Coming from Obsidian
An Obsidian vault is a folder of markdown files, and so is a Noteriv vault. You can open your existing vault in Noteriv as it is, with no import or conversion step, and keep using Obsidian on the same folder.
Open your vault
- Click the vault name in the top-left corner to open the vault switcher.
- Click New vault, then choose Open folder in the wizard.
- Pick your Obsidian vault folder.
Your notes and folders appear in the sidebar straight away. Nothing is copied or moved: Noteriv reads and writes the same .md files.
Using both apps on one folder
Noteriv keeps its own settings in a .noteriv/ folder inside the vault. It does not change .obsidian/, and hides that folder from the file tree. You can switch back to Obsidian at any time, or run both.
What carries over
Tested by opening an Obsidian-style vault in Noteriv 2.4.8 on desktop; heading and block links were tested on 2.4.9.
| Obsidian feature | In Noteriv |
|---|---|
| Notes and folders | Shown as they are |
[[Note]] and [[Note|alias]] links | Work, including links by name to notes in other folders |
[[Note#Heading]] and [[Note#^block]] links | Open the note at that heading or block (from 2.4.9) |
#tags and nested #parent/child tags | Work |
| YAML frontmatter | Kept and displayed |
Callouts (> [!note]) | Work |
==Highlights==, task lists, tables, footnotes | Work |
| LaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams | Work |
.canvas files | Open in the canvas view with their text cards and labelled connections |
What does not carry over yet
| Obsidian feature | In Noteriv |
|---|---|
![[Note]] and ![[image.png]] embeds | Shown as a link to the file in both edit and read modes, not rendered inline |
Foldable callouts (> [!tip]-) | The callout renders, but does not fold, and the - or + is shown |
%%comments%% | Shown as text |
| File cards on a canvas | The card appears but its note content does not load |
| Dataview queries | Noteriv has its own dataview block rather than the Obsidian plugin, so check each query: results may differ |
| Community plugins and themes | Obsidian plugins and themes do not run in Noteriv. It has its own plugin API and themes |
None of this changes your files. Anything Noteriv does not render stays in the note exactly as you wrote it.
How the two apps differ
| Noteriv | Obsidian | |
|---|---|---|
| Source code | Open source, MIT licence | Free to use, not open source |
| Notes | Plain markdown files on your disk | Plain markdown files on your disk |
| Sync | Git and WebDAV built in, or any synced folder | Obsidian Sync as a paid add-on, or any synced folder |
| Plugins | A plugin API with a small catalogue | Community plugins and themes |
Obsidian has been around longer and its community plugin library is much larger. If your workflow depends on specific Obsidian plugins, check the second table above before switching.