Forum Posts Feed
Obsidian Bases -- any use cases?
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Paul Korm
Dec 4, 2025 at 05:46 PM
I have dozens of Dataview queries going on in Obsidian, and many templates that install a query into a note. I’ve fiddled a bit with the (relatively) new Bases feature which I suppose is the in-house replacement for Dataview. I don’t like that it relies wholly on key-value property pairs in the YAML front matter and has no capacity to find inline key-value pairs like Dataview can. Just my personal tic, but I prefer inline metadata over YAML metadata. Also, setting up a base is fiddly and always involves tweaking.
Is anyone here using Bases for serious work?
Posted by Amontillado
Dec 5, 2025 at 03:02 PM
It’s been a while since I used this, so forgive me if I goof up the details.
The mission was to arrive at a boatload of notes about Products and Vendors where I could jump from products to any of the vendors, and from vendors to notes about any product they sold.
I used a Bases query for a library of records regarding an automated system purchased by the government.
The Bases query filter was for where any are true, and included filters like:
Vendors.containsAny(this.file.name) || Vendors.containsAny(this.Vendors)
Products.containsAny(this.file.name) || Products.containsAny(this.Products)
So, I could create a file called Acme for notes about the Acme vendor. I included that query.
When information about anvils came in, I created a note about anvils, including the same query.
Each document I added had Vendors and Products list properties.
Since the Coyote’s favorite anvil vendor is Acme, the Anvil note had a list property called Vendors where I added Acme.
Now, my Anvil note sprouted a link to Acme, which also sprouted a link back to Anvil.
If Acme Dynamite became a topic, I would create a note about Dynamite.
The goal was self-adapting lists based on file names being valid keywords.
What I ended up with were tables in each note. Columns were file name, vendor list, and product list. View a note about a product, see the list of vendors and related products. Click on a vendor, see products and related vendors.
It worked well. I also have to admit Obsidian has never been a daily tool for me.
Posted by Paul Korm
Dec 6, 2025 at 07:22 PM
Thank you. So you inserted a Base into the templates for “products”-type notes and for “vendor”-type notes. I would do this with Dataview, but I get the point of your approach. (Of course, the standard Linked Mentions display would probably serve the same purpose if inline-links are used.
Three ways to skin the same cat. (Poor kitty :-( )
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 15, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I don’t use Bases to any major extent, but I do sync my contacts with Obsidian, and use Bases to filter them. This is especially useful when looking for multiple contacts; it’s easy to create a Bases filter that looks for multiple specific individuals (something that’s not very easy or even possible to do in Contacts itself).
Posted by JDS
Dec 22, 2025 at 05:28 PM
I have been investigating bases for a few weeks. My thoughts are that a) it is easier to learn than dataview. I used dataview intermittently, and after a break, often had to remind myself how to write the query syntax. b) I suspect that support for dataview will dwindle over time as most users are going to feel more comfortable about ongoing support and development for a core plugin.
Not to take anything away from the dataview developer. It was by far the most impressive community plugin and really helped to enhance the power of Obsidian. The documentation was outstanding