Master the App That Helps You Master Your Thoughts.
Obsidian links your notes into a connected web of ideas, built on plain Markdown files you own forever. It’s powerful and endlessly flexible. This Field Guide gets you up to speed, then takes you all the way to power user. Your thoughts, finally connected.
Obsidian is a game changer. The onramp is steep.
Obsidian brings a genuinely new way to work with your thoughts. Link any note to any other, watch ideas connect, and keep everything in plain text files you own and control. People use it to run their research, write dissertations, and manage their whole lives.
And it can absolutely race. But first you have to get some time behind the wheel.
That’s where most people stall. They open Obsidian, see a blank vault and a wall of plugins, and quietly close it again. I’ve watched friends try repeatedly and give up, sure they were missing something.
You’re not missing anything. You just need a guide. That’s me, your Obsidian pal.
Write a note. Link a thought. Watch it connect.
The heart of Obsidian is the link. Wrap a phrase in double brackets and you’ve connected two ideas. Do it enough and your notes stop being a folder of files and start being a map of your thinking.
Around that core sits everything else. Plugins built by the developers and the community, a graph that shows the shape of your thoughts, daily notes, templates, and automation. It can be as simple or as deep as you want.
This guide starts at the very beginning, with Markdown and your first vault, and goes straight through to Dataview, Tasks, Kanban, and the workflows of real power users. Carefully paced, so anyone can keep up.
And because it’s all plain text, your notes are yours forever. No lock-in, no leaving them behind.
Watch a sample of the course
Want to see the teaching style before you commit? Here you go. A free sample lesson, the same clear, walk-a-friend-through-it pace as the rest of the course.
If it clicks, the other 77 videos will too. If it doesn’t, no hard feelings.
From a blank vault to a thinking machine
Obsidian rewards a little structure. The course gives you that structure, one piece at a time, so the depth feels like a ladder instead of a cliff.
Markdown, Made Easy
The plain-text syntax that runs Obsidian, plus its own extra flavor. It sounds intimidating. It isn’t, and you’ll have it down fast.
Vaults, Notes & Sync
Set up your first vault, create and manage notes, and sync everything across your Mac, iPad, and iPhone the safe way.
The Core Plugins
27 tutorials on the built-in features. Graph view, Canvas, Daily Notes, Templates, Properties, Search, and the rest.
Community Plugins
The best of what the community has built. Dataview, Tasks, Kanban, Advanced Tables, and more, with the why as well as the how.
Automating Obsidian
Because your notes are just text files, you can automate them. Text expansion, Shortcuts, and Keyboard Maestro all play along.
Mobile & Real Uses
Obsidian on iPhone and iPad, plus real-world setups: personal knowledge management, research databases, and client work.
A system that grows with you
By the end you won’t just know Obsidian. You’ll have a vault you trust, a way of working that fits your brain, and the confidence to take it as deep as you like.
- A vault set up the right way, synced across your devices.
- Comfort with Markdown and linking as second nature.
- A curated set of plugins that earn their place, not a hundred you’ll never use.
- The know-how to decide how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.
- Notes in plain text that will outlive any app, including this one.
“The crown jewel of the Field Guides”
“David Sparks’ Field Guide can take you from knowing nothing about Obsidian to easily organizing your notes and developing your ideas. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran, David gives you a fresh take on using Obsidian well.”
“The Obsidian Field Guide is all that I had hoped for and then some. David is above all a gifted teacher. He simplifies a complex and powerful program, providing a path to use it productively from the first day.”
“I knew Obsidian was powerful and tried repeatedly to learn it myself. Finally, after finishing this course, I get Obsidian.”
“As a daily user of Obsidian in my work, it’s easy to go down rabbit holes. David brought a tool to help me continue toward mastery. It paid for itself in the first 10 minutes of usage.”
“After struggling for several years trying to figure out what all the buzz was about with Obsidian, MacSparky’s Field Guide finally made it click for me. Highly recommended.”
“My favorite thing about the Obsidian Field Guide is the way the instructor doesn’t try to force me into a box. He gave me the tools to make Obsidian work for me.”
More from people who took the course. Hover any card to pause.
“MacSparky has done it again, taking what could be an overwhelming app and breaking it down into easy to follow pieces. Even the Obsidian power user has something here to take away. Bravo Sir!”
“MacSparky’s Field Guides provide exceptional hands-on tutorials. He meticulously structures the material in a clear, logical format. Highly recommended for practical software guidance.”
“If you want a good understanding of Obsidian, this is the way to go. Nobody explains things better than David. He provides the information you need without making it more complex than necessary.”
“David has a knack for taking complex topics and explaining them in a way that makes it easy to learn. I went from knowing nothing to being comfortable using Obsidian in no time at all.”
