When you work in Obsidian every day, it’s not just about writing notes — it’s about flying through them without taking your hands off the keyboard.
Hotkeys + plugins = maximum speed and joy in your work.
🎹 My personal hotkeys
| Combination | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Q | Insert an internal link [[title]] |
Alt + 1 | Open the emoji panel 😎 |
Alt + 2 | Insert a template from Templates |
Ctrl + E | Toggle edit/preview mode |
Ctrl + W | Open the daily note (today) |
Alt + Q | Open a random note |
Alt + 3 | Open the global graph |
Alt + 4 | Open the local graph |
Ctrl + O | Search a note by title |
Ctrl + P | Command palette |
Ctrl + K | Insert a link [text](url) |
💡 I set up these combinations for myself — via Settings → Hotkeys. I recommend everyone find their own rhythm.
⚙️ Automation and convenience: the plugins I use
Each of these plugins solves a separate task. Together — it’s like your own personal “no-code brain”.
| Plugin | What it’s for | Automation/scenario |
|---|---|---|
| Templates | Quickly insert recurring structures (dailies, ideas, etc.) | Hotkey + auto-update via Templater |
| [[Холст | Canvas]] | Visual thinking, mind maps |
| highlightr-obsidian | Colour-highlighting important lines | I quickly mark insights and goals |
| emoji-toolbar-obsidian | An emoji panel with quick access | Alt + 1 opens it, I insert emotions into headings |
| excalidraw-obsidian | Drawing schemes and visualisations | I save to SVG and insert into notes via publish |
| kanban | Managing tasks/processes | I use it for YouTube content and projects |
| Dataview | Automatic tables, lists | E.g. a list of all notes on the “No-code” topic |
| minimal-theme-settings | Tuning the interface to your style | I use dark mode + custom CSS tricks |
| style-settings-obsidian | Flexible theme tuning | I saved several presets for morning/evening |
| css-files | Your own note style | E.g. beautifully styled callouts and tables |
| automover-obsidian | Automatically sorts files into folders | Dailies into journal, projects into projects, etc. |
| charts-obsidian | Data visualisation | I show progress in sport/YouTube/work |
| copilot-ai-obsidian | An AI assistant inside Obsidian | Helps continue thoughts, like an assistant |
💡 How to automate even deeper
-
Assign hotkeys to plugin commands via
Settings → Hotkeys -
Use Templater for templates that already include Dataview, charts-obsidian, copilot-ai-obsidian and others
-
Use the command palette (
Ctrl + P) as a control center: there you quickly call up any plugin’s functions. -
Through the
Daily Note(Ctrl + W) you can trigger everything at once: a template, auto-moving to a folder, auto-creating a canvas or table.
🧠 What’s all this for?
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It saves me hours of time every week
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It keeps my second brain in order
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It helps me create content, ideas and MVPs faster
Keep going?