New in Obsidian: Obsidian Callouts (available now!)

Obsidian is rolling out “Callouts” as built-in functionality, bringing the familiar “admonition-style” note boxes into core so they work out of the box—without installing or enabling a plugin—and render correctly on Obsidian Publish. The practical payoff is better skimmability: callout boxes visually flag what matters (or what applies only in certain situations), while still letting the rest of a note read normally.

Before Callouts landed, many users relied on the Admonition plugin, which used a code-block-like syntax (three backticks) to create labeled boxes such as reminders, tips, and warnings. With live preview, those blocks become visually distinct, and—crucially—can be collapsed by default so readers can scan quickly and expand only when needed. In Nicole van der Hoeven’s examples, callouts act like “meta notes” for technical documentation: troubleshooting steps hidden until an error occurs (e.g., “g not found” after installing the Go package manager “g”), platform-specific instructions for tutorials (Mac vs. Windows), and even conditional story elements in D&D sessions that need to appear only when players choose certain paths.

Callouts change the syntax and move the feature into core Obsidian. Instead of fenced code blocks, the new format uses blockquotes: a blockquote marker followed by brackets and an exclamation point, then a callout type (most commonly “note”), a title, and the content below it. Visually, the result includes an icon and styling that differentiates the callout from surrounding text. The feature also supports many callout types—abstract/summary/TLDR, info, todo, tips and hints, important, success, questions/FAQ, warnings/caution/attention, fail/missing, danger/error, bug, and even more specialized forms like quote and cite.

Beyond types, Callouts add folding behavior. A minus sign placed in the callout header collapses the box by default, while other settings can keep it expanded. Styling can vary by theme and can be customized via CSS, with the “Primary” theme highlighted as an example. A major workflow win is that Callouts now render natively on Obsidian Publish, so public notes keep the same callout appearance without extra CSS hacks that previously helped plugin-based admonitions.

The shift from Admonition to Callouts isn’t just cosmetic. Using blockquotes improves compatibility with Markdown renderers that don’t support the older syntax: unsupported environments will still show a blockquote rather than a misleading code block. It also means Markdown inside callouts—links, embeds, and even Dataview queries—gets parsed, and spellcheck can operate normally (code blocks often suppress spellchecking).

Admonition remains available and continues to support its original syntax, but it also adds conversion tools to migrate existing admonition blocks into callouts. It further offers quality-of-life controls like drop shadows, collapsibility defaults, copy buttons, and icon customization using Font Awesome (plus additional icon sets like Octicons and RPG-Awesome). Even so, Callouts are positioned as the forward path for new work, while Admonition can still be worth installing for deeper customization needs and for users who want the plugin’s extra features. At the time of recording, Callouts are available in Insider Build version 0.14, with public rollout expected later.