Linux
2.14.20
Joplin 2.14.20 (prod, linux)
Client ID: b7bf350b9ca74b569baeff56b636fd18
Sync Version: 3
Profile Version: 46
Keychain Supported: No
Is there an easy way to convert an Obsidian vault to Joplin? I can import the markdown files alright, but the attachments are not included unfortunately.
I don't get why Obsidian is so popular. It took me a while to find out how to attach a file after trying various menus. Then when I found it, it did... nothing, no dialog, no error message. So I checked the developer tools and the warning in there is "File chooser dialog can only be shown with a user activation.". Ok whatever that means, still don't know what I'm supposed to do, and why not show the error instead of hiding it in the console.
So anyway, unfortunately I was unable to attach a file in Obsidian so I cannot test the import. Would you be able to share an example file+attachment to see how it's structured? Joplin supports importing files and images but maybe not in the specific format they use.
I heard that it's possible to open the vault in logseq and export it in markdown
Also there are several community plugins-exporters
No personal experience here, just hear-say
I use Obsidian for a few things and I too never figured out how to attach a file other than drag-and-drop or simply copying the file into the vault folder. It's good for some things but Joplin is much better for most tasks. Once you finally are able to get a file into Obsidian though it's much, much easier to modify the file since it's just another file on the computer whereas with Joplin I have to save it, then go into "Note Attachments" and delete it and then re-attach the modified version.
I think basically the difference is that Joplin is mostly a Note taking app while Obsidian can do quite a bit more. For me one of the main features of Obsidian over Joplin was the Dataview plugin, but there is also a simple way to convert your note into presentation slides. Using Obsidian as a todo app is also a bit better than Joplin. Finally, the mobile app the Obsidian offers is more complete than the Joplin app. One annoyance I still have with Joplin app on iOS is that I cannot use it for multiple profiles. In Obsidian it was easy to use multiple vaults.
Having all said that, I still reverted back to Joplin. The way it handles attachments was indeed one of the reasons to do so. I'll still use Obsidian next to it just for some temporary vaults, so to circumvent the lack of multiple profiles in the iOS app.
BTW I found the way to move an Obsidian vault to Joplin. Obsidian has a community plugin called Markdown Export. It will export folders in the fault to Github compatible markdown. This can then be imported by Joplin, including the attachments.
If you open the attachment by clicking on it in the note, you should be able to modify it and your changes will be saved. If that doesn't work for you maybe there's a bug somewhere
Does the plugin offer a way to save metadata via front matter by chance?
Just wondering. Meta data is often a pain in a lot of exporters
No, your front matter is virtually gone. In my case that’s not a big problem.
The problem with the images in obsidian is the syntax. I had defined a folder in which obsidian saved the attachments. In the markdown, obsidian then does not add the full path to the images as it already knows in which folder it can find the attachment. This makes handling the plain text files outside of obsidian more difficult and it counters the advantage of having plain markdow files as they advertise in the first place. Probably a sed action by me would have worked as well, but that’s more error prone than using this plugin.
One last remark. It seems like the mobile app supported multiple profiles all along. I just found the option in the Config screen and it seems to work. Stupid me for looking over it for all this time. Sorry about that. So I can ditch Obsidian now fully.
Hi
I wanted to answer to your initial interrogation about the popularity of Obsidian through different features I learned to use in recent days.
I was, during 10 years, an Evernote user, and some months ago, I migrated quite easily all my notes from Evernote to Joplin.
But I was a bit disappointed by the tasks dates managing by Joplin. My search on the Joplin forum didn't give me much hope to get satisfaction apart from the naming of tasks with a prefixed date, not very convincing IMHO.
So I kept on searching for other solutions.
With Obsidian , I found recently a quite ideal solution : dates are managed through tasks in the files with or without due date, start date... inside the files, with options like recurring tasks.
In a file, you can use multiple dated tasks or subtasks and for example in a dedicated file , you can write a query that give you the due tasks of the day, week, month, year as you need, on the whole vault, or a filtered part of it and manage simply the completion of tasks or delay for one day the due date through a dedicated icon or link easily the file in which the task is written .
Globally, the search functions on word , tag ,.. are also very efficient.
Another feature that is very interesting for me are links and backlinks between files : you create a file and you link it with existing files or you initialize in it the name of future files without creating them, just to prepare your work.
For example, in a daily note, you list your different recurring or not recurring meetings , and when ready, you click on the link , and you take your notes in the appropriate file.
If you change a file's name, all the links and backlinks are automatically updated.
As in a network, you can move from file to file through the links or backlinks.
You only have to create a one direction link between 2 files in one of the 2 files, the linked file keeps memory in itself of the first file (backlinks).
I use also call outs for the text formatting.
Finally, I work with Obsidian on multiple devices through Dropbox sync.
Just a beginner in Obsidian, but have some fun using it.
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