How to structure an Obsidian vault.
Short answer: give every note a path, not just a place. One inbox where everything lands, separate folders for what you do and what you know, a ladder for knowledge (their material, your notes on it, your own ideas), a journal, and an archive. Number the folders in the order a note moves through them.
Why most vault structures fail
Most structures sort notes by topic: a folder for psychology, one for work, one for books. Topics overlap, so every new note needs a decision, and every decision is a small reason to stop capturing. After a few months the vault becomes a storage locker: full, tidy and rarely opened.
A structure that lasts sorts notes by what they are for. A note about money can be a task (pay the rent), a project (save for a trip), a source (a book on budgeting), or an idea of your own (spending less is easier than earning more). Each of those has an obvious home, so you never have to think about where it goes.
Five steps to a structure that lasts
- Make one inbox. Everything new lands there: a thought, a link, a task. Capture should never require a decision.
- Separate what you do from what you know. Projects (things with an end) and areas (things you keep up, like health or money) on one side; sources and ideas on the other.
- Give knowledge a ladder. Three folders: other people's material, your notes on one source in your own words, and ideas that are fully yours.
- Add a journal and an archive. Reflection deserves its own place. Finished projects move to an archive instead of being deleted, so nothing stays by accident and nothing is lost.
- Number the folders in the order notes move. The sidebar then reads like a note's life: captured, decided, used, kept.
A ten-folder map you can copy
This is the structure Sylvics uses. You can create it in five minutes in any vault.
- 00 - Atlasdashboards and maps, no raw notes
- 01 - Inboxeverything new lands here
- 02 - Planningthings with an end
- 03 - Areasthings you keep up
- 04 - Resourcesother people's material
- 05 - Literatureyour notes on one source
- 06 - Permanentyour own ideas
- 07 - Journaldays, weeks, reviews
- 08 - Archivefinished, still linked
- 99 - Metatemplates and settings
Where PARA and the Zettelkasten fit
PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive), from Tiago Forte, sorts notes by how actionable they are. It covers folders 02, 03, 04 and 08. The Zettelkasten, Niklas Luhmann's method, describes how an idea matures from a source to a thought of your own. It covers folders 04, 05 and 06. They answer different questions, so they combine instead of competing.
Sort notes by what they are for, not what they are about. Topics belong in links.
Questions
Should I use folders or tags in Obsidian?
Use a few folders for what a note is for (task, source, idea, journal) and links or properties for what it is about. Folders answer where a note lives; links answer what it connects to. Tags are best kept for a handful of statuses.
Is PARA enough for an Obsidian vault?
PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive) sorts notes by how actionable they are, which works well for work and life. It says little about how your own ideas mature, so many people add a Zettelkasten-style layer for literature and permanent notes.
How many folders should an Obsidian vault have?
Few enough to choose between in a second. Around ten top-level folders, each with a one-line rule, is a common ceiling; more than that and capture starts to require thinking.
How Sylvics does it
Sylvics ships this structure finished: the ten folders, a dashboard for each, and a router that asks four questions to decide where any note goes. See the folders on the tour or read the router.