Obsidian Transcription Workflow - Wispr Flow is The New Best Quick Capture Method (Desktop & Mobile)

I've used many methods to capture all of my content into Obsidian, but the method I'm going to show you in this video might be the most easy and low friction of all of the ones I've discovered so far. You're going to learn about a new

far. You're going to learn about a new app that I've started using and how it fits into capturing information on mobile as well as on desktop. You'll see

the setups I have as well as the Obsidian plugins that are needed to make the note capturing possible. and I'll run you through all

possible. and I'll run you through all of the different configurations so you can start using exactly the same method that I do. So, we'll start with how it works on a laptop and I'll take you onto

my MacBook to show you exactly how I do this when I'm sat at my desk. Okay, so

here we are in Obsidian. Firstly, I'll

quickly run you through my folder structure just so you know what we're working with and how I capture information. So um I use a modified

information. So um I use a modified version of the power method um from Thiago Forte uh where we keep projects

the same where it's basically just where you keep folders of notes that are geared towards certain outcomes. So you

can see I want to release a new PKM4 students course which you'll get information about if you click the top link in the description and sign up but I might touch on that a little bit more

later in the video. Um, so you can see all of the notes that I'm taking specifically related to this outcome in this project. So that's where the notes

this project. So that's where the notes go in the projects folder. Areas in my own system called parazettle is a zetle custom. So it's atomic notes of one idea

custom. So it's atomic notes of one idea per note which are interlin in the obsidian graph and in resources that's

kind of the more useful content for longterm where I might need to reference it again. A lot of it is other people's

it again. A lot of it is other people's writing where especially in my in my rewise folder where I've got all of the articles and read wise

highlights and notes are things that I've captured.

And the archive is where all of these old folders go to um not clutter up the rest of the vault. And the most important folder of

vault. And the most important folder of all that we're going to get into where I capture all of my content into is the inbox folder. So you can see here it's

inbox folder. So you can see here it's simply just a place where it's it's a dumping ground basically for the notes that I take. And so that's the folder structure and we'll get into exactly how

I capture the content. But first I wanted to introduce to you the app that I use to do all of this. So it's called Whisper Flow and it's a transcription app. And in the past, I've tried using a

app. And in the past, I've tried using a lot of these different transcription apps from Apple's own proprietary kind of transcription into

text boxes where you can hold down the function key or the globe key and it will transcribe for you into a text box.

But none of these methods that I'd used before Whisper Flow were actually good enough for me to use consistently. But

Whisper Flow is, and I'm going to demonstrate it to you. In this video, I'm going to show you how I add it into my vault so I can show you how I capture all of my thoughts quickly and easily

with really, really low friction because, as you'll see, it operates from speech now as opposed to even just typing out the notes. Back here into the vault, we're going to require one

additional plugin in Obsidian for at least for desktop usage. When I show you mobile usage, it's a little bit different, but we are going to require the quick ad plugin, which is a popular

plugin that allows you to add certain templated content into your fault. And

it's what I'll use to create these inbox notes and give it all of its certain attributes. So, it's it's very simple in

attributes. So, it's it's very simple in comparison to all of the other templates that I kind of use in my vault. So,

we'll I'll take you into a community plug-in, Quick Ad, which you might need to install if you don't have it installed, but you just do that by going to community plugins and clicking browse

and then type in quick add in, and it comes up. So, you can see I've already

comes up. So, you can see I've already got it installed. But we'll go to the settings and the quick configuration that is of

interest in this video is quick just there. So, new quick note. So the

there. So, new quick note. So the

configuration for this is to simply capture to that inbox folder where all of the information goes every single time I capture it because of course you

can go through that inbox and filter it and put it in different folders in your vault later if you need to. But all I do to title those files is give them a date

stamp. So I use this just here. You can

stamp. So I use this just here. You can

see it's going to save a note in five hyphen inbox which is the inbox folder.

