As I mentioned at the start of this post, no tool is perfect. When I first pasted a link to a tweet into Obsidian, it appeared as a link, rendered in tiny grey text. PS: The dislikes must be coming from Roam cultists. Large title cards display the related page or block title. As easy to use as a word document or bulleted list, and as powerful for finding, collecting, and connecting related ideas as a graph database. It actually ended up leading me to switch my digital gardening from Bear to Obsidian! At first, I was disappointed. Filter by license to discover only free or Open Source alternatives. As a result, even though the terms Mr. Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, and President Lincoln all reference the same individual, Roam sees these as three unique and not necessarily related references. What would you rather someone share after they finish reading a book? Prompted by @Jeanvaljean689, I asked @RoamResearch "What do I want?" Clicking a block selects it and activates it for editing. Clever users offer extensive tutorials on how to use CSS to customize Roam’s appearance. When inspiration lags, a few clicks through random notes can get creative juices flowing again. Roam Research is unapologetically a web-first app. A right-hand pane displays a list of linked and unlinked (but potentially related) documents. GO DEEPER with the Obsidian Made Simple cour… But if you’re accustomed to working in a Markdown editor and switching frequently from editing to preview mode, you might prefer Obsidian. Roam Research Notion vs Roam vs Obsidian. To avoid the perfection trap, I reminded myself that all solutions have pros and cons. Evernote vs Roam Research. From then on, in other notes, I can surround any instance of the word “Snowpiercer” in double square brackets, like this: [[Snowpiercer]]. Obsidian – The Power of Backlinks and the Knowledge Graph – Effective Remote Work – YouTube. If you don’t care to think about it at all, Roam might be the better option. In Roam, text is presented as a series of bulleted paragraphs or blocks. Back on my original “Snowpiercer” note, in addition to the impressions I recorded, I’ll see two automatically generated lists. I Asked Roam Research, “What Do I Want?” The Results Devastated Me. Roam allows focus at the block level; Obsidian allows focus at the page level. Workflowy. When I pasted the same link into Roam, it expanded automatically into a beautifully-rendered embedded tweet. In a recent experiment, I loaded more than a hundred entries from my dream journal into DEVONthink for analysis. I visited my “Roam Research” page, browsed linked and unlinked references, pulled relevant material into Ulysses, and then polished it there. Some initial thoughts about Roam Research and Obsidian, their relative strengths, and the very cool communities surrounding each app. When I want to illustrate a journal entry with an image, I just drag one in. The first, familiar to anyone who has used a wiki, involves creating a reference link from one note to another. What was that all about? The structures I’m using to record thoughts in Roam enhance my memory of the material I read, listen to, and study. ), Obsidian.md is currently available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It's not a big deal, but how software feels is pretty important to me A search employing fuzzy logic, capable of finding near-matches or even synonyms, could be very useful. The first is a list of linked references: all other notes I’ve linked back to this one. Each time the user presses Enter, he or she creates a new block, which appears as a bulleted paragraph on the page. (They can, of course, be copied and pasted, with manually appended links back to a source.). Free. Anyway, those are a few reasons why I chose Obsidian as my PKM tool. Combine panes to set up your powerful workspaces. On the right, a search field, a filtering control, a collapsed list of features (including sharing and exporting), and a help menu are always visible. Unless you’re deliberate in your choices, this can quickly become bewildering. My experience with Ulysses taught me that taking a more granular approach to individual units of thought increases the resolution at which all thoughts can be explored. I can also share that any time invested in exploring Roam is time well-spent. With Obsidian, you could save notes to a cloud-synced folder. Here’s the Deal. Even in this brief time, Roam’s impact on my life is much broader in scope that I ever anticipated it could be. Any note in your collection can be connected to any other (or to many others). If you like, this pane can be split horizontally … or vertically … or both … multiple times. I’m aware that these are just baby steps. For example: Roam incorporates a feature called the Daily Page. But when it came to making the decision between the two, I simply felt more confident in the future of my notes in Obsidian and less interested (or trusting) in the overall mission and approach of the Roam team. Bidirectional linking is an interesting approach taken by these apps because instead of the notes being organized by folders and sub-folders, they are organized by linking … Roam’s $15.00 per month subscription raises eyebrows, but I’m in the camp that believes sustainable pricing is vital to the long-term viability of any product or service. Roam finds exact matches to text I enter in the search bar. More information... People also love … Both Roam and Obsidian present a map or graph of pages and their links, displaying a these ideas in a constellation of relationships. a second brain . When this happens, I lose access to my notes. Since adopting Roam, I’m happy to report I’ve undergone a sort of personal creative renaissance. In a very short time, I’m already seeing ways Roam can assist with writing everything from blog posts to video scripts. ", tired of shoving notes into anything boxes, How to Take Smart Notes | Zettelkasten Method in Roam Research, Obsidian: Getting Started, Facts, and Pricing, I loaded more than a hundred entries from my dream journal into DEVONthink for analysis, I Fed DEVONthink My Dreams and Found a Stalker, Using Readwise to Supercharge Roam Research. Occasionally, Roam simply will not load in the Safari browser. Slant is powered by a community that helps you make informed decisions. But Obsidian also allows you to open multiple notes, plus you can move them around and lay them out however you prefer (see the screenshot above), Obsidian's graph view is a lot nicer to use as well, I grew to appreciate Roam's bulleted approach, but it's nice to work in regular markdown in Obsidian. Page titles, however, are rendered in a tiny, fine text that can be difficult to read, especially in dark mode. We also talked about her light touch productivity workflow. Your second brain should work the same. Also available for macOS, Linux (AppImage), Linux (Snap), and Linux (Flatpak). Zettlr. Users may also apply themes created by members of the Roam community. (Hint: #notetaking) I’m trying to come up with a good title for it pic.twitter.com/rnsL1X09fR. Unlike Word, Ulysses allows me to break down a long document into a series of short sheets. In meetings, I’m more focused. I don’t think I’ll ever learn to use every function available to me … but I don’t have to. Similar coverage from a slightly different point of view can also be found in Justin DiRose’s Obsidian: The Basics of Note Taking. Made by the team behind Dynalist. No dedicated apps exist (yet), so you access Roam Research through a browser. See all See less. Let's go! 218 7 . Introducing . In conversations, I’m sharper. The larger the project, the harder it was to maintain a vision of the project as a whole. Roam Research killer. https://markmcelroy.com/i-asked-roam-research-what-do-i-want-the-results-devastated-me/, from Timothy Snyder _On Tyranny_ - "Fascists [reject] reason in the name of will, denying objective truth in favor of a glorious myth articulated by leaders who claim to give voice to the people. The center pane displays the note currently in use. Encountering a random note and considering how it might relate to the question at hand can generate valuable insights. With Roam, it’s quick and easy to export your notes to a local folder. Add Question. (Since I tend to travel with an iPad exclusively, this is a problem for me.). I’m told the Obsidian Community Discord is also lively and helpful. Unlike Roam, Obsidian’s view of document is modal; for each open window, the user must choose whether he or she wants to be in preview or edit mode. In Roam, the basic unit of thought is the block.