Obsidian Flashcards: Sync Notes to Space with One Plugin

Obsidian is the best place to capture knowledge. Space is the best place to remember it. The Space Obsidian plugin connects the two, so the notes you already write become flashcards you actually review. You write Q:A blocks inside your normal markdown, run one command, and the cards appear in Space on every device.

Why note-taking and flashcards belong together

Most knowledge workers run two parallel systems. Notes live in one app, flashcards live in another. Every fact ends up written twice and updated never.

That split causes four problems:

Duplicated work. You write the same content into two systems.
Stale cards. Notes evolve, flashcards don’t.
Lost context. A flashcard cut from its source is just a fragment.
App-switching friction. Two windows, two formats, two mental models.

The fix is simple. Keep one source of truth. Write the note once, mark which parts are testable, sync to a review system that handles spaced repetition for you.

How the Space Obsidian plugin works

If you’ve used Obsidian_to_Anki, the syntax will look familiar. Space uses the same Q:A pattern, with a modern UI, deck sharing, and cloud sync across all devices.

The plugin reads Q:A blocks from any note in your vault and turns each block into a flashcard. No proprietary format, no hidden metadata, no separate database. Your notes stay plain markdown.

Q:A syntax

A flashcard is a question line and an answer line:

Q: What is spaced repetition?
A: A learning technique that reviews information at
   increasing intervals to anchor it in long-term memory.

✨

Pro Tip

Multi-line answers continue on the next lines after A:. The plugin handles formatting and indentation for you.

TARGET DECK directive

Group flashcards into decks with one line:

TARGET DECK: Biology

Q: What is the powerhouse of the cell?
A: The mitochondria. It produces ATP through cellular respiration.

Q: What is the function of the cell membrane?
A: To regulate what enters and exits the cell,
   acting as a selective barrier.

🚀

Smart organization

Every flashcard below a TARGET DECK directive lands in that deck. Use multiple directives in one note to split cards across decks.

Example markdown file

A real note from a linguistics vault could look like this:

# My Linguistics Notes

## Phonology

Q: What is a minimal pair?
A: Two words that differ in exactly one phoneme,
   demonstrating the phoneme's contrastive function.

Q: What's an example in English?
A: "bat" and "pat", /b/ vs /p/.

::deck:: Linguistics 101
::tags:: phonology, basics

Space plugin vs. Obsidian_to_Anki

If you’re choosing between the two, here’s the short version:

Feature	Obsidian_to_Anki	Space Plugin
Setup time	~30 minutes (AnkiConnect, configs, regex)	~2 minutes (one plugin, one login)
Cloud sync	No (local Anki only)	Yes (built into Space)
Mobile review	Requires AnkiMobile ($25 on iOS)	Free on all platforms
FSRS-6 algorithm	Yes (since Anki 24.x)	Yes
Updates existing cards	Yes, with regex matching	Yes, automatic

Both work. Anki gives you maximum control and an ecosystem of community plugins. Space gives you a faster setup, free mobile, and sync that just works.

Sync Obsidian flashcards in one click

Once your notes contain Q:A blocks, syncing takes three steps:

Open the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl + P)
Run “Space: Sync flashcards”
Your cards appear in Space, ready for review.

The plugin handles the rest:

Creates new cards for new Q:A blocks.
Updates existing cards when you edit content.
Preserves review history and FSRS scheduling data.
Handles deletions gracefully.

💡

Your progress is safe

Sync flows from Obsidian to Space. When you edit a card in Obsidian, Space keeps your review history. Updating content does not reset your learning progress.

Markdown features supported

The plugin treats your Q:A blocks as full markdown. What you write in Obsidian renders the same way on the flashcard:

Bold and italic for emphasis on key terms.
Code blocks with syntax highlighting for ~30 languages, useful for programming cards.
LaTeX math. Inline with $E = mc^2$ , block with $$\int_a^b f(x) dx$$. Renders on every device.
Images from your vault. Reference an image with ![[diagram.png]] and the plugin uploads it with the card.
Lists, links, and quotes. Bullet lists, numbered lists, and external links stay intact.
Embeds. ![[other-note]] expands inline before sync, so the embedded content lives on the card itself.

This means a single Obsidian note can produce a deck with formatted code, rendered formulas, and diagrams, all without leaving markdown.

Common workflows

A few patterns that work well in practice:

Lecture notes to flashcards. Paste your lecture notes into a vault file, scan for testable claims, add Q:A blocks underneath each section, sync. The notes stay readable as notes. The flashcards stay reviewable as cards.
Language learning. Add Q:A blocks to your daily notes whenever you hit a new word in a podcast or article. One TARGET DECK directive per language. After a week you have a personal vocabulary deck rooted in real context.
Code snippets and APIs. Studying a new framework? Drop signatures and gotchas into a markdown file with code blocks. Q:A them. Review on your phone during commute.
Research papers. Summarize a paper in Obsidian, mark the key claims as Q:A blocks, sync. The summary stays for re-reading. The cards drill the claims into memory.

Install the Space plugin in Obsidian

Setup takes about two minutes.

Step 1: install the plugin

In Obsidian:

Open Settings, Community plugins.
Browse the Community Plugins directory and search for “Space”.
Click Install, then Enable.

The plugin is open source. Source code lives on GitHub. If the plugin is not yet listed in the directory, you can install it manually from the GitHub releases page.

Step 2: connect your account

Open the plugin settings.
Click “Connect to Space”.
Sign in with your Space account.
Grant the plugin permission to sync.

Step 3: write your first card

Add a Q:A block anywhere in your notes:

Q: When was the Obsidian note-taking app first released?
A: 2020

Run the sync command and start reviewing.

Other ways to get cards into Space

The plugin is one of several import paths. You can also import CSV files directly from spreadsheets, use the command-line workflow to script bulk imports, or generate decks with AI from PDFs and EPUBs (a Pro plan feature).

Pick the path that fits your source. Markdown notes go through Obsidian. Tabular data goes through CSV. Long-form sources go through AI generation.

Ready to start? Download Space, install the Obsidian plugin, and turn your vault into a review system. Questions or feedback? Open an issue on GitHub.

Prefer spreadsheets? See our CSV import guide.