Really new user with very basic question about community plug-ins, I can't find them in notes

[john37]

Hi everybody,
my name is John I’m a brand-new user to obsidian, just started yesterday, really new I’m trying to migrate from the dreaded Evernote to Obsidian. Hoping! I installed some community plug-ins into one of my vaults, though I hope to use for ‘work’ stuff, specifically the ones I installed are Calendar, todos, & tasks. I also think I installed something called day planner, but come to think of it I’m not 100% sure about that.
Anyway, my issue is that when I open a note I can’t find any of these anywhere. All I see on the left-hand side of the plug-ins that come with Obsidian. I don’t see any community plug-ins. Where are they located when in notes. Another way of asking this I guess is, how do you use community plug-ins when writing notes?
Thank you in advance, any help is greatly appreciated. One of the main reasons I like obsidian already is that it has better help then Evernote. But that being said I just can’t figure this one out at the moment.
Thanks again, John H

What I’m trying to do

[mnvwvnm]

Welcome to Obsidian.

1. Do you enable the installed plugins?
   In Obsidian settings (Settings > Community plugins), in the same pane where you installed the plugins, at the bottom you find “Installed plugins”. There you need to enable (or disable) the installed plugins.

When enable, some plugins add a settings pane in Obsidian settings:

2. There’s no fixed behavior or icons place for community plugins: some icons appears on left side (near the obsidian core plugins); others don’t have any icon (just commands or similar); others show up in right side pane. For example, by default, Calendar plugin is placed on the top of the right pane, near the outlinks (or tags, outliner, …) icon.

3. For each plugin you need to read the respective documentation to understand how they work (documentation in community plugins pane or in respective “GitHub” page):

[looper]

In addition to what mnvwvnm said, I’ll say–most plugins with some kind of GUI do put an icon somewhere (either right or left pane), as mnvwvnm mentioned. Occasionally, one won’t (in my experience). In that case, typically what you can do is press Ctrl-P (or Command-P on Mac) and then type in the name of the plugin, and you’ll typically see, not only some commands related to that plugin but also sometimes a command specifically to “show” the plugin’s GUI on a sidebar. Just choose that command and the plugin’s GUI will appear.

[john37]

Thanks for your help. I think I got it, a little bit anyway, now. I was looking for something a little more obvious, but like I said I’m brand-new to obsidian and the logic of how it functions. I also think I might switch to a different theme to make controls and icons more clearly visible and obvious, at least until I’m more comfortable with what I am looking at.
Again, thanks a whole lot.
John H

[john37]

Thanks a lot. Like I said to… Looper, the problem occurred because I am brand-new to the way obsidian’s… Controls work & the whole logic of how the program operates. I assumed that all plug-ins would be located in the same place. These seemed very hidden, at least to me. Part of the problem is that I think I also chose the wrong theme to start with. Things do not pop out like I want them to. Eventually I may go back to the sepia colored theme that I chose, but right now I think I should switch to one where things pop out a little more, like I said, obviously.
Thanks again,
John H