Many people dump their data into programs like Excel since their structured presentation initially looks like an excellent solution for organizing content. In the long run, though, some realize that's not how you're supposed to use spreadsheets, and they eventually see the light that are databases.

Most note-taking applications have the exact same problem, but nobody had realized it until the Obsidian-and-Dataview combination entered the scene. As notes keep piling up, the solutions for managing them start failing one after another. Folders and Categories? Too restrictive. Tags? Too chaotic. But what would be a better way to make sense of your notes?

With Obsidian and the third-party Dataview plugin, you can manage your notes like a database. Add some metadata to them, and you'll be able to create queries that filter your notes according to various criteria, presenting them in ways that make sense. Let's see how.

Install and Expand Obsidian

To get started, pay a visit to Obsidian's official site, downloadit, and install it for your platform of choice.

Obsidian Notes Database Official Site Download

Note that our guide work in all versions of Obsidian, from the one you're running on your Windows PC to the one you use on the go on your smartphone. However, since some typing and special characters are involved, it's easier to pull off on the desktop, with a full size instead of a touch keyboard.

If you already have a collection of notes in Markdown format that you'd like to import into Obsidian, move them all under the same folder. You can keep any folder structure you wish, but ensure they're all under the same "master folder", which Obsidian treats as a "vault".

You can then edit them instead of creating new notes, as we'll see next, to add metadata to them. This metadata will allow you to query and filter them through the Dataview plugin.

Starting from scratch with zero notes is even easier since you can add some metadata fields to a handful of empty notes and then use them as templates for the rest.

How to Make Notes With Obsidian

Run Obsidian, and if you want to import your existing notes, click on Open under Open folder as vault. Then, select the folder where you moved all your notes. Go for Create if you want to create a new notes vault, and choose an empty folder.

Obsidian Notes Database Open Create Vault

Give a name to your vault, and click on Create to do precisely that.

Obsidian Notes Database Create Vault Name

New versions of Obsidian come with a Live Preview feature that presents Markdown syntax as proper italicized, bold, strikethrough text, etc. It's incompatible with some of Obsidian's older plugins, and some people don't like the way it "transforms" their Markdown while working, so you get an option to disable it. However, it doesn't get in the way of what we'll see in this article, and your notes will look "cleaner" with it, so we suggest you leave it turned on.

Obsidian Notes Database Live Preview

To filter your notes based on their metadata, you'll also need the Dataview plugin. Since it's not included with Obsidian, you'll have to install it manually. Click on the icon with the cog on the bottom left to access Obsidian's Options. Then, move to Community plugins.

Obsidian Notes Database Options Safe Mode

Turn Safe mode off to enable the installation of third-party plugins. Acknowledge the change by clicking again on Turn off Safe Mode on the warning that shows up.

Obsidian Notes Database Safe Mode Off

With Safe Mode turned off, you'll see more options on the Community plugins options page. Click on Browse next to Community plugins (yes, it's a "Community plugins" within a page called "Community plugins").

Obsidian Notes Database Browse Community Plugins

Use the search field on the top left to filter the plugins list for "data view".

Obsidian Notes Database Install Dataview Plugin

When you locate that plugin, by Michael Brenan, click on it to select it, and then on Install to add it to Obsidian's arsenal.

Obsidian Notes Database Install Dataview Plugin Button

Installing Dataview isn't enough to use it - you also have to activate it. For that, click on the Enable button that will show up after its installation completes.

Obsidian Notes Database Install Dataview Plugin Enable

And with that, you're set. Now, you need some notes.

What Does “Metadata” Mean in Obsidian?

We won't go over how you can create and "style" new notes in Obsidian with metadata or create links between them for this tutorial. If you're starting from scratch, it will help to check our past article on how to turn your notes into a second brain with Obsidian.

Obsidian Notes Database Recipe Note

The Dataview plugin can detect two types of metadata in your notes. The more organized way is to keep all your metadata in what's known as the "frontmatter". To define the frontmatter section in a note, add three dashes at its very top.

Press Enter, and type in an empty line whatever you want to use as metadata using the syntax "key: value". Repeat to add as many metadata values as you like. Finally, end this section with three dashes, again. Note that you can use single values, quoted strings, or lists for your metadata keys.

