Excalidraw - Full featured sketching plugin in Obsidian

[tlockney]

I’m sure @ zsviczian or others can provide more clarity, but here’s what I understand of it. While Excalidraw is a web app, it’s also a library that can be embedded in other applications. What this means for you is that when you run it as an Obsidian plugin, the core functionality is all running locally. There are still potential calls being made to external sources (e.g., if you want to install new libraries of images or new scripts to use with the excellent Automation Engine this plugin provides, those will require you to be online. But those should not be a concern in your normal day-to-day workflow. I use this on my iPad frequently and have not yet encountered any errors when I’m offline.

[zsviczian]

@synaut

any way (or if it it would be possible) to “consolidate” excalidraw drawings inside Obsidian. What I mean by this is, if I make a drawing and I know I won’t modify it further, it would be cool to have the option to convert it to an actual image (obviously losing some functionality on it) and replacing the embed with the final image. This would be very cool for sketching stuff inside obsidian and keeping only the image in the end.

edit: I see now that there’s a way to export the drawing as PNG, but doing it that way requires to take an extra step a

Check out these settings. You can always embed an image and have a link under it to edit the file.

[zsviczian]

@Glint_Eye

erstand it, Excalidraw is a Web App. But how does the implementation as a plugin work? Does this mean I have to be online to have

Correct. The excalidraw package is 100% local, runs without any access to the network. You are also correct, that if you want to install a script from the script library or a stencil from the stencil library, then network access is required, but once the script or stencil library is installed it will also work offline.

[zsviczian]

@sunsoy

ve had success in Android 12, but on an Android 10 (tab s4) device, the installed and enabled plugin launches no GUI and page remains empty. Obsidian 1.0.5 and plugin 1.5.30.

There is a dependence on Android WebView. There is a longer discussion about the subject here: https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/issues/181

[zsviczian]

@NeuroJitsu

sounds really interesting, I’ve not yet used Excalidraw so will take a look.

As context for my PKM workflow/needs from Obsidian, I would love to be able to create in Obsidian my own visual linkages between notes, hyperlink-style in a hand drawn graphic - as an alternative to graph mode’s automated maps. This would suit my thinking-on-the-fly style of note-taking which consists of a lot of concept-/mind-mapping. I tend to create maps as a way to integrate new ideas with existing knowledge, and as a way to brainstorm (for example for writing projects, or for product development).

I’m currently doing all my mind mapping in the Concepts app on iOS (also available on Android), but it has no hyperlinking functionality so currently the only way I know of creating this sort of document is as a separate step within a slides-type app (Keynote/ Powerpoint/Slides) or desktop publishing app, but this is very clumsy and only really suitable for “sharing ideas” that you’ve already “thought about” in some sort of final design format, like an infographic, rather than as part of the “thinking workflow” that Obsidian is so good at supporting.

It may not be immediately, but I’ll be sure to let yo

I will be publishing another video about mind mapping soon. Hope that will help.

[zsviczian]

@Thomasrsm

note, clicking it will take me to the drawing itself.

Is there any way to make the links in the drawing clickable?
I would love to have embedded drawings as dashboards with clickable links in my notes without having to change the whole note to a drawing.

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found a way. Excalidraw will soon be able to export image map SVGs, but unfortunately, the way obsidian displays embedded images, those image map links will not work in markdown editor.

[Thomasrsm]

I see. I am currently using Obsidian Leaflet plugin and putting invisible markers over the words to make them clickable links. But it is not the most smooth workaround… Would love this feature in excalidraw

[heumed]

Awesome plugin @zsviczian. I just created an entire presentation using your plugin. As a Thank you, I just signed up as a member on ko-fi.

Keep up the good work
Heumed