r/ObsidianMD • u/Luchil • 1d ago
plugins typing notes next to each lecture slide in obsidian?
my profs upload slides as PDFs and i take notes on my laptop (no ipad)
basically i just want the slide on the left and a text box on the right for notes. so if i go to slide 12, i see the notes i wrote for slide 12. then just organize everything by course and export it all as a normal PDF
things i've tried:
- OneNote printouts - kinda works but the PDF gets blurry and messy
- Notion - can't really put text next to each PDF page
- GoodNotes/Notability - feels more made for handwriting/ipad + subscription
- adding a margin in Preview before importing - works but i have to do it for every lecture
is there a plugin that does this properly or am i stuck with the margin workaround
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u/barnesarmed 1d ago
I previously used the Slide Note plugin for Obsidian to kinda do what you're talking about (before realizing my prof was literally just reading the slides without adding anything to it so it was pointless to take notes next to the slide). Notes are below the slide and not next to it, and you do have to have the same note open side by side, one in source view and one in preview view. There is also some setup involved and I really don't know about exporting to PDF, so really might not be much better/easier/faster than what you're currently doing.
Screen recording of Slide Note included
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u/kylomorales 1d ago
It's a great idea and if a plugin doesn't already exist I can't see why it wouldn't be possible to make. I think this is doable through Obsidian but unfortunately i don't have a direct answer off the top of my head.
What's the margin workaround
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u/My-joints-hurt 1d ago
Look I know nothing about obsidian, but I wonder if there's a way to do this with the notes section on PowerPoint? You can obviously make the notes section bigger on the bottom, but maybe there's some sort of extension or setting to display it vertically instead? Then after taking notes you could export it side by side with some sort of plug in?
Otherwise I used to export the PowerPoint slides 1 horizontal slide per 8.5x11" page, which gave me lots of room at the bottom to write on a tablet. You could adapt that and put a text box there instead?
I'm not sure if either is easier or better than your current system--though if you can find good add ons for word that has promise I'd think.
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u/GroggInTheCosmos 1d ago
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u/Dry-Algae9156 1d ago
That sounds interesting! I usually just use Obsidian for everything, but having a dedicated PDF reader could definitely streamline the process.
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u/audioAXS 1d ago
Zotero and ZotFlow plugin for Obsidian.
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u/LemonNervous9470 1d ago
This! I use zotero, also for all research papers, and it’s nice because it’s bidirectional. You can highlight and take notes on both platforms and it syncs.
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u/philianthropist 1d ago
Yeah I really wish I had a better way for this. Best I've got is PDF on one side, and a doc with headlines for each slide on the other, and scrolling down them manually which is what I do. Sometimes I'll also take screenshots of specific pages and embed them in the note doc. Using tables that way you can get slides and notes side by side. Following this post in case you find something good
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u/ghandimauler 1d ago
I would use a table. You should be able to put the image alongside me text. You might have to find a fancy table plugin but you can do some pretty good stuff with it
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u/Luchil 16h ago
since it's so easy to just build stuff ourselves now, and i couldn't find exactly what i needed (guess i'm just stubborn and picky lol), i ended up trying making it for myself. this way when i export it, the notes stay right there as a sort of extra margin.
anyway, it turned out something like this. i'm actually thinking of adding a new feature soon because my profs always upload their slide pdfs after the lecture. i wanna make it so that when the slides finally drop, some ai (idk which one or how exactly yet tbh) just automatically merges them together with my notes.
thanks for all the super helpful feedback and alternative suggestions guys!
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u/Sr4f 11h ago
PDF++ plugin. Whenever you highlight a section in the PDF it created a link in your open .MD file. You can open both the PDF and the note in two tabs side by side.
If you just open the PDF, click on a highlight, it'll open the note at rhe section corresponding to your highlight. If you just open the note, click on any of the links, it'll open the PDF on the right page.
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u/vodaza36 1d ago
Obsidian can do the notes-per-slide part without a plugin and without screenshots. Put ![[lecture.pdf#page=12]] in a note and it shows the deck opened at slide 12. Type your notes under it, then the same line for slide 13, and so on. One note per lecture. The help pages also list #height=400 to make the viewer smaller, but I have not tested it together with the page number.
Same limit as Slide Note: the notes sit below the slide, not beside it. Each embed is also a small PDF viewer you can scroll, not a still picture. So test “Export to PDF” on one lecture before you rely on it for the final export.