iCloud Keeps Eating Obsidian Vaults

“Hey guys, I'm using obsidian on Android, and I don't want to mess with syncing between internal storage and remote location (My Nas PC). So I want to keep my Vault on my NAS and have Obsidian on Android and choose this remote location as the Vault to open. Is this possible in any way, cause when I'm browsing, the picker lets me choosing only from Androids Internal storage submitted by /u/jesuiscaramel [link] [comments]”

“What I mean here is the mental model of vault. Like Obsidian, I also allow to select a folder that is a "vault" for the given board. And also similarly to Obsidian, that vault can sync to the server destination to be available on other devices. In theory, that won't be a very hard task to make them live together, because we're both support editing the raw file and get it reflected on the app. There wasn't such request yet, but I have it on my backlog ideas. [re: Doska: open”

“I have used it and I get so many more conflicts with it vs git or anything else I have used for files I’m not even touching too [re: How to sync iCloud with Windows PC | The easiest solution I have found]”

“the whole vault-as-context thing can get pretty unwieldy even if the code itself is fine, like the retrieval part ends up being the bottleneck [re: Looking for a trustworthy, well-maintained BYOK AI plugin]”

“I will update this post if this stops working for me. For context, I use an iPhone, iPad and Windows 11 on a desktop. I started using Obsidian recently and wanted to have my work in one device translate to the other seamlessly. At first I tried installing iCloud through the Microsoft store and make the iCloud Obsidian vault folder the same as my desktop vault. Every time I edited a file, conflicts would happen and endless duplicates would occur, sometimes resulting in data loss. After this I tri”

“ADDENDUM: RESOLVED, From latest Change log: Added the “Open file from outside the vault…” command. Pick a Markdown file on your computer and view it in the app. Obsidian now appears in your operating system’s Open with menu, and you can set it as the default app for Markdown files. I have a lot of markdown documents that I DON’T need to keep long-term in a vault, but DO want to read nicely formatted instead of in a text editor. I’ve been throwing them into a temporary directory in a vault, readi”

“A cloud MCP for Sync does not make sense because Obsidian is end-to-end encrypted. So the MCP server could not access your notes. However many people do what you're describing using Headless Sync and Obsidian CLI https://obsidian.md/help/sync/headless You don't need to maintain your own server, lots of AI providers offer this. You can ask Bot, Muse, etc to set it up for you. [re: Obsidian Cloud MCP (dreaming)]”

“good call on the backup, 9k files is not something you want to revert manually [re: Tech question: Can inline tags be pushed to YAML properties across the whole vault?]”

“Context 36 shipped list/edit/delete for the personal vault, and 37 added CSV import, but there is still no way to add a single new item from the extension by hand the only way a new item is ever created is the one shot save password capture on form submit ( 32), which only ever produces a login. Desktop's "Add item" card (login or secure note) has no extension equivalent, so a user who wants to jot down a secure note, or add a login for a site they're not currently on, has to switch to desktop o”

“Context Surveyed the repo for any vault export: there is none. This is distinct from recovery kit (forgotten master password) and emergency access (trusted contact access), both already shipped this is the ordinary, expected "download a copy of my own data" feature every competitor (LastPass, Bitwarden, 1Password, Keeper) ships, for backup or for leaving the product entirely. Task \ packages/shared/src/import.ts\ already has the inverse of this (CSV VaultItem[]); add the other direction (\ Vault”

“A flash drive. They are markdown files. If not, pay for sync, sync your vault to your personal. Or, as many have said, JUST DON’T! From your comments I don’t perceive you as particularly tech savvy(not a problem, just a statement) yet your company seems to have pretty decent policy in regards to tech, so unless you have fully read and understand the technology policies you have at work, don’t do it. [re: Sending notes from work to personal vault?]”

“I can't seem to log in to my Obsidian account to enable sync. [re: Four months on: the browser Obsidian experiment now has local vaults and no public demo]”

“I do, but I don't use any type of sync for this vault. It sits in an encrypted drive (I use VeraCrypt) in an external SSD frequently backupped to two other external drives. I don't fully trust Obsidian Sync not for a problem with encription, it is very good at that, but because of a problem I had with another vault, 2 or 3 attachments completely gone. so, for my important docs no sync but backup, no cloud but local, while fully encripted. [re: Is it bad to put important files in Obsidian”

“Again, syncing with storage counts as a second, but you probably want a third archived somewhere. [re: Is it bad to put important files in Obsidian?]”

