metadata

aliases:
  - How to/Format your notes
  - Markdown

Learn how to apply basic formatting to your notes, using Markdown. For more advanced formatting syntax, refer to [[Advanced formatting syntax]].

Paragraphs

To create paragraphs, use a blank line to separate one or more lines of text.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

- Multiple blank spaces Multiple adjacent blank spaces in and between paragraphs collapse to a single space when displaying a note in [[Edit and preview Markdown#Editor views|Reading view]] and on [[Introduction to Obsidian Publish|Obsidian Publish]] sites.
Multiple          adjacent          spaces



and multiple newlines between paragraphs.
Multiple adjacent spaces

and multiple newlines between paragraphs.

If you want to add multiple spaces, you can add   (blank space) and <br> (newline) to your note.

Headings

To create a heading, add up to six # symbols before your heading text. The number of # symbols determines the size of the heading.

# This is a heading 1
## This is a heading 2
### This is a heading 3
#### This is a heading 4
##### This is a heading 5
###### This is a heading 6

%% These headings use HTML to avoid cluttering the Outline/Table of contents %%

This is a heading 1

This is a heading 2

This is a heading 3

This is a heading 4

This is a heading 5

This is a heading 6

Bold, italics, highlights

Text formatting can also be applied using [[Editing shortcuts]].

Style	Syntax	Example	Output
Bold	` ` or `__ __`	`Bold text`	Bold text
Italic	`* *` or `_ _`	`Italic text`	Italic text
Strikethrough	`~~ ~~`	`~~Striked out text~~`	~~Striked out text~~
Highlight	`== ==`	`==Highlighted text==`	==Highlighted text==
Bold and nested italic	` ` and `_ _`	`Bold text and _nested italic_ text`	*Bold text and nested italic* text**
Bold and italic	`* *` or `___ ___`	`*Bold and italic text*`	Bold and italic text

Internal links

Obsidian supports two formats for [[internal links]] between notes:

Wikilink: [[Three laws of motion]]
Markdown: [Three laws of motion](Three%20laws%20of%20motion.md)

External links

If you want to link to an external URL, you can create an inline link by surrounding the link text in brackets ([ ]), and then the URL in parentheses (( )).

[Obsidian Help](https://help.obsidian.md)

Obsidian Help

You can also create external links to files in other vaults, by linking to an [[Obsidian URI|Obsidian URI]].

[Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=Note.md)

Escape blank spaces in links

If your URL contains blank spaces, you must escape them by replacing them with %20.

[My Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My%20Note.md)

You can also escape the URL by wrapping it with angled brackets (< >).

[My Note](<obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My Note.md>)

External images

You can add images with external URLs, by adding a ! symbol before an [[#External links|external link]].

![Engelbart](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

You can change the image dimensions, by adding |640x480 to the link destination, where 640 is the width and 480 is the height.

![Engelbart|100x145](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

If you only specify the width, the image scales according to its original aspect ratio. For example:

![Engelbart|100](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

If you want to add an image from inside your vault, you can also [[Embed files#Embed an image in a note|embed an image in a note]].

Quotes

You can quote text by adding a > symbols before the text.

> Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

\- Doug Engelbart, 1961

Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

- Doug Engelbart, 1961

You can turn your quote into a [[Callouts|callout]] by adding [!info] as the first line in a quote.

Lists

You can create an unordered list by adding a -, *, or + before the text.

- First list item
- Second list item
- Third list item

First list item
Second list item
Third list item

To create an ordered list, start each line with a number followed by a . symbol.

1. First list item
2. Second list item
3. Third list item

First list item
Second list item
Third list item

Task lists

To create a task list, start each list item with a hyphen and space followed by [ ].

- [x] This is a completed task.
- [ ] This is an incomplete task.

This is a completed task.
This is an incomplete task.

You can toggle a task in Reading view by selecting the checkbox.

You can use any character inside the brackets to mark it as complete.
- [x] Milk
- [?] Eggs
- [-] Eggs
Milk

[?] Eggs

[-] Eggs

Nesting lists

All list types can be nested in Obsidian.

To create a nested list, indent one or more list items:

1. First list item
   1. Ordered nested list item
2. Second list item
   - Unordered nested list item

First list item
1. Ordered nested list item
Second list item
- Unordered nested list item

Similarly, you can create a nested task list by indenting one or more list items:

- [ ] Task item 1
    - [ ] Subtask 1
- [ ] Task item 2
    - [ ] Subtask 1

Task item 1
- Subtask 1
Task item 2
- Subtask 1

Use Tab or Shift+Tab to indent or unindent one or more selected list items for easy organization.

Horizontal rule

You can use three or more stars ***, hyphens ---, or underscore ___ on its own line to add a horizontal bar. You can also separate symbols using spaces.

***
****
* * *
---
----
- - -
___
____
_ _ _

Code

You can format code both inline within a sentence, or in its own block.

Inline code

You can format code within a sentence using single backticks.

Text inside `backticks` on a line will be formatted like code.

Text inside backticks on a line will be formatted like code.

If you want to put backticks in an inline code block, surround it with double backticks like so: inline code with a backtick ` inside.

Code blocks

To format a block of code, surround the code with triple backticks.

```
cd ~/Desktop
```

cd ~/Desktop

You can also create a code block by indenting the text using Tab or 4 blank spaces.

    cd ~/Desktop

You can add syntax highlighting to a code block, by adding a language code after the first set of backticks.

```js
function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}
```

function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}

Obsidian uses Prism for syntax highlighting. For more information, refer to Supported languages.

[[Edit and preview Markdown#Source mode|Source mode]] and [[Edit and preview Markdown#Live Preview|Live Preview]] do not support PrismJS, and may render syntax highlighting differently.

Footnotes

You can add footnotes[^footnote] to your notes using the following syntax:

[^footnote]: This is a footnote.

This is a simple footnote[^1].

[^1]: This is the referenced text.
[^2]: Add 2 spaces at the start of each new line.
  This lets you write footnotes that span multiple lines.
[^note]: Named footnotes still appear as numbers, but can make it easier to identify and link references.

You can also inline footnotes in a sentence. Note that the caret goes outside the brackets.

You can also use inline footnotes. ^[This is an inline footnote.]

Inline footnotes only work in reading view, not in Live Preview.

Comments

You can add comments by wrapping text with %%. Comments are only visible in Editing view.

This is an %%inline%% comment.

%%
This is a block comment.

Block comments can span multiple lines.
%%

Learn more

To learn more advanced formatting syntax, such as tables, diagrams, and math expressions, refer to [[Advanced formatting syntax]].

To learn more about how Obsidian parses Markdown, refer to [[Obsidian Flavored Markdown]].