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How to Build and Format Tables in Obsidian Notes Application

Obsidian is a powerful note-taking application that uses markdown formatting to structure notes. One of the key features of Obsidian is the ability to create tables, which can help organize complex information in a clear and concise way.

This article will provide a step-by-step guide on how to build and format tables in Obsidian using markdown.

Creating a Basic Table

Creating a basic table in Obsidian using markdown is straightforward:

  • Start by adding a pipe | character
  • Then type the heading text for the first column and press tab
  • Continue adding column headings, pressing tab after each one
  • To start a new row, press enter
  • Separate each cell with a pipe character |

Here is an example code for a basic table:

| Heading 1 | Heading 2 | Heading 3 |
|--|--|--| 
| Cell 1 | Cell 2 | Cell 3 |
| Cell 4 | Cell 5 | Cell 6 |

And here is how it looks when rendered:

Heading 1Heading 2Heading 3
Cell 1Cell 2Cell 3
Cell 4Cell 5Cell 6

Formatting Tables

There are several ways to customize and format tables in Obsidian using markdown:

Aligning Text

  • You can left, center, or right align text in the columns using colons (:)
  • For left aligned text, add a colon : before the hyphens |-|
  • For centered text, add colons before and after the hyphens |:--:|
  • For right aligned text, add a colon after the hyphens |--:|

Column Width

  • You can set column widths by adding numbers after the colons
  • For example, |:--150:| would set that column to 150 pixels wide

Cell Formatting

  • Cells can contain all other markdown formatting like bold, italics, strikethrough etc.
  • Use markdown links [](url) or wikilinks [[]] inside table cells

Spanning Cells

  • Use HTML colspan and rowspan attributes to merge cells
  • For example:
| Day | <span colspan="2">Seminars</span> | Meals |
|--|--|--|--|
| Monday | Introduction | Advanced | Breakfast |

Renders as:

| Day | Seminars | Meals |
|–|–|–|–|
| Monday | Introduction | Advanced | Breakfast |

Table Plugins

There are some useful Obsidian plugins that can enhance tables:

  • Advanced Tables – Better navigation, formatting, and manipulation of tables
  • Markdown Table – Excel-like table editing UI, formulas, and more
  • Table Extended – Additional table syntax like rowspan and colspan

These plugins add more advanced functionality like:

  • Navigating cells easily with arrow keys
  • Adding/deleting rows and columns
  • Sorting and filtering table data
  • Exporting tables as CSV
  • And much more!

Best Practices

Here are some best practices to follow when working with tables in Obsidian:

  • Keep tables simple and compact
  • Avoid merging too many cells
  • Use consistent column widths
  • Left align text columns whenever possible
  • Right align numeric data columns
  • Center align column headings
  • Use row dividers for long tables
  • Break up very long tables into separate tables
  • Give tables descriptive captions if needed

Examples and Sample Usage

Tables are extremely versatile and can be used in Obsidian notes for:

Task Lists and Kanban Boards

  • Use tables as Kanban boards to manage tasks and projects
  • Columns can represent task status, rows are individual tasks

Calendars and Schedules

  • Create monthly/weekly calendars to map out events and appointments
  • Rows for days of the week, columns for timing

Data Tables and Matrices

  • Store data sets, statistics, records in a table structure
  • Calculate sums, averages etc. using Markdown Table plugin

Comparison Tables

  • Line up products, services, features etc. side-by-side
  • Compare pros and cons in a glance

Conclusion

By following this guide, you should now have a good understanding of how to create, format, and customize tables in Obsidian using markdown syntax.

Tables allow you to organize information in clear visual layouts, making complex data much easier to absorb. They have many helpful applications for note-taking.

Installing one of the table plugins can greatly improve the user experience of working with tables. The additional functionality provides an Excel-like environment that makes it simple to build advanced tables you can sort, filter, and export.

Obsidian’s flexibility with markdown formatting plus the ability to embed HTML attributes gives users all the tools they need to build structured tables tailored for any use case.

So start building tables for task tracking, calendars, data sets, comparisons, and more to boost your productivity!

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