“Exactly. The saying is, "if you only have one copy, you have ZERO copies." Lose that one, you have lost everything. [re: Is it bad to put important files in Obsidian?]”

“Ahh, I see. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I will definitely have them secured in more than one location [re: Is it bad to put important files in Obsidian?]”

“i had that exact thing happen when iCloud decides it wants to fight with Obsidian over who gets to touch the file switched my vault to a local folder and the ghosting stopped entirely, so i'd bet on iCloud being the culprit here even if it worked fine before [re: Opened notes turn blank as i write them]”

“Reading your post I started to worry that my notes could be nuked too, but then I remembered I regularly back up everything to external SSDs [re: [funeral warning] i lost alot of notes for obsidian sync/plugin bug]”

“iCloud sync between mac and ios is a dumpster fire half the time, had the same disappearing vault nonsense until i switched to a different method [re: New to obsidian]”

“I use obsidian on my mobile mainly but also my macbook. I can't seem to get them to sync properly. Either not all the files are in one or somehow I end up connected to a different local vault. Im following the instructions so don't know what I'm doing wrong. Sorry for the stupid question. submitted by /u/saulylee [link] [comments]”

“I managed to recover the vault from previous versions but wish I would have had a backup. I have since tested a few backups plugins and found none to work great so have since wrote a full new plugin for myself and am sharing here for anybody who wants to use. Lots of people use my other plugin which I won’t mention here and hope this can now bring peace to people so they don’t lose their vaults https://community.obsidian.md/plugins/rewind-vault submitted by /u/danrhodes1987 [link] &#”

“Hi everyone, I'm facing an issue with Obsidian Sync on Android and would appreciate some help. My setup: MacBook: Obsidian Sync works perfectly with end-to-end encryption (E2EE). iQOO Z9X Android: Latest Obsidian version. Vault size: Approximately 300 MB. The problems: I created a remote vault on my MacBook with E2EE enabled. Sync works perfectly on the Mac, and files are uploading and updating normally. When I try to connect to the same remote vault on Android and enter the exact same encry”

“You can use the iOS Shortcuts app maybe. Files has a "Scan Document" action you can use, then save it to an ingress folder in your vault (if you're using iCloud to sync your vault), and maybe add a sidecar note to your vault too. If you're using other ways to sync your vault, can just save it to a folder in iCloud Drive and deal with it later. Or combine any other app that provides Shortcut actions for files. [re: iPhone Document Scanner & Obsidian Upload]”

“I have information/chats/etc stored on Claude, Gemini, OpenAI and an AI assistant on my mac Is there a way for them to autosync in one vault? What tool would help me locate/retrieve info from these chats. For example if I were to ask: What movies did I watch and rate 8/10 earlier this year? (I have this info across different llms). I want to be able to ask this on any model I'm using. Or even if it doesn't autosync, I could get my hermes agent to sync it manually every few days. su”

“If you do this, make sure you select the option to 'always keep files on device ' otherwise you may get sync issues. It's recommended on the obsidian forum [re: Brand new to Obsidian as a former Notion user. ( help )]”

“Just an add on to the fine points souloid mentioned, You can sync for free with iCloud. When setting up your vault, select iCloud as the location. It’ll just store there, and you can use obsidian with your Mac and iPad just fine. No $$$. But if you do wanna sub, feel free. Consider it as a good donation to a bunch of dudes who built such a fine app. Welcome aboard! [re: Brand new to Obsidian as a former Notion user. ( help )]”

“This is what I do. I literally just copy the vault folder into a dated folder as a "backup" and then copy it across later. [re: Sending notes from work to personal vault?]”

