Following up on our discussions over the last few months, I am incredibly excited to announce that the Launch of the Cornell Notes Plugin is complete and the website is about 90% live (I am still expanding the Academy video section)!
I want to share a bit of the journey with you. I actually had the idea for this plugin about 2 years ago, but I was highly skeptical that it could even work. About 10 months ago, I started running my first experiments. There were a lot of failures and roadblocks, but also a few surprising successes that kept me going. Then, about 8 months ago, I started working on it seriously.
The Technical Challenge
Many of us use Obsidian for studying, but digitizing the true Cornell Notes method is notoriously hard. Controlling text wrapping, positioning, and content placement inside specific segments (Header, Cues, Notes, Summary) is incredibly complex. I essentially had to integrate a stripped-down Desktop Publishing (DTP) engine directly into the Plugin. A major priority was ensuring that almost all native Obsidian commands continue to function flawlessly, while seamlessly layering these new layout capabilities on top.
Here is what the final release brings to your workflow:
- Zettelkasten-Safe Backlinking: Your internal Obsidian backlinks and connections remain entirely intact and functional in the editor, but they magically hide in the Page View so they don’t break or clutter your pristine A4 layout.
- Effortless Export Workflow: I designed the workflow so that exporting to Anki (for flashcards) and generating
.ris files with Tag integration for Zotero requires just a simple shortcut and safes time, because zotero doesn’t allow import of Tags (via importing tag-pills from .md) from .pdf files!
- The Universal Academic Engine: It handles 70+ diagram types. Interactive Plotly graphs, complex LaTeX equations, Mermaid diagrams, or domain-specific SMILES chemistry formulas.
- Live AI Note-Taking: Jot down sloppy fragments during class and let the “invisible engine” expand them into print-ready A4/Letter graphics within the Cornell Notes. (BYOK: Bring your own API key, or run completely free open-source models locally for 100% privacy).
A Transparent Note on the Premium Model:
Because this plugin has grown into a highly complex, proprietary application, it cannot be distributed via the official Obsidian community store (which requires open-source code). Therefore, I had to build a complete custom backend infrastructure to securely deliver 1-click updates directly to your vault, completely bypassing the existing official channels.
To keep this project alive, maintained, and ready for future Obsidian updates, I am offering it as a $14 One-Time Payment (Lifetime License).
To be fully transparent with this community about the pricing: after VAT, Paddle merchant fees, and exchange rate costs, about 70% of that price is left. Out of that, I have to pay for the update backend infrastructure, general business expenses, and 20-40% in income taxes. At the end of the day, I’m lucky if I keep 50% of the purchase price. I think the plugin offers something unique and is worth the price.
This contribution ensures I can dedicate the time needed to fix bugs, maintain the update infrastructure, and keep improving the tool for all of us.
Check out the website, the Academy guides, and the download here: core-notes.com
(Also, please see the attached PDF Features List for a quick overview!)
Thank you for being such an inspiring community. Let me know what you think!
Best,
Markus0000
(seamless to Zettelkasten)
Why is this awesome?