“Having tried Obsidian a couple times before without success, I reluctantly gave it one more attempt. The Field Guide is excellent, perfect for beginners. I’m now finally using Obsidian productively.”
“Obsidian is the crown jewel of the Field Guides.”
“This is the third training program I’ve tried, and the only one making concepts stick. I am a professional educator, and MacSparky is among the master educators I’ve encountered in any subject.”
Who this is for, and who it is not
This is for you if
You want your notes to actually work for you.
- You take a lot of notes and wish they connected to each other.
- You’ve tried Obsidian, stared at the blank vault, and bounced off.
- You do research, writing, study, or knowledge work.
- You want to own your notes in plain text, not rent them in someone’s cloud.
- You like the idea of a tool that’s as deep as you want it to be.
This is not for you if
Be honest with yourself on these.
- You want a notes app with zero setup and zero choices.
- You only ever jot a quick list and never look back.
- You want someone else’s exact system imposed on you, not your own.
- You’re not willing to spend a few evenings learning a deep tool.
78 videos, plus the Plus webinars
A carefully paced path from your first note to a power-user vault, with full transcripts and captioning, the Field Guide vault, and the source files to build it locally.
Foundations
Why Obsidian, the Markdown it runs on, and a clean setup from your first vault to syncing across devices.
- The Obsidian journey, and how it compares to other apps
- Markdown basics, Obsidian syntax, and every key setting
- Vault creation, note management, and data syncing
The Core Plugins
27 tutorials on the built-in features that come with Obsidian out of the box.
- Graph view, Canvas, Daily Notes, Templates
- Properties, Search, Backlinks, Bookmarks, Workspaces
Community Plugins & Automation
The community’s best work, plus the automation that plain-text notes make possible.
- Dataview, Tasks, Kanban, Advanced Tables, Outliner
- Text expansion, Shortcuts, and Keyboard Maestro
Mobile, Real Uses & the Webinars
Obsidian on iPhone and iPad, real-world setups, and the Plus Edition webinar series with guest power users.
- PKM, research, client work, and a peek at sparkyOS
- Plus webinars with Nick Milo, Mike Schmitz, Ryan J.A. Murphy, Lee Garrett
- Journaling, Mermaid diagrams, DEVONthink, Drafts, and more
The Plus Edition adds an entire webinar series, recorded and added to the course, with in-depth topics and power-user guests.
One price. Everything included.
No subscription. No upsells. The full course, the Plus webinar series, the vault, and the source files, all yours.
Everything, $99
- 78 video tutorials, six hours of streaming or downloadable instruction
- The Plus webinar series, six more hours with guest power users
- Access to the Obsidian Field Guide vault and the source files
- Full transcripts in PDF and ePub, every lesson captioned
- Lifetime access, on any device you own
Check out with Stripe
Secure checkout, taxes handled, receipt in your inbox.
Your invite arrives
A second email lands moments later with your personal access link.
Start building your vault
Everything is waiting in the MacSparky community, vault and source files included.
David Sparks
David started MacSparky in 2007 and has spent the years since teaching people to get more out of their technology and their time. He programmed his first computer in 1980 and has chased a calmer, clearer way to think ever since.
He fell for Obsidian during its early beta and never looked back. He runs his entire life and business out of an Obsidian vault he calls sparkyOS, and you’ll get a peek inside it in the course.
He publishes the MacSparky blog, cohosts the Mac Power Users, Automators, and Focused podcasts, and runs the MacSparky Labs. Building this course was a passion project, and it shows.
Frequently asked
Do I need to buy Obsidian? +
Obsidian is free for personal use from obsidian.md. The optional paid Sync service keeps your vault in sync across devices. The course shows that and a few free sync options too, so you can choose.
Will this work on my devices? +
Yes. The course leans Apple, and includes full sections on Obsidian on iPhone and iPad. Obsidian itself runs on every major platform, so what you learn carries across.
What’s the Plus Edition? +
The Plus Edition adds a six-hour webinar series on top of the 78 core videos, with deeper topics and guest power users like Nick Milo, Mike Schmitz, Ryan J.A. Murphy, and Lee Garrett. All sessions are recorded and waiting in the course.
I’m brand new to Obsidian. Is this too advanced? +
Not at all. The course is carefully paced from the very beginning, starting with Markdown and your first vault. Plenty of students arrive having tried and failed before, and leave finally using Obsidian with confidence.
How is the course delivered, and can I download it? +
The Field Guide lives in the MacSparky community on Circle. After you buy, you get a receipt and then an invitation with your access link. The videos stream or download, you get PDF and ePub transcripts, and you get the Field Guide vault plus the source files.
What’s the refund policy? +
14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. If the course isn’t for you, write in within the first 14 days and you get a full refund.
Master the app that helps you master your thoughts
Every note you write is a thought you can connect to another. Learn the links, learn the plugins, and Obsidian stops being an app and starts being a map of how you think.