Obsidian opens a folder on the computer as a vault for notes, attachments and project files. Most notes remain ordinary Markdown files, while images, audio, video and PDFs stay as separate attachments. Internal links and backlinks describe relationships among those files. Creating a link does not move or duplicate its target, and opening a folder as a vault does not convert the folder into an opaque database.
A vault is a folder with local configuration
The vault switcher can create a new folder or open an existing one. Obsidian stores vault-specific settings in a hidden .obsidian folder inside it. Copying the visible notes without that directory preserves the Markdown content but can omit plugins, appearance settings and other vault behavior.
Internal links can use Wikilink or Markdown syntax. A link may point to a whole note, one heading or an addressable block. When the user selects a block target, Obsidian can append a caret identifier to the Markdown source. That identifier makes a precise reference possible, but it is an Obsidian convention rather than standard Markdown. Automatic link updating can rewrite links after a linked file receives a new name through Obsidian.
Canvas cards do not all become notes
Canvas stores its spatial board in an open JSON Canvas file. It can contain note cards, media cards, web cards and text-only cards. A text-only card lives inside the Canvas instead of appearing as a Markdown file in the vault. Backlinks and other file-based functions do not treat that card like a note until the user converts it into a file.
This difference matters during export or migration. The Canvas file keeps board positions and connections, while linked Markdown notes remain separate files. Moving one without the other can leave a board that still records a card path but cannot find the corresponding note or attachment.
Sync protects the remote vault, not the local folder
Obsidian Sync encrypts communication and the remote vault according to the selected encryption mode. It does not encrypt the local vault on the device. Disk encryption or another local security layer must protect the readable files there.
Obsidian cannot recover a lost end-to-end encryption password or decrypt the remote data without it. The documented recovery begins with a surviving local copy, disconnects devices and creates a new remote vault. Devices then reconnect one at a time. Sync version history can restore retained note revisions or deleted files, but the retention period expires and attachments can follow another limit. It cannot replace an independent backup.
Automation needs exact URI encoding
An obsidian:// URI can open, create, append to or search notes. Its parameter values require percent encoding. A space and slash need encoded forms, and an unescaped reserved character can change how Obsidian interprets the action. Desktop pop-out windows have another boundary: they remain attached to one vault and close with the parent vault window. Tabs can move between windows for that vault, but not into a window that belongs to a different vault.
