Obsidian-Compatible Note Formatting

Formatting Reference

Preferred Structure

Title Format

Every note starts with an emoji + h1 title:

# 📋 Note Title Here

Choose an emoji that reflects the note's content:

• 📋 plans, trackers, lists
• 📅 meetings, events, check-ins
• ⚠️ issues, warnings, incidents
• 🎯 audits, goals, strategy
• 💳 expenses, purchasing, finance
• 👥 people, contacts
• 🗒 reference, context, background
• 🔧 tools, setup, technical
• 📱 apps, platforms
• 🗂️ organization, planning
• 💡 ideas

Subtitle / Date Line

Immediately after the title, add an italic line with context (participants, date, source):

# 📅 2026-03-20 — Meeting Title

*Oliver, Ashley, Cass, Kathy (Community Events/Wellness)*

For notes with a last-updated date or status:

# 📋 Task Tracker

*Last updated: March 20, 2026*

Sections and Subsections

Use ## for major sections, ### for subsections within them:

## Action Items

### Immediate (This Week)

- [ ] First task
- [ ] Second task

### Near-Term (Next 1-2 Weeks)

- [ ] Another task

Bold Labels for Key-Value Data

For structured reference data (contacts, tools, settings), use bold labels:

**Title:** Social Media Strategist
**Reports to:** Ashley Legacy
**Start date:** March 11, 2026

For people/contact entries with descriptions:

**Ashley Legacy** — Manager, Digital Communications & Engagement. Values autonomy and collaboration. Weekly 1-on-1s (Wednesdays preferred).

**Cass Lang** — Digital Communications Strategist. Background in marketing, PR, and graphic design. Currently in burnout recovery — be mindful of transition pace.

Task Lists

Use GitHub-flavored markdown checkboxes:

- [ ] Open task
- [x] Completed task — DONE: details about completion

For completed tasks, use a checked checkbox ([x]) and add resolution details after an em dash. Do not use strikethrough on completed tasks — the checkbox is sufficient.

Spacing Rules

• After a heading to content: One blank line (standard markdown)
• Between list items that have descriptions: No blank line needed within the list
• After a list: One blank line before the next section
• Between people entries or reference blocks: One blank line
• Between sections: One blank line

Links

Provide context for links — never use generic text:

[YouTube: "Learning to Fly" — FlightChops (126K views)](https://youtube.com/...)

Special Characters

Use & directly in markdown (no HTML entities needed). Use → for arrows/flows:

Facebook bill → Jerry Couture (billing) → Bonnie (accounting) → receipt from me

Note Type Patterns

Meeting Note

# 📅 2026-03-20 — Meeting Title

*Participants: Oliver, Ashley, Cass*

## Context

Brief background on what this meeting was about.

## Action Items

- [ ] **Task name** — details and context
- [ ] **Another task** — more details

## Learnings

- Key insight from the meeting
- Another important takeaway

## People

**Name** — Role; relevant context from the meeting

Reference Note

# 🗒 Reference Title

*Description of what this note contains. Updated as needed.*
*Last updated: March 20, 2026*

## Section

**Key:** Value
**Another key:** Value

## Another Section

- Bullet point with context
- Another point

Task Tracker

# 📋 Task Tracker

*Last updated: March 20, 2026*

## 🔥 Immediate — Week of March 24

- [ ] **Task name** — details
- [ ] **Another task** — details
- [x] Completed task — DONE: resolution details

## Upcoming

- [ ] **Future task** — details

## Events Calendar

- **March 30** — Event name
- **April 10** — Another event

Idea / Concept Note

# 🎯 Concept Title

The core idea or observation — what it is and why it matters.

Strategy / Planning Note

# 📋 Campaign or Project Name

## Research To Do

**1. Talk to Danielle**
- What do they need most on the battery assembly line?
- What's their biggest limiting factor?

## The Strategy

Interview successful graduates about why they chose BETA...

Brainstorm Capture Note

When reformatting someone's voice notes or stream-of-consciousness:

• Preserve original language and voice — don't paraphrase away distinctive phrasing or tone
• Keep the nuance and detail — structure for clarity, but don't compress into generic bullet points
• Preserve specific names, questions, and action items exactly as stated
• Keep emotional/tonal content — if they said something emphatically, keep that emphasis

The goal is organization, not compression. A well-structured long note is better than an over-summarized short one that loses the original thinking.

Example — preserve this kind of voice:

What if we could model the look of SpaceX — but not made by a dick — made by working class Americans.

Don't flatten it to: "Consider SpaceX aesthetic for blue-collar positioning."

Quick Note

# 💡 Short Idea or Observation

Brief content — one or two lines explaining the idea or thing to remember.