Spaced repetition in Obsidian: a complete guide to the Spaced Repetition and Recall plugins

You have hundreds of notes — but you don’t remember anything you wrote in them? This is exactly the problem I ran into myself. And I solved it with two plugins and 10–15 minutes a day.

What spaced repetition is and why it works

Spaced repetition is a memorisation method based on scientific data about how human memory works. The German scientist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered back in the 19th century: most information is forgotten within an hour of studying it, if you don’t reinforce it with repetition. This pattern was named the forgetting curve.

On the basis of this theory, algorithms were developed that help you return to the material at the right moment — not too early (while you still remember) and not too late (when you’ve already forgotten). The most famous of them is the SM-2 algorithm, created by Piotr Woźniak, the founder of SuperMemo. It’s exactly this that underlies most modern memorisation apps, including Anki.

The principle is simple: you try to recall information, you rate how hard it was — and the algorithm itself assigns the next repetition date:

Easy → the next repetition in 7 days, then in 14, then in a month, etc.
Medium → in 3–4 days
Hard → already tomorrow, until it becomes easier

This way, you repeat easy material rarely, and hard material more often. This saves time and significantly increases the percentage of information retained in long-term memory.

Why it’s more effective than simple re-reading

The method is based on two principles of cognitive psychology:

Active Recall — you don’t re-read a ready-made text, but try to recall it on your own. It’s precisely this effort that lays down stable pathways in memory. Passive reading creates an illusion of understanding — but not memorisation.

Interleaving — alternating different subjects during repetition. Today psychology, then economics, then English. The brain doesn’t get bored, and switching between contexts strengthens memorisation.

From personal experience

I used to be able to re-read a note five times — and not remember it a week later. Now one repetition at the right moment — and it stays for a long time. The difference isn’t in the amount of time, but in how you work with the information.

Two plugins for spaced repetition in Obsidian

Obsidian has two main plugins for spaced repetition, and they solve different tasks:

Plugin	For what	Principle
Spaced Repetition	Flashcards (words, definitions, facts)	A flashcard system inside notes
Recall	Whole notes	Tracking notes with a repetition schedule

I use both: the first — for memorising words and terms, the second — for repeating full-fledged notes with concepts and ideas.

Installing the plugins

Open Settings (the gear icon in the bottom left corner)
Go to the Community plugins section
If safe mode is on — turn it off
Click Browse and in the search type:
- Spaced Repetition — install and enable
- Recall — install and enable

Tip: Also install the Buttons plugin — you’ll need it to create the convenient buttons I’ll show further on.

The Spaced Repetition plugin: flashcards for words and terms

How to create a flashcard

Open any note and add the tag #flashcards at the start or end of the file. For convenience you can specify the category via a slash: #flashcards/psychology, #flashcards/english, #flashcards/economics.

Then add a card in the format:

Term::Definition

For example:

Cognitive dissonance::The psychological discomfort from a contradiction between beliefs and actions

The double colon :: is the separator between the question and the answer. The question is shown first, the answer is hidden.

How to go through a repetition

On the left sidebar of Obsidian the Spaced Repetition plugin icon will appear
Click it — a list of categories with cards will open
Choose a category or click “Review all”
You see a word or term → try to recall the answer → click “Show answer”
You rate the difficulty: Hard / Good / Easy

After the rating, a label with the date of the next repetition will automatically appear in the note. You don’t need to track the dates manually — when the time comes, the card will appear in the queue on its own.

Additional card formats

The plugin supports several formats:

# A reversed card (the question and answer swap places)
Term:::Definition

# A card with a gap (cloze)
Ebbinghaus discovered the ==forgetting curve== in the 19th century.

The gap format is especially handy for memorising dates, formulas and specific facts.

The Recall plugin: repeating whole notes

How to add a note to tracking

Open the note you want to memorise
Press Ctrl + P (the command palette)
Type Recall: Track Note and choose the command
In the right panel of the note the text “Next Review: Now” will appear — this means the note is added to the queue

Nothing will change in the note itself — no tags or symbols. All the information about the schedule is stored in a separate file in the root of the vault.

How to go through note repetition

Ctrl + P → Recall: Review
A window will open with the note’s heading, its title and the file path
Try to recall the note’s content — what is it about? What are the key ideas?
Click “Show answer” and open the note
Rate the difficulty → the algorithm will assign the next date

Important: Recall works with whole notes, so it’s best suited for atomic notes — small ones, focused on one idea. If a note is too big and contains many different thoughts, break it into several separate ones.

