Is there Obsidian Help for Android?

What I’m trying to do

I’m trying to learn how to use the Android app, and the provided Help is of no help at all. For example, it says “The ribbon is a space for common commands that occupies the vertical space at the very left of the interface. It’s part of the left Sidebar and is always visible, even if the left sidebar is closed.” On Android this is not at all true. There is no Sidebar, there is no Ribbon. I believe the features are there, but not accessible the way the current Help describes.

The only thing in Help under Android refers me to syncing my Android to a desktop. I have no interest in that. I will not install Obsidian on my desktop. I want it on my phone, and only on my phone. The entire reason I am interested in Obsidian is that it is the only full-featured note app I have found that keeps all notes on the phone and does not require cloud services. But I’m having trouble figuring out how to use it.

Things I have tried

I have searched the Forum and I have searched the internet and I come up empty.

Agreed, the mobile documentation is lacking. It’s being worked on.

On phone sized devices, the ribbon menu is here:

Tapping on it will bring up what core or community plugins you have enabled:

In Settings > Appearance, you can manage the ribbon menu:

1 Like

As @ariehen says, the documentation is being worked on, and mobile-specific stuff by far needs the most work.

On the Help homepage is a link to a GitHub where you can post issues about the documentation if you’d like to highlight specific things.

Thanks! I eagerly await the improved documentation, meanwhile I’ll keep poking around.

One interesting place to poke is that icon in the upper right, as it reveals the left sidebar (or swipe from the left edge). This holds the search, tags, file explorer and bookmarks section, and is also my main way into the settings. Switching between these is a little unintuitive, as you need to click the header line (or the cog wheel for settings).

You can also swipe from the right edge to access the right sidebar, with backlinks, inlinks and outline panes.

Also be aware that swiping down from the top can be configured to do any command of your choice. This can be set from the mobile section on the settings, where you also can rearrange and configure the mobile toolbar shown above the keyboard when editing.

So keep poking around, and you’ll discover loads of hidden gems in this software!

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