I’ve been using Obsidian for my note taking for a little while and I love it. I love you can just do a quick [[[other note]]] and it will link to the other note. I love that the full thing is just in markdown files, so that I can have full control; even if Obsidian were to disappear.

The one thing that is a little frustrating for me is getting my notes synced between my desktop, laptop, and phone. I have tried using syncthing to just sync the markdown files directly and it worked pretty well. But, it seems a bit overkill on my phone. I think I’d rather move to a single server that I can connect them to and they can sync from there.

I have looked into a few plugins. I saw that there a git one. I am a developer. So, that seems like the natural way for me to do it. But, I also saw a post on reddit where they suggested webdav. Which might be closer to what I want. I don’t need it to be where I can type on two devices and have the stuff sync super fast or something. I just want to type my notes, close the app, and when I open it on a different device; I want it to have my latest notes ready for me.

What are you personally using for Obsidian? I’d love to hear from other people here. I don’t want to pay for Obsidian’s subscription service. I want to host it myself.

  • snrkl@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    8·
    9 days ago

    For what it’s worth, I ended up choosing the obsidian sync service. While it goes against my “self host everything” mantra, I do also want to support software makers who make great products that respect peoples privacy. As such, I decided the $8/m investment was warranted.

    My son in highschool uses Obsidian for all his school note taking, so he actually is able to use the same sync subscription… As each vault has separate keys, there’s no privacy issues between us…

    My favourite part of this solution is it supports live update from multiple devices at once, so I have the vault open on phone, tablet, home laptop and work laptop simultaneously, and it just works…

    Just thought it was worth sharing.

      • Father_Redbeard@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 days ago

        Don’t know if you saw that they added a $4/mo tier for Obsidian Sync. I thought $8/mo was too high and went to cancel it and saw the cheaper price. For how well it works as far as speed and reliability of syncing with version control, it’s worth that for me.

      • snrkl@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        2·
        9 days ago

        Oh, I totally get it… I’ve been in the same place many times (and I’m sure I will be again…)

        I just have a policy of trying to support these things whenever I’m able to, otherwise I feel I’m not able to grumble when privacy respecting apps disappear from existence through lack of financial support…

        • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          12€ (I believe) is way too much to using it maybe once every week for private use.
          If it was something like Bitwarden where it’s around 10€ per year I would be totally up to paying it

          • layzerjeyt@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            1·
            2 days ago

            I wish more projects would have cheap rate subscriptions. Bitwarden was my first floss subscription and I don’t even consider canceling it even though I don’t really need any of the premium features. (I think its more like 1€ per month.)

            But these “its the price of a fancy coffee per month” ones… Girl I haven’t had a fancy coffee since like 2018.

  • november@lemmy.vgEnglish
    391·
    10 days ago

    I’m using Syncthing. It doesn’t feel like overkill, especially since I’m also using it for music and photos. I basically just set it up and forget about it.

    • S13Ni@lemmy.studioEnglish
      91·
      10 days ago

      Same, but apparently android app is no longer supported since google play was too annoying for the developer. So wondering how long I can keep it up.

        • N0x0n@lemmy.mlEnglish
          4·
          10 days ago

          Planning to close my Google Play Developer Account. Please say hi if you are interested in obtaining the latest gplay release files from me to help in publishing this app.

          Seems like most open source project are leaving Google’s official store? That’s nice but will leave out some potential visibility for people who have no idea other than Google Store.

          I wish their was also an easy way to leave github behind :/. Wait&See !!

          • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
            2·
            9 days ago

            When Google doesn’t restrict apps via the Android APIs, they restrict them via the BS Play Store review requirements. I’ve seen apps loose important functionality over this, meanwhile there’s still rampant viruses roaming free in that dump.

            I predict we’ll see more and more ‘Power user’ apps move away from the Play Store as time goes on

      • Damage@feddit.itEnglish
        7·
        10 days ago

        Just like @BearOfaTime@lemm.ee suggested, Syncthing-fork works fine for now, I’ve been using it on my phone to sync logseq notes and I haven’t had any issues so far

  • wraith@lemm.eeEnglish
    13·
    10 days ago

    Look at the LiveSync plugin as another option. It’s pretty robust but does require a CouchDB server accessible to whatever devices will be syncing information. The developer has several repos of slightly different server options, but if you use Tailscale there’s one that runs CouchDB through Tailscale Funnel.

  • Evilschnuff@feddit.orgEnglish
    5·
    10 days ago

    I’m using the plugin remotely save and sync via WebDAV. Nextcloud provides a WebDAV interface so it’s pretty straight forward, and I can read my vault online via Nextcloud Web. Im mostly happy with it but sometimes there are some sync hiccups if versions of the plugin are very far apart but I also have 5-6 instances of obsidian that I need to keep in sync.

    • slug@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      this is my setup as well, shout out to removely save. and i never have any sync issues with 3 clients.

  • hinterlufer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    10 days ago

    the obsidian-git plugin. Auto commits and pulls/push every x minutes. Works great for me, I get full version control and works on all my platforms (Linux, Windows, Android). You just need to be careful with your .gitignore and add at least .obsidian/workspace.json to prevent conflicts.

    Probably not suitable if you store larger files, but after a year of daily usage with tons of small images I’m still below 150 MB.

  • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    2·
    10 days ago

    Just sync it using whatever cloud service you use, doesnt matter if selfhosted or not. ie. DIY

    BTW if your library gets large and has a lot of plugins, it wont run to any useful degree on your phone.

    • Nine@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 days ago

      OP said they don’t want/can’t use the built in paid sync service and wants to self host it

  • boatswain@infosec.pubEnglish
    17·
    9 days ago

    It seems to me that Syncthing is the exact right thing to use here; what is “overkill” about it that makes you think you should use something else?

  • Skunk@jlai.luEnglish
    6·
    10 days ago

    I just have my vault default location saved on a cloud drive. iCloud in my case as I have an IPhone but I guess it could be done with any cloud or owncloud if you have a server.

    I used to use Git, but it is easier to just move the vault on a network/cloud drive as you don’t need to pull/push. As obsidian auto save when you type a character this makes the sync instantaneous with zero effort.

      • Maulana M. Diansyahbani@misskey.id
        0·
        9 days ago

        @Ogygus@lemmy.world reading the readme (https://github.com/LBF38/obsidian-syncthing-integration - or search Syncthing Integration on Community Plugins), it apparently offers conflicting files resolution (happens to me from time to time when I forgot to sync before opening daily notes, but not a big deal) and an option to modify .stignore from obsidian (stil in beta, and also the same for most of the configurable settings), among other features. Just to be clear, you still need to install Syncthing on your devices. I’m not in the position to give any meaningful review for them, though.

  • boaratio@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    8 days ago

    I know this doesn’t answer your question, but I love obsidian and have no problem paying for the sync. If anyone can’t afford to do so, I completely get it and am not judging. But the company behind obsidian has taken zero VC funding, and are doing amazing things. I highly encourage folks to support them if you have the means.