And the note is going to be called the year, the month, the day, the hour, minute, second, just because I take quite a few of these notes and I don't want them to be called the same thing

and run into um conflicts that way. And

I don't need to even use a template to create this note because as you'll see in a moment, the note is blank because I don't want to try and configure too much before I actually process the note and

move it into a suitable folder in my vault. So, it's literally just a blank

vault. So, it's literally just a blank note like that. We select that we want the note to open when we create it. And

we select focus new pane and capture format. You can see the capture format

format. You can see the capture format is empty, which means that no content is going to be captured the second we open the note. Um, so it's a very simple

the note. Um, so it's a very simple configuration like that because like I said, we don't want to make it too complicated at the moment. And one thing I have done as well for this quick ad

configuration is I've assigned it a hotkey because I capture new content all the time. And so you'll do this by first

the time. And so you'll do this by first of all, you want to make sure you have that little kind of lightning bolt icon switched on because if you switch it off, you won't

be able to access it in the command pallet.

or maybe not even in the hot keys, I don't think. So, you want that to be

don't think. So, you want that to be switched on. And then you go to hotkeys

switched on. And then you go to hotkeys and you search quick and you find your certain configuration. There's mine, new

certain configuration. There's mine, new quick. And you can see that I've bound

quick. And you can see that I've bound it to um well, it's command shift Q for most people, but I rebind my keys, so don't worry about that. Just pick something

that you can access very quickly and easily so that you've not got any pressure on you to make a new note in a certain way or not. Um, and then I'll show you what this looks like in my

vault. Say, okay, I want to capture some

vault. Say, okay, I want to capture some new information. I've got some new

new information. I've got some new information and I will just press that keyboard shortcut and I'm opened up into a brand new inbox note ready to capture.

And this is where Whisper Flow comes in.

And so when you install Whisper Flow, you go through uh their setup process. I

mean, they guide you through that very nicely, so I'm not going to show you that. But once you've got that set up,

that. But once you've got that set up, all you have to do is hold down the key that you've assigned to be your transcription key. Uh, so I would do the

transcription key. Uh, so I would do the function or globe key and hold it down and I speak. And you can see at the bottom of the screen that it's recording

what I say now. You can see this little flow bar um, just there. And once I release that, it's transcribed everything I've said

with perfect accuracy into that inbox note. And so this just

note. And so this just blows typing your words out of the water because say you've got something really complicated or you've got little time to take a note or something

you've got. Uh so I'll show you an

you've got. Uh so I'll show you an example or okay today I managed to make some progress on the project about making a new course for students and I just wanted to quickly capture all the

information to do with this. So I

updated the minimal note takingaking folder the note that talks about Zotterero and how to manage references and things like that. And the progress is good so far.

that. And the progress is good so far.

So I hope I can keep going.

And if we leave that and you can see that the the transcription is almost immaculate like it's picked up so which is um software that I use for referencing or used for referencing

whilst I was in university. But it's

fantastic in this way in just being able to really quickly capture content and then all I have to do is access those notes from my inbox and then I can go

through and process them at my leisure.

But that's exactly the configuration that I use for desktop. It's just a simple keyboard shortcut and quicker configuration and then you use whisper

flow to enter content into your notes.

And so now I'll show you through my mobile setup, which is a little bit more complicated to integrate with iOS shortcuts and things like that, but it's definitely still worthwhile setting up

because being able to take notes on the move is really, really useful as well, especially hands-free. So being able to

especially hands-free. So being able to speak the note. First, we'll go over the quick configuration in my mobile Obsidian Vault.

Excuse me.

And this is exactly the same as on desktop. So I'll show you that quickly.

desktop. So I'll show you that quickly.

You can see the same vault. I use

Obsidian Sync, but there are different methods of syncing your notes between desktop and mobile.

