Free Obsidian Search Cheat Sheet

A free 13-page PDF to keep open next to your vault: the search commands and operators worth remembering, and the search escalation ladder, which tells you which tool to try first.

The problem

You wrote the note. You know it's in the vault. Search returns forty results, or none, and you can't remember what you called it. Most of the time you're re-finding something you've already seen, and the tool that works depends on what you remember about it: the title, a phrase, a date, a related note, or only the idea.

What's inside

• The cheat sheet. The quick switcher, the Search operators, Bases, the Obsidian CLI, ripgrep, fzf and qmd: the commands and operators worth remembering.
• The search escalation ladder. What to try first, then next, from the cheapest tool to the most powerful: a title, an exact phrase, filters, a date or property, a related note, and finally the idea only.

Who it's for

Obsidian users who can find most things but lose time on the rest. It works with any vault.

Get the cheat sheet

Enter your email and I'll send the PDF right away. You'll also get a few short emails over the next two weeks about finding notes in Obsidian, one idea each. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Where it comes from

The cheat sheet condenses my free 12-part series The Complete Guide to Obsidian Search. If you want the whole method in one book, with exercises, there is The Obsidian Search Handbook.

About the author

I'm Sébastien Dubois. I have been building knowledge systems for 20+ years, and I run my whole business out of an Obsidian vault. I created the Obsidian Starter Kit, the Knowii community, and I write DeveloPassion's Newsletter about personal knowledge management and AI.