Obsidian Canvas
Productivity
note-taking canvas
SHOW HN2022
1,380points
387comments
#3of 2,570 in 2022
Top 1%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
86 positive, 106 neutral or asking, 7 mixed, 43 critical, out of 242 comments about the project. Thread score +0.21.
Idea: 49 for, 12 againstDesign: 10 for, 10 againstExecution: 7 for, 7 againstPerformance: 1 for, 9 againstPrivacy: 3 for, 4 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Visual relationship mapping fits brainstorming and mind mapping well
From 3 comments
Dear Obsidian team. Thank you from my heart. As a designer, I have visual thinking, which requires clear representation of relationships between information objects. No more…
stayux on HNObsidian has given me everything I had dreamed of in terms of organizing tools, and now this is the cherry on top! I tried so many mindmap software (many paid!) and they all fell…
FiReaNG3L on HNThis looks like finally an alternative to OneNote. Since every page in OneNote is like an infinite page or canvas, I use it at work to dump info freely anywhere. The tabs and…
smusamashah on HN
Open file format and local files avoid lock-in
From 2 comments
Obsidian Canvas uses a new JSON-based file format that we have open-sourced under MIT license. You can see the spec here:…
kepano on HNThis is fantastic development, something that really makes a difference in how you can use Obsidian. I got notified from LogSeq group that they are also introducing whiteboard,…
desireco42 on HN
Objections
Adds complexity; risk of feature bloat like Evernote
From 1 comment
While the feature itself was interesting, adding such a feature made alarm in my head. I don't think this is necessarily a good trend. Please Obsidian needs to be very, very…
tianqi on HN
Proprietary JSON format is less readable than Markdown
From 1 comment
This looks like Obsidian's first move away from using some dialect of markdown? The .canvas files appear to be human readable json, but certainly not as readable as markdown. I'm…
mknapper1 on HN
Unclear use cases and hard to see the point
From 2 comments
Obsidian Team, help me out here. What are some actual use cases for canvas? Specifically, how does this enhance the user's ability to record, synthesize, and recall their ideas?…
kid64 on HNI really don’t get Obsidian and why HN seems so obsessed with it. Can anyone please enlighten me? Why do they call these notes “a second brain”? How is this “a new way of…
brap on HN
Requests
Keyboard shortcuts for quick card creation
From 1 comment
Feels nice and solid! One thing I immediately wanted was key commands and fast clicking to create cards like FigJam https://www.figma.com/figjam/ This is an amazing tool for…
crucialfelix on HN
Auto-layout for canvas cards
From 1 comment
Very nice! Happy to see this evolution coming from Obsidian, it seems like a more natural way to organize concepts and ideas. One question: It seems it could be troublesome to…
Kunix on HN
Export canvas to HTML or PDF
From 1 comment
Awesome! Is there an easy and quick way to convert the canvas into a shareable format, i.e. into HTML or PDF?
folli on HN
Questions
How to enable the Canvas feature
From 2 comments
I've been using Obsidian and enjoying it quite a bit - thank you for making this, and for making it freely available! I figured that I've give this a spin but can't find it in my…
MikeTheGreat on HNDoes anyone know how to actually turn on this feature? I just made a new account and I can’t find this option…
rnmp on HN
Is there a video or tutorial explaining it
From 1 comment
Anyone have a video on this? I’m not quite getting it.
kwerk on HN
Alternatives named
Excalidraw
From 2 comments
I've been doing mind mapping using excalidraw, but it lacked an easy way and visual way to link cards. This Canvas solution might simplify things a bit, though I wonder how much…
qumpis on HNI really wish the UI worked like excalidraw, the interface is seamless and something Obsidian could take ideas from. the end result could have been an SVG which makes it…
evnix on HN
Kinopio
From 1 comment
I really like https://kinopio.club/. This canvas is definitely a step in that direction. I hope they (or a plugin) support a feature parity too
aryamaan on HN
Logseq whiteboard
From 2 comments
A lot of notes apps seem to be adding some type of visual note-taking (is that the right term?) Logseq now has a whiteboard feature that is similarly powerful.
drawingthesun on HNThis is fantastic development, something that really makes a difference in how you can use Obsidian. I got notified from LogSeq group that they are also introducing whiteboard,…
desireco42 on HN
OneNote
From 1 comment
This looks like finally an alternative to OneNote. Since every page in OneNote is like an infinite page or canvas, I use it at work to dump info freely anywhere. The tabs and…
smusamashah on HN