In short:
The built-in Random Note plugin seems like a toy. But in practice — it’s one of the most unexpected and useful tools in Obsidian. Especially when you have hundreds or thousands of records.
🔧 How to enable it
- Go to
Settings → Core plugins - Enable Random Note
- A 🎲 button appears in the sidebar
- Or via the command palette CTRL + P
- Random note
I also assigned a hotkey to ALT + Q and quickly flip through to figure out which note is worth developing.
🔍 How it works
When you click it — it opens a random note from your vault.
You can assign a hotkey to do it faster:
Settings → Hotkeys → Random note
🧠 Why use it at all
- 💡 Review and reflection — a reminder of old ideas you’ve already forgotten
- ✍️ Inspiration — saw an old thought → finished it, linked it, developed it
- 🔁 Working in Zettelkasten — revisit old atomic ideas
- 🧱 Editing the archive — stumbled on it by chance and realised it can be improved
💡 Tips
-
Filtering via Dataview Make a list of only notes with the
#reviewtag — and jump to them randomly -
Integration with MOCs Want inspiration on a topic? Open the graph and hit random — but within one folder
-
Combo with Templater Make a button in your daily-note template: “Random note of the day” — click and get food for thought
-
Use it when you procrastinate Better to review the old than mindlessly scroll Telegram
💬 What users write
-
“I set myself a goal — to finish or improve one random note every day”
-
“It helps me rediscover old insights that I once didn’t develop”
-
“Sometimes I stumble on a thought I didn’t understand then — and now it becomes central”
📎 Tips
-
Don’t enable the plugin if you only have 20 notes — it’s too early
-
If you have a lot of notes — it’s a real way to revive your base
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Assign a hotkey: the less friction, the higher the chance you’ll use it
Keep going?