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Basic formatting syntax

Learn how to apply basic formatting to your notes, using Markdown. For more advanced formatting syntax, refer to Advanced formatting syntax.

Paragraphs

To create paragraphs, use a blank line to separate one or more lines of text.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

Multiple blank spaces

Headings

To create a heading, add up to six # symbols before your heading text. The number of # symbols determines the size of the heading.

# This is a heading 1
## This is a heading 2
### This is a heading 3
#### This is a heading 4
##### This is a heading 5
###### This is a heading 6

This is a heading 1

This is a heading 2

This is a heading 3

This is a heading 4

This is a heading 5
This is a heading 6

Bold, italics, highlights

Text formatting can also be applied using Editing shortcuts.

Style Syntax Example Output
Bold ** ** or __ __ **Bold text** Bold text
Italic * * or _ _ *Italic text* Italic text
Strikethrough ~~ ~~ ~~Striked out text~~ Striked out text
Highlight == == ==Highlighted text== ==Highlighted text==
Bold and nested italic ** ** and _ _ **Bold text and _nested italic_ text** Bold text and nested italic text
Bold and italic *** *** or ___ ___ ***Bold and italic text*** Bold and italic text

Formatting can be forced to display in plain text by adding a backslash \ in front of it.

This line will not be bold

\*\*This line will not be bold\*\*

_This line will be italic and show the asterisks_

\**This line will be italic and show the asterisks*\*

Obsidian supports two formats for internal links between notes:

  • Wikilink: [[Three laws of motion]]
  • Markdown: [Three laws of motion](Three%20laws%20of%20motion.md)

If you want to link to an external URL, you can create an inline link by surrounding the link text in brackets ([ ]), and then the URL in parentheses (( )).

[Obsidian Help](https://help.obsidian.md)

Obsidian Help

You can also create external links to files in other vaults, by linking to an Obsidian URI.

[Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=Note.md)

If your URL contains blank spaces, you must escape them by replacing them with %20.

[My Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My%20Note.md)

You can also escape the URL by wrapping it with angled brackets (< >).

[My Note](<obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My Note.md>)

External images

You can add images with external URLs, by adding a ! symbol before an external link.

![Engelbart](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

Engelbart

You can change the image dimensions, by adding |640x480 to the link destination, where 640 is the width and 480 is the height.

![Engelbart|100x145](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

If you only specify the width, the image scales according to its original aspect ratio. For example:

![Engelbart|100](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

Tip

If you want to add an image from inside your vault, you can also embed an image in a note.

Quotes

You can quote text by adding a > symbols before the text.

> Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

\- Doug Engelbart, 1961

Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

  • Doug Engelbart, 1961

Tip

You can turn your quote into a callout by adding [!info] as the first line in a quote.

Lists

You can create an unordered list by adding a -*, or + before the text.

- First list item
- Second list item
- Third list item
  • First list item
  • Second list item
  • Third list item

To create an ordered list, start each line with a number followed by a . symbol.

1. First list item
2. Second list item
3. Third list item
  1. First list item
  2. Second list item
  3. Third list item

Task lists

To create a task list, start each list item with a hyphen and space followed by [ ].

- [x] This is a completed task.
- [ ] This is an incomplete task.
  • This is a completed task.
  • This is an incomplete task.

You can toggle a task in Reading view by selecting the checkbox.

Tip

You can use any character inside the brackets to mark it as complete.

- [x] Milk
- [?] Eggs
- [-] Eggs
  • Milk
  • Eggs
  • Eggs

Nesting lists

All list types can be nested in Obsidian.

To create a nested list, indent one or more list items:

1. First list item
   1. Ordered nested list item
2. Second list item
   - Unordered nested list item
  1. First list item
    1. Ordered nested list item
  2. Second list item
    • Unordered nested list item

Similarly, you can create a nested task list by indenting one or more list items:

- [ ] Task item 1
	- [ ] Subtask 1
- [ ] Task item 2
	- [ ] Subtask 1
  • Task item 1
    • Subtask 1
  • Task item 2
    • Subtask 1

Use Tab or Shift+Tab to indent or unindent one or more selected list items for easy organization.

Horizontal rule

You can use three or more stars ***, hyphens ---, or underscore ___ on its own line to add a horizontal bar. You can also separate symbols using spaces.

***
****
* * *
---
----
- - -
___
____
_ _ _

Code

You can format code both inline within a sentence, or in its own block.

Inline code

You can format code within a sentence using single backticks.

Text inside `backticks` on a line will be formatted like code.

Text inside backticks on a line will be formatted like code.

If you want to put backticks in an inline code block, surround it with double backticks like so: inline code with a backtick ` inside.

Code blocks

To format a block of code, surround the code with triple backticks.

```
cd ~/Desktop
```
cd ~/Desktop

You can also create a code block by indenting the text using Tab or 4 blank spaces.

    cd ~/Desktop

You can add syntax highlighting to a code block, by adding a language code after the first set of backticks.

```js
function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}
```
function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}

Obsidian uses Prism for syntax highlighting. For more information, refer to Supported languages.

Note

Source mode and Live Preview do not support PrismJS, and may render syntax highlighting differently.

Footnotes

You can add footnotes[1] to your notes using the following syntax:

This is a simple footnote[^1].

[^1]: This is the referenced text.
[^2]: Add 2 spaces at the start of each new line.
  This lets you write footnotes that span multiple lines.
[^note]: Named footnotes still appear as numbers, but can make it easier to identify and link references.

You can also inline footnotes in a sentence. Note that the caret goes outside the brackets.

You can also use inline footnotes. ^[This is an inline footnote.]

Note

Inline footnotes only work in reading view, not in Live Preview.

Comments

You can add comments by wrapping text with %%. Comments are only visible in Editing view.

This is an %%inline%% comment.

%%
This is a block comment.

Block comments can span multiple lines.
%%

Learn more

To learn more advanced formatting syntax, such as tables, diagrams, and math expressions, refer to Advanced formatting syntax.

To learn more about how Obsidian parses Markdown, refer to Obsidian Flavored Markdown.


  1. This is a footnote.↩︎

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