Logsec & Obsidian

I finally got around to doing a YouTube Video on Obsidian and got a couple of comments back, one on using syncthing ( a free peer to peer syncing program) and one on Logsec v Obsidian.

So I had to go and look up Logsec and find out what it was.

The description is almost the same as Obsidian in that it is base that works on local folder with markdown. So I had to give it a spin.

I’ll be doing a video on the topic, but the general points are:

Current Setup

• I’ve got the combined Logsec and Obsidian pointing to same folder, as they both use markdown they can read each others files.
• at the same time Obsidian version 1 has come/ out with improvements (and bugs)
• Logsec is still in beta mode, so still developing

Logsec Pros

• Files & images into asset folder and using in pages is brilliant. It solves the problem of using in different locations and finding paths to things
• Journals, good but I don’t use them, Obsidian has daily notes.
• Spell checker in core app , unlike Obsidian which has a plugin instead
• tabs, but now Obsidian version 1 has that
• the / for preset templates and other items, really cool #Logsec
• Uses OrgMode another markup language #orgmode

Logsec Cons

• It is bullet point oriented, outlines items to do, so more task oriented
• Doesn’t have folder structure, I like the folder structure as an overview of my topics and good to organize. Need to us
• e Re-Index graph DB to find other pages if shared folder, a bit of a nuisance if you are flicking between the two tools
• kanban plugin a bit crude

General views

As I was starting to explore Logsec, Obsidian came out as version 1, so out of beta testing. Some features that Logsec had in core app Obsidian now has too , specifically Tabs (it had them before but they were a plugin)

After playing with both I found that I still liked Obsidian more, this could be a bias in that I was used to it already, but on reflection I think its the blank notes rather than bullet points and the sub-folder structure that you can do in Obsidian. This is a personal preference.

I think Logsec came out after Obsidian and looked at what Obsidian does not too well and solved these issues.

One biggie for me is being able to drag a file directly into the page and it copies the file to a sub-folder called “assets” so if you read the page in a different computer the path to the file/image remains. Also video links it shows video thumbnails and you can play the video directly in the page.

I really like the forward slash “/”, it acts like the forward slash in WordPress where you pick different block types, in Logsec it picks different template types like links and videos.

There are plugins in Logsec , about 100 presently, to Obsidian’s 600 odd. This is a positive and negative flag, in that people need to make the program do more than it currently is doing and that it doesn’t have features in its core program to meet general needs. This is reflected in version 1 in Obsidian with the addition of Tabs that were previously only a plugin.

Some of the Logsec plugins are a bit cruder than the Obsidian equivalent, specifically the kanban one (others that are specific for Logsec like indent highlight are very good, also I only really tried to load the kanban one and that disappointed me).

The big barrier to me, and the feel of Logsec is its an focused productivity tool based on actions, with the Journal, and pages all having bullet points, so specific, short descriptions for each item. Its described as an outliner rather than a writing/content tool. So focuses on items that can be actioned.

The 2nd big barrier to me is the pages structure just lists all the pages files in a list, no sub-folders. So if you want to look up a page then you have to use search to find it, whereas in Obsidian with the sub-folders you can bunch notes/pages by topic in a separate sub-folder. This is like a normal file structure in File Explorer and I’m comfortable putting notes/pages in sub-folders to organize them.

I like the stream of consciousness,with a “tabula rasa” and just write , like in Word. Where you just trow words down any old how and then organize later with formatting. Logsec forces you to have bullet points, so no paragraphs and I find that does not fit in with my style of getting information out of me and using it.

Logsec has # tags for tags and [[]]] for linking the same as Obsidian, so there is a lot of compatibility between the 2 programs.

I tried linking both to the same folder, a graph Database, in fact, if you go to where the program files are stored C:\User\UserName\AppData\Local\Obsidian or Logsec you will see the file structure is very similar and they use some of the same support files and .dll’s

The idea of having both point to a single folder was that you get the best of both programs and you use a specific program depending on what you are doing. This did not work out to be as simple as it seems. If you create a new page in Logsec it can be seen straight away in Obsidian, but if you create a new page/note in Obsidian you need to refresh or reindex the graphDB in Logsec for it to show initially, so that is a bit of a pain if you want to work on the same new page in both programs.

An interesting thing, if you create a page in Logsec then it will default to bulletpoints, whereas if you create a new page in Obsidian it will allow you to write in paragraphs.

I started a new GraphDB/Folder for linking the 2 programs to so I could keep my original Obsidian folder intact and to explore the features of both programs.

Another cool thing in Logsec is that if you drag say a .ahk file into a page, it shows a link, and if you click on that link it will activate/run the script, which is pretty cool. I’ve got to see if I can get Obsidian to do that.

End Comment

For my style of working Obsidian works better for me at the moment. like the folder structure as I can organise my notes by topic and they are easy to explore based on topic.

Logsec is described as an Outliner program, and to me is too task focused, that is why I think I’ll stay with Obsidian for the moment

Logsec has highlighted deficiencies in Obsidian, like the importing of images and files into the notes and being able to access those images in the notes on a different PC.

To try and solve that issue I’ve created an Asset folder and created a AutoHotKey script to copy a selected file (in File Explorer) to the Asset Folder in Obsidian. I still have to link to that file from the page by dragging it in. I’m not sure how easy that will be if I have too many files in that folder, but it’s a first step. It also doesn’t show the .ahk file types, only the image file types when copied across, so I have to find a method to link to non image files in the asset folder.

I will carry on exploring the Logsec & Obsidian joint folder to highlight the way I work and tailor things to help me work better in Obsidian

There is a lot of change happening in both programs and I will continue to watch the changes to see what tools I can use to smooth my workflow in creating my knowledge base.