“If I copy the vault will the secrets go, if not then how can i backup those securely and where it is actually located. [re: Obsidian Keychain (native)]”

“If I copy the vault will the secrets go, if not then how can i backup those securely and where it is actually located. [re: Obsidian Keychain (native)]”

“Here’s my experience: I had my vault stored inside the Obsidian application folder itself, so when I reinstalled the app, everything got deleted. Luckily, I had backups uploaded to Google Drive, so I was able to resolve the issue. To avoid problems in the future, I moved the folder to my desktop and then opened it as a vault in Obsidian; that way, if I ever have to reinstall the app again, I won't run into that issue. I also found a plugin that creates compressed backups in a folder of my ch”

“how do you do the backup. i don't see a way to automatically export the vault data. [re: Do you selfhost bitwarden lite or vaultwarden?]”

“This is a "just install the damn thing" scenario. I have never had a problem with my vault when updating/reinstalling/putting Obsidian on a new machine. You already have multiple backups (you are a wise person and obviously of good sense and breeding), you're safe! [re: obsidian asking me to reinstall?]”

“As others have said, you have backups so you're fine. Just think it through, a vault is some folders and Markdown files. The data is not in a proprietary Obsidian format. So Obsidian is basically a special file explorer/viewer with extra features. Something can go wrong when markdown files are open or in the act of saving (e.g. accidentally saving a blank instead of the actual content, corrupting a file, etc). But since the data is individual files instead of a single proprietary encoded dat”

“There's this feature where you can preview md files outside your vault, and you can only access that feature by reinstalling Obsidian I think [re: obsidian asking me to reinstall?]”

“The latest update is asking me to reinstall the app on my computer. My brain understands that logically speaking, this should not affect my vault. However, I love my vault SO much that I feel too anxious to reinstall, just in case there's somehow a bug and I lose my beloved notes. And yes, I do have multiple backups on multiple thumb drives and on iCloud. I have programming experience, I have software experience, but my heartbeat outpaces my neurons. Has anybody who has recently reinstalled”

“For the last four days I’ve been getting an error that I can’t sync because I’m using 10GB out of 10GB of storage. I’ve had Claude and codex go through the directories and look at the system obsidian files and they’ve confirmed the vaults collectively are well under 10GB. They’re at 5–7GB across 7 vaults. They said it might be the case that files that are being mass renamed or large files edited may be getting stuck on the server side and eating the space. I haven’t been able to find anything ab”

“Can we move the Taskforge folder without breaking things? Can I put it in the .obsidian folder? Absolutely can't stand it being in my vault root. Will need to drop TF if I can't address that. Since I just bought lifetime two weeks ago I will (regrettably, as I appreciate a solo dev working hard and doing good things) seek a refund as this is not the product I bought. The … menu should not be within the search ("Add or find anything") bubble. It is mixing contexts to have global”

“My vault is backed up using Syncthing. It's a 3 way sync between obsidian on my phone, PC and home lab PC for redundancy. It automatically syncs all file changes, without the need to manually save anything, and I can even share notes between my phone and PC. Pretty nifty”

“The naming question is real, but the part that would actually sell me is that the vault stays plain files no matter what happens to the plugin. If ObSync dies in two years you're left with markdown and a trash folder, not some database you have to pry open. Freezing the note instead of dumping conflict markers into it is the right instinct — losing a sync tool is annoying, silently losing edits is worse.”

“Self-hosted sync for Obsidian: a free server, your whole vault, and a browser app”

“Thank you. Do I need to make the desktop vault "remote" for it to sync with the mobile app? The desktop sync shows: "Currently not connected to any remote vault"”

“sounds frustrating for sure. had the same thing happen when i first started, the vault names being identical is what trips it up cause obsidian thinks they are separate what fixed for me was picking one as the main vault, usually the desktop one, and then on ios i deleted the app entirely and reinstalled. when you open it fresh it asks to connect to a remote vault and that's when you point it to the same one also worth checking in the sync settings if both devices show connected, sometimes i”

“Obsidian paid subscriber here, a relative novice. Just discovered that I have two Obsidian vaults with the same name: one in the desktop app and the other in the iOS app. Neither is syncing with the other. Nor can the two apps find any remote vault. As a result, I don't have an integrated vault. I want a seamless vault. How to resolve this problem? submitted by /u/naored [link] [comments]”

no backups is brave lol, at least toss the vault on icloud or something

“I'm using Obsidian on my Android phone, sometimes on my Android tablet. Never on a PC. My vault is >100MB with pictures. Right now, I have developed an automated backup system from my phone using tasker and foldersync, uploading everything to Google drive. I have seven daily backups (Mon-Sun), four weekly and six monthly, which get updated on rotation. I use a similar system (with foldersync and tasker) to sync between my phone and tablet, using another folder on my Google drive as a mid-”

“GDrive app on your PC, sync the vault folder (this creates a shared cloud folder to access from across devices). Then open the vault in a mobile device from its location.”

