Yes, Obsidian is fully functional offline, allowing you to access, create, and edit your notes without an internet connection.
Obsidian is specifically designed with offline functionality at its core, ensuring continuous access to your valuable information regardless of your connectivity status. This means you can work seamlessly on your notes whether you're on a long flight, in a remote area without Wi-Fi, or simply prefer to disconnect.
How Obsidian Ensures Offline Access
The primary reason Obsidian works so well offline is its fundamental architecture:
- Local File Storage: All your notes are stored as plain Markdown files directly on your device (computer, tablet, or phone). This local storage means your data is always available to you, independent of any cloud service or internet connection.
- Designed for Uninterrupted Workflow: The application is built to provide an uninterrupted workflow. This design philosophy ensures that even without an internet connection, you still have full access to your files and can continue working productively.
What You Can Do Offline
When you're offline, the vast majority of Obsidian's core features remain fully accessible and operational:
- Create and Edit Notes: You can write new notes, modify existing ones, and organize your knowledge base without any limitations.
- Internal Linking: All your internal links between notes will work perfectly, allowing you to navigate your knowledge graph.
- Graph View: The interactive graph view will display your note connections.
- Plugin Usage: Many plugins, especially those that process local data or enhance the editor, will function without an internet connection.
- Search and Navigation: You can search through your entire vault and navigate between folders and notes effortlessly.
- Themes: Once a theme is downloaded, it will remain applied and function offline.
When an Internet Connection is Needed
While core functionality is offline, some aspects of Obsidian or its ecosystem do require an internet connection:
| Feature Aspect | Online Requirement | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Obsidian Sync | Yes | For seamlessly synchronizing your notes across multiple devices (e.g., desktop, laptop, mobile). |
| Community Plugin Browsing | Yes | To browse, discover, and download new community plugins from the official repository. |
| Community Theme Browsing | Yes | To browse and download new themes. |
| Updates | Yes | To update the Obsidian application itself or any installed plugins and themes. |
| Specific Plugins | Varies | Some plugins, by their nature (e.g., weather widgets, web content scrapers, integrations with online services), require an active internet connection to function. |
In summary, Obsidian's commitment to local storage and its design for accessibility makes it an incredibly reliable tool for productivity, even when you're completely disconnected from the internet. Your notes are always at your fingertips.
