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Former ConnectedText users, what software did you switch to?
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Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 14, 2025 at 03:55 PM
Thanks, Bill,sounds interesting, made a note of that.
For now I’m not focusing on plugins yet, as I’m trying to think through what data to import and whether to use separate folders or not (or even separate vaults), for instance to separate personal diary entries from Zettlekasten-type reading notes and work-related stuff…
Once I’ve set things up, I’ll take a closer look at community plugins.
MadaboutDana wrote:
An interesting journey. Since you’re gravitating to Obsidian for
>longer, more data-intensive work, can I recommend the plugin
>“Various Complements”, which is by far the fastest and most
>convenient way of mining the data in an Obsidian vault. While
>you’re typing, it automatically scans your markdown files for name
>matches and pulls them up in a dialog box just below the line
>you’re typing. You can then create a link to a specific note by
>selecting the relevant entry in the dialog box. It’s very
>unobtrusive, but if you’re looking for links with previous work,
>amazingly useful. It’s also useful for inserting contact details
>(I’ve transferred my contact management into Obsidian for
>precisely this reason: another plugin, “@Symbol Linking”,
>focuses exclusively on a contacts folder, if you’ve got one).
>
>Cheers!
>Bill
Posted by Cyganet
Oct 14, 2025 at 06:00 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
Hi Cyganet, thank you so much for taking the time to spell all this out,
>this is fantastic advice!
>
>May I ask in what respects is 2) the harder method?
>
>It somehow sounds simpler, but then I don’t know much about Python, I’ve
>only been using scripts that others wrote for me.
Hi Dr Andus,
The first method requires no specialized skill on the part of the user, just a willingness to follow a series of steps, and not much can go wrong. Worst case, you end up with a set of notes with busted links and you fix them one by one.
The second method requires the user to know how to run a Python program and if it doesn’t work for their data, how to edit the program. It also took me several levels of learning to create it: learn Python, learn Regex, write and debug the program, ensure all the Python packages are intalled, run the, then fix all the edge cases that the program didn’t cover. It took ages. These days, an LLM can probably make that a lot easier.
I have put a copy of the Python program here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10aXga9H0Do85Cej6_CmB9Q_BgTOgel7c/view?usp=sharing I hope the link allows you to download a copy to your computer.
You can run it using a Python IDE. I used Thonny and I would expect VS Code to work as well. I just ran a quick test on some of my files and it still works.
Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 14, 2025 at 07:36 PM
Thank you for the explanation and for sharing your file, though you’ve managed to convince me to go with the first method :-)
Cyganet wrote:
>The first method requires no specialized skill on the part of the user,
>just a willingness to follow a series of steps, and not much can go
>wrong. Worst case, you end up with a set of notes with busted links and
>you fix them one by one.
>
>The second method requires the user to know how to run a Python program
>and if it doesn’t work for their data, how to edit the program.
Posted by Cyganet
Oct 14, 2025 at 10:09 PM
The good news is that both methods are non-destructive, so anyone can try either one and see what works. Good luck!
Posted by Tomasz Raburski
Oct 15, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Hi Dr. Angus,
It’s great to hear from you! I really enjoyed your blog and posts on the CT forum.
I’ve switched to Obsidian for note-taking and information storage, and Workflowy for outlining. I used Notepad++ to make syntax changes. It took me some time since I’m not very good in technical stuff. Now I’m finally well-settled in obsidian environment.