103 - Basic formatting syntax

Learn how to apply basic formatting to your notes, using Markdown. For more advanced formatting syntax, refer to 104 - Advanced formatting syntax.

Paragraphs

To create paragraphs in Markdown, use a blank line to separate blocks of text. Each block of text separated by a blank line is treated as a distinct paragraph.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

This is a paragraph.

This is another paragraph.

A blank line between lines of text creates separate paragraphs. This is the default behavior in Markdown.

Line breaks

By default in Obsidian, pressing Enter once will create a new line in your note, but this is treated as a continuation of the same paragraph in the rendered output, following typical Markdown behavior. To insert a line break within a paragraph without starting a new paragraph, you can either:

Add two spaces at the end of a line before pressing Enter, or
Use the shortcut Shift+Enter to directly insert a line break.

Headings

To create a heading, add up to six # symbols before your heading text. The number of # symbols sets the level of the heading.

# This is a heading 1
## This is a heading 2
### This is a heading 3
#### This is a heading 4
##### This is a heading 5
###### This is a heading 6

This is a heading 1

This is a heading 2

This is a heading 3

This is a heading 4

This is a heading 5

This is a heading 6

Bold, italics, highlights

Style	Syntax	Example	Output
Bold	` ` or `__ __`	`Bold text`	Bold text
Italic	`* *` or `_ _`	`Italic text`	Italic text
Strikethrough	`~~ ~~`	`~~Striked out text~~`	~~Striked out text~~
Highlight	`== ==`	`==Highlighted text==`	Highlighted text
Bold and nested italic	` ` and `_ _`	`Bold text and _nested italic_ text`	*Bold text and nested italic* text**
Bold and italic	`* *` or `___ ___`	`*Bold and italic text*`	*Bold and italic text*

Formatting can be forced to display in plain text by adding a backslash \ in front of it.

This line will not be bold

\*\*This line will not be bold\*\*

This line will be italic and show the asterisks

\**This line will be italic and show the asterisks*\*

Internal links

Obsidian supports two formats for internal links between notes:

Wikilink: [[Three laws of motion]]
Markdown: [Three laws of motion](Three%20laws%20of%20motion.md)

External links

If you want to link to an external URL, you can create an inline link by surrounding the link text in brackets ([ ]), and then the URL in parentheses (( )).

[Obsidian Help](https://help.obsidian.md)

Obsidian Help

You can also create external links to files in other vaults, by linking to an Obsidian URI.

[Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=Note.md)

Escape blank spaces in links

If your URL contains blank spaces, you must escape them by replacing them with %20.

[My Note](obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My%20Note.md)

You can also escape the URL by wrapping it with angled brackets (< >).

[My Note](<obsidian://open?vault=MainVault&file=My Note.md>)

External images

You can add images with external URLs, by adding a ! symbol before an external link.

![Engelbart](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

Engelbart

You can change the image dimensions, by adding |640x480 to the link destination, where 640 is the width and 480 is the height.

![Engelbart|100x145](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

If you only specify the width, the image scales according to its original aspect ratio. For example:

![Engelbart|100](https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Basis/images/Engelbart.jpg)

Quotes

You can quote text by adding a > symbols before the text.

> Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

- Doug Engelbart, 1961

Human beings face ever more complex and urgent problems, and their effectiveness in dealing with these problems is a matter that is critical to the stability and continued progress of society.

Doug Engelbart, 1961

Lists

You can create an unordered list by adding a -, *, or + before the text.

- First list item
- Second list item
- Third list item

First list item
Second list item
Third list item

To create an ordered list, start each line with a number followed by a . or ) symbol.

1. First list item
2. Second list item
3. Third list item

First list item
Second list item
Third list item

1) First list item
2) Second list item
3) Third list item

First list item
Second list item
Third list item

You can use Shift+Enter to insert a line break within an ordered list without altering the numbering.

1. First list item
   
2. Second list item
3. Third list item
   
4. Fourth list item
5. Fifth list item
6. Sixth list item

Task lists

To create a task list, start each list item with a hyphen and space followed by [ ].

- [x] This is a completed task.
- [ ] This is an incomplete task.

This is a completed task.
This is an incomplete task.

You can toggle a task in Reading view by selecting the checkbox.

Nesting lists

You can nest any type of list—ordered, unordered, or task lists—under any other type of list.

To create a nested list, indent one or more list items. You can mix list types within a nested structure:

1. First list item
   2. Ordered nested list item
3. Second list item
   - Unordered nested list item

First list item
1. Ordered nested list item
Second list item
- Unordered nested list item

Similarly, you can create a nested task list by indenting one or more list items:

- [ ] Task item 1
	- [ ] Subtask 1
- [ ] Task item 2
	- [ ] Subtask 1

Task item 1
- Subtask 1
Task item 2
- Subtask 1

Use Tab or Shift+Tab to indent or unindent selected list items to easily organize them.

Horizontal rule

You can use three or more stars ***, hyphens ---, or underscore ___ on its own line to add a horizontal bar. You can also separate symbols using spaces.

***
****
* * *
---
----
- - -
___
____
_ _ _

Code

You can format code both inline within a sentence, or in its own block.

Inline code

You can format code within a sentence using single backticks.

Text inside `backticks` on a line will be formatted like code.

Text inside backticks on a line will be formatted like code.

If you want to put backticks in an inline code block, surround it with double backticks like so: inline code with a backtick ` inside.

Code blocks

To format code as a block, enclose it with three backticks or three tildes.

`````
cd ~/Desktop
`````

~~~
cd ~/Desktop
~~~

cd ~/Desktop

You can also create a code block by indenting the text using Tab or 4 blank spaces.

    cd ~/Desktop

You can add syntax highlighting to a code block, by adding a language code after the first set of backticks.

`````js
function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}
`````

function fancyAlert(arg) {
  if(arg) {
    $.facebox({div:'#foo'})
  }
}

Obsidian uses Prism for syntax highlighting. For more information, refer to Supported languages.

Escaping Markdown Syntax

In some cases, you may need to display special characters in Markdown, such as *, _, or #, without triggering their formatting. To display these characters literally, place a backslash (\) before them.

Common characters to escape

Asterisk: \*
Underscore: \_
Hashtag: \#
Backtick: \`
Pipe (used in tables): \|
Tilde: \~

\*This text will not be italicized\*.

This text will not be italicized.

When working with numbered lists, you may need to escape the period after the number to prevent automatic list formatting. Place the backslash (\) before the period, not before the number.

1\. This won't be a list item.

1. This won't be a list item.

Learn more

To learn more advanced formatting syntax, such as tables and callouts, refer to 104 - Advanced formatting syntax.