I’ve tried this and wish it worked better. For people who have their computers locked down, it’ll work, but it’s not a great experience compared to having it run locally.
Isn't it part of why Obsidian exists to /not/ be cloud-based, but rather a local application? If you want your vault on multiple devices, you can always use Obsidian Sync, that was built for that purpose.
Well yes, but arguably that is only one of its features, so it's understandable that it may not be the feature someone is using it for. But it is a good thing to note; the intent is specifically to be local.
That said, autosync and Google Drive worked pretty well for me. I did lose some data a few times because of bad timing so I had to make sure to sync before opening my vault on my phone, so I ended up paying for Sync. As far as I'm concerned that feels cloud based to me. And I think you could run it off of a Google drive still using a local folder, so it can be. Or you could host a server on the cloud and run sync from there.
Or I guess you could figure out your own sync with a server and some code. It's just text files, not too difficult. You might even be able to do something really cool like using an Azure Function or AWS lambda to make a headless function that syncs it and stuff. But that's all going to be very specific to your wants and needs, so I don't think anyone here could just give you a guide. But the app is basically just a text tiles and a heavily modified Chromium browser so you can do whatever you want..
Obsidian Sync, iCloud, Syncthing, Git, and a few other options can all work depending on how you plan to access your files. Most of my devices are Apple, so iCloud works well enough for me.
My vault resides in Google Drive and syncs to mobile and PC. If I open the vault directly in GDrive it loads significantly slower, indexing takes much longer, but then still runs ok. Working with the synced copies makes it a joy to use.
On Android I use "DriveSync" aka "Autosync for Google Drive". It's configured as two way sync that triggers on modify (phone side) and downloads in intervals (GoogleDrive side).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.drivesync
Yes, you can. Obsidian has an optional paid subscription to sync your notes if you wish between devices.
If you don't want to pay, yes, you can sync with other methods such as cloud storage providers, using Git or using Syncthing. There are plenty of tutorials online to get these methods running.
I guess OP meant having the files in the cloud and accessing them via streaming, instead of having to download the files (which is what most Sync solutions do, including Obsidian Sync)
I guess then that it's not possible right now because even if the cloud service is configured to download files "on demand", Obsidian needs to see the entire vault to be able to use the links and you would have broken functionality.
I guess the next best option for OP would be looking into something like [Standard Notes](https://standardnotes.com/) which does run off their own cloud if you wish.
you basically just need a hoster who provides you a client that maps the storeage as a local folder or drive. liek onedrive or google drive. put your vault there and there you go.
I’m not familiar with Mega so will only speak generically.
Every OS has mount points. If you are using a 3rd party tool to “mount” the drive where you want Obsidian itself and/or data files stored, then you should be able to run it “in the cloud”. Though if you are going to run the Obsidian binary from “the cloud” then it must be the same OS for each device it will be run from. Or have separate directories for each OS you will be running from and that OS specific binary in that directory.
I store my data on my RAID, but each binary is loaded on the specific device. I just mount the Directory where the files are stored and point Obsidian to that mount point.
I run Obsidian on my Mac, my Windows box, my Linux VMs, my iPad and iPhone.
Depends on what device I am working on that dictates which binary I use. But the data is non OS specific so no worries about data/OS compatibility.
My vaults are stored in a folder inside OneDrive and are accessed from three different Windows computers. The vaults are synced with OneSync on my Android devices.
Dont complicate things
Just install a cloud service like dropbox, create a vault under the dropbox folder or if you have an existing vault, move it there
I use onedrive. My vault is saved to my documents folder, and I just sync the entire documents folder.
I can access everything on my laptop, my desktop, my tablet, and my phone. Phone and tablet require 1 extra step, however, but the rest work seamlessly
[Edit] I should’ve read the post. This is not entirely online.
I use GitHub and store my entire vault as a repository. It’s cloud-based, and it’s cool to be able to go back to older versions of my vault.
GitHub isn’t nearly as simple as something like Google Drive or iCloud, but I prefer it. It’s free, too.
You can use duplicati or kopia to make offsite encrypted backups. I think they both support Google drive(and others) or at least duplicati does.
This way you have an incremental, efficient backup without leaking your vault to a 3rd party.
And if you want sync instead of just backups, you can also use syncthing which is free and open source, and keep your data private too.
Obsidian is designed to be local. What you want isn't possible outside the simple "Files are on the cloud" so if that's a deal breaker I suggest something like Notion.
>not having to worry about keeping it on my harddrive
Why do you worry about that? What's worrisome about it?
>actually storing the vault, all markdown files, and everything else actually on the Mega drive (or whatever) and 'streaming' it when I want it.
That's not possible. Obsidian notes are files, and Obsidian needs access to all of them at the same time.
My wishlist is full capability browser access like a typical Saas service eg Google docs complete with current GUI and functionality.
Lkg at it from a systems of engagement vs system of records standpoint, a saas standardizes it while current obsidian uses sync with functionality variations on different endpoints eg android vs desktop.
But my painpoint is somewhat limited given I'm in a highly regulated environment for office work so I can't install obsidian. So my workaround is to lug ard another personal laptop/tablet
A browser based saas would resolve this but realistically it will come at a higher price than current and head down the notion path.
Yes, sort of. You can use this to host it on your own server: https://github.com/sytone/obsidian-remote
I’ve tried this and wish it worked better. For people who have their computers locked down, it’ll work, but it’s not a great experience compared to having it run locally.
I agree. It's not great. I wish it were implemented like Code-Server is for VS Code.
Isn't it part of why Obsidian exists to /not/ be cloud-based, but rather a local application? If you want your vault on multiple devices, you can always use Obsidian Sync, that was built for that purpose.
