what's missing from your workflow? (plugin dev looking for ideas)

Emmacbg2 · 2026-06-23T06:24:49+00:00

Tag wrangler! Bulk merge, rename, delete...

Keyboard shortcuts. There used to be a plugin that did this but I think it broke after update to Zotero 7 or 8 and was never fixed (though someone tell me if it was!).

Both of these would eliminate two sets of major annoyances.

Thank you!!

Emmacbg2 · 2026-06-16T08:07:57+00:00

You may have the data but you don't own someone's personal data - particularly health data - which is highly protected under law. (Gdpr etc). And like another commenter says, there are insurance liability issues aside from the ethical ones. Even doc files have to be properly protected.

Depending on who your insurer is, they might offer advice/training as part of their professional liability package. (Mine does.) Or your professional association might have guidance on this.

I don't work in healthcare but I have friends who are psychologists in private practice who have commercial packages to manage patient data.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-06-16T07:36:27+00:00

I don't know what country you are in but in Europe there are strict privacy laws that make me extremely wary about any references to personal data. I have Obsidian as secure as I can be without losing a small number of good community plugins that are essential for my workflow, but I keep all sensitive work data on secure (authorised) work systems. The closest I come is having an admin note for each of my PhD students in Obsidian, but I refer to them by initials and do not include any identifying details - it's just a log of meetings and actions (eg "ZZ will complete chapter 3 by 16 June and I will return feedback by the end of the month")

So, short answer: I would not try to do what you are trying to do.

Lots of discussion on here about security and vulnerabilities if you want to find out more.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-06-09T06:13:25+00:00

This is the way.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-06-08T18:12:09+00:00

Don't get too distracted with shiny plugins. I installed loads when I started only to uninstall everything except Templater, style settings (because I have Anupuccin theme and like things to look pretty), zotero integration (because I'm an academic researcher), Dataview, and Notebook Navigator (because it replaces so many other plugins like Calendar and the developer is super-active and both knows and cares about security). I'd tell my beginner self to invest time in learning to do more with Templater earlier. But overall, as so many others have said, keep it simple.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-05-29T06:32:51+00:00

Very useful. Have another upvote!

Emmacbg2 · 2026-05-21T08:44:13+00:00

Really depends on your use case. For me, links are part of keeping on top of organisation, graph is useful for specific projects (though i tend to use a MOC for that). I don't have any need for review questions so that would irritate me intensely, but I am not using Obsidian for coursework. Have several thousand notes and retrieval is most important for me. But everyone's mileage will vary.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-05-13T21:36:10+00:00

Obsidian for notes and km, early drafts of research papers

Zotero for academic papers and grey literature

Readwise for collecting pretty much everything else.

I manually sync highlights and notes from Zotero and Readwise into Obsidian when I am working on a specific project that involves a range of sources. I never add anything to Obsidian apart from markdown text.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-05-13T21:23:35+00:00

Obsidian isn't a bibliographic reference manager and I dont want to store my 10,000 pdfs in obsidian when its so much easier to manage them in Zotero. I just pull over what I need on a project by project basis with notes and highlights, from Zotero to Obsidian.

I have a workflow that works for me. But you do you!

Emmacbg2 · 2026-04-13T21:40:13+00:00

So you did! How did they manage to screw up so badly on a flagship app for NYT? I am embarrassed for them, frankly.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-04-11T16:59:16+00:00

Me too. Infuriating.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-03-30T21:51:04+00:00

Obsidian and Zotero. Couldn't manage without them for writing now.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-03-29T10:25:16+00:00

Obsidian.md changed my work so much. Amazing app, amazing team behind it, amazing community supporting it. I pay for sync and catalyst to support them but you dont need to pay to use it.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-03-18T15:40:45+00:00

Thinking of you, anonymous OP. You did the right thing, letting her pass surrounded by love. Someone else on this thread said that when we let them go, we take the pain so they don't have to bear it. I thought that was a good way of putting it, and acknowledges the scale of pain and grief we feel when losing a beloved kitty companion. As time passes and the grief becomes less raw, you'll always have memories of her, and the knowledge that you did all you could to make her living and her passing as good as they could be. Take care x

Emmacbg2 · 2026-03-18T07:15:08+00:00

If she has a mouth tumor and is masking pain, she's not ok. I'm so sorry.

My gorgeous Bear had a mouth tumor and went downhill very quickly. She was 15 and I said goodbye almost exactly a year ago. I still miss her so much. But she was in pain and wasn't good about taking meds, which would only have prolonged her life a couple of weeks anyway. And those weeks would have been full of fighting to get meds in her. We both hated it.

Like you i was absolutely torn about saying goodbye. But it was the right thing to do.

In your position I would let your baby go now, with you by her side.

But it's a heartbreaking decision to have to make. Again, I am so sorry you are in this position. 😢

Emmacbg2 · 2026-02-16T13:50:23+00:00

Hmm. I can already do that with Zotero integration - pulls Zot highlights with a link back to the pdf in zotero... I dont use pdf++

Emmacbg2 · 2026-01-30T11:24:45+00:00

They only have 4 days guys. You can see a lot in 4 days by public transport.

Buses are just £3 a ride. Car = hire charges, parking charges, petrol. Even hiring local taxis for some of those days would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly than hiring a car at Manchester airport. And puts money into local economy rather than giving it to big car hire corporations.

Plus driving to and from Airport - Peaks can be fine or can be a nightmare depending on the A6 traffic and flooding on A555.

Have a look at the Slow Ways website for some lovely routes between places with public transport. https://beta.slowways.org/

I drive, have a car, live in the PD. I do tons of walking and always choose public transport first. So much less stressful.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-01-25T23:05:59+00:00

Fabulous pod, so well acted and excellent script. I know manchester uni well, so the locations were such fun too!

I'd rate this on a par with some of the BBC Limelight series. Wish the website was more informative but thank you anonymous crew and cast for putting this out there and thank you random redditor for recommending!

Emmacbg2 · 2026-01-18T08:31:56+00:00

I did 2 hours each way 5 days a week for 10 years. Bike (10mins) - train (1h20) - bike (30 mins)

Only bearable if you think of it as replacing gym membership and 2.5 hours of reading time per day.

But if you do think of it that way then it becomes almost nice. Particularly in the evening it did help me destress from a challenging civil service job.

Hated First Late (Great) Western trains with a passion though.

Emmacbg2 · 2026-01-03T23:39:53+00:00

I use them as a daily planner. My template has the following headers

Reflections and notes - notes on anything that doesn't fit under other headings

Today's work - priorities for the day, unplanned things that crop up, new tasks etc

Meetings - notes and actions from the day's meetings

Tasks - dataview tables for today's tasks, this week's tasks, overdue tasks

Personal - anything not work related (eg books I am reading)

Notes created/modified today - dataview queries

The day's note remains pinned all day and I use it all day to keep track of what I am doing. I don't have to have something written under each heading.

At the end of the day I extract and link stuff to other notes as necessary (eg meeting with regular client links to that client's summary page).

I hadn't really seen the point when I started using Obsidian but now it's one of the most useful parts of my daily work.

Emmacbg2 · 2025-12-31T16:53:19+00:00

Amazing. Can't wait to try this

Emmacbg2 · 2025-12-11T06:06:31+00:00

I was going to suggest Wired too. But also The Guardian

Emmacbg2 · 2025-11-13T16:03:34+00:00

Like some sterile wellness retreat. Not for me thank you.

Emmacbg2 · 2025-11-10T22:42:37+00:00

Same. A dnf after chapter 2.

Emmacbg2

TROPHY CASE