Obsidian Canvas  ## Metadata - Author: [[YouTube]] - Full Title: Obsidian Canvas - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [obsidian, canvas, knowledge-management, note-taking, spatial-thinking, productivity] author: Nick Milo source: YouTube reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw date created: 2024-12-30 10:00 --- # 🏷️ Title: Obsidian Canvas ## 🧰 Action Inbox - [H1] Update to Obsidian version 1.10+ with Insider builds enabled — 02:25 #setup - [H2] Create hotkey for canvas creation (Command/Ctrl + modifiers + N) — 03:30 #configuration - [H3] Practice secret maneuvers: Command+scroll to zoom, Shift+scroll horizontal navigation — 07:45 #navigation ## 🧭 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 - [Obsidian Canvas YouTube Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw) - [Linking Your Thinking](https://linkingyourthinking.com) ## 📝 Summary - Nick Milo introduces Obsidian Canvas, a new spatial whiteboard feature for mapping thoughts and ideas - Canvas allows visual organization of notes, images, links, and cards in a flexible spatial interface - Key benefits include integration with existing knowledge systems and ability to think spatially - Currently requires Obsidian version 1.10+ with Insider builds enabled - Canvas files use JSON format rather than markdown, raising future-proofing questions ## 📖 Main Content Obsidian Canvas represents a significant expansion of Obsidian's capabilities by adding spatial thinking tools to the traditional note-taking interface. The feature allows users to create virtual whiteboards where they can arrange notes, images, web links, and text cards in flexible spatial relationships. Canvas addresses the common problem of mental "squeeze points" - moments when users lose clarity and need to reorient their thinking. By providing a visual mapping interface, Canvas leverages humans' natural spatial reasoning abilities to help organize complex information. The tool integrates seamlessly with existing Obsidian vaults, allowing users to drag existing notes onto canvases and create new connections. However, the feature is currently in early development with limitations around backlinking and uses JSON rather than markdown format. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=0) — [H1] Introduction to mental squeeze points - Key idea: People lose mental clarity and momentum when overwhelmed - Evidence: "One second you know clearly what you have to do, the next second you're on YouTube wondering how you even got there" #### ⏱️ [02:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=145) — [H1] Canvas setup requirements - Key idea: Canvas requires Obsidian version 1.10+ with Insider builds - Evidence: "You need to make sure you're at least at version 1.10" #### ⏱️ [03:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=210) — [H2] Creating canvas hotkeys - Key idea: Custom hotkeys improve canvas workflow efficiency - Evidence: "I hold down three modifiers and then I hit N" #### ⏱️ [04:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=285) — [H2] Basic canvas navigation - Key idea: Canvas supports zoom, pan, and connection creation - Evidence: "Hold down command or control on Windows and then you can just zoom in and out" #### ⏱️ [06:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=375) — [H2] Adding content to canvas - Key idea: Canvas accepts cards, media, existing notes, and external links - Evidence: "You can literally drag and drop it onto this canvas boom now it's part of your obsidian Vault" #### ⏱️ [07:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=465) — [H2] Secret navigation maneuvers - Key idea: Advanced navigation shortcuts dramatically improve usability - Evidence: "Command zoom in and out, shift scroll horizontally - these are the secret maneuvers that unlock this application" #### ⏱️ [09:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=560) — [H2] Zoom shortcuts for focus - Key idea: Shift+1 for zoom to fit, Shift+2 for zoom to selection - Evidence: "Shift 2 which is zoom 2 selection it is extremely Snappy and delightful" #### ⏱️ [11:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=690) — [H2] Duplication functionality - Key idea: Option/Alt+drag creates duplicates of canvas elements - Evidence: "Hold down option alt on Windows option then click and drag and boom you have a duplicate" #### ⏱️ [13:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=795) — [H2] Cards vs notes distinction - Key idea: Cards exist only in canvas; notes are standalone files - Evidence: "A card isn't a note that means it's not its own file that means it only exists in this canvas" #### ⏱️ [15:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=940) — [H2] External content integration - Key idea: Canvas accepts images and links from web browsers and other applications - Evidence: "Things I have this note telling me to try out canvas so I can copy the link then just paste anywhere in this canvas" #### ⏱️ [18:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=1100) — [H3] Current limitations and concerns - Key idea: Canvas uses JSON format and has limited backlinking - Evidence: "Is the canvas markdown no it's a format known as Json" #### ⏱️ [20:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=1215) — [H3] Backlink functionality gaps - Key idea: Backlinks only work at canvas level, not for internal connections - Evidence: "Currently backlinks only work for the canvas itself, none of these notes have connections" #### ⏱️ [22:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=1350) — [H1] Canvas as spatial thinking tool - Key idea: Canvas leverages human spatial reasoning abilities - Evidence: "It allows us to use our spatial abilities we as humans we just get we just get Space we navigate this way naturally" #### ⏱️ [24:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw?t=1450) — [H1] Maps of content philosophy - Key idea: Canvas enables creation of comprehensive knowledge maps - Evidence: "What a map of content is it is an Moc a cluster of information and it Maps things in context with other things" ## 📚 References - [Obsidian Canvas Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw) - [Linking Your Thinking](https://linkingyourthinking.com) - [Obsidian Flight School](https://linkingyourthinking.com/obsidian-flight-school) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Obsidian Canvas introduces spatial thinking capabilities to traditional note-taking by providing virtual whiteboard functionality - The tool helps users overcome mental blocks by mapping thoughts visually and connecting diverse content types including notes, images, and web links - While powerful for spatial organization, Canvas currently has limitations with backlinking and uses JSON instead of markdown format ## 📰 Newsletter **Exciting News: Obsidian Canvas Launches for Spatial Thinkers!** The popular note-taking app Obsidian just released Canvas, a game-changing feature for visual learners and spatial thinkers. Think of it as a virtual whiteboard where you can map your ideas, connect thoughts, and organize complex information visually. **What makes Canvas special:** - Seamless integration with your existing notes and knowledge base - Support for images, web links, and multimedia content - Intuitive spatial organization that leverages how humans naturally think - Perfect for brainstorming, project planning, and knowledge mapping **Getting started:** You'll need Obsidian version 1.10+ with Insider builds enabled. The learning curve is gentle, especially if you master the "secret maneuvers" like Command+scroll for zooming and Shift+scroll for horizontal navigation. **WordPress connection:** Just like how WordPress allows flexible content organization through posts, pages, and custom fields, Canvas gives Obsidian users new ways to structure and visualize their knowledge workflows. Resources: [Obsidian Download](https://obsidian.md/), [Canvas Tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw), [Linking Your Thinking](https://linkingyourthinking.com/) ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Developer advocacy: Create Canvas integration demos for developer note-taking workflows, present at PKM conferences - Education: Develop Canvas workshops for technical writing and documentation planning - Developer experience: Document Canvas API potential for plugin developers - Developer marketing: Create content series on Canvas for developer productivity - Community management: Moderate Canvas feedback in Obsidian forums, survey usage patterns #### Community - Maintainers: Template creation for Canvas-based project roadmaps and technical decision trees - Contributors: Canvas-based contribution workflow visualization, onboarding maps - Sponsors: Visual impact reports using Canvas layouts, funding allocation maps - Ecosystem: Cross-project relationship mapping using Canvas spatial features #### WordPress - Core: Feature planning and dependency mapping using Canvas workflows - Documentation: Visual documentation architecture using Canvas for HelpHub/DevHub organization - Design: UX research synthesis and design system mapping in Canvas format - Marketing: Campaign planning and content relationship mapping - Training: Visual lesson plan development and learning path creation - Community: Event planning visualization and community relationship mapping ## 🧪 Hypotheses - Canvas adoption will accelerate among users who struggle with traditional linear note-taking methods - Spatial organization capabilities will improve knowledge retention and idea generation compared to text-only approaches - Integration limitations will be resolved as Canvas matures, making it a primary Obsidian interface - Canvas will enable new forms of collaborative knowledge work when sharing features are added ### 📊 Methodology - User adoption tracking through Obsidian community surveys and usage analytics - Comparative studies of knowledge retention between Canvas and traditional note methods - Plugin ecosystem analysis to measure Canvas API integration over time ### ❓ Questions - How will Canvas backlinking evolve to support internal connections between canvas elements? - What collaborative features might be added to enable shared canvas workspaces? - How will the JSON format limitation be resolved to ensure long-term data portability? ### 🔮 Future Research - Canvas impact on creative problem-solving and decision-making processes - Integration potential with other