don't want to see you
can use it to hide a ton of different things but I mainly use it to hide my fault name and to hide the toggle buttons on the sidebars cuz I prefer to always have my sidebars visible anyway I never collapse them it's honestly a great way to unclutter or declutter I should say your user interface from things you don't need these UI elements can also be bound to a hotkey so if you want some things to be easily switched on and off you can do that as well
homepage is one of my most used plugins homepage lets you open a specific note Canvas OR workspace upon launching obsidian my homepage is a list of indexes or maps of content so that I can easily navigate to anywhere in my Vault just by clicking I spoke at length about my preference for using indexes over using a large folder structure in my previous video if you're curious about that and the reason I like homepage so much is that I have it set up to
automatically open if I don't have any other notes open so whenever I click the last note away it will automatically open homepage again and I just prefer to have it in front of my face at all times it also adds an icon to your Ribbon menu on the left for easy navigation and if you use the obsidian mobile app you can even set up a separate mobile page if you so desire you can also set up a hotkey to open the homepage at any time if you prefer doing it that way natural
language dates is another plug-in that I use for a very specific purpose and that is to add the current time using a hotkey I like to write short entries in my daily notes in a bulleted format kind of like interstitial journaling or rapid logging in a bullet Journal format and I used a natural language plugin to quickly add the time at the beginning of each bullet point so I know when I wrote a specific entry this plug-in makes so I
don't have to write the time manually each time which just saves me time and creates a little less of a hurdle for journaling dumping thoughts anything really it also allows you to Auto suggest using any character and it will automatically add the dates allowing you to cross link between daily notes without having to type out the dates it's such a small thing but it makes working in Daily notes so much more frictionless and I love that omnivore is a free open-source reading app that I
use for reading articles and newsletters it's not perfect in my opinion it's not as good as readwise you can tell the app is a lot less mature however readwise is way too expensive and omnivore is free so I am willing to put up with its quirks so what I do is I copy articles into the omnivore app or I use the browser extension and then I read them and and I highlight them and then I sync
them to obsidian using the omnivore plugin this does not go completely seamless like I said the app does have some quirks for example after reading and sying an article I usually have to delete the article from omnivore because otherwise you will end up with duplicates the next time you syn which isn't great but I'm willing to put up with that because like I said it's free and I love being able to read articles whenever I want in a distraction free location and being able to highlight stuff
paste image rename is a very simple plug-in it's all in the name really paste image rename creates a popup whenever you drag an image or another attachment into obsidian and it allows you to quickly rename something I really like this because I often take a lot of quick screen grabs and I don't want to end up with a th files that are called screen grab 1 143 or whatever it also allows you to set a renaming pattern for example you can set it to automatic rename the image to whatever the title
of your current note is so the images will always have a corresponding note because they have the same name and this makes searching images in the search bar a lot easier quick switcher Plus+ is an improved version of obsidian's native quick switcher plug-in it allows you to do a lot of things for example to find files by headings instead of by file name it searches obsidian bookmarks it runs obsidian commands it navigates to
related files if you use multiple vaults you will love this plugin because it makes switching from Vault to Vault a lot easier you can exclude folders from search and so much more that I didn't even mention here I definitely don't use all of the settings this plugin has to offer but what I do use I really like somehow my most used section of this plugin is the fact that it shows me recent files which surprised me too but because I get distracted easily and I'm
always catching myself and then circling back to whatever I was doing before before I got distracted and these recent files really help me because it gives me that visual cue kind of similar to what the homepage provides for me but in the quick switcher it helps me remind myself what I was doing before I got distracted because I remember that note that I had previously opened it sounds stupid but it works it has helped me more times than I can count remember cursor position is maybe the simplest plugin I
use as the name suggests it's a plugin that remembers where you left off the last time you opened a file this is very helpful if you switch from note to note a lot which I do sometimes so you don't constantly have to navigate back to where you were before that's all it really does and it does it well style settings is a plugin that I use in combination with the anuchin theme I'm I don't know if I'm butchering that name sorry and it creates a somewhat cuter and more colorful look to my obsidian it gives you so so many more options for
changing your theme adding colors of course this isn't a necessity at all but it does bring me joy especially my rainbow folders on the left I also really like the import section in the style settings plugin in fact I exported my style settings and I put them in a paste bin Link in the description box of this video so if you wanted to copy my exact obsidian style you can download the anuchin theme the style settings plugin and then copy everything that's
in the paste bin in this import section and your Vault should look exactly like mine if it's not your style you can of course play around with it on your own you don't have to do that you can also add CSS Snippets to customize your Vault even further although I personally haven't really felt the need to add those it's important to note that not all theme support style settings by the way I know the anuchin theme does which is what I have and I know blue topaz does as well last last but certainly not
least the tag Wrangler plug-in honestly this plug-in is integrated so well that I often forget it's not native to obsidian tag Wrangler has so many good use cases it allows you to create subtags using a forward slash you can easily Nest them in your list of tags and collapse every child tag under its parent tag it also allows you to rename tags which Native obsidian does not allow you to do and that has helped me
out majorly before it also improves search because you can now add a tag as a requirement to your search for example I tag all my daily notes as # daily note so if I want to search for something specific and I only want it to include my daily notes I can do that you can also create tag Pages which is a note that is linked to that specific tag I don't personally use this option but I've heard others have found this really
helpful those are the 12 plugins that make my obsidian life a lot easier thank you to all these wonderful Developers for creating these wonderful plugins for free I know developers often don't get paid anything or not much at all and these are often side projects so I did want to extend my thank you to them there's definitely a lot more plugins that I could download and use however I personally try not to rely on plugins too much plugins are often like I said side projects for Developers and they don't always get maintained although
they are open source so others can always pick up the plugin if it's abandoned but still in 10 years if obsidian is not the hot new software anymore we could end up with a graveyard of plugins this is why I prefer to use plugins that make my note taking a little bit easier and more streamlined but if the plug-in wouldn't exist anymore it's not like my fault would like fall apart you know I also don't love personally plugins that add a ton
of code or otherwise drastically change the contents of a note because in my humble opinion it's just not as future proof for me anyway that was a side tangent let me know if you liked this format because this is the first time that I did a format with just a voice over and not my disembodied hands I'm just a disembodied voice now so let me know if you like this format if not I can always change back just wanted to switch it up thank you for watching this video Don't foret forg get to subscribe
and like this video If you enjoyed it and I will see you very soon bye, 12 Obsidian Plug-ins I *Actually* Use, YouTube, 01ka8hzfwa0yddcfd7bdqhgx8z.