I love Obsidian but it is also a bit hefty. It takes a few seconds to load and something like notepad is just so much quicker. I’m wondering if others are using anything to provide that “lite” experience?
I haven’t messed around with this enough, but I’d love something that maybe auto-saved as well.
I’m not, but there are options. Any Markdown or plain text editor that can access your vault folder can work. Some Android users use Markor. On iOS there are a couple of “quick capture” apps that work with Obsidian, and some people use Drafts (which requires exporting; there are some premade Drafts Actions) or even Shortcuts.
On iOS, I use Bebop. Free, super minimal, and no ads. There’s an in-app purchase if you’d like to support the dev.
The two things I like most about it are how lean it is and there’s an option to add a button to your home screen that is a god send.
You can just point it to save at your Obsidian vault’s directory and you’re good to go.
+1 for Bebop.
Quick Draft on Android is new and very efficient. On Windows I use a PowerShell script to add to my daily note or to make a fleeting note.
On (all) Windows, I have *.bat file:
@echo off
setlocal
:: 1) Choose your target folder
set "TARGET=path-to-folder-in-obsidian"
:: 2) Build timestamp YYYYMMDDHHmm via PowerShell (locale independent)
for /f %%I in ('powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-Date -Format yyyyMMddHHmm"') do set "STAMP=%%I"
:: 3) Build the file path
set "FILE=%TARGET%\%STAMP%.md"
:: 4) Ensure folder exists, create an empty file, open in Notepad
if not exist "%TARGET%" mkdir "%TARGET%"
type nul > "%FILE%"
start "" notepad.exe "%FILE%"
endlocal
… and then I have assigned a shortcut key to run it. As you mentioned, Notepad is much faster. On my home desktop, I have Obsidian open 24/7, so I really don’t use this method. But on the other machines (work, laptop, lab), I use this to write down quick notes.
On iOS (iPhone and iPad), I’m using Shortcuts and Quick Capture. Shortcut is triggered via Siri or a widget. It asks me if I want to write or dictate. Results are stored in the same quick notes folder in Obsidian.
This is how I have access to those notes everywhere and the same flow to make quick notes.
Cheers, Marko 
I created an AutoHotKey script that allows me to add entries to my journal or scratchpad (note).
The script pops up a text box on hitting a (global) hotkey.
I tried other methods, but I found AHK works best for my workflow.
AutoHotkey - that’s interesting. Could you show your script? Until now, I use AutoHotkey only to replace, e.g. “.kr” to “kind regards”. Never did something with a form.
On Android, I have the apps “ObsiNote” and “Quick Draft”, both of which add to a section in my standard capture file. Much quicker than loading Obsidian and finding the right note.
ctrl+o > ctrl+c > enter
Before finding these, I used Google Keep.
On Windows, I can open my capture note quickly as I’ve set an alias “c” for it. So it’s just:
The principle: If I’m doing something else, it’s usually better to move it later, rather than distracting myself now by looking up notes and moving things around.
Of course, the challenge is to actually go and sort the notes later. But even without that, depending on your system for using Obsidian, you might make your additions findable with check items (tasks), tags and/or keywords.
If you’re on a Mac, you can use Quick Notes by dragging your finger in from the lower right corner of the touchpad to write a note and then use the Obsidian importer core plugin to bring them into Obsidian from Apple Notes later.