Working with notes used to drain a lot of my energy. I constantly had to open something, launch something, close something, move the mouse somewhere. At some point it started to feel easier to grab a piece of paper and write there than to fight through all those clicks.
Then I moved the whole routine onto hotkeys — and the work changed completely. Now I create a note straight into the right template in a second, instantly find anything, open today’s tasks with one combination, and even talk to AI right inside the app — based on my own notes.
In this article I’ll break down every hotkey from my set: what it does, why it’s needed and how to set it up for yourself. I explain it as simply as possible — even if you’ve opened Obsidian for the first time, everything will be clear.
🟣 What is Obsidian? (expand if you're a complete beginner)
Obsidian is a free note-taking app. But unlike an ordinary notepad, here every note can link to others, and over time you end up with a personal “knowledge base” — a connected network of everything you’ve learned, read or thought up.
A few simple terms you’ll meet below:
- Vault — simply a folder on your computer where all the notes live. Everything is stored locally, in plain text files.
- Note — a single file with text. You can format it, insert images and links.
- Template — a pre-made “skeleton” of a note (with the right fields, headings, tags) so you don’t have to format every entry from scratch.
- Plugin — a mini add-on that gives the app new capabilities. There are thousands, and most are free.
- Daily note — a separate note for each day, handy for dumping tasks and thoughts.
- Panel — a side column on the left or right (that’s where files, search, plugins, etc. live).
- Tab — an open note, like a tab in a browser.
In short: Obsidian is your “second brain”, and hotkeys turn it into a very fast second brain.
🖨️ A cheat sheet to print out
Print this table and pin it in front of you for the first couple of weeks. That’s exactly how hotkeys become a habit: your eyes catch them, your hand repeats them — and very soon you’ll stop thinking about them.
⚠️ These are my personal combinations — some I set up myself, some work through plugins. Below in the article it’s described in detail how to assign the same ones for yourself. Mac users normally use Cmd (⌘) instead of Ctrl.
| Combination | What it does |
|---|---|
| 📝 Creating and capturing thoughts | |
| Ctrl + N | Create a note straight into the right template |
| Ctrl + Alt + N | Create a note from any app (even when Obsidian is minimised) |
| Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Quickly open Obsidian from the background |
| Ctrl + Shift + Space | Open the AI chat from any window |
| 🤖 AI inside Obsidian | |
| Ctrl + R | Open/close the right panel (my AI lives there) |
| Ctrl + Shift + R | Open/close the left panel |
| Ctrl + K | A dialogue with AI over your own notes |
| Ctrl + Shift + V | Voice input: you speak — you get text |
| Ctrl + Shift + − | AI editor: rewrite the selected text |
| 🧭 Navigation | |
| Ctrl + O | Find and open any note by its title |
| Ctrl + Q | Go back (to the previous note) |
| Ctrl + W | Close the current tab |
| Alt + A | Open the home page |
| Alt + W | Open the daily note (today's tasks and thoughts) |
| Alt + Y | Delete the note |
| ⚙️ Little things that save your nerves | |
| Ctrl + S | Remember the cursor position in a note |
| Ctrl + "+" / "−" | Increase / decrease the text size |
| Alt + H | Toggle the line width (narrow column / full width) |
| Ctrl + P | Command palette — the fallback for any action |
💜 Don't want to set it all up by hand?
I’ve packaged my system into a ready-made Obsidian vault template. Some of the automations from this article are already set up there and work right after installation, and I release updates regularly, so the system keeps growing with new features. 👉 Download: template
How hotkeys actually work in Obsidian
A hotkey is a combination of keys that triggers an action without the mouse. You probably already know some: for example, in most apps Ctrl + B makes text bold and Ctrl + I makes it italic.
The modifiers themselves (the keys you hold while pressing another):
Where Obsidian beats an ordinary notepad: here you can control literally everything with hotkeys — create notes, insert templates, open panels, launch plugins and even change the appearance.
Where to set them up:
- Open Settings (the gear in the bottom left).
- Go to the “Hotkeys” section.
- In the search box type the name of the command — for example, “daily” for the daily note.
- Click the ”+” icon next to the command and press the combination you want.
- If the combination is already taken, Obsidian will highlight the conflict — pick another one.
That’s it. Next I’ll go through each of my keys in turn — and along the way explain which command or plugin sits behind it.
