Hashtags are a form of controlled indexing. Yes you can search for keywords, but you’ll also get false matches that you didn’t want. If you say, “I structure my notes so that won’t happen,” then all you’ve done is develop your own form of hashtags. I come from many years of using my own methods for taking notes. I was using hashtags before the term existed, but my “hashtags” are hierarchical so I can easily find subcategories if necessary. When I came to Obsidian (a few days ago) I realized that when I import my notes, I could continue to use my existing “hashtags” and their hierarchy, by simply leaving them as-is and using regex searching. So, if I want to see all notes related to my medical records, I’m looking for the “medical” hashtag, but if I want those notes specific to skin problems, then I’m looking for “medical.dermatology” hashtags. The point is, even if I ignore the built-in hashtag feature, I’m still doing “hashtags” of my own form. My method or Obsidian’s, it doesn’t matter, they do the same thing; define sets of notes and set intersections (more than one hashtag). Powerful stuff.
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