#1

Things I have tried

I only found three mentions of WikidPad and they did not answer my questions.

What I’m trying to do

Hi there.

I have a WikidPad with over 330,000 pages, that I have been working on for many years. However, I now need something considerably faster, and Obsidian seems to come highly recommended.

So I have a number of questions, if you would be so kind.

Is there a converter for WikidPad into Obsdian? Would it cope with such a huge amount of pages?

Would the WikidWord links be recognised by Obsidian? Can it be set to continue to use WikidWords (camel case) as links/potential links? Would the current inter-relationships be preserved?

Is there an equivalent to the referrers button? This has been essential to my work, and will continue to be so.

I use the WikidPad for the text side of studying astrology AND astronomy, are there any plug-ins that would be appropriate for this?

If Obsidian cannot do all of these things, can you recommend any software that would? I am reasonably technologically aware, but I don’t know what I don’t know, and any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Very much looking forward to your replies, as being able to speed up my work would be an absolute Godsend!

Thanks folks! I hope someone can assist me here!

#2

I don’t know much about wikipad, but it sounds like plugin/script territory to me. How much effort is required depends on the amount of custom syntax.

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#3

I assume your pages are text files rather than in a database. If so, you can test for yourself by copying say ten pages into a folder which you can then load as an Obsidian vault.
If it is only converting WikidWords, you could try using a text editor to bulk transform into Obsidian’s wikilinks.

I’ve never used it, just spent a bit of time looking at wiki programs at one point. Quite liked the look of it then (though not enough to use it) but I don’t see many discussions about export/conversion etc in the same way I do with MediaWiki or TiddlyWiki. So I assume either it was never as popular or users haven’t moved.

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#4

Thanks everyone. I have managed to migrate my data, although I now discover there are a few global find and replace things that I have to do for every file.

(Any recommendations for this? I was thinking of using How to Find and Replace text in multiple files Quickly - Windows/Mac - VS Code - Easiest Video Converter Editor Official unless there is a plug in that will do that!)

My next task is to figure out how to change the left hand menu from a file list to the former link tree I had before. I assume it’s something to do with headings, but I am really not sure. Any guidance is welcome, total newbie with Obsidian here!

Thanks folk!

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#5

I’d suggest not trying to recreate what you had before, at least to start with. It will limit your thinking.
Get to know Obsidian’s native approaches. Links and backlinks, tags, graph, search. People use these in a variety ways.

Most (all?) wikis are outliners; everything has a place related to everything else. Roam, Logseq, Workflowy etc are outliners; Obsidian is just files. As I understand it, WikidPad can be just files but with a database, which presumably provided the link tree you had. Obsidian may be better, but it won’t be the same, so again I’d suggest getting to know the native features and how best to fit them to your use.

VSCode will certainly be able to make the changes you want. It seems to be the most popular text editor in these parts. If you’re really lucky, you might even find someone who’ll write the regex for you. Though you would need to define your needs very precisely since they’re unlikely to know WikidPad.

#6

Thanks for that, and I sort of agree regarding exploring the new functionality, but I still need that link tree as an option for navigation purposes (plus I want to be able to expand/collapse sections of it at will, although I appreciate on smaller projects, the right hand linked/unlinked mentions also works for that), as navigating through a list of 331,000+ pages is a trifle difficult. I made the transition to Obsidian not really for the new funtionalities (as cool as many look), but for speed in page creation and processing, as I am building what at times seems to be a needlessly complex examination of specific data points, frequently with multiples of 360 variations.
So I am looking forward to what Obsidian can bring to the table, but I need to be able to pursue my original method primarily, only faster. Obsidian appears to offer that speed, enabling me to process astrological charts that much faster while I build the dictionary of my particular methodology, while keeping the reference points for later thematic research.
The .wiki files are now .md, and I just need to do a global find/replace with ‘[[//’ to ‘[[’, and ‘++’ to ‘##’
As you may be able to tell, code is not my strong point, so all help will be greatly appreciated.

#7

Okay, there has to be a way to get the left sidebar to be in the same structure as what we see in the help file. Having read through a lot of the notes, it’s still escaping me. Can anybody direct me on this?

#8

Doesn’t the Help Vault simply have file explorer folders containing note files with headings?

#9

Ah, is that what is going on? That’s my problem solved if that is it! Thanks!

#10

idk about that. You’d have to put all the files in folders that made sense to you.

#11

Well, none of it worked anyway, and the build of the new Vault failed. Can anyone suggest a way to convert it or what notepad software would be useful for my purposes? I basically need WikidPad, but quicker, not Python based.

#12

I still don’t fully understand what we are trying to convert, but my gut feeling still thinks you’ll need a script.

#13

I don’t believe there is an alternative file explorer similar to the Wikipad page tree, building up over non-hierarchical connections.

The alx-folder-note plugin allows you to associate a page with a folder, so as to simulate a page-node. But the tree remains static, the sub-pages located in their fixed place, reflecting the arrangement by folders. Obsidian’s graphic view somehow absorbs the loose form of the connective tree.

The mixed-sort-plugin allows you to sort folders and files indifferently. This can possibly complement the concept of page-nodes. But I see bugs when I create new pages or new folders.

To be on the safe side, I didn’t test these plugins on my note vault, just on a test vault with a reduced number of pages.

Alx-folder-note looks stable.

I try to apply Dor’s suggestion in my own work, despite having difficulty without a tree list view.

#14

Thanks Nato, I’ll look into that, but I suspect that I may have to just stick with WikidPad, and put up with the slowness.

#15

As I understand it, the Wikidpad is an imperfect view of a link network. Theoretically, the Obsidian graph is a less imperfect view, but it is a very different approach; if you are used to using the Wikidpad tree, I can see that trying to switch away would be a major workflow hurdle. And on a standard desktop computer, 330,000 pages/notes worth of links is unlikely to be fast whatever program you use.

#16

You may be right, And to maintain my workflow, I maybe best off sticking with what I have. It’s a shame though, because really I just need faster page creation, which should not be dependent on the number of other pages already existing. And I was looking forward to using the link network map as well. Oh well.

#17

In any system based on links, speed - even of page creation - will depend on the size and complexity of the existing link network.

#18

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