Markdown in 5 minutes

Markdown is plain text with light formatting symbols. Obsidian renders them visually. Here’s everything you actually need.

Headings

# H1 — page title
## H2 — section
### H3 — subsection

Rule of thumb: one # H1 per note (it’s the title), then ## H2 for major sections, ### H3 for subsections. Don’t go deeper than H3 in daily writing.

Emphasis

*italic* or _italic_
**bold** or __bold__
***bold italic***
~~strikethrough~~

Lists

- bullet
- bullet
  - nested bullet
- bullet

1. numbered
2. numbered
3. numbered

Tasks

- [ ] thing to do
- [x] thing done
- [-] thing cancelled (Obsidian-specific)
- [>] thing forwarded

Tasks render with clickable checkboxes in Obsidian. The skills on this site count - [x] patterns to track completion.

Links and images

[link text](https://example.com)
![alt text](path/to/image.png)

For images stored in your vault:

![[my-image.png]]

The double-bracket syntax is Obsidian-specific and works for both files and other notes (next page).

Code

Inline: `code`

Block:

```bash
gemini extensions list
```

The language hint (bash, python, js) gives you syntax highlighting.

Quotes

> A blockquote.
> Continues on a new line.

> **Note:** quote with bold callout

Tables

| col 1 | col 2 |
|-------|-------|
| a     | b     |
| c     | d     |

Useful but verbose. Don’t bother for casual notes.

Horizontal rule

---

A horizontal line. Great for breaking up long notes.

Frontmatter (YAML at the top)

---
title: My note
tags: [draft, project-x]
date: 2026-05-15
status: active
---

# My note

Content starts here.

Frontmatter is metadata. Obsidian plugins (especially Dataview) can query it. The skills on this site use it heavily — e.g., the Visual Journal reads mood: and event: from your daily note frontmatter.

What to skip

HTML inside markdown (works but ugly)
Markdown extensions you don’t recognize (footnotes, definition lists, etc. — niche)
Trying to remember every detail. You’ll absorb it by writing.

Links and backlinks — the feature that makes Obsidian Obsidian.