# Open your Obsidian vault

An Obsidian vault is a folder of Markdown files, so Niv opens it as it is. There is nothing to import or export.

## Open it

On the first open, choose **Select a folder** and pick your vault. Later, use **File › Open Space…**.

Your folders stay as they are, and your links keep working.

## What carries over

- **Notes and folders.** Every `.md` and `.markdown` file is a note, in the folder it's in.
- **Links**, including links with other text, links to a heading and links to a block.
- **Embeds**, which show another note, or one of its headings or blocks, inside this one.
- **Callouts**, with Obsidian's types, such as note, tip and warning.
- **Properties.** The YAML block at the top of a note shows as properties. See [Writing in a note](/p/docs/writing-in-a-note).
- **Templates.** If Obsidian has a templates folder set, Niv uses that folder until you choose another. See [Templates](/p/docs/templates).
- **Daily notes.** When you set up your daily note on Home, Niv prefills it from Obsidian's daily notes settings when they're there. See [Daily and recurring notes](/p/docs/daily-and-recurring-notes).

The link and embed forms Niv reads:

```
[[Note]]
[[Note|other text]]
[[Note#Heading]]
[[Note#^block]]
![[Note]]
```

## What Niv leaves alone

- Hidden folders, like `.obsidian` and `.git`, and `node_modules`. Niv doesn't list or sync them.
- Your Obsidian settings and plugins. Niv reads Obsidian's templates and daily notes settings, and doesn't write to them.

Niv keeps its own data for the folder in a hidden `.niv` folder inside it.

## Links stay readable in Obsidian

When Niv writes a link, it writes the note's name, the way Obsidian does. When two notes share a name, it adds the folder:

```
[[Name]]
[[Folder/Name|Name]]
```

So the same vault keeps working in Obsidian, and any other tool can follow the links.

When you rename a note in Niv, Niv updates the links that point to it.

## Using Obsidian and Niv on the same folder

You can. If the folder syncs with a Space, keep Niv open while you work elsewhere, so it can follow your changes as they happen. If the sidebar doesn't show a change made in another app, right-click an empty spot in the sidebar and choose **Refresh**.

See [When sync asks you something](/p/docs/when-sync-asks-you-something) for what Niv does when it can't tell what happened to a file.

## Syncing a vault for the first time

If you connect a vault that already has notes to a Space, Niv compares the files with the Space and shows you the plan on Home before it creates anything. See [Spaces](/p/docs/spaces).

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Published with [Niv](https://niv.md/) in the Space Docs.