knowledge management and visualization tools - Accessibility considerations for spatial interfaces in knowledge work ### 💡 Implications - Practice: New workflows for visual project planning and knowledge synthesis - Education: Enhanced learning experiences for spatial and visual learners - Productivity: Potential paradigm shift from linear to spatial knowledge organization - Technology: Pressure on other note-taking tools to add similar spatial capabilities ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment Reading level estimate: Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 8-9 #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: Extensive screenshots, canvas examples, spatial layouts demonstrated - Improve: Step-by-step visual guides, before/after canvas transformations #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: Video tutorial with narration, verbal explanations of features - Improve: Podcast-format summary, audio-only Canvas workflow descriptions #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: Clear definitions, analogies to familiar tools, glossary terms - Improve: Story-driven examples, metaphor-based explanations of spatial thinking #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: Hands-on tutorial format, step-by-step practice exercises - Improve: Interactive Canvas playground, guided practice sessions #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: Systematic feature breakdown, logical progression through capabilities - Improve: Decision trees for Canvas vs. traditional notes, feature comparison matrices #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: Community context, shared examples and use cases - Improve: Collaborative Canvas examples, peer review workflows #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: Self-paced tutorial, individual reflection prompts - Improve: Personal Canvas templates, introspective knowledge mapping exercises #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: Organic knowledge growth analogies, ecosystem metaphors - Improve: Information ecosystem visualizations, natural relationship mapping ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: Clear verbal descriptions in video tutorial - Improve: Alternative text descriptions for Canvas layouts, keyboard navigation documentation #### Keyboard navigation - Present: Hotkey documentation, keyboard shortcuts highlighted - Improve: Full keyboard-only Canvas workflow documentation #### Contrast and readability - Present: High contrast Canvas elements in examples - Improve: Color accessibility guidance for Canvas color choices #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: Zoom functionality demonstrated extensively - Improve: Text scaling within Canvas elements documentation #### Media and captions - Present: Video tutorial with clear narration - Improve: Full transcript available, closed captions for all Canvas demonstrations ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: Universal spatial thinking concepts, diverse example content - Improve: Multi-cultural knowledge organization examples, global use cases #### Inclusive language - Present: Gender-neutral terms, accessible explanations - Improve: Plain language alternatives for technical terms #### Neurodiversity support - Present: Multiple learning approaches, visual and spatial options - Improve: ADHD-friendly organization tips, executive function support strategies #### Representation - Present: Varied content examples, inclusive imagery choices - Improve: Diverse knowledge worker scenarios, accessibility success stories #### Psychological safety - Present: Encouraging tone, validation of different thinking styles - Improve: Explicit support for learning difficulties, non-judgmental guidance ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Deductive strength: Clear progression from spatial thinking principles to Canvas implementation - Inductive strength: Multiple examples building to general Canvas utility conclusions - Causal reasoning: Well-established links between spatial organization and improved thinking - Analogical strength: Effective comparisons to familiar tools and concepts #### Fallacies - Appeal to authority: Minor reliance on developer reputation without addressing specific concerns - Hasty generalization: Assumes Canvas will resolve noted limitations without evidence timeline #### Tone of voice - Overall tone: Enthusiastic and encouraging while acknowledging current limitations honestly ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: No denial patterns present - Attack: No attacks on critics or alternative approaches - Reverse victim/offender: No victim/offender dynamics present - Emotional cues and rhetoric: Positive enthusiasm balanced with honest limitation acknowledgment ## 🎯 Conclusion Obsidian Canvas introduces powerful spatial thinking capabilities that leverage humans' natural ability to organize information visually. While currently limited by JSON format and backlinking constraints, Canvas represents a significant evolution in knowledge management tools. The key insight is that "those who make a better map make a better mark" - Canvas provides the mapping tools for - Document Tags: [[setup]] [[navigation]] [[configuration]] - Summary: Obsidian Canvas - URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBd_ADeKIw I was lost, but now I'm found. I was lost, I was lost, butnow I'm found. I found outhow do I get unstuck? How do I get out? I don't know. I justgave up. It wasn’t going well; I guess I lost momentum. Lifehappened. I lost my train of thought, I lost the spark; I wasoverwhelmed. Life happens. Map my way out. They who make a bettermap make a better mark. They who make a better mapmake a better, better mark. I was lost, but now I'mfound. I am found. I'm found; I found my way. Except this wasn’tabout Amazing Grace. It was about having an amazing spaceto get unstuck when you’reoverwhelmed. What is your amazing space? I know you haveone. Is it the park? Is it walking outside the coffee shop? The dinner table, pen and paper? Where do you go to get yourthoughts back on track? For me,it's often in an app like Obsidian.But what if you want to spatially map your thoughts on avirtual whiteboard? You can't do that in Obsidian, can you? Well,now you can. Introducing Canvas. But first, hi, I'm Nick Milo,and I'm here to help you do your best thinking more often. Now,why is that important? So you can make meaningful stuff thatyou're actually proud to put your name on. So what’s stoppingyou? Well, life, it's busy; it's full of distractions. Onesecond, you know clearly what you have to do; the next second,you're on YouTube, wondering how you even got there. And it'sokay if this happens once or twice a day. But what happenswhen it's once or twice an hour, every hour of the day? You loseyour way; you lose your orientation, your bearings, yourclarity of understanding which way is up. That’s what we callthe mental squeeze point. And it can happen when you least expectit. So what do you do when it happens? Do you give up and quit? Your big thing, that effort that you really care about? Or do youfind a way to reorient yourself, regather your thoughts, andrebuild your momentum. That’s the power of a map. When you hita mental squeeze point, one of the best reflexes that you cantrain yourself in is to make a map. You can make a map with penand paper; you can make a map with software like Obsidian. Andas of this week, you have an entirely new way to do thatwithin Obsidian. Introducing Canvas, map your thoughts andrebuild your thinking momentum. By the end of this video, youwill not only know the basics of Obsidian Canvas, you will knowhow to powerfully use it, including using the secretmaneuvers that make it effortless, along with mylingering questions, and we’re going to finish it with myverdict and takeaways on this exciting thinking tool. Are youready? Let’s dive in. Okay, here we go. We are in. As you can seeon my screen, we’ve done the intro. Now we’re into the basics. Let me drill this down. And let’s walk through the firstthing we need to do is get Canvas set up. The first thing wewant to do is go hover over here and click on settings. And thenwe’re going to go to About and check this out. You need to makesure you’re at least at version 1.10. Now to get this Insiderbuild. If you’re watching this fresh off the press, go aheadand toggle “Receive Insider Builds,” then check for updates,update, quit, and reopen Obsidian. You’ll be good to go. So thenwhat happens? Well, now you can hit the command palette.Remember from previous videos, this is Command P; this is areally important hotkey you can see at the bottom of my screen,when I hit Command P, that’s what I’m hitting. If you’re on aWindows, it’s going to be Ctrl P. I’ll do my best to saycommand and control. But just know if I’m saying commandThat's for Mac, and the equivalent is Ctrl on Windows. So now I'm just going to start; I don't know what I'm looking for.I'm just going to start typing "canvas." Oh, there it is — create anew canvas. Awesome! So let's create a new canvas. And now wesee the symbol here. We can call this "Test Canvas Live."That's a good enough name. Now we'll look through all thesedifferent buttons. Eventually, this Test Canvas isgoing to start to look closer to this final product. So reallyfast, I just want to show you all the stuff that we'll begoing through. It's very exciting. Let's go a little bitdeeper. So we got Canvas set up; we created a new canvas. Now I'mgoing to go back to Settings one more time because you mightforget to hit Command P, or you might forget to start typing "Canvas."So let's give it a hotkey of your choice. For that, we're going to go to Settings, hotkeys over here. Nowstart typing "canvas," and if you've upgraded and haveaccess to Canvas, you can give it a hotkey. I hold downthree modifiers. And you'll see that show up if Ido that now. Boom! We have a new canvas, but I don't reallywant this one, so I'll just delete that one later. Here weare. So now what's next? Let's talk about moving around thecanvas. And for that, I'll go to this final example here. Thefirst thing I want you to know — and these are some really nicemaneuvers to know — is just being able to zoom in and out. So todo that, hold down Command or Ctrl on Windows. Then youcan just zoom in and out. It's kind of interesting; once youzoom out a little bit, images go away. We can still seethe colors and the overall