#1

Things I have tried

What I’m trying to do

Dear Obsidian Users,

I’m just trying to make out how to better and is it possible to use Obsidian markdown for my Zettelkasten type of notes.

My problem is that I’m not an expert in coding, I’m just a dumb user. I thought that Obsidian is a sort of Universal markdown soft but I’ve found out, that if I try to open an Obsidian file by other markdown app, like Markdown Monster, Jopler, Typora, Zettlr, iWriter etc. some of the features of the note are lost: images don’t open, video or audio links don’t work and even links to the local files can be a problem.

Let’s say I make a few hundreds of notes in Obsidian and Obsidian is no longer supported by developers (by some reason: I’m sure they are great people and maybe will be around much longer than me), shall I find myself with a bunch of markdown notes, which I’ll have to do all over again to adjust them to some other soft?

Are there any universal markdown tool(s) with which I can do my notes without the fear of getting in such situation?

Thank in advance for your attention.

Mike Smith

#2

Can you give a few examples of what’s not working?

#3

I suspect the way that Obsidian handles links can be different from other Markdown apps (or vice versa).

Obsidian has settings for how links work, but I don’t know which format those other apps use. Perhaps an Obsidian setting makes it compatible with other apps.

#4

Thank you Ryanjamurphy,
I don’t have any questions with linking anything from the web, that works fine. All my questions are about inserting stuff from my own files in the notes and about linking my notes with the source files (docs, video & audio - also at my desktop).
I’ve picked a couple of images, a video and an audio and pasted them into a test note in Obsidian. That’s what I’ve got:

![[ScreenHunter 169.jpg]][]]

![]([]ScreenHunter 167.jpg])

![[Биотехнологии. Михаил Батин. 02.2015 1.mp4]]

![[Brain Rules_John Medina_2008 .mp3]]

All of them showed up great inside Obsidian. But then I’ve tried to open them with other markdown apps and none of them showed up.

Apparently the code script created by Obsidian is not good for other md apps. And I cannot correct any of these stuff manually, because it’s beyond my ability like I mentioned before. That’s why I’m trying to find some universal way of writing my notes which I can read with any md soft later in Windows and possibly at iOS and Android too.
Thank you again.

#5

Thank you JkNML,
In this case Obsidian is trying to tie up users to their soft and make it the only soft they could use. And this is a little different from their claim that since the files are kept at the users computer the users can easily use them later. Yes, I can read them later, but unfortunately not use them in full capacity. :wink:

#6

In Settings > Files & Links , you should turn off Wikilinks.

1 Like
#7

@bobkitz is right. While many other apps support the [[wikilink]] link format, not all Markdown apps do, so you should use conventional markdown links (of the form ![some caption](link-to-file.filetype) instead. If you toggle the Wikilinks preference, this will happen automatically.

There are also errors in the syntax of several of the examples you shared:

  • ![[ScreenHunter 169.jpg]][]] would work as a wikilink-formatted embed, but the last characters []] is erroneous and you should delete them.
  • ![]([]ScreenHunter 167.jpg]) I’m not sure what you’re trying to do here. ![some caption](directory/file.filetype) is the correct format.

Maybe make sure you are using the software correctly before you use such invective! :wink:

#8

Thank you @bobkitz and thank you ryanjamurphy.
I’ll make more tests of my notes links and hopefully everything will work fine.
I didn’t mean to be offensive, I accept your comment, I’m very sorry and I’ll be more careful with wording.
Thank you again! :smiley:

3 Likes
#9

Not really. There are a number of main markdown variants, with a host of further extensions. Some are more popular than others.
If you want to maximise compatibility, then you have to stick to the core instructions which are common to most/all. That will limit the functions available to you. And requires you to know and understand markdown specs.

Wikilinks are not part of core markdown (though they are gradually becoming more common because they are easier and faster to write). Obsidian offers users the choice between wikilinks and traditional markdown links.

#10

Hi @Mike777, I understand what you are dealing with.

In the following post I give my 2 cents about it:

#11

Dor, andrezgz, bobkitz, ryanjamurphy,

Thank you very much for your answers!

Your thoughts and expertise about markdown are of great value to me and it saves me a lot of my time.

Actually most important things for me are images, links between notes and links to my own computer files. I only hope that shutting down Wikilinks will solve compatibility issues for me.

Thank you again!

1 Like
#12

I just started with Obsidian. In addition to trying the Wikilinks thing… could it be possible that the other apps are trying to find images from their own folders, when they actually reside in the Obsidian folders?
Maybe they need their own copy of the images?

1 Like
#13

Hi MDScheitlin,
Thank you for your comment. I’m not sure I understand how it can work though. Can you explain it with example?

#14

Hi everybody !
I’ve made more tests on compatibility of Obsidian md files with other md apps. With Wikilinks off, images are inserted in Obsidian note and other md apps read them fine. With local links I still have to learn more how to make them more safe and universal. Any advice will be appreciated.

1 Like
#15

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