Can Obsidian look like this??

From r/ObsidianMD 📅 • 📊 8 upvotes • ⭐ 7/10 • 🚀 high
*Analysis generated: Nov 18, 2025*
🔗 Source: View on Reddit
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Summary

A new Obsidian user (medical student) wants to replicate their OneNote visual style in Obsidian, focusing on colored headers, formatting shortcuts, and potential time investment for setup. They are concerned about the impact on their note-taking workflow.

Key Insights

1. New users prioritize visual customization to match existing workflows.
2. Efficient formatting shortcuts are crucial for productivity.
3. Onboarding should minimize setup time to prevent discouragement.

Enhancement Suggestions

Here are three high-impact suggestions to improve the handling of the Obsidian post:
1. Develop a “OneNote Conversion Guide” with specific theme and plugin recommendations. Create a dedicated guide (blog post, documentation page, or video tutorial) that walks users through replicating key OneNote visual styles in Obsidian. The guide should:

Recommend Obsidian themes that closely resemble OneNote’s aesthetic (e.g., themes with similar header styling, color palettes, and overall layout).
Suggest plugins to achieve similar formatting shortcuts and features (e.g., quick formatting plugins, templating plugins, or even custom CSS snippets).
Provide step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring these themes and plugins.
Include screenshots and comparison examples to illustrate the results.
Explicitly address potential time investment, offering a “quick setup” option for basic visual similarity and more advanced customizations for power users. This addresses the user’s concern about time investment head-on.
Incorporate a matrix to explain the features OneNote provides vs how to match it in Obsidian.

2. Curate and showcase a collection of “Ready-to-Use Obsidian Themes” optimized for specific workflows. Instead of relying solely on individual customization, pre-package themes designed for common use cases, including:

A “Medical Student Theme” that directly addresses the user’s specific need. This theme could be pre-configured with relevant formatting options, note templates (e.g., SOAP notes), and potentially even links to relevant medical resources within Obsidian.
Themed templates that cover different areas of the user’s world (i.e. school, professional, social, etc.)
Offer a way for users to submit their own themes or templates to be included in the collection.
Make sure the “Ready-to-Use Obsidian Themes” can be installed with a simple click or command.

3. Implement a “Formatting Shortcut Cheat Sheet” and interactive tutorial within Obsidian. Provide a readily accessible cheat sheet that outlines common formatting shortcuts (Markdown, hotkeys, plugin-specific shortcuts) for visually enhancing notes. The cheat sheet should:

Be easily accessible from within Obsidian (e.g., via a command palette entry or a dedicated pane).
Include a search function to quickly find specific shortcuts.
Incorporate an interactive tutorial that allows users to practice formatting techniques in real-time.
Support customization, allowing users to add their own shortcuts and personalize the cheat sheet to their workflow.
Show use cases that are easy to understand that will stick with users.

Analysis

This post highlights a common need for new users: visual customization and efficient formatting workflows. Addressing these concerns with clear tutorials and readily available themes could improve the onboarding experience.
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*Curated by AI for Paul’s Vault Members*