shape. So if I zoom back in, Ican start to see things. That's good to know. Now theother movements that you'll want to be aware of is just how toEven create something new. So let's do this in the TestCanvas. What I want you to notice is that there are buttonson the upper right, and there are buttons at the bottom left. So let's hit this, which is currently called drag to addcard; it might change. So I'm just going to do that. And itcreates a card on this canvas. So I'll say this is a card, andnow it exists. So what you'll notice is that the four corners arelittle pop-ups. So if I just click on it, nothing happens.But if I click, hold, and drag, it will create a new card. Thistoo is a card. Okay, so we've just created a connection onthis canvas. We'll talk about the functionality that currentlyexists later, and the functionality that might existin the future. And we'll cover that before this video is over. Something else you can do is add media. So here's one; let's justadd my friend, me Hi, Chick sent me Hi. This is an image that'salready in my vault. So you can see how quickly I can startusing images already existing here. Guess what? On Windows inFile Explorer, on Mac, and Finder, open it up, find animage; you can literally drag and drop it onto this canvas,boom, now it's part of your Obsidian vault. And you canstart connecting with it. The last one over here is for notes. These are existing notes in your idea verse, in your ecosystem ofknowledge. So let's go ahead and click on that. And let's addsomething about sharing. How about sharing? Offers unfairadvantages. So this is a note; it's over here in one of thesefolders, and I've just added it onto the canvas. So now you canstart thinking about it and connecting it, making sense ofit. Maybe that leads to some sort of output; maybe it's justhelpful for me to make a decision; who knows exactly? Butnow we have a pre-existing note that is part of this. A card, a card, and a note. Now let's see what we should donext: making things happen in the canvas. So just looking atthis, we also have the sidebar over here. Now you can zoom in,you can zoom out, you can zoom to fit. So imagine I'm overhere, I can hit zoom to fit, and it will fit everything on here.Let's see what that looks like in a very mature Canvas. So if Ihit zoom to fit, it'll show me everything. So we're about toget into some more advanced maneuvers. But first, I want youto know that zoom to fit is also a hotkey: Shift + 1. So I couldbe anywhere. If I just hit Shift + 1, it'll show me everything. Now it gets better than that though, because one that you'llfind really powerful after a while is Shift + 2, which iszoom to selection. It is extremely snappy and delightful.Let me show you what that looks like. So if I click on this overhere, if I hit Shift + 2, it shifts to selection. If I go, I canshift to over here, questions and notables. It'll shift over here.Very snappy! Guess what? You can do more than one note at a time.So if I want to show you the settings right now, like I do, Icould just kind of scroll, and that works for me. But every nowand then I might just want to make sure I see it nice andcentered. So that's what I just did there. With those selected,I can go ahead and hit Shift + 2, and it takes me right there. Something else to know is that there's some grid snapping goingon. So you can see that as I move this around, I am gettingsome helpful guidance to snap these into helpful alignments.Something else to be aware of: this works on a lot ofdifferent tools that if I hold Shift while I start dragging. Solet's try that one more time. By holding Shift while I startdragging, it's going to keep me on the x-plane. Or if I'm rightin the middle, it can keep me on the y-plane. So that's a way to makeSure that you're only moving in one direction. And I can hitundo and that will move me back. A couple of hotkey notes that Ifind interesting is that Canvas doesn't have the global Undo andRedo, because that's working at a note level. So that's why wehave to use these buttons to undo and redo things. Okay, it'stime for the next section. And we're jumping into secret maneuvers; this is what I'm mostexcited to show you. Because with any new tool, if you knowjust the basic secret maneuvers that no one really talks about,it unlocks the tool for you. And all of a sudden, you say toyourself, "Wow, now I know how to use a hammer. Now I know how touse a Phillips screwdriver." In this case, let's talk aboutzooming in and out, scrolling, horizontally duplicating andjust basically moving around. Let's go back to this bigcanvas. How do I see everything again? You tell me? Oh, that'sright. It's shift. What is it? Shift one? Okay, now we seeeverything. I need to zoom in a little bit, though. So how am Idoing this? Well, let's go to secret maneuvers and find out. These are the secret maneuvers to supercharge your Canvasexperience. The first one to know is being able to zoom inand out. So on Mac, I'm going to hold command down and then usethe mouse scroll wheel to scroll around. I use this all the time;this is where it's at. You combine this with the next one,scroll horizontally, hold down Shift and then scroll with thescroll wheel; that's going to move you left and