“According to https://obsidian.md/help/sync-notes#Google+Drive it's apparently possible to sync vaults over Google drive on Android devices. For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this. The article implies that no additional apps are necessary for Google Drive to work with Obsidian for Android. I found a reddit post from ~2021 that implied otherwise, so I tried a third party "save your Google Drive locally" app (FolderSync) to get my vault from my Google Drive to my pho”

bump - did anyone of you guys find a solution?

“The only thing to be careful off as far as I've experienced, is the selective sync. It's not a problem with Dropbox, since the settings are easy, but the ones on iCloud caused me some trouble, because iCloud started removing files from the laptop, which Obsidian Sync viewed as being deleted, so it deleted it from the Vault on the PC and from then to the Dropbox. Fortunately, Dropbox has an excellent deleted files recovery tool, and on top of that, I make other incremental backups for it”

yes

“Ahhh yes. I will have a similar set up then but I’ll be using Google Drive instead. I’ll be setting up the vault on my pc this afternoon! My PC is always on so ideally I guess that’s where the “main” set up should be. Then like you I’ll mirror it on MacBook. iPad. iPhone and boox tablet using obsidian sync Do you run into any issues since it’s mirroring? Claude will transcribe my notes and file them as md files in my vault on Google Drive is essentially what my setup will be”

“ICloud Syc IS reliable as long as you keep your vault downloaded on any connected devices.”

“Basically, I have Obsidian on dropbox on my main Windows PC, so it syncs to the dropbox. But I also have iCloud on the PC, so I have a second backup there if I need it. But as the Windows instance of Obsidian is not on that drive, it's just a second backup. Now, my laptop is a MacBook, and there the Obsidian vault is on the iCloud drive, but it syncs from Obsidian Sync. So if I make a change on the PC, it goes to dropbox AND to the Mac, where it is put on the iCloud, and then synced back to”

“I know a year later... Can you explain how you use the backup portion? for the easiest path to use obsidian across apple and android devices.. I am going to have to use obsidian sync.. previously I was just using apple devices and iCloud Drive was ok.. so now id like to keep an updated backup on iCloud Drive”

“Yes you can, but you must do there moves using obsidian. If so, obsidian swiftly updates all links. Never tidy up your vault via windows explorer.”

“Decide on your master device for plugin setting etc Make sure those plugins are installed on the destinations. Only sync the data.json for each plugin Sync your vault files (excluding .obsidian ) separately In /.obsidian do not sync types.json , workspace.json & ./plugins (except for the data.json for each)”

“I am using synctrayzor/syncthing to keep my vault synced across android, windows, ipados. I used this tutorial. My device mesh & roles: Windows pc - synctrazor: works as primary hub/send-receive node, Samsung phone - syncthing fork app: full vault sync, Ipad - synctrain: text notes sync; pdfs are excluded using .stignore(goodnotes_pdfs/). The problem: Currently testing notebook navigator but this happens with other plugins as well. Plugins keep disappearing. When I check, restricted mode is”

“JUST moved over from Logseq to Obsidian. Ran the importer, etc. It took all the Logseq attachments and put them in the vault root. Can I place them into a subdirectory without breaking Obsidian? submitted by /u/JosephLouthan- [link] [comments]”

“I had 5 vaults and I’ve narrowed it down to 3 and I may narrow it down to two but I find if I’m adding too many folder layers it’s less effective than just having another vault. So depends on your life and how those areas of interest interact with each other or not. I have a whole vault dedicated to to knowledge, journaling, etc. and another dedicated life responsibilities.”