So I'll take you to quick ad and show that I have I call it something slightly different here, QuickNote. But if you look through it's exactly the same in that there's no template because I don't

need one. the file is opened and the new

need one. the file is opened and the new pane's focused and there's no capture format. And

format. And the thing is on mobile now what you need is a app that is going to configure a

URI which is simply a link that you can open and cause to execute a specific action in said app. So I will show you

what this looks like for mobile Obsidian. What you'll need is advanced

Obsidian. What you'll need is advanced URI. So again, we install by going to

URI. So again, we install by going to community plugins and browse and then advanced URI. And you can see I've got it

URI. And you can see I've got it installed already. And

installed already. And so once you've got that installed, you head into advanced URI.

You don't need you don't even need to do that actually. You need to go to

that actually. You need to go to your command pallet and then select advanced URI copy URI for command because that will allow you

to generate a link that when run will take you to your Obsidian Vault and help you execute what we're about to see here. So you click copy URI for a

here. So you click copy URI for a command. you don't specify the file and

command. you don't specify the file and then because you've kept your little lightning icon on on your quick ad then you can search quick ad and then new

quicknote and so you can see at the bottom there it said advanced URI copy to clipboard and now what you'll need from here I'm sorry this is a um iOS iOS workflow

um but what you'll need to do here then is to go to your shortcuts app and you can see I've already got a take a quick note configuration setup, which if I

demonstrate to you, this is what is going to happen once we've set up what we need to set up. If I demonstrate that to you now, you can see it takes me straight to Obsidian with a inbox file

that we can straight away capture information into. But what I'm going to

information into. But what I'm going to do first is show you how I set that up.

So, I'm going to completely delete that shortcut just as a form of demonstration. and we're going to click

demonstration. and we're going to click top right to make a new shortcut. And

then what we need to do is search the action open URLs and you add that in there. And then you paste your advanced URI that you've just

found from Obsidian and click done.

And then what I like to do is I like to choose a new icon for it. So we'll go we'll match it with the Whisper Flare one.

But obviously it just works just works straight away with that Safari icon if you need it to. So you

can see I've got open URLs. I'll

probably change that to new quick notes a little bit later on. But you can see again if I click that now, you'll have to first permit Obsidian to be used. So

you click allow there. And then straight away you're taken to your Obsidian app with a new inbox note that you can use Whisper Flow to transcribe into. So I'll

show you that now. And it's pretty similar to on desktop. It takes a couple of extra setup steps for iOS, but they take you through that when you install the app. And so you'll open up your

the app. And so you'll open up your Whisper Flow keyboard, start your flow, you're taken to the app, and then back.

And now I'm transcribing. So I'm

transcribing some new content into this inbox note. And I don't even need to

inbox note. And I don't even need to type, which is good because I can't type when I walk anyway. And once you're done with that, you click that you're done.

And it transcribes instantly into your mobile inbox. And that is about the the

mobile inbox. And that is about the the ins and outs of how I capture information now on my desktop and on my

mobile using this new app as part of my workflow. And it's very very quick and

workflow. And it's very very quick and simple. once you've got it set it up,

simple. once you've got it set it up, which is fantastic because like I just made a joke of then I'm not very good at typing when I'm on the move. Sometimes I

don't want to type when I'm on the move.

And this is a fantastic substitute.

We'll go over where you can add this iOS shortcut now to be able to take these quick notes from anywhere. You can add them to your lock screen. And I'll show you what this shortcut is for me in a

moment. But what I'll show you is first

moment. But what I'll show you is first you can edit your lock screen. Click

customize. You go into there, you add a shortcut widget. And then in that

shortcut widget. And then in that widget, you'll be able to tap the actual widget and select that you want your shortcut of choice to be placed there.