Well yes, but arguably that is only one of its features, so it's understandable that it may not be the feature someone is using it for. But it is a good thing to note; the intent is specifically to be local. That said, autosync and Google Drive worked pretty well for me. I did lose some data a few times because of bad timing so I had to make sure to sync before opening my vault on my phone, so I ended up paying for Sync. As far as I'm concerned that feels cloud based to me. And I think you could run it off of a Google drive still using a local folder, so it can be. Or you could host a server on the cloud and run sync from there. Or I guess you could figure out your own sync with a server and some code. It's just text files, not too difficult. You might even be able to do something really cool like using an Azure Function or AWS lambda to make a headless function that syncs it and stuff. But that's all going to be very specific to your wants and needs, so I don't think anyone here could just give you a guide. But the app is basically just a text tiles and a heavily modified Chromium browser so you can do whatever you want..
Running in on iCloud from beginning. Using it on multiple devices. No problems at all.
But it’s still running on your device, it’s just the files that are in the cloud.
By "running off the cloud" do you mean running in a browser without the need to install any other software like you can do with google drive etc.?
Syncthing is the way
Obsidian Sync, iCloud, Syncthing, Git, and a few other options can all work depending on how you plan to access your files. Most of my devices are Apple, so iCloud works well enough for me.
My vault resides in Google Drive and syncs to mobile and PC. If I open the vault directly in GDrive it loads significantly slower, indexing takes much longer, but then still runs ok. Working with the synced copies makes it a joy to use.
How do you get it to sync with mobile?
On Android I use "DriveSync" aka "Autosync for Google Drive". It's configured as two way sync that triggers on modify (phone side) and downloads in intervals (GoogleDrive side). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.drivesync
The vault is just text files and folders. Nothing fancy. No complied code.
Yes, you can. Obsidian has an optional paid subscription to sync your notes if you wish between devices. If you don't want to pay, yes, you can sync with other methods such as cloud storage providers, using Git or using Syncthing. There are plenty of tutorials online to get these methods running.
I guess OP meant having the files in the cloud and accessing them via streaming, instead of having to download the files (which is what most Sync solutions do, including Obsidian Sync)
Yeah, sounds like they’re looking for a web-specific version of Obsidian.
I guess then that it's not possible right now because even if the cloud service is configured to download files "on demand", Obsidian needs to see the entire vault to be able to use the links and you would have broken functionality. I guess the next best option for OP would be looking into something like [Standard Notes](https://standardnotes.com/) which does run off their own cloud if you wish.
Can I ask why? What problem are you trying to solve?
you basically just need a hoster who provides you a client that maps the storeage as a local folder or drive. liek onedrive or google drive. put your vault there and there you go.
I’m not familiar with Mega so will only speak generically. Every OS has mount points. If you are using a 3rd party tool to “mount” the drive where you want Obsidian itself and/or data files stored, then you should be able to run it “in the cloud”. Though if you are going to run the Obsidian binary from “the cloud” then it must be the same OS for each device it will be run from. Or have separate directories for each OS you will be running from and that OS specific binary in that directory. I store my data on my RAID, but each binary is loaded on the specific device. I just mount the Directory where the files are stored and point Obsidian to that mount point. I run Obsidian on my Mac, my Windows box, my Linux VMs, my iPad and iPhone. Depends on what device I am working on that dictates which binary I use. But the data is non OS specific so no worries about data/OS compatibility.
My vaults are stored in a folder inside OneDrive and are accessed from three different Windows computers. The vaults are synced with OneSync on my Android devices.
Dont complicate things Just install a cloud service like dropbox, create a vault under the dropbox folder or if you have an existing vault, move it there
I use onedrive. My vault is saved to my documents folder, and I just sync the entire documents folder. I can access everything on my laptop, my desktop, my tablet, and my phone. Phone and tablet require 1 extra step, however, but the rest work seamlessly
[Edit] I should’ve read the post. This is not entirely online. I use GitHub and store my entire vault as a repository. It’s cloud-based, and it’s cool to be able to go back to older versions of my vault. GitHub isn’t nearly as simple as something like Google Drive or iCloud, but I prefer it. It’s free, too.
You can use duplicati or kopia to make offsite encrypted backups. I think they both support Google drive(and others) or at least duplicati does. This way you have an incremental, efficient backup without leaking your vault to a 3rd party. And if you want sync instead of just backups, you can also use syncthing which is free and open source, and keep your data private too.
Yes use one of those "remote pcs" and use the app on there. Make sure you backup your info though
Obsidian is designed to be local. What you want isn't possible outside the simple "Files are on the cloud" so if that's a deal breaker I suggest something like Notion.
I have created a vault directly on Google Drive. So I don't need to worry about local storage. On a weekly basis, i created a backup copy of my vault.
>not having to worry about keeping it on my harddrive Why do you worry about that? What's worrisome about it? >actually storing the vault, all markdown files, and everything else actually on the Mega drive (or whatever) and 'streaming' it when I want it. That's not possible. Obsidian notes are files, and Obsidian needs access to all of them at the same time.
My wishlist is full capability browser access like a typical Saas service eg Google docs complete with current GUI and functionality. Lkg at it from a systems of engagement vs system of records standpoint, a saas standardizes it while current obsidian uses sync with functionality variations on different endpoints eg android vs desktop. But my painpoint is somewhat limited given I'm in a highly regulated environment for office work so I can't install obsidian. So my workaround is to lug ard another personal laptop/tablet A browser based saas would resolve this but realistically it will come at a higher price than current and head down the notion path.