Where the "commands" for the keys come from
Some actions are built into Obsidian from the start. And some are plugins (free add-ons) and automations that I set up myself. Below, for each key, I note exactly what sits behind it, so you can reproduce it.
A universal life hack: how to actually train yourself
The main reason people “can’t” do hotkeys — they don’t use them. The hand reaches for the mouse out of habit, and in a day everything is forgotten.
My trick is extremely simple: I wrote the combinations I needed on a piece of paper and pinned it in front of me (that very cheat sheet above). My eyes catch it every time I want to reach for the mouse — and within a couple of weeks it all becomes automatic.
And this trick works not only in Obsidian. You can master hotkeys this way in any program — in the browser, in Photoshop, in a video editor. So do print the cheat sheet — it’s not a formality, it’s a genuinely working method.
📝 Block 1. Creating and capturing thoughts
Ctrl + N — a note straight into a template
In plain Obsidian the Ctrl + N combination also creates a note, but it creates an empty page. That didn’t suit me: I have my own template (with the right fields, tags, buttons), and I wanted it to be inserted automatically.
The automation logic (without the technical details): I used the free QuickAdd plugin. With a single command it can create a new note and immediately insert a predefined template into the right folder. That QuickAdd command is what I put on Ctrl + N instead of the standard one.
What it gives in practice: a thought arrives → I press Ctrl + N → in front of me is not a blank sheet, but a ready structure. All that’s left is to write the substance. I used to spend about half a minute formatting each entry, and there are dozens of such entries a day.
💜 This automation is already ready in my template
Setting up QuickAdd from scratch is the most tedious part. In template creating a note from a template already works out of the box.
Ctrl + Alt + N — capturing a thought from anywhere
Sometimes a thought arrives when Obsidian is closed or minimised altogether. The Tray plugin helps here — it lets you “minimise” Obsidian into the computer’s background (into the system tray by the clock) rather than close it completely.
To it I added an automation on Ctrl + Alt + N: this combination works from any app. You’re watching a video in the browser, a valuable thought flashes by — usually, by the time you find the Obsidian window and create a note, the thought has already flown off. But here one combination — and the capture window is in front of you in two seconds, without leaving what you were doing.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab — quickly open Obsidian
If Obsidian is minimised into the background, this combination instantly brings it back up. A small thing, but when the program is always “at hand”, you use it far more often.
Ctrl + Shift + Space — AI chat from any window
And this is my favourite. The combination opens an AI chat from any app or screen — browser, document, even a game. Wanted to check a fact or brainstorm some ideas — you get the answer and close it, without breaking your focus and without opening extra tabs.
What's important to understand about the AI features
Next there will be a few AI features. I won’t dive into the technical “kitchen” — what matters is understanding what they give you, not how they work under the hood. They are all set up to work right inside Obsidian and rely on your notes.
🤖 Block 2. AI right inside Obsidian
Ctrl + R and Ctrl + Shift + R — the panels
Obsidian has two side columns — left and right. My AI assistant lives in the right panel, and I’m constantly either opening it or hiding it:
- Ctrl + R — show/hide the right panel.
- Ctrl + Shift + R — show/hide the left panel.
Why hide them: when I’m working on a note or reading, extra columns distract me. I collapse everything unnecessary — and I’m left with clean text and maximum concentration. Need the AI — one key, and it’s in front of me again.
Ctrl + K — a dialogue with AI over your own notes
This is my script called Explainator. The key difference from a regular chatbot: a regular AI knows nothing about your notes and answers with general words from the internet. This one, before answering, finds the entries in your vault related to the question by meaning itself, and answers taking your personal context into account.
Example: I ask “what did I write about this book a couple of weeks ago?” — and it doesn’t make things up, but assembles the answer from my own notes and recent daily notes. The result is a personal assistant that remembers everything you’ve ever written down.
💜 Ready in the template
The Explainator script is included in template — you don’t need to build it by hand.
Ctrl + Shift + V — voice input
The combination opens the microphone — I just speak. The AI transcribes the speech into clean text (without the “ums” and slips of the tongue) and lets you insert it right into the open note.
A lifesaver when you have lots of thoughts and typing is slow or you can’t be bothered. I especially love dictating the first rough thoughts on a project this way: you blurt out a stream of consciousness on the move — and what comes out is a normal, readable paragraph.
Ctrl + Shift + − — the AI text editor
I even moved this combination to a separate mouse button (via the Logitech app), but it also works from the keyboard. It launches my “Text editor” script.
