Sync Obsidian Notes with Storj Cloud — for FREE

You started to use Obsidian.md for your note taking needs and fell in love with the powerful, yet somehow simple, markdown editor and its features. It came time to take it to the next level and sync your notes to all your devices. It was at this point that you realized Obsidian has no simple way to sync, without purchasing the Obsidian sync plan that is not exactly cheap at $10/month. So you go scouring the internet for solutions…

…Enter Storj

Storj is a decentralized cloud object storage solution that is completely compatible with the AWS S3 API. By default, when files are uploaded to Storj, they are fully encrypted, chunked into smaller objects and stored in multiple places around the world to enable amazing performance and redundancy. Storj also implements zero-trust security, so no need to worry about anyone accessing your data on accident. One of my favorite parts about Storj is that the storage capacity comes from people all over the world that have some extra storage space on hand. Anyone can host a Storj node and allow Storj users to take advantage of their extra storage, in return for payment in Storj tokens.

How to use Storj to sync Obsidian notes?

Prerequisites

1. You are using Obsidian.md
2. Install the Obsidian Community plugin Remotely Save
3. Create a free account at Storj.io

First, we must create the S3 storage bucket:

1. Login to Storj.io which will take you to your personal dashboard.
2. In the top left area of the screen there is a project list which will have a project already created for you called My First Project. This is where the S3 bucket will reside. You can rename or create a new project before continuing if you would like. Many S3 buckets can be in one project.
3. Below the projects list, click the menu option Buckets then choose + New Bucket to create your S3 storage bucket to sync to. This will open a short configuration wizard.
4. Enter your desired bucket name and click continue.
5. Choose to encrypt your bucket with either an auto-generated 12-word phrase (suggested) or create your own passphrase
   *IMPORTANT: Make sure you BACKUP THE ENCRYPTION PHRASE. Ideally with the password manager you are already using :)
6. After you saved your passphrase, check that you understand and click continue; your bucket is now created.

Flow chart to create a bucket in Storj web dashboard

Next, we create access credentials for the bucket

1. Click Access, below the Buckets button from the left menu, to start creating the S3 access credentials.
2. Choose Create S3 Credentials
3. In the Create Access popup, enter the following parameters:
   1. Type: S3 Credentials
   2. Name: a descriptive name for your access key
   3. Permissions: All
   4. Buckets: Choose the bucket you just created
   5. Duration: Optionally add a date for this access to expire
4. Choose to encrypt your bucket with either an auto-generated 12-word phrase (suggested) or create your own passphrase.
   *IMPORTANT AGAIN: Make sure you BACKUP THE ENCRYPTION PHRASE. Ideally with the password manager you are already using :)
5. Click Encrypt My Access and you will be presented with your credentials — also back these up, but I will spare you the important notice:
   1. Access key
   2. Secret Key
   3. Endpoint
6. You are ready to set up Obsidian to sync your notes!

Flow chart to create access credentials in Storj web dashboard

Configure Remotely Save to sync to your S3 bucket

1. Back in Obsidian, open the settings and choose Remotely Save under the Community plugins section.
2. Enter the following required configuration parameters and leave the rest default:
   1. Endpoint: https://gateway.storjshare.io
   2. Region: us1.storj.io
   3. Access Key ID: youraccesskey from the credentials created above
   4. Secret Access Key: yoursecretkey from the credentials created above
   5. Bucket Name: yourbucketname from the bucket created above
3. Click Check in the Check Connectivity section to make sure everything is correct. You should see a notification in the top right of the window that indicates the connection is successful. Woohoo!!
4. At this point, you can manually sync by either opening the command pallet and finding the remotely save sync command or by clicking the sync button that was added to your left navigation bar in Obsidian.
5. Follow these sync steps on your next device and watch your notes magically appear!

Remotely Save sync to S3 bucket configuration

Configure Remotely Save Auto-Sync

1. Scroll down in the remotely save settings to the next section Basic Settings.
2. Change the following two settings:
   1. Schedule for Auto Run — I set this to every 1 minute, but this to whatever makes sense for you.
   2. Run Once On Startup Automatically — sync once after 1 second of start-up has seemed to work for me, if you have a ton of notes, plugins, or a slow internet connection it might be better to extend it a bit.
3. Follow the Remotely Save configuration instructions on the rest of your devices and use the same S3 credentials to get that cloud sync experience across your whole workflow.

Remotely Save auto-sync to S3 bucket configuration

You’re all synced up!

You now have your Obsidian notes all securely auto-synced to the Storj decentralized cloud and will never lose them again! I hope this was able to help someone out there. If you have any other cool Obsidian tips and tricks, feel free to throw ’em in the comments.

Thank you for reading!