Cloud 9 Managers

Obsidian Setup for Managers

8 min read

Cloud 9 Manager Guide: Obsidian Setup

This guide gets you set up on Obsidian so you can access the folders Cloud 9 shares with you. Follow it once and you are ready. If you get stuck on any step, message Sean.

Republish after editing

This guide is shared to managers through Share Note. After any change here, re-upload it to Share Note so the published link stays current.

WHAT THIS IS

Obsidian and Claude are the foundation of Cloud 9’s operating system. From our central vault, CL9UD-OS, the company shares selected folders with team members and locations. You see only the folders shared with you, not the whole vault.

Obsidian is for planning, reviewing, and AI-generated intelligence at a bigger-picture level. Team tasks stay in Todoist as usual. Do not manage tasks in Obsidian.

The approved setup below is intentionally small. A lean setup keeps the shared folders fast and reliable for everyone, so please stick to it.

USE TWO SEPARATE VAULTS

Keep your company work and your personal notes in two separate vaults. A vault is just a folder Obsidian works in, and switching between vaults takes a couple of clicks, so this is easy to live with.

  • Your Cloud 9 company vault. A new vault named Cloud9-[YourName], for example Cloud9-Angela. The folders Cloud 9 shares with you through Relay live in here.
  • Your personal vault. A separate vault for your own notes and files. Keep all personal material here, never in the company vault.

How you set this up depends on whether you have used Obsidian before.

First time using Obsidian: Create your Cloud9-[YourName] company vault by following the steps below. If you also want to use Obsidian for personal notes, create a second, separate vault for those. You can switch between your vaults any time from Obsidian’s vault switcher, and it is quick.

Already using Obsidian: Do not add the Cloud 9 shared folder to your existing vault. Create a new vault first, named Cloud9-[YourName], then add the Relay shared folder inside that new vault. Your existing vault stays as your personal vault. This keeps company notes and personal notes separated by vault.

Each vault keeps its own settings and plugins, so the setup below applies to your Cloud 9 company vault only.

HOW TO SET UP OBSIDIAN

These steps are for setting up your Cloud 9 company vault.

1. Install Obsidian

Go to obsidian.md and download Obsidian for your computer, or search your mobile phone’s app store to install Obsidian. If you mostly use your phone, install it there first.

2. Create a Vault and access the shared folders on the CL9UD-OS vault

Sean will give you an access link or share key.

  1. Create your company vault and name it Cloud9-[YourName], for example Cloud9-Angela.
  2. Open Settings, then Community plugins, and turn off Restricted Mode so you can install the community plugins.
  3. Install the Community Plugin: Relay, then open Relay Setting, go to Join a Relay Server.
  4. Enter the Share Key Sean gives you, click Join. You will see CL9UD-OS Server, click into it, it will show you all the shared folder you have access to. Click the download button next to the shared folders, to add them into your Vault. The folders Cloud 9 shares with you will then sync into this vault from now on. The first sync can take a few minutes. Do not rename these shared folders or move them.
  5. Update Relay to latest Beta version. ‘Instruction’

3. Turn on the Core Plugins

Core plugins are built into Obsidian and are safe to use. Go to Settings, then Core plugins, and turn on:

  • Bases
  • Properties
  • Daily notes
  • Templates
  • Backlinks
  • Outgoing links
  • Outline
  • Tag pane
  • Quick switcher
  • Command palette
  • Canvas (optional)

4. Install the approved Community Plugins

You already turned off Restricted Mode in step 2. In Settings, then Community plugins, browse and install these:

  • Notebook Navigator. This gives you a clean, two-pane way to browse folders and notes, similar to a normal notes app. It is the easiest way to find your way around. If you write daily journal in this vault, you can set Notebook Navigator’s “Daily note source” to the core Daily notes plugin. This gives you the advanced features, like Templater integration and weekly and monthly notes, from one unified interface. (Reference: Notebook Navigator daily notes thread)
  • Templater. Required for creating some frequently used files such as Meetings and Work Journal.
  • Omnisearch. A faster, smarter search that ranks the best matches and can find words inside PDFs and images, so you can locate anything in the shared folders quickly.
  • Share Note. if you need to share some quick note with someone.
  • Outliner. Gives you some workflowy like drag function.
  • Editing Toolbar. The most polished editing bar on top.
  • BRAT. For installing beta version plugins.