right. Okay,this works in Google Sheets; this works on a lot of differentapps. These are the secret maneuvers that work in all sortsof universal applications. And if you get comfortable with them, when you try out something new, you'll be surprised toThese things are already known. And so what you learn here can benefityou in countless situations yet to occur. So now let's justcombine these two and see how that feels. This is how I alwaysnavigate; I'm always thinking about having a hand on a thumbon the command control. And I'm zooming this way. And then if Iwant to move over to the right, I hold down Shift. And then Iuse that scroll wheel and then I shift over this way. I go overhere, I zoom in. I zoom in over here. I scroll, zoom in and out. Beautiful stuff. Okay, now, depending on how you use things,you can move around in a different way. You could hold down Space,you can see I have Space held down right now that I can clickand drag. So that's another way to move around. It's worthknowing. And one that was so beautiful when I found out thatObsidian developers already have this in Canvas right nowis duplicate. So let's say I really like how this isdesigned. If you hold down Option, Alt on Windows option,then click and drag, and boom, you have a duplicate. I use thisall the time. So these are the secret maneuvers that willreally unlock this application for you. Just so you know,we've currently covered the settings, which are a lot of thebasics, and we've covered the secret maneuvers. So what'snext? Hey, if you're excited about Obsidian Canvas, let meknow by hitting the like button. And even better, give me acomment. Let me know how you plan to use it. Okay, next up isthe meat and potatoes. This is the stuff that I think you'llreally enjoy: the power moves using internal images, externalimages, cards, URLs of any type. Those are links, anything thathas a link. Let's dive in. Let's go back to this canvas overhere. So now where are we going? Let's check out using cards. SoYou have it created; it works just like you'd expect the files to work. If you want to make something bold, you can go aheadand hit Command B, just like in Microsoft Word. It'll give yousome Markdown, and then you can say, "This is bold." And then go onand say, "This is important because..." and who knows. Now youcan do a quick resize, and then put that wherever. Let's say Iwant to link here. What am I? What am I going to do? I'm goingto click and drag to the new card, and it's connected. Andwhat if I want to click this card connected to that card? Andnow we have some magical things happening. So snappy, I can justmove this thing around. Beautiful. What if I want toduplicate it? What do I hold down on a Mac? I hold downOption, and I duplicate. On Windows, it's Alt. I will deletethat for now. Let's check this out. So this is a card. A cardisn't a note. That means it's not its own file; that means itonly exists in this canvas. That's worth noting, and we'lltalk more about this near the very end. One thing I want youto know is that you can convert this to a file, which means it'sa note. Then you can convert it to a note. So I really don'twant to do this, but let's just see what happens here. So I'llsay, "Using cards in Obsidian Canvas," okay, and then I'll hitDone. Now look at that. Now it's a new note; it's a new note. It's a file on my computer. I can find this file; I can doanything with it because now it's a Markdown file. So let'smove on, though. You can upgrade a card to a note, just like yousaw. So I'm one step ahead of myself. Hey, we can placeexisting images, like you saw in the Test Canvas over here. Whatelse can we do? Well, after I placed that image, I said, "Let'sgo with that." That reminds me of flow. You know, what else does Mihairemind me of? I have other notes on flow. So this is where youStart brainstorming. You start making your map of content in this really fluid manner. So in this case, I’m going to hitCommand O, which is going to show all my notes. You couldalso click this button over here. Just remember that so youcan click that button. And then I’m going to hit flow. I gotother things on flow, so why not the flow map? And I have thisnice little flow map in here. And I don’t want it to be thatbig, so I’ll just put it over here. And then again, I’ll justconnect me hi to that. Kind of cool, right? It makes sense. It’s so nice to see this. Now, we can also have externalimages. So I placed a new image, and I have one prepared for usright now. So there’s something that I recently found fromfamily members: Grandma Doris's cinnamon rolls. This is partof the recipe. This is what you can do with knowledgemanagement when you have an ecosystem where you can findthose things that just fill your heart. So you can go ahead andthrow in gram endorses some minerals. And here’s part of therecipe. I have more for those who are interested, but this ispart of the recipe. So it doesn’t make sense in thiscanvas. But you can just see how it was just a file over here onmy computer. And now it’s over here in my canvas. I can thinkwith it; I can connect it, can make the magic happen. Now,let’s go even further. Let’s talk about URLs and anythingwith the link. Now we’re talking about other power moves! You