Back Up an Obsidian Reflection Vault: Notes, Attachments and Settings

Start with the real vault folder

Documentation checked 11 November 2026: this guide uses the English Obsidian help documents linked below. Match the platform and controls to your app. Examples are fictional; the application import, sharing or recovery has not been tested here.

Obsidian stores Markdown notes in a vault: a folder on the local file system, including its subfolders. The official storage guide describes .obsidian inside the vault as its configuration folder. Global application settings live elsewhere; copying the vault is not a claim to reproduce every application setting on another computer.

Sources: [1].

Identify which folder contains the reflection notes you intend to keep. If you have several vaults, record their names and locations rather than assuming that the last folder you opened is the whole journal. The official guide recommends avoiding vaults inside other vaults because internal links are local to a vault and may not update correctly.

Inventory one complete note and its attachment

Attachments are ordinary files in the vault. Obsidian documents several possible locations: the vault root, a chosen folder, the current note’s folder, or a subfolder beside that note. A visible embedded picture does not mean its bytes are inside the Markdown note.

Sources: [3].

On a narrow screen, scroll inside the table. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.

Download the fictional inventory. These paths illustrate scope; no photograph, complete vault or application-generated configuration file is supplied. Your real vault can have many more files.

Decide what to do with hidden vault settings

The .obsidian folder is hidden by default on many systems. The storage guide gives Cmd+Shift+. in Finder to show hidden files on macOS and links to the Windows instructions. If you want the vault’s settings in your copy, check that the chosen copying or backup method actually includes this folder.

Sources: [1].

If you deliberately retain only notes and media, label the copy that way. Do not call it a settings-preserving vault copy. A file count without clear scope can hide this omission: four visible files in our fictional inventory do not establish whether the hidden settings directory was included.

Use a separate copy rather than another live sync view

Obsidian’s backup guide distinguishes sync, which keeps files current across devices, from a backup copy for recovering lost or damaged data. It recommends a dedicated one-way backup and choosing one device to make the backups when several devices sync. That is a backup-management choice; sync has no privileged “primary” device.

Sources: [2].

Choose a dated or versioned destination separate from the live vault. If a backup method continuously overwrites its only copy after every live change, investigate whether it retains a recoverable earlier version. A second device displaying the same current journal is not that earlier version.

Inspect before relying on the copy

1. Keep the live journal and its path unchanged. Record the backup destination and time.
2. Use the file manager to check the copied folders, including hidden settings when they are in scope.
3. On a separate inspection copy, open a representative note and compare its entire text with the original. Verify that each referenced attachment exists at the expected relative location.
4. If you choose to open the inspection copy in Obsidian, keep it clearly separate from the live vault and its sync setup. Do not make replacement of the live journal part of this inspection.
5. Record missing files and scope differences before calling the copy usable. A sample inspection checks the selected notes; it does not prove every possible future restore.

Download the blank inspection record. No actual vault or restore was operated for this article.

Name the remaining gaps honestly

A successful copy of selected files does not establish confidentiality, recoverability after every disaster or a functioning sync connection. Protect the backup according to who may access it; another copy is another place where private reflections can be read. Keep the scope, creation date and inspection result beside it.