# Obsidian Sync - Sync notes between PC and Mobile > [!info] Video (38:22), uploaded May 26, 2024. Summary built from the English auto-captions; screenshots are low-resolution storyboard frames because full video frames were blocked. ## Outline ### 0:00 - Intro - **0:00** - Josh looks at keeping notes in sync between PC and an Android phone with **Obsidian Sync**, a paid service whose price recently came down. He normally syncs with GitHub and rarely writes on his phone, but knows many people jot notes on the bus or at work. ### 0:59 - How Sync Works - **1:05** - Obsidian is local-first: notes are plain files on each device, unlike OneNote, which stores notes in the cloud. Sync is Obsidian's official way around that. - **2:00** - Pricing now starts at **$4/month** (he recalls it was $8). Obsidian itself is free; Sync, Publish and business licenses are how the company earns money. At $4 he finds it acceptable, "a couple of bucks less than a coffee." - **2:56** - Features: AES-256 end-to-end encryption, version history, cross-platform, offline work, and collaboration (a future video). - **3:26** - Third-party sync (Google Drive, Dropbox, even GitHub) often causes file write conflicts, and he sees it behind missing Fantasy Statblocks, Initiative Tracker or Leaflet data. Sync has conflict handling built in. - **5:06** - Plans: the $4 plan gives 1 synced vault, 1 GB, 5 MB max file size and 1 month of history. The $8 plan gives 10 vaults, 10 GB (upgradeable to 100 GB), 200 MB max file size and 12 months of history. His own vault is about 15 GB with a 50 MB map, so the cheap plan is limiting for him. - **6:11** - His approach: the PC stays primary, and the phone syncs just enough to capture ideas (for example while camping) that he fleshes out at home. - **7:32** - Read the official Obsidian Sync documentation, especially the security section. ![[images/Obsidian-Sync-Sync-notes-between-PC-and-Mobile-t0205.webp]] ### 8:05 - Setup Obsidian Sync on PC - **8:24** - With his phone mirrored on screen beside the PC, he enables the **Sync** core plugin, chooses a remote vault, and creates a new one called "Obsidian TTRPG Vault" (his Patreon Vault) on the Oceania server. - **9:19** - He leaves custom encryption off and lets Sync generate the key, since nothing in his vault is sensitive. - **10:13** - He connects to the remote vault, confirms the merge, and watches the activity log as the local vault uploads. ![[images/Obsidian-Sync-Sync-notes-between-PC-and-Mobile-t0920.webp]] ### 10:59 - Obsidian Sync Settings - **11:08** - Settings tour: pause syncing (handy offline or on mobile data), device name, deleted files with restore (1 or 12 months of history depending on plan), the activity log with error filters, storage used, and support/debug info. - **12:20** - **Selective sync** picks file types: images, audio, video, PDFs and other types. Changing it means reloading the app on every device (he uses the command palette's "Reload"). - **13:12** - **Excluded folders** let you leave parts of the vault off a device, useful for phones with limited space. You might sync only one ideas folder. - **14:56** - **Vault configuration sync** covers main and appearance settings, themes and snippets, hotkeys, core plugin lists and settings, and community plugin lists and installs. He turns it all on so every device behaves the same. ![[images/Obsidian-Sync-Sync-notes-between-PC-and-Mobile-t1220.webp]] ### 16:06 - Setup Obsidian Sync on Mobile - **16:15** - On Android, from the vault picker, he sets up Sync, connects to the same remote vault name, and picks a folder under Documents/Obsidian vaults. - **17:14** - He excludes his "3 - Mechanics" folder on the phone, enables images, PDFs and other files (not audio or video) plus all configuration options, and watches about 130 files come down without the excluded folder. ### 19:12 - Caution: Image Converter Plugin - **19:17** - His Leaflet maps broke after syncing: the map image had been renamed and converted from PNG to WebP. - **20:22** - The cause appears to be the **Image Converter** plugin, which he uses to shrink images to WebP. Syncing triggered it to rename and convert files, breaking links. The same thing happened during a community collaborative world-building test. His advice is to turn Image Converter off if you use Obsidian Sync. ![[images/Obsidian-Sync-Sync-notes-between-PC-and-Mobile-t1950.webp]] ### 21:52 - Test the Sync - **22:11** - A new note created on PC shows up on the phone almost unnoticed, and edits on the phone come back to the PC. Images sync too. - **23:54** - Sync runs on roughly a 3–5 second tick, so text may arrive in chunks. It isn't meant for real-time two-device editing; the normal use is notes on the bus that are waiting on the PC at home. ### 25:37 - Issues with Leaflet Plugin - **25:41** - TTRPG users push plugins hard, and some plugins store data outside notes. **Obsidian Leaflet** keeps map pins in its plugin folder's data.json, held in memory and written when you leave the note. - **27:19** - Testing a Lampo City map on both devices (after installing Leaflet on the phone and syncing "other file types"), pins don't propagate reliably. Each device overwrites data.json when it leaves the note, so they fight each other. - **33:41** - Workaround: right-click a pin and choose **Convert to code block**, which writes the marker into the note's Leaflet code so it syncs like text. It works on mobile too. - **34:58** - Other plugins that use data.json files (he names Javalent's plugins) can have the same issue. He has heard the Obsidian team has fixes coming for syncing plugin settings. ![[images/Obsidian-Sync-Sync-notes-between-PC-and-Mobile-t3345.webp]] ### 36:41 - Outro - **36:41** - Recap, plus pointers to obsidianttrpgtutorials.com (with a reworked menu), the official Obsidian TTRPG Discord and his Patreon. Everything else he makes is free. Thanks to supporters and the community. ## Things mentioned ### Obsidian services, plugins and features - **Obsidian Sync** (paid) - official sync service; $4/month Standard (1 vault, 1 GB, 5 MB files, 1 month history) or $8/month Plus (10 vaults, 10 GB up to 100 GB, 200 MB files, 12 months history). [obsidian.md/sync](https://obsidian.md/sync) - **Obsidian Publish** and business licenses (paid) - other Obsidian revenue sources mentioned. - **Sync core plugin settings** - remote vault, pause, deleted files, activity log, selective sync, excluded folders, vault configuration sync. - **Obsidian Leaflet** (free community plugin) - interactive maps; pins live in data.json; use "Convert to code block" to keep pins in the note. - **Image Converter** (free community plugin) - converts images to WebP; recommended off when using Sync. - **Fantasy Statblocks** and **Initiative Tracker** (free, by Javalent) - examples of plugins whose data can go missing with third-party sync. - **Obsidian TTRPG Patreon Vault** (paid via Patreon) - the vault used in the demo. ### Other sync options - **GitHub** (free) - Josh's usual sync and version-history method. - **Google Drive**, **Dropbox**, **OneDrive** - third-party sync options prone to write conflicts. - **OneNote** - contrasted as a cloud-first note app. ### Websites and communities - [Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/) (free) - [Josh Plunkett on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/JPlunkett) (paid support) - Official Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord (free) - Obsidian Sync official documentation ("Introduction to Obsidian Sync") ## Bios - **Josh Plunkett** - Australian creator behind Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials, a YouTube channel and website that teaches tabletop RPG players and game masters to run campaigns and world-building in Obsidian. He maintains a Patreon vault and is active in the Obsidian TTRPG community. - **Javalent** - developer of several popular Obsidian TTRPG plugins, including Obsidian Leaflet, Fantasy Statblocks and Initiative Tracker, which store data in plugin data.json files.