My simple note-taking setup | Zettelkasten in Obsidian | Step-by-step guide

A Zettelkasten workflow can stay genuinely simple by resisting elaborate tagging schemes and letting structure emerge from links. The core claim is that complexity—especially endless tinkering with tags and folder hierarchies—often distracts from the actual work: capturing ideas, writing them in one’s own words, and connecting them so patterns surface naturally.

The setup centers on Obsidian with a small, deliberate tool stack: four core folders, two main note templates, and just two community plugins. All “atomic idea” notes live in a single root folder, while attachments and templates sit in their own dedicated subfolders. The system’s philosophy is explicit: don’t pre-separate topics into folders; instead, create notes and link them, allowing relationships to form the organizing structure over time.

At the top level, the workflow uses four folders—Reference Notes, Files, Templates, and a main folder for Zettelkasten ideas (the atomic notes). Reference Notes store where ideas came from (books, lectures, sources), Files holds images and templates, and Templates contains reusable note templates. Obsidian’s vault concept is treated as a boundary: everything relevant lives inside one local folder, with Obsidian’s internal configuration kept in a hidden .obsidian directory.

The practical configuration is straightforward. Obsidian is set so new nodes and attachments default into the Zettelkasten idea folder and the Files folder. A hotkey is assigned for inserting templates, and two plugins are used repeatedly: Sliding Panes for viewing multiple notes side-by-side like paper cards, and Admonition for inserting visually distinct blocks inside notes. The “core” template is designed to paste the current date and time, set the note heading, and include a status/tags area. A second template creates “maps of content” (mock notes): these are organizational hubs that can remain empty or be used to capture summaries/diagrams.

The note-creation workflow emphasizes avoiding duplicates and accelerating recall. Using Obsidian’s “create/open by title” flow (rather than blindly creating new notes) helps detect existing notes and encourages elaboration. References are handled by linking to source notes—sometimes including timestamps for lectures—so the system can reuse those citations instead of rewriting metadata.

Links are treated as the system’s engine. Obsidian’s double-square-bracket linking allows linking to notes that don’t yet exist; these “ghost nodes” appear as darker links and later become real notes. As more atomic notes connect to recurring ghost nodes, graph view reveals hubs—clusters of ideas around a topic. Those hubs then justify creating an actual “map of content” file, turning emergent structure into a navigable dashboard.

Finally, the workflow is framed as iterative rather than fixed. If a system works differently, it should be adapted gradually; if it feels stuck, the recommendation is to start simple for months, then adjust one step at a time as the knowledge base grows. The payoff is a second brain that evolves with the ideas instead of being forced into a brittle, over-engineered taxonomy.