And so once that's done, you can then launch that and have a brand new inbox note straight from your lock screen. You

can add it as an icon on your home screen by um if you click that three dots icon, then you should be able to do it. If you click the down button at the

it. If you click the down button at the top, you put add to home screen and then click add. And then you're able to open

click add. And then you're able to open up a new note from your home screen as well, which is really useful. And last

of all, you can do it from the control center too. So you hold down on your

center too. So you hold down on your control center, click add a control, and then go to uh

shortcuts. So you click select shortcut.

shortcuts. So you click select shortcut.

You choose your shortcut open URLs and then you will have that there and again it's a new new note. So once you've

integrated this with your iOS shortcuts, it's very easy to just be able to create a new note and speak into your phone at any point that you want. And it's easier than typing. So you can do it on the

than typing. So you can do it on the move, you can do it when you're speaking to somebody. So I found this really

to somebody. So I found this really really frictionless in comparison to what I've had to do before which up to this point was typing. So even the fact that that is just removed is very very

useful. I will show you that final

useful. I will show you that final shortcut on my lock screen now and what that is. So to add that to your lock

that is. So to add that to your lock screen, what you need first is another iOS shortcut which I will show you now, which is

this one here, take flow note. So if I show you the menu, all you have to do to create that is click new shortcut. And

then when you've got Whisper Flow installed, you go take flow note like that. And that's all you have to do.

that. And that's all you have to do.

That's a another brand new shortcut there that will do exactly the same thing. But once you've got that set up,

thing. But once you've got that set up, you add it to your lock screen in the same way we just did the quick note. And

this is it on the left here. And what

you want to do there is once you've got that from your lock screen, you can click that new note. And you can see how that notification at the bottom has now changed and it's now transcribing

exactly what I say and will show it in the flow app, which I'll show you in a moment, which is fantastic because you don't even have to unlock your phone now to take a note. And now it's not saved

to Obsidian. But if I finish this note

to Obsidian. But if I finish this note here and click save, then what we can do is we can go to the

Whisper Flow app.

And here is this top note that is exactly what we've just spoken to our lock screen. And if we were to want to

lock screen. And if we were to want to save it to Obsidian, all we've got to do is long press it, click that copy, and because we've got our other note configuration set up, we straight away

open an inbox note in Obsidian. Paste

your text, and you are in business there as well. That is just about rounding up

as well. That is just about rounding up the entire configuration of Whisper Flow that I use to take notes on my mobile device and on my

desktop. And it's been so useful. I

desktop. And it's been so useful. I

mean, I'm somebody who is very, very wary when it comes to introducing new software into my stack. So,

I mean, I've stuck with Obsidian for years now. Even though I was chronic

years now. Even though I was chronic kind of shiny object syndrome app, which at the start, I've stuck with Obsidian, I've stuck with a lot of different apps for a long time and not really been into adding anything new into the stack. But,

Whisper Flow I discovered a number of months ago now, and it's been absolutely fantastic for this that I've described in this video, and loads of other things, too. So, I'm more than happy to

things, too. So, I'm more than happy to have added that into my software stack as well. And so, that's the end of the

as well. And so, that's the end of the video. And as I mentioned previously,

video. And as I mentioned previously, I'm working on a new PKM for students course. Seeing as just the other day, I

course. Seeing as just the other day, I finished my very, very last day and exam at university. And as you can see, I'm

at university. And as you can see, I'm somewhere new now. I'm back home living with my parents for the time being until I or my friend finds a job and then we can move out. We're planning to move to

to Reading near London. And

anyway, with all that being said, I've finished studying and I'm putting together a course that goes over personal knowledge management for students. And if you want to be notified

students. And if you want to be notified when that course goes live and also get a free twoe email course that talks about that system that I described

earlier in the video when I was on my desktop. LM projects areas resources

desktop. LM projects areas resources archive inbox which is Forte's power method with a zettocast and as the areas folder then

you can click the top link in the description and learn more about the system which I call parasetle and be notified about that new course release when you provide me just with your email and you'll get it sent through and you

can subscribe at any time if you don't like what I'm sending you. Um, but other than that, that has been me and thank you for watching and I will see you soon.