Obsidian Notes Database Defining Frontmatter With Dashes

For example, you could use the following for your cooking notes:

        ---
Recipe_Type: sweet
Ingredients:
- flour
- strawberries
- chocolate
Time_Needed: 30

---
Obsidian Notes Database Frontmatter Metadata

Let's see another example. Are you a fan of tabletop RPGs? Keep track of your favorite items in your long-running campaign with:

        ---
Item_Type: Ring
Item_Family: Rings of Power
Item_Alias: The One Ring
Item_Special_Power: Can rule them all.
Item_Color: Pink

---
Obsidian Notes Database Frontmatter More Metadata

Add metadata values to your notes, as we saw. Remember to use the same metadata keys for all similar notes.

Alternatively, the second, more chaotic, but also more organic way to include metadata in your notes, is by typing "key::value" anywhere. You're free to add such metadata even in your regular "flow" of text, in parentheses, on lines between paragraphs, etc.

However, it's harder to manage such metadata later if you ever decide to tweak it since it might appear at a different spot on each note. For this tutorial, we're using the more consistent frontmatter approach.

In a more realistic scenario, you could use Obsidian to take notes during Zoom meetings like a pro. However, instead of typing the meeting's details in text, as we saw in that article, include them as metadata. You'll then be able to query them based on particular keys, as we'll see right next.

Filtering Your Notes With Dataview

To use the metadata you've added to your notes, you can create queries with the Dataview plugin. You embed those in existing notes.

Their results appear immediately if you left the Live Preview mode turned on as we suggested. If not, you have to manually switch to Preview Mode to see the output of your queries.

To create such a query, type the following into a note:

        ```dataview

```

In Obsidian, three backticks define the beginning and end of a code block. The "dataview" stuck next to the first trio of backticks establishes that it's "code" that should be parsed by the Dataview plugin.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Empty Section

That's because other Obsidian plugins allow you to embed data in your notes in the same way.

Would you like a list of all the recipes we've marked as "sweet" in the previous section? Try the following:

        ```dataview

LIST

FROM "Recipes"

WHERE "Recipe_Type=Sweet"

```
Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Query List Sweet Recipes

The above will query the Recipes folder in your vault for notes with the metadata key Recipe_Type set as "Sweet". When you switch to preview, you'll see an actual list of those notes instead of the query.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Query Results List

Would you prefer to see your notes as a table instead, with some of their metadata content? Use the following:

        ```dataview

TABLE Recipe_Type as "Type"

FROM "Recipes"

SORT Recipe_Type

```
Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Query Table All Recipes

You can have more keys shown in your table by separating them with commas and sorting your table's entries based on any of them.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Query Table

By creatively combining multiple Dataview queries in the same note, you can create organized indexes for the rest of your notes. In the image below, you can see two almost identical queries that go through all notes in the Recipes folder. They then present them in two tables, one with all pasta-related recipes, the other with everything sweet.

Obsidian Notes Database Two Dataview Queries

Here's a killer use for the Obsidian & Dataview combination: task management. You can keep your tasks in notes and add properties like the time needed for their completion, their priority, due date, etc., in your frontmatter metadata.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Task Entry MUO

You can then use Dataview's filtering queries, as we saw above, to comb through them and make sense of them in various lists and tables. You could, for example, create a table that presents all non-completed tasks with a set "due" key on a table.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Query Tasks

The list in our screenshot also displayed completed tasks, though. Instead of looking for some data, you can seek the opposite instead, notes where a key is set to untrue or left empty, by slapping an exclamation mark before it. So, the following query will show all notes in the Tasks folder as a table but exclude those where "Completed" is true.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Tasks Query

The updated table, excluding all completed tasks, should look like this instead:

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Tasks Query Filtered

To have metadata values show up on a table, add them to the TABLE line, separated by commas, like so:

        ```dataview

TABLE Due AS "Deadline", Notes

From "Tasks"

Where Due AND !Completed

```
Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Show More Metadata on Table

That query presents all files in the Tasks folder as a table, but apart from the Due date (as "deadline"), it also shows the values in the "Notes" keys.

Obsidian Notes Database Dataview Show More Metadata on Table Results

Turning Your Notes Into a Database

As we saw, the Obsidian and Dataview combination creates a versatile solution for managing your notes, unlike any other. Using it creatively, the sky's the limit.

You can filter your notes based on individual or groups of metadata values, you can create a database of all your movies and have them listed on separate pages by type and rating, or you can even turn your notes vault into a full-fledged project management solution!

What will you build with Obsidian and Dataview?