Put the cursor on an empty line and a small + appears beside it. Click it, or type / at the start of a line, and the same card opens. Keep typing after the slash to filter it (/tab, /math, /todo), move with the arrow keys and press Return. Escape closes the card. Both work in Rich and Source mode, but not inside a code block or the frontmatter.

Callout opens a second list: Note, Tip, Success, Question, Warning, Important, Danger, Bug, Example and Quote. Image, Attachment, Audio and Video open a file picker and copy the file into your attachments folder. Generated image opens Apple's Image Playground instead of a file picker (see Images and attachments); it's listed only on Macs that have it. Mermaid Diagram starts with a tiny working diagram (A --> B) so you can see it render before you edit it.

Table asks how big to make it in an Insert table dialog. Enter Rows and Columns (both start at 2) and click Insert. The first row is the header. You can go up to 1,000 rows and 50 columns, and 10,000 cells in all; you can add more later.

Click the Aa button in the window toolbar ("Show formatting and writing tools") to show the Format toolbar. It sits at the bottom of the editor and holds, from left to right:

• a Style menu: Paragraph, Heading 1 to Heading 6, and Divider;
• Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Inline Code and Link;
• the Assist menu of quick AI touch-ups for selected text (see AI writing tools);
• a ⋯ menu with Highlight, Superscript, Subscript, Clear Formatting, Wiki Link, the list, quote, code block and table commands, Templates, and a count of any Markdown issues in the note;
• a close button.

The toolbar is hidden until you ask for it. To change that, go to Settings → Editor → Format toolbar and pick Hidden, Shown, or Shown, collapses while typing.

The same commands live in the Format menu in the menu bar:

View → Increase Editor Text Size ⌘+, Decrease Editor Text Size ⌘- and Actual Editor Text Size ⌘0 change the text size without opening Settings.

Select a few words and a small toolbar appears above them with B (Bold), i (Italic), Link, • (Make bulleted list) and ✓ (Make checklist). Its More formatting button adds Strike, Code, U (Underline), Heading 1, Heading 2, Quote, and a Highlight row of five colours (yellow, green, blue, pink, purple) plus Remove highlight. Yellow is written as ==text==; the other colours use a <mark> tag so they survive in other apps that read HTML.

The sparkle, set apart from the formatting buttons by a divider, opens the selection assistant. It has its own chapter: AI writing tools.

Press ⌘F to open the find bar. It has Case, Whole Word and Regex checkboxes. Press ⌥⌘F for the replace row, where Replace changes the current match and All changes every match.

Choose Edit → Selection → Show Markdown Issues ⇧⌘M to list problems in the open note. Click one to jump to its line, or step through them with Next Markdown Issue and Previous Markdown Issue in the same menu. The Format toolbar's ⋯ menu also shows a count, such as "Review 3 Lint Issues".

It checks for empty headings, more than one top-level # heading, headings that skip a level (H2 straight to H4), images without alt text, empty links, bare URLs, and [[wiki links]] that don't match any note. Code blocks and frontmatter are skipped. Nothing is changed for you; the list is advice.

• Formatted text from a web page, Mail or a document becomes Markdown: bold, links, lists and tables come across as Markdown syntax. Code copied from a code editor such as VS Code pastes as plain text.
• Cells from a spreadsheet (rows of tab-separated values) become a Markdown table.
• A URL pasted over selected text turns that text into a link.
• Images are saved into your attachments folder as "Pasted image …" files and embedded where you pasted. Several images paste in order.

To paste plain text with no formatting at all, use Edit → Paste and Match Style ⌥⇧⌘V.

A template is any .md file in a folder called Templates at the top of your vault. Make one for a weekly review, a client call or a book note, then open the Format toolbar's ⋯ menu → Templates. Each template is listed twice:

• Insert at Cursor drops the template into the open note.
• New Note from Template creates a new note next to the one you're in, named after the template (with a number added if the name is taken), and opens it.

These placeholders are filled in when you use a template:

If the folder is empty, the menu says so. Obsidian templates that use these placeholders work as they are.

Type [[ and Header lists notes you opened recently. Keep typing to search by name, then pick one. If no note has exactly that name, the list also offers ＋ Create note. Hover a link to preview the note, whether it is a wiki link or a Markdown link to a note in your vault; click it to open the note. In an editable table cell, use ⌘-click instead.

• [[Hotels#Kyoto]] opens Hotels at its "Kyoto" heading. [[#Kyoto]] jumps to a heading in the same note.
• [[Hotels|where we're staying]] shows your own wording but still links to Hotels.
• Clicking a link to a note that doesn't exist yet asks whether to create it. Click Create Note and Header makes the file.
• A note can list other names under aliases: in its frontmatter. [[Lit Review]] then finds "Literature Review Draft". Properties and aliases are covered in The Note Inspector & history.

Other suggestions pop up as you type: # for tags, @ for citations from your research library, and : for emoji. Backlinks and the graph are in Finding & connecting notes.

Paste an image, drop a file onto a note, or use + → Image / Attachment / Audio / Video. Header copies the file into a folder called Header Attachments at the top of your vault (a number is added if the name is taken) and writes a link into the note.

Images are embedded, as ![[photo.png]], and PDFs as ![[report.pdf#page=1]], which shows the first page. Audio and video added with + → Audio / Video are embedded too. Other files, and audio or video you drop in, get a link, such as [[budget.xlsx]].