cancopy and paste URLs or anything. So let’s say you use theapplication. Things over and things. I have this note tellingme to try out Canvas. So I can go over here and copy the link. Did you know you could do this? You can copy the link, then justanywhere in this canvas. I’m just going to paste. And now Ihave the link here. I can connect it, which is just theSame as this. So what do I do with this? It looks kind ofstrange; it doesn’t matter. All I have to do is double-click andthen hold down COMMAND and click. Boom, it opens up things. And youcan do this with anything that has a link. That means theCalendar app, anything online. A good example are therelease notes for this. I just found that online and I justgrabbed the link from the internet, dragged and dropped itright here. Images from the internet. This isn’t that youcan just add anything. Let me show you what I’m talking about. So let’s open up Safari. And Idid a search for IDEA verse andlinking your thinking. I don’t like the results, so I’ll go toimages. I do like this. Let me right-click and open image innew tab. What if I could just drag and drop this onto thecanvas? You can? There it is. There it is. And then, of course,you want to resize it. Pretty cool. So now I’ll shiftthat over here. And that’s also an image, so I’ll just go andconnect it. Very nice. Very nice to see that. Is there anythingelse? What about linking your thinking.com URL? Check thisout, click, drag, drop. It’shere. It’s kind of cool. This is theactual website. I’m on this website looking at it. Prettywild. I think you can zoom in; you can actuallyread this. I’m really blown away at how this sort of stuff works. So you can do a lot with these power moves. And that takes usto our next section as we start to wrap this up.Let’s go into lingering questions. Let me pull this onedown. These are a few that we’re going to look at: how big is thecanvas? How do backlinks work? Is the canvas markdown? We knowthat markdown allows us to future-proof our knowledge. Sois the canvas helpful with future-proofing? What is mycurrent verdict on that? And then what happens to the cards? That you just add to the canvasthat are not their own files? Let's dive into each of thosequestions right now. And so ifyou go over here to the questions, this is that giantcanvas. So you know what I'll do? I'll highlight everythingand I'll hit Shift to and now it's all right here, is the canvas.Markdown? No, it's a format known as JSON. I'm not. This is whereit's beyond me, it gets stored as a text node with a textfield. So what happens to these cards that exist nowhere else?Well, they get stored as a text node with a text field. Okay,that was a repeat. But what does this mean? It means that it'snot Markdown. So the developers are people that I trust, and I know they'reworking on the best ways toimprove what we're looking at. Can I say definitively thatCanvas notes are future proofed? Hmm, not definitively, nottoday, not just yet. Give it one month, give it two months, threemonths? And I think the answer will become a yes. I don't knowhow they're going to do it. But I have confidence that theywill. Next, how big is the canvas? So this is somethingthat I saw from them. But if you're familiar with tools like Microsoft OneNote, you'll love the canvas. And what I'venoticed is as you put on more images, it seems to grow. So wecan kind of test this out, just to kind of see what happens. I'mkind of curious myself. And now it’s grown, now it has grownsubstantially. Wow. How can we zoom to fit everything? There’sa magical hotkey. And it’s also right here, Shift 1. Let’s hitthat. And it looks like there comes a point where it can’t seeall the stuff. So that’s interesting; the stars to try tobalance the canvas out. Again, I bet you that’s fixed in a weekor two. What else? Let’s go back to this question section. Shiftto and I’m back. Finally, backlinks. This is where peopleThe most concerned are especially the nerds, thetechnical people, the ones who really want to make sure thatthis checks off all the technical boxes. Currently,backlinks only work for the canvas itself. That means noneof these notes, even though they look like they haveconnections. Currently, none of them have connections;this may change next week. None of these are actually links. There’s no, this is just a card; it’s not a note. And these arejust cards. So there are no backlinks; the only backlink isbetween this note and this canvas that we’re looking at. And let’ssee, I can link this to this one over here, which I’ve done. SoI’ve given a note at the top. And if I click on this, it opensback up to the canvas. So I’ve created that sort of back link.And we can see that. So in this canvas note, wecan see that it is linked in my other note right here. So it’sworking at that highest of levels. Currently, the backlinksdo not work within the canvas itself, meaning that even forthe notes that I’ve dropped in that I already have pre-existing;this image does not backlink or flow, nor viceversa, or the flow map. This will change over time. It’s justnot there right now. So I kind of consider it much ado aboutnothing. We don’t want to judge things too soon. And in fact,that leads me to a very important caveat message. Canvas