I’m trying to figure out how to annotate notes in Obsidian.
I want to annotate using two panes, one with the text and the other with the annotations. An annotation is just some text + a link to a paragraph in the note; when you click the link, the first pane jumps to the annotated content.
I imagine a plugin can add an option to ‘annotate’ when selecting some text, possibly adding them at the end of the note. It also could provide some visual cues.
Perhaps this can be archived without a plugin! and I don’t know how
It would be useful and neat to have annotations/footnotes that are similar in functionality and ux to “comments” in Google Docs and MS Word. I’m sure it could be done with a plugin.
@scwunch I also believe that the Ux can be almost the same, I think the only limitation is what can be selected (pointed to) which in this case is a block. It doesn’t bother me though.,
@cristian and all, I was just asking my self the same question and I’m happy to find I’m not the only one.
Here is my use case:
When I come across an interesting article/posts or text, I copy and paste it into a dedicated note in Obsibian.
Then, I read it in Obsidian and I add my annotations/comments for each of its big ideas. My comments are like my persona interpretation of the text. Through them, I capture the thoughts triggered by reading this text.
Note that I do not necessarily want to create new notes out of those comments. My priority is here to keep them associated with the original text/content. That’s the reason why I need to have a very efficient format that enables to:
read the original text
and read the comments too at the same time you go through the main text.
As of today, what’s the best way to do so?
Footnotes?
Other?
Comments; callouts;
given ‘not necessarily’ means maybe - links/embeds & hover editor.
Personally, I see comments (inline and blocks) as being simplest and easiest. You’d want to hide the %%, and maybe adapt the level of visibility to suit you (many themes fade them).
An alternative would be to use a folded outline; doesn’t take much space, easy to highlight, and can be quite complex.
Thank you for the reply. I never used Comments before. Let me try:
French Food doesn’t have to be fancy! %%True, you can use simple ingredients%%% With this simple cookbook, no need to be a professional cook, you can to try French
%%
actually, the book contains Italian recipes too
%%
recipes in your very own kitchen today.
Can you please confirm this is what you meant and if I did it the correct way?
How do you do so? I’m not a coder or even a scripter. So I understand this option is not for me, right?
Yes, apart from the extra % after ingredients.
Comments won’t be exported or visible in Reading View, which is one advantage they have.
Folded outlines are very simple. Just a single bullet followed by sub-bullets which can be folded (assuming you have that option turned on). It’s an easy way of entering very detailed comments without covering the whole text page (excepty when you want to read the comments). But these will be exported and visible in Reading View, unless you enclose them in a comment block.
Thanks. The Comments are in dark gray (Basic Obsidian template in Dark mode). I am not sure how to edit this if I want them in blue. I understand there must be a CSS somewhere…
Also, would there be a way to extract all the Comments from a note?
Or to display them on a side panel, next to the main text, as suggested by @cristian, while seeing what part of the text they refer too?
What would write for the single bullet? Something like “MY COMMENT:”? Then you would use the sub-bullets for the content of your comments…
I tried:
French Food doesn’t have to be fancy!
%%* True, you can use simple ingredients
* Comment 1
* Comment 1
%%
=> How do you keep the single bullet folding when enclosing them in a comment block?
Putting the %% above and below.
But, now I test, it doesn’t seem to work as a comment block - still visible in Reading View
So doesn’t work as a comment but more as an on page note with most content hidden.
Yes, but not simple unless someone has done a plugin.
Side notes are neat, but I’ve not seen an implementation I liked (not sure I’ve seen any, but I will have forgotten if I didn’t like them).
Varies by theme. Some themes (eg Minimal) have simple settings to change the colours, often using Style Settings; iirc the comments are Faint Text.
Not sure what to say. I copied your text, pasted into a note and it worked as a foldable comment. Do you have the folding turned on? Editor Settings: Fold Indent?
I often highlight the text that a comment applies to: ==French Food doesn’t have to be fancy!==%%True, you can use simple ingredients%% (I use HTML comments for wider compatibility: ==French Food doesn’t have to be fancy!==<!--True, you can use simple ingredients--> but the idea is the same).
Yes, the Fold indent is on.
I copied and tested my own text, as you did. It does not fold.
The Comment can be viewed in the Edit mode but not in the Reading mode, but that’s it.
Help!!!
