Use FUTO Notes with an Obsidian vault

FUTO Notes can open an Obsidian vault directly, because a vault is a folder of markdown files and so is a FUTO Notes library. There is no import or conversion step: on desktop you point the app at the vault folder, and it reads the .md files where they are. Notes, folders, [[wikilinks]], #tags, checklists, tables, and front matter all carry over. Embeds, aliases, heading links, callouts, and plugins do not.

The same applies to any folder of markdown files, whichever app wrote them.

Open your vault on desktop

Make a backup copy of the vault first. FUTO Notes is careful with your files, but it’s your only copy.
In FUTO Notes, open Settings and find the Storage section.
Click Change directory and choose the vault folder (the one that contains .obsidian/).
Confirm. The app restarts with your vault’s notes in the list.

This doesn’t move or copy anything. Your previous FUTO Notes folder stays where it was, and Reset to default in the same section switches back. See where FUTO Notes stores your notes.

What works

Obsidian	In FUTO Notes
Notes (`.md` files)	Each one is a note. The filename is the title
Folders	Shown as folders, nested up to 10 levels
`[[Note]]` and `[[Folder/Note]]`	Links you can click or tap. See how links resolve
`#tag`	Tags, as long as they use ASCII letters, digits, `_` and `-`
Headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, lists, `- [ ]` tasks, tables, code blocks, quotes	Rendered
YAML front matter	Kept exactly as written, shown as ordinary text
Images in the vault’s top folder, linked as `![](photo.png)`	Shown inline

Obsidian’s own settings folder, .obsidian/, and its .trash/ folder start with a dot, so FUTO Notes ignores them and never changes them.

What doesn’t work

Obsidian	In FUTO Notes
`[[Note\|alias]]`	Broken link. The whole text, alias included, is read as the note’s name
`[[Note#Heading]]`, `[[Note#^block]]`	Broken link, for the same reason
`![[Note]]` embeds	Nothing is embedded
`![[image.png]]`	The image doesn’t display. Use `![](image.png)`
`[text](Note.md)` markdown links to notes	Not followed as a link to the note
Nested tags like `#project/work`	Not a tag
Tags in front matter (`tags: [a, b]`)	Not read as tags
Callouts (`> [!note]`)	An ordinary quote, with `[!note]` as text
`%%comments%%`, `==highlights==`, $math$	Plain text
Dataview queries	Shown as a code block
Canvas (`.canvas`), PDFs, other attachments	Not shown
Plugins, themes, backlinks panel, graph view	Not available

How wikilinks resolve

FUTO Notes treats everything between [[ and ]] as a note’s path inside the vault, without .md:

An exact path wins: [[Projects/Roadmap]] opens Projects/Roadmap.md, and [[Roadmap]] opens Roadmap.md at the top of the vault if there is one.
Otherwise the text can be the end of one note’s path: [[Roadmap]] also finds Projects/Roadmap.md, as long as no other folder has a Roadmap.md.
If two notes match, the link is broken rather than FUTO Notes guessing. Use the full path.
Matching is case-sensitive. [[roadmap]] does not find Roadmap.md, although Obsidian would.

In Obsidian terms, links written with the “shortest path when possible” or “absolute path in vault” link format resolve in FUTO Notes. Relative paths ([[../Roadmap]]) do not. Keep Obsidian’s wikilink setting on: with it off, Obsidian writes markdown links such as [Roadmap](Projects/Roadmap.md), which FUTO Notes doesn’t follow.

When you rename or move a note in FUTO Notes, it rewrites every wikilink that points at it, across the vault, using the full path. Links with an alias aren’t rewritten. See wikilinks.

Images and attachments

FUTO Notes shows images only from the top folder of the vault, and only through standard markdown image syntax. To keep Obsidian’s images visible in both apps:

Set Obsidian to put new attachments in the vault folder itself, not a subfolder (Settings → Files and links).
Link images as ![](image.png), not ![[image.png]]. Obsidian shows both forms.
Use image names without spaces. Obsidian names pasted images like Pasted image 20260101120000.png, and a markdown link to one spells each space as %20, which FUTO Notes doesn’t decode, so the image doesn’t display. Rename the file and its link, for example to pasted-20260101120000.png.

Images you add in FUTO Notes go in the top folder with generated names such as image-1755176705123-3fa9c1d2e4b7.png and a ![](…) link, which Obsidian displays.

What FUTO Notes changes in your vault

It adds a few hidden files at the top of the vault, such as .app-state.json, .app-config.json, and, once you use sync, .e2ee-state.json. Obsidian ignores them. The full list is in hidden files.
It renames top-level .txt files to .md the first time it opens a folder. A readme.txt directly in the vault becomes readme.md (or readme (imported).md if that name is taken). .txt files in subfolders are not touched. If you keep .txt files at the top of your vault, move them into a subfolder first.
It adds a Welcome note if the folder has no notes at all.
Renaming a note rewrites links to it in other notes, as above. Obsidian does the same when you rename there.
Your edits. FUTO Notes edits the markdown text itself, so a note’s file changes only where you type, plus the tag line at the top when you use the desktop tag bar. Opening a note doesn’t change it.

Nothing else in .obsidian/, your attachments, or your other files is touched.

Warning: Settings → Full reset deletes everything in the notes folder, not only notes: your .obsidian/ settings, attachments, PDFs, and any .git folder go too, and they don’t go to the trash. Don’t use it on a folder you share with Obsidian.

Using both apps on the same folder

On desktop you can keep Obsidian and FUTO Notes open on the same vault. FUTO Notes watches the folder, so changes saved in Obsidian show up right away, including in the note you have open. If both apps change the same note at the same moment, FUTO Notes keeps your unsaved version as a separate conflict copy instead of overwriting the other one. See file format.

Use one sync system per folder. If you sync the vault with Obsidian Sync, iCloud, Syncthing, or similar, don’t also turn on FUTO Notes sync for the same folder on those machines. FUTO Notes keeps its sync bookkeeping inside the folder, and a second tool rewriting the folder behind it leads to conflict copies.

FUTO Notes sync only carries notes and images. Your .obsidian/ folder, PDFs, and other attachments stay on the device. See what syncs.

On iPhone, iPad and Android

The mobile apps can’t open an arbitrary folder, so they can’t open an Obsidian vault where it is.

iOS: FUTO Notes uses its own folder, which the Files app shows under On My iPhone → FUTO Notes → futo-notes. You can copy your vault’s notes into it with the Files app, but that is a separate copy, not the same vault.
Android: with Device storage, FUTO Notes uses Documents/FUTO Notes in shared storage. Any app that can open a folder in shared storage can use that folder too, so one way to share a vault is to keep it in Documents/FUTO Notes and open that folder as a vault in Obsidian. The Android app doesn’t watch the folder while it runs, so restart FUTO Notes to see changes Obsidian made.

To get the same notes on desktop and mobile, the supported route is FUTO Notes sync with a self-hosted server.

Next steps

How sync works: keep the same notes on desktop and mobile.
Wikilinks: the full rules for linking notes.
File format: which files FUTO Notes reads, ignores, and changes.
Download FUTO Notes to open your vault.