just came out to insiders. The majority of users, by mycalculations, over 200,000 of you, still don’t have accessas of this recording. That means that Canvas is raw; it’s new,and that means it’s absurd to harshly judge the work inprogress. Can you imagine someone walking up behindMichelangelo as he’s sculpting the David, scoffing out loud anddismissing it as missing features? I don’t see his abs. Are those really what you call eyeballs? Where's he evenlooking? Why are his hands so big? It's a bit absurd, isn'tit? It's like harshly judging the raw dough for cinnamon rollsand declaring that you won't eat them before they even go intothe oven. Over the last two and a half years, one thing isclear: don't bet against the Obsidian developers; they knowwhat they're doing. Okay, time for the takeaways. We can throwthem down here, but let's have more fun looking in the canvasitself. So if I zoom out, we're looking at the same mega map;this mega Canvas is going down to takeaways. The first one isthe canvas might remind you a little bit of a cool tool likethe global graph, and say what you will about the graph view. There are people who don't know how to use it, and they assumethat means it's unusable. But Obsidian Canvas really gets thechef's kiss. It's just really amazing. And why it's so amazingis because it allows us to use our spatial abilities. We, ashumans, just get it; we just get spatial as we navigate this waynaturally, and so the Canvas allows us to truly understandand utilize maps of content, which this truly is here. And asa reminder, what a map of content is: it is an M O C, acluster of information, and it maps things in context withother things. Practically, you can use emojis for three bigthings: gather, develop, and navigate ideas. You can read therest on your own time. The last takeaway is this is just thefirst insider version; we don't know exactly what the futurewill bring. But most likely, backlink functionality and linkingfunctionality is going to expand beyond this initial version; wemight have things like collapsible notes. Maybe thatwill be pretty cool. So I can click a button here, and all thetakeaways collapse back inside of it, and maybe some basic. Shapes, so we can have circles, lines, and other things. Thebig takeaway for me is that you can use Obsidian Canvas to makesense of something you care about. Something that the Canvasdoes is it helps me say, "I really know my stuff." Ican come back to this canvas map of content and remind myself ofall the cool ways that this thing works. You can applythis to anything that you want to learn, that you want toimprove, that you want to develop ideas around, makedecisions on. If you want to create something, guess what? I'm80% done. If I want to share this, this video is the proof ofthat. This canvas map is the proof of that. This is it. This is the script. This iswhat I'm using. It's 80% done.After I made this, I now have a new thinking tool you'recarrying around with your thinking toolbox. Guess what? Canvas is a new thinking tool. The advantages of using Canvasover regular mind mapping software are that it integratesand links with the rest of your knowledge ecosystem, yourpersonal idea verse, the way that you make sense of the worldand create value out of the things that you encounter. Notonly that, but a year from now, maybe I don’t use Canvas; Iforget everything about it. I jump into this note, and I’mimmediately reminding my future self how it all works. And last, itsure was fun. This is fun. It's just fun to think this way. Oh,a little extra that I didn’t show you is if you go over hereto the file explorer, take any note, drag and drop, and boom,it’s there. I saved the best for last. That’s one that you shouldprobably use a lot. If you use the file explorer, I typicallyhave it closed, so even though it looks really cool, Itypically don’t do that. Guess what else is awesome? You candrag and drop from within. So if I click on this once, then I canDrag and drop a link. And boom. What did I just do? Here's an ideaof emergence that I just pulled out from here. That's amazing. Andthen you can say, it points to this over here. Sothere's so much that you can do with Obsidian Canvas. I reallyhope this got you excited. On to the conclusion: having a clearand organized map of your thoughts can greatly improveyour ability to think, make decisions, and generate insights. You can do this on paper. I love using paper, but you can't easilymove your ideas around. You can't move that bubble. Youcan't link it to the rest of your knowledge ecosystem. Butyou can using a tool like Obsidian. This helps future youquickly remember and understand. Obsidian's new canvas view allowsyou to map out your ideas at close to the speed of thought.The big takeaway is this: those who make a better map, make abetter mark. What map will you be making? Hey, if you want tolearn the basics of Obsidian and take your thinking game to thenext level, check out Obsidian Flight School, a one-of-a-kindimmersive training experience with over 100 exclusive videosand trainings to get you using Obsidian as close to the speedof your thoughts as humanly possible. But until next time,stay connected., Obsidian Canvas, YouTube, 01ka88xsrepyea06tw4m2n732j.