Obsidian basics — terms

What is an Obsidian vault?

Q: Does making an existing folder a vault add anything?

In our Linux 1.13.7 test, opening an empty folder created .obsidian and initial settings, with zero Markdown files. "Create new vault" instead drops in a starter note (screenshots). If your folder already holds files, always take the "open folder" path.

The word "vault" suggests a proprietary container. It is an ordinary folder you picked, holding your notes, attachments and Obsidian settings. For this page we opened an empty folder as a vault and counted, byte for byte, what appeared on disk.

By AI ATAKA · Published August 20, 2026 · Measured August 20, 2026 (Obsidian 1.13.7) · Guidance updated September 9, 2026

What is an Obsidian vault?

It is an ordinary folder you chose. Notes are Markdown text files alongside attachments and, by default, the .obsidian configuration folder. You do not need to decode a proprietary database to read your notes.

Our August 20, 2026 test of an empty folder with Linux version 1.13.7 produced four JSON files totalling 5,543 bytes under .obsidian/, and zero Markdown files.

The shortest path from a spoken note on iPhone into your vault is in the four-route comparison (no plugin needed).

Where is a vault, and can I rename it?

A vault lives where you created it, and its name is the folder name. A folder called “Obsidian” is not necessarily the vault itself.

Desktop: if you forgot the location, search for the vault name in Finder or File Explorer and open an existing .md file to check that it contains your notes. The .obsidian directory inside it is configuration, not the parent vault.
iPhone with iCloud: in Files, open Browse → iCloud Drive → the folder with the Obsidian icon → your vault name. Local storage and Obsidian Sync use different arrangements.

On desktop, use “Rename vault” in the vault manager. This changes the folder name too, so check any connected app's target. Sources: vault management and iCloud storage.

How do I open an existing folder as a vault?

In desktop Obsidian, open the vault manager from the bottom left, choose Open beside “Open folder as vault”, and select the folder containing your notes. Choose the parent folder, not .obsidian or one note. See our setup walkthrough for examples.

Measured: what appears when an empty folder becomes a vault

We created one empty directory, had Obsidian 1.13.7 (Linux build) open it as a vault, and listed the result with find. This is all of it.

vault-demo/
└── .obsidian/
    ├── app.json
    ├── appearance.json
    ├── core-plugins.json
    └── workspace.json

File	Size	What it holds
`app.json`	2	Literally `{}` — only settings you changed get written
`appearance.json`	2	Also `{}` — grows once you change theme or font
`core-plugins.json`	696	On/off for 31 core features (21 on, 10 off by default)
`workspace.json`	4,843	Pane layout. The only large one of the four
Total	5,543	Bytes. Not one byte of it is your notes

The 5,543 bytes describe this empty test vault, not the size of a working vault. Obsidian also uses IndexedDB and a metadata cache. Storing notes as Markdown does not mean the application never uses a database.

What follows: deleting, moving, syncing

Distinguish configuration from note storage

Regular Markdown notes live outside the configuration folder, but .obsidian also holds themes, hotkeys and community plugins. Do not use deletion as routine cleanup; keep a copy of the vault, including its settings, before changing it. The four-file result describes only our empty test vault.

Moving a vault is copying a folder

No export step. Point Obsidian at the copy with "Open folder as vault" and it is a vault again. This is the decisive difference from apps with their own database.

workspace.json is the odd one out across devices

Nearly all of its 4,843 bytes describe which panes were open and how. Sharing that between devices with different screen sizes buys little, so some people exclude just this file from sync.

"Create new" and "Open folder" differ

Opening an existing empty folder produced zero Markdown files. "Create new vault" instead drops in a starter note (screenshots). If the folder already has files, do not use the latter.

Inside `core-plugins.json`: the 10 that ship off

Those 696 bytes are an on/off table for the features Obsidian ships with. We counted 31 of them — 21 on, 10 off by default. They need no install, so it is worth checking here before hunting for a community plugin. These ten start off:

footnotes          slash-command      markdown-importer
zk-prefixer        random-note        slides
audio-recorder     workspaces         publish
webviewer

These are separate from community plugins (6,812 of them as of August 21, 2026). The registry-count trend and a measured top-10-by-downloads list live on our plugins page.

Once it is just a folder: how fast can you get into it?

If a vault is just a folder, adding one line to it ought to be easy. On an iPhone it rarely is: open the app, wait for sync, find today's note. After you configure vault access and the target on iPhone, Simple Memo emails notes to you and appends it straight into the daily note inside your vault folder on iCloud Drive, including from Siri and Apple Watch. It writes plain Markdown, so — exactly as measured above — what survives you dropping the app is your own folder.

If you chose Obsidian, shorten the way in

Grant vault access and choose the target on iPhone to save spoken notes to your inbox and daily note. Free to download.