|||

PTPL 120 · Quick Add vs Text Expansion in Obsidian

Plus a backup tip for people using apps like Tana and Notion

This week: Quick Add plugin vs external text expansion in Obsidian. When using apps that make it hard to leave (like Tana and Notion), make sure you’re willing to do the manual backing up needed to save the things you’d cry over if they were lost.


Quick Add vs Text Expansion in Obsidian

If you’re on Medium, Kara Monroe has an Automation series that’s worth checking out. Her story on Quick Add in Obsidian is a good reference piece.

While the Quick Add plugin makes adding notes with complex templates easier, I don’t know that it’s needed in my case.

I usually create a new note then add a pre-defined front matter section using a text expander like Espanso or Keyboard Maestro. The Auto Note Mover plugin takes predefined headers or tags from the front matter and pops notes right where I want them.

Speaking of Espanso, I like the idea of it (being FOSS and all), but I’m having trouble getting multi-line text blocks to work. Any tips?

Keyboard Maestro is king of the heap as far as I can see, given that I can also set a keystroke shortcut to trigger opening specific apps, windows and menu items, as well as pausing between steps. Simple text expansion actions can then be inserted into more complex macros.

Beware of apps that make it hard to leave

I see nothing wrong with people with good backup habits using apps that let them cleanly export to an open format. Sadly, Tana seems to be in the category of apps that make this difficult.

liko recently cancelled their Tana subscription, and told me they didn’t export any data because Tana makes it hard (if not impossible) to do that in any kind of useful form. Sad! Tana looks like a fantastic app in many other ways. Rule 1: Keep your data portable.

Notion recently blocked access to users in Russia, which will leave thousands of people without access to their notes as of September 8. Fortunately they have a Markdown export, amongst other formats. Sadly, people in Russia who don’t hear this news in time will have their notes deleted with no way to retrieve them.

Now I’m not trying to turn anyone away from Tana or Notion; that’s not my point at all. If you’re enjoying the app and getting a lot out of it, I’m delighted for you! Keep up to date, manual (open format) backups of anything you’d cry over if it were lost, and you’re all good.

What’s an open format backup?

One that lets you read your data outside of the app that created it, and get it into other apps in a usable state, without added formatting cruft. Think plain text, Markdown, PDF, OPML. Files like .docx and .indd can only be read in Word and InDesign respectively.

And in other news…

I’ve finally signed up to Blot and am working my way through a list of all the fun things that need doing when moving one site to another. As of next week, the read for free’ side of my articles published on Medium will redirect to my own site. So far it’s going well, and I’m loving the process! People who subscribed via Substack will continue to receive a weekly email, via Convertkit (soon to be Kit).


Follow my RSS feed, or sign up to receive posts in your inbox  

 

My posts cost you nothing to read, but a goodly amount of effort on my part to put together. If you’ve found value here I invite you to share this post with someone you think will appreciate it, or to make a contribution to my support jar

Up next Touch Typing For Classic Book Fans PTPL 121 · Getting Focused With a 4-Quadrant Weekly Planning Matrix
Latest posts Classifying Notes in an OBTF, Inspired By the Dash-Plus System 2025 Markdown Calendars If You’re Keeping Tasks in Your Calendar, I Hope You Know What You’re Doing No and Low-Clutter Gifts for Apple, PKM, and Analog Enthusiasts PTPL 129 · Live Out of Your Notes the Way Tom Lives Out of His Car Inktober 2024 PTPL 128 · Keep Your Content Separate From the Container in Which It Lives PTPL 127 · On Backing Up Paper, and Static Websites for Tiny Archives Efficient App Agnostic Tasks in a Single Plain Text File (Obsidian Optional) PTPL 126 · What the Dash-Plus System Looks Like in My OBTF and Analog Notes Word Puzzles (that aren’t Wordle) PTPL 125 · Choosing Between Digital and Analog, and a Plain Text Accounting Update How to Keep Your Wheels Turning Smoothly Despite the Automation Paradox PTPL 124 · Saving Safari tabs as Markdown links, and Mono Fonts in Obsidian Looking Through Windows (From the Outside In) PTPL 123 · ‘Analog Office’ Blog and Tomoe River Planner Recommendations Mastodon and the Fediverse — Social Media’s Brighter Future Celebrating Independent Indie Blogs PTPL 122 · Aligning Your Task List with Your (Changing) Values PTPL 121 · Getting Focused With a 4-Quadrant Weekly Planning Matrix PTPL 120 · Quick Add vs Text Expansion in Obsidian Touch Typing For Classic Book Fans Your Name in Landsat Psst — They Don't Know What You're Talking About PTPL 119 · Yes, You Can Be Plain-Text Enlightened and Still Use Apple’s Reminders! PTPL 118 · My Simple, Sensible Plain Text to Proprietary App Workflow PTPL 117 · Oh, You Like Making Notes! Why Not Use… ? PTPL 116 · Plain Text Accounting Level 1, Complete! PTPL 115 · There’s Something New at the Top of My One Big Text File PTPL 114 · Obsidian, Silver Bullet, and Org-Mode—3 Different Approaches to Working With Notes PTPL 113 · Some Free Tools Cost Too Much
... ... ... ...