How do I work with Obsidian on Mobile?

“Fully” compatible might be too strong of a decree. You need to be careful of a few things. For example, you typically need to use Relative links (Preferences → File). You also can’t use heading links (or block references) in 1Writer. There might be some other gotchas. (Search around on this forum/this thread to see others discussing it!)

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ok, so I have read through all of this, but what I would like to know is how to get my notes out of Obsidian and into Word without them being a brackets mess. iA Writer seems to offer this, though the simplicity and the ability to click on links in 1Writer appeal. So, I know these are to some degree two different problems, but I thought I could combine my iOS problem (how to access notes, and how to add a note quickly) with my .doc problem in one swift solution without going to another app.

So, I saw that 1Writer exports/shares to PDF and rich text, but it didn’t say where to it would share the rich text? How does that work?

And now that I have read through all of this, I’m as confused as ever - can I tap a link in iA Writer and it will take me to that note? I’ve lost track…or would Noteplan do any of this?

I do this sometimes. Open in iA Writer and export to Word is gonna be your best bet. You are going to need to find/replace the [[ wikilinks ]] brackets though.

You might be able to avoid this by using Relative links (Preferences → File) and by using Markdown links (Preferences → Editor). I’m not sure how 1Writer/iA Writer handle those links, but it’s worth a shot, because they’d just convert to linked text in Word. (We’ll see an exporter eventually that will deal with this automatically, I imagine.)

However, if you’re linking to things that don’t exist to the Word doc, you might get a bunch of broken links!

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and this reminded me of block embeds…exporting them from Roam didn’t work, so I am assuming they won’t work easily either here. this will be a huge problem if I am compiling text from multiple source notes (e.g. quotes from literature notes).

just checked out iA Writer - whoa, expensive!

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That’s true. Again, the dream is an exporter! Hopefully soon/eventually.

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Finally wrote up a guide on NotePlan 3 + Obsidian: Using NotePlan as an Obsidian companion (iPhone and iPad compatibility!)

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I want to second this - NP3 works very well as mobile companion for Obsidian. And this is a great, detailed writeup - nice work @ryanjamurphy.

I’d been waiting until NP3 was out of beta to mention it again but for me the headlines are that NP now supports folders for its “notes” section, so [[wikilinks]] generally work as expected, and using CloudKit the sync is more or less instantaneous. It’s pretty darn close to a “just works” solution if you’re all in on Macs/iOS. I don’t typically use blocks or transclusion in Obsidian, so for me the hardest thing is just to remember to make the first line of the note and the file name match.

NP3 will be a subscription app, which reasonably enough many people don’t like. But for me NP has been a great tool, and it keeps getting better by leaps and bounds. NP3 is really nice, both on desktop and on iOS. I made the call to drop a couple of other subscriptions to make room for it.

And just as a last big picture note, I’m using Obsidian to handle some work specific long notes that change quite often during the day, NP to make changes to those notes from my phone and iPad, and to manage more “life” stuff, and then the whole mess gets indexed into DevonThink, which has extremely powerful search and file manipulation, as a long term archive.

-Robert

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I was having sync issues with iA Writer, but this Noteplan implementation helped a ton.

I’m yet to find a way to add the title to every note on my vault, so Noteplan can properly recognize them.

That said, I wish iA Writer had the same CloudKit sync as I could perfectly live without the [[links]] in mobile.

Does NP have to be open on Mac for sync to happen?

I wouldn’t call it seamless, but I use git with MGit to sync, and Epsilon Notes to view on Android.
I commit and push when I have something new, and pull when I want changes from elsewhere, the same way both on Android and PC. One branch, automatic merging, no lost changes. I would think GitJournal can also do this if set up right.
I’ve used Resilio Sync, Syncthing, FolderSync, Autosync for Google Drive and others for syncing, but specifying which way you want to sync each time seems like an inconvenience that won’t go away.

Ah, yes, good catch.

To be more precise: NotePlan needs to be open on the Mac to allow “syncing” between Obsidian and NotePlan. NotePlan itself syncs between devices fine. So, you don’t need NotePlan open on a Mac if you’re going to be switching between iPad and iPhone, but you do if you’re switching between NotePlan on iPhone and Obsidian on a Mac.

I’ll add this to the guide, thanks!

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I use Gitjournal on iPad and iPhone. To sync with git, I use SparkleShare on Mac and PC. SparkleShare doesn’t always sync right away. I make the app icon always visible in the tray. In the event of an error, just click retry.
The main advantage of gitjournal is that it supports backlinks. As well as further support for the obsidian syntax in new releases. In particular, the developer plans to support blocks.
The latest version of GitJournal now supports iCloud in iOS and an external folder on android. This makes it possible not to use git. Also in the latest version of Obsidian it is possible to install the git plugin with synchronization by pressing the hotkey. I highly recommend to look at GitJournal who has not done it yet.

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Can I ask a dumb question on the process everyone is working with here, how do you get going with CloudKit? iCloud is fine but it is pretty poor for instant syncing. Unreliable at best.

Gitjournal looks very interesting too, thanks. I’d like to support what’s going on there regardless as a low priced app that’s clearly connecting itself to Obsidian users.

I’m using 1Writer with Dropbox and have been very happy with the results as well.

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CloudKit requires an app that uses it. There’s no generally-available CloudKit sync service. (See my writeup on NotePlan: Using NotePlan as an Obsidian companion (iPhone and iPad compatibility!)

Thanks, I am indeed exploring your excellent write-up. My misunderstanding was that it was a separate service beyond being supported in certain apps. I didn’t realize it was a developer back end/capability. Thank you for the clarification.

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I had high hopes for GitJournal and plunked down a few bucks for it, only to find that most features are locked behind a “pro” subscription. Also found a lot of rough edges, glitchy editor, totally nonstandard UI on iOS (it uses an Android framework so basically looks like you’re on Android while in the app). I know the dev is trying but, I hope we can do better than this.

Still looking for a way to access my notes on mobile. I am thinking that the best way until Obsidian launch their native app is going to be just generating HTML from the markdown repo and pushing to a static site / accessing with Safari. Is anyone doing this?

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1Writer with the Preview button clicked. Then internal links work and todo buttons etc. Great way to adding todos on computer while you work, bring a shopping list or something to the store and check it off while you go.

And do you store your vault in iCloud Drive?