In Rich mode, click an image to size it: S (320 pixels wide), M (560), or Fit to the writing width. You can also drag its corner. The width is written into the Markdown, as ![[photo.png|320]], the same syntax Obsidian uses. The same small toolbar has Copy (the image's Markdown) and Remove; right-click for Edit Markdown Source.

Images that live on the web aren't loaded by default, because loading one contacts that server. Turn on Settings → Privacy & Data → Load remote images in preview if you want them shown, and pick Ask First, Include or Never for exports.

To make a picture from words, select a phrase such as a lighthouse at dusk, then right-click it and choose Insert Generated Image…, or pick Generate image on the selection card. Apple's Image Playground opens with your phrase as the prompt. Choose a style and click Done; Header saves the picture as a PNG in your attachments folder and inserts it after the selection, as ![Generated image (Apple Image Playground): a lighthouse at dusk](…). Cancel inserts nothing. On an empty line, + → Generated image does the same with an empty prompt. These appear only on Macs where Apple's Image Playground is available (an Apple silicon Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on), and the picture is made on this Mac: nothing goes to any AI provider you've set up in Header.

In Rich mode a table is a grid you type into. Tab moves to the next cell; Tab in the last cell adds a row. Drag a column edge to resize it. Right-click a cell for Copy Cells, Clear Contents, Insert Row Above or Below, Insert Column Left or Right, alignment, Delete Row and Delete Column.

Tables typed by hand get ragged in Source mode. Edit → Tidy Markdown Tables re-aligns every table in the open note, padding the columns and keeping their alignment. It never drops a cell, runs on your Mac with no AI, and ⌘Z undoes it.

Table density, striped rows, and how tables are written in the source (Table source style, Newlines inside table cells) are in the advanced editor options.

Press ⇧⌘F, choose View → Enter Focus Mode, or click the expand arrows in the toolbar. The sidebar, list and toolbars step aside. The Focus controls come back when you move the pointer to the top edge of the window or move it after a pause, and they hide again when you type. Press Escape to leave.

The ⋯ in the Focus controls holds the options:

• Focus scope: Off, Sentence or Paragraph. The part you're writing stays clear and the rest dims.
• Scrolling: Natural, or Typewriter Scrolling, which keeps the line you're typing at the same height on screen.
• Writing width: Comfortable or Wide.
• Show Word Count, which also shows minutes of reading time.
• Show Formatting Palette, Find, Ask Header about this note and Exit Focus Mode.

Choose Follow System, Light or Dark. Then pick a theme: an accent (Follow system, Clay, Indigo, Moss, Graphite, Rose or Marigold) colours buttons and highlights, while a page (Sepia, Solarized, Flexoki, E-Ink or True Black) changes the whole page. Reset Appearance puts everything back. The same choices are in View → Appearance → Theme.

Under the theme you'll find Editor font, Editor text size (11 to 32 pt) and Line width. If you find long pages tiring to read, click Apply dyslexia-friendly typography next to Readable preset. It switches to a readable font, larger text, gentler spacing and narrower lines. Restore my previous typography undoes it.

You can skip this card if the defaults suit you. Click the disclosure to find:

• Heading scale, Line height, Paragraph spacing and Letter spacing;
• Table density, Stripe table rows, Callout intensity, Media chrome, Link treatment and Completed tasks;
• Render Mermaid diagrams in Rich editor, Smart punctuation (curly quotes and dashes in prose, leaving code alone), Show nesting guides for indented lists and Show Markdown marks around the cursor;
• Attachments folder;
• Markdown Compatibility, below.

Markdown Compatibility tells Header which kind of Markdown you write, so that an export can warn you about syntax another app won't read. It applies only to the current vault and never rewrites your files. Header looks at the vault and may suggest a profile; the Examples disclosure shows what each one supports. The Table Markdown disclosure next to it sets Table source style and Newlines inside table cells.

Header saves a few seconds after you stop typing, when you switch notes, and when you quit. If another app changes a note you have open, Header protects your version (see Trust, safety & privacy).

Turn off Settings → Editor → Autosave notes while editing if you'd rather save by hand; then only File → Save ⌘S writes the file, and a Manual save / Unsaved button above the note reminds you. File → Reload from Disk ⌘R reads the file again, for example after you edited it in another app.

Choose File → Export Note… ⇧⌘E, or Export… in the note's ⋯ menu. Pick a format: PDF, HTML, Word (.docx), Rich Text (.rtf), Markdown (.md), Plain Text (.txt) or PPTX Presentation. PDF, Markdown, Plain Text and Rich Text show a preview of the start of the result; HTML, Word and PPTX say there is no preview for that format. Click Export…, then choose where to save it. The note in your vault doesn't change.

• PDF, HTML and PPTX take a Theme.
• PDF also has Paper, Margins, Text Size, Landscape, Use file name as title, Include table of contents and Page numbers.
• PPTX has Include agenda and an accent colour.
• Rich Text keeps headings, emphasis, links, lists and quotes but leaves images out.
• If the note cites sources, Format cited sources adds a formatted bibliography in the style you pick (more in Research).

File → Print… ⌘P prints the note through the same PDF layout. In the note's ⋯ menu, Share Copy sends the Markdown file through AirDrop, Mail, Messages and the rest of the share sheet, and Share as PDF… sends a PDF. Locked notes can't be shared.