Automation: buttons for the daily routine

When I’d figured out the plugins, the next step was simplifying the process to a minimum. I created buttons that launch the needed commands in one click.

Buttons for the daily note

Insert the following code into your daily note (or the daily note template). For the buttons to work you need the Buttons plugin:

```button
name 📒 Review notes
type command
action Recall: Review
color black
class btn-inline
```

```button
name 🗨️ Review words
type command
action Spaced Repetition: Review flashcards from all notes
color black
class btn-inline
```

A button for new notes

I add this button to the template for creating new notes — so that with one press I add the note to Recall tracking:

```button
name 📒 Track
type command
action Recall: Track Note
color black
class btn-inline
```

My morning routine

Now my process looks like this:

In the morning I open the daily note
I write down the tasks for the day
I press ”📒 Review notes” — I go through a Recall Review
I press “🗨️ Review words” — I go through a flashcard session
During the day I create new notes, and if a note is important — I press ”📒 Track”

The whole process takes 10–15 minutes. The algorithm manages the schedule itself.

Tips for the system to work effectively

Start slowly. Don’t add 50 notes and 200 cards right away. Start with 3 notes and a few words — assess the feeling, tune the process for yourself.

Make your notes atomic. One note — one idea. If a note has too many thoughts, break it up. This makes it both easier to memorise and more effective to repeat.

Add examples and illustrations. The brain remembers concrete images better than abstract text. The Excalidraw plugin is great for drawings right inside a note.

Create connections between notes. Associative memory works more strongly than isolated facts. Look for how a new idea is connected with what you already know, and create links between notes.

Be careful with the “Easy” button. If you press it too early — the note or word will go several months ahead. If you recalled it with effort or not fully — choose “Hard.” Better an extra repetition than lost information.

Alternate topics. Don’t repeat just one category in a row. Psychology → economics → English → history. This is interleaving, which strengthens memorisation.

From time to time give yourself an exam. I upload my notes into Google’s NotebookLM and ask the system to quiz me on the material. This helps reveal weak spots — what seems familiar, but in fact isn’t absorbed.

PRO level: the FSRS algorithm

If you’ve already mastered spaced repetition and want to go further — get acquainted with the FSRS algorithm (Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler).

It was created by the researcher Jarrett Ye and became publicly available in 2022. Unlike SM-2, FSRS uses a more complex memory model: it takes into account memory stability and the probability of recall at each specific moment. According to tests, FSRS lets you do 20–30% fewer repetitions at the same level of memorisation.

At the moment FSRS isn’t available directly in the Obsidian plugins — the authors plan to add it in future versions. However, it can already be used through synchronisation with Anki.

Briefly about Anki

Anki is a separate app for spaced repetition, which is considered the gold standard in this field. It works on all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) and has a huge library of ready-made card decks.

To enable FSRS in Anki:

On the main screen click the gear icon next to the deck
Go to Options
In the “Scheduler” section enable FSRS

FSRS in Anki is already trained on millions of repetitions and shows excellent results. In one of the next materials I’ll go through how to set up Obsidian + Anki synchronisation, to use the best of both tools.

Alternatives

If for some reason the Obsidian plugins don’t suit you, here are a few alternatives:

Anki — the most powerful solution for cards, especially with FSRS. The downside: it’s not integrated with your notes directly.
RemNote — a note app with built-in spaced repetition. It works right in the text, without separate plugins.
Notion + plugins — there are templates with an imitation of spaced repetition, but without real algorithms.
Logseq — an Obsidian alternative with a built-in flashcard plugin.

In my opinion, for those who already keep a knowledge base in Obsidian, the Spaced Repetition + Recall combination is the optimal solution: everything in one place, no extra apps.

A ready-made system with configured buttons

If you want to start quickly and without unnecessary setup — take a look at my Obsidian knowledge-base template. It already has configured:

A structure for keeping notes
Templates for different types of notes
A daily note with a ready structure
Convenient buttons for daily work

You can add the spaced-repetition buttons yourself using the codes from this article — it'll take literally five minutes.

👉 The Elton Labs knowledge-base template

The takeaway

Obsidian is just a tool. Without active work with information, it turns into a storage of notes that no one re-reads. Spaced repetition is what turns a passive knowledge base into a real memory system.

Start small:

Install the Spaced Repetition and Recall plugins
Add 3 notes to Recall
Create 5–10 cards with new words or terms
Set up buttons in the daily note

Within a week you’ll feel the difference. And within a month — you’ll be amazed at how you managed without it before.