5. Pick a theme

Go to Settings, then Appearance, then Themes, and choose one:

  • Things. Polished and app-like, inspired by the Things app, this is default for all of our locations. Not Things 3.
  • Ink. Best only if you read mostly on an e-ink device. High contrast and built for e-ink screens.
  • Minimal. Clean and distraction free.

Pick whichever you like. You can switch any time.

6. Apply these settings

A few settings keep the shared folders consistent for everyone:

  • Editor, Default editing mode: Live Preview (already the default; just confirm it).
  • Editor, Properties in document: Visible (shift report number fields show at the top); Readable line length: ON; Spellcheck: ON.
  • Files and links, Default location for new attachments: In subfolder under current folder, Subfolder name attachments. - this is Critical Setting, must be done.
  • Files and links: Use [[Wikilinks]] ON; New link format Shortest path when possible; Automatically update internal links ON (off by default).
  • Notebook Navigator (Settings, Notebook Navigator): under Folders & folder notes set folder sort to A-Z (keeps 01 through 08 in order); leave List pane Default sort order at its default (Date edited). (Pinning Start Here comes after the Relay sync, below.)
  • Left ribbon (the vertical strip of icons down the far-left edge of the window): right-click the empty space below the icons, not on any icon. A checklist of ribbon buttons pops up. If you want to keep it minimal, uncheck everything except Omnisearch, Open quick switcher, Open command palette, Notebook Navigator, and Open today’s daily note (the shift-report button).

MANAGER FOLDER TEMPLATES (ONE-TIME)

Managers: do this once on your own computer so a new note in a meeting folder or your Work Journal opens with the right template already filled in and dated.

  1. Open Settings (the gear, bottom-left), then click Templater in the left list (under Community plugins).
  2. Find the box Template folder location. Click it, type Cloud 9 Managers/Templates, and pick it from the dropdown.
  3. Find Trigger Templater on new file creation and switch the toggle on.
  4. Find Enable folder templates and switch it on.
  5. Under Folder templates, click Add new folder template (the + button). In the new row:
    • Left box (folder): type Cloud 9 Managers/Meetings/Castle Hills Manager and pick it.
    • Right box (template): type Castle Hills Focus Meeting Template and pick it.
  6. Click Add new folder template again for the second row:
    • Left box (folder): type Cloud 9 Managers/Meetings/Manager Level 10 and pick it.
    • Right box (template): type Manager Level 10 Meeting Template and pick it.
  7. Click Add new folder template again for the third row (your weekly journal):
    • Left box (folder): type your own Work Journal, for example Cloud 9 Managers/01 Managers Workspace/Angela/Work Journal, and pick it.
    • Right box (template): type Weekly Work Journal Managers Template and pick it.
  8. Find Excluded folders, click Add, and enter Cloud 9 Managers/Templates so the blank master templates never run on themselves.

Try it: right-click your own Work Journal folder and choose New note. A blank Weekly Work Journal should appear, named by week. If nothing happens, re-check steps 3 and 4.

RULES

These rules keep the shared folders clean and safe for everyone. Please follow them.

Build views in Bases, do not introduce Dataview

When you want a table, board, or calendar view of notes, use Bases. It is built in, everyone can see it, and it works on all devices. Do not use Dataview.

Plugins that are not allowed

Do not install these. They can break the shared folders or slow them down for everyone:

  • Attachment management plugins. They can rename or move files and break links the system depends on.
  • Smart Connections. It is heavy, slows large vaults, and re-indexes constantly.
  • Dataview. It only displays for people who have it installed, and we use Bases instead.

Check with Sean before adding any other plugin

The approved plugins above are the only ones you need. Before installing any other plugin, check with Sean first. This protects the shared folders and the automation that runs on them.

Backups and Sync

To use Obsidian on more than one device, the official Obsidian Sync service keeps your personal vault in sync across them. And Relay will sync shared folders across your mobile and computer devices.

You do not need to back up the company vault, since Relay keeps the shared folders in sync. Do not set up Obsidian Sync on the company vault. Relay already syncs it, and running both on the same vault would conflict and could corrupt the shared folders.

When you create an Obsidian vault folder on a computer, make sure that folder is not inside an iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive synced location. These third-party sync tools do not work well with Obsidian and can cause conflicts or lost files. The recommended sync is the official Obsidian Sync.

NEED HELP

If anything does not work, or you are unsure about a setting or a plugin, message Sean before changing anything.

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