How it works: I select a piece of text, press the combination — a little window appears. From there, two paths:
- Write in your own words what needs fixing (“make it more formal”, “split into bullet points”).
- Or pick a ready preset with one click: “tidy up”, “make it clear to a teenager”, “fix the grammar”, “make it shorter”, “number it”.
And the most valuable part — the edit is applied right in the note, you don’t need to copy anything into a chat and back. Didn’t like the result — Ctrl + Z, and the text is back as it was.
Example: I dictated a raw piece by voice — a wall of text, repetitions, typos. Selected it → “tidy up” → in a couple of seconds I got normal paragraphs with breathing room. In essence the AI becomes an editor that sits inside Obsidian and helps you push every thought to completion.
💜 Ready in the template
The “Text editor” and voice input are also included in template.
🧭 Block 3. Navigating notes without the mouse
Ctrl + O — find and open any note
Probably my most frequent key of the day. No need to crawl through the folder tree with the mouse: you think “I need the note about X”, press Ctrl + O, type a couple of letters from the title — and you’re already there. With a large vault this is the difference between “found it in a second” and “dug around for a minute and forgot why I was looking”. It’s a built-in Obsidian command (“Quick switcher”).
Ctrl + Q — go back
Works like the “back” button in a browser: returns you to the previous note. Instead of aiming the mouse at a tiny arrow at the top, I just press Ctrl + Q.
Ctrl + W — close the tab
Closes the currently open note (tab). A standard combination, like in a browser.
Alt + A — the home page
Opens my home page — a note I made into a “control panel”: it gathers buttons for all the frequent actions. Set up with the free Homepage plugin.
Alt + W — the daily note
Opens today’s note — that’s where I dump the day’s tasks and thoughts. It’s the built-in “Daily notes” feature.
A common mix-up
Don’t confuse them: Alt + W opens the daily note, while Ctrl + W closes the tab. Similar combinations, different actions.
Alt + Y — delete the note
Deletes the current note. Much faster than hunting for the three dots in the corner and clicking through the menu with the mouse.
⚙️ Block 4. Little things that save your nerves
Ctrl + S — remember the cursor position
This is my own plugin. Usually Ctrl + S is “save”, but in Obsidian notes are saved automatically anyway, so I reassigned this combination to something more useful.
The logic: the plugin remembers exactly where the cursor was in a note. In big texts this is irreplaceable: you come back to the note, press it — and you’re instantly at the spot where you stopped, instead of scrolling down for half an hour. Most often I place such a marker on a block of thoughts in the daily note, to instantly open the right part and keep writing.
Ctrl + ”+” / ”−” — the text size
Increase or decrease the font size. Sometimes you want it bigger (to read), sometimes smaller (to see more at once).
Alt + H — the line width
Toggles the line between a narrow centred column and text across the full screen. Handy to adjust to the task: for reading — narrow, for tables — wide. Works through a free line-width toggle plugin.
Ctrl + P — the command palette (the fallback for everything)
If you’ve forgotten a key, or there’s no key for the command at all — you press Ctrl + P and perform any action, simply by typing its name. It’s Obsidian’s built-in “command palette”. Through it, for example, I often change the theme’s appearance.
🧠 Bonus: a life hack for ADHD and anyone who finds it hard to focus
My brain quickly gets bored sitting in the same interface. So I frequently change the theme’s appearance (it’s easily done via Ctrl + P → change theme). A change of scenery genuinely refreshes attention and boosts productivity — the same as rearranging the furniture in a room.
An important caveat
Tune and decorate the system while actually working with information, not instead of it. Endless tuning of the appearance easily turns into a way of putting off the work itself. First — the notes, then — the beauty.
The bottom line
On their own, each hotkey saves seconds. But together, over months, they add up to hours that you spend on the work, not on fiddling with the interface. The main thing is to remove the “friction”: the fewer movements between a thought and a note, the more you actually write and think.
Where to start:
- Print the cheat sheet from the beginning of the article.
- Set up 3–5 keys that resonated with you the most (I recommend starting with Ctrl + O, Ctrl + N and Alt + W).
- For a couple of weeks consciously use them instead of the mouse — after that it’ll go by itself.
💜 A ready-made system in five minutes
If you don’t want to assemble it all by hand — grab my ready-made vault template: some of these automations are already set up and work straight away, and updates come out regularly, so the system only grows. 👉 template