Obsidian Plugins

3 MORE Obsidian Plugins I Use in 2026: Visuals, Speed & Frictionless Typing

TS
By Tech Simpld
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Available Now
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8 Min Read

In our first Obsidian plugins guide, we focused on backend power—turning your vault into an automated database engine with Dataview, Templater, and Kanban boards.

Those plugins are fantastic for organizing your thoughts once they are written down. But what about the physical act of writing itself?

By default, typing in Obsidian can feel text-heavy, code-clunky, and constrained by raw Markdown rules. Having to manually format text with syntax symbols, stopping your typing rhythm to fix awkward quote spacing, and lacking a visual canvas to sketch mind maps or architecture diagrams creates micro-friction every time you sit down to write.

In this guide, we are fixing that by implementing 3 more game-changing Obsidian plugins for 2026. These plugins bring infinite visual sketching, frictionless typing automation, and a rich-text formatting toolbar right into your notes.

1. Excalidraw: Infinite Canvas & Visual Sketching

Not every idea fits into a bulleted list. When you are brainstorming home lab architectures, mapping out database schemas, or sketching user flows, you need visual freedom.

The Obsidian-Excalidraw plugin (by Zsolt Viczian) embeds the popular open-source Excalidraw whiteboard directly into Obsidian.

Why It’s a Game Changer:

  • Bi-Directional Linking with Notes: You can draw a box on your canvas and link it directly to any existing markdown note in your vault using [[Note Title]] syntax. Double-clicking the box opens the note immediately!
  • Embedded in Markdown: You can embed entire live drawings directly inside your standard text notes using ![[my-diagram.excalidraw]].
  • Local SVG / JSON Storage: Just like your notes, every drawing is saved locally inside your vault as an SVG or JSON file. No external cloud service required.
Pro Tip: Turn on "Auto-export SVG on save" in Excalidraw settings. This ensures your drawings render cleanly even on mobile devices or when publishing your notes to the web!

2. Easy Typing: Frictionless Text Auto-Formatting

When writing at full speed, dealing with Markdown formatting quirks can break your flow. For example:

  • Switching between English words and numbers often leaves awkward spacing.
  • Typing backticks or quotes often requires moving your cursor manually past closing brackets.
  • Deleting a typo inside a formatted word often breaks bold or italic markdown markers.

The Easy Typing plugin (by yaozhuwa) acts as a background auto-pilot for your keyboard.

Key Features You'll Love:

  • Smart Space Formatting: Automatically inserts proper, aesthetic spacing between letters, numbers, and symbols without you having to hit the spacebar twice.
  • Punctuation Auto-Correction: Automatically converts straight quotes into proper curly quotes, pairs brackets cleanly, and prevents syntax errors.
  • Delete-Safe Formatting: Deleting text inside bold (**text**) or code blocks gracefully preserves the surrounding markdown tags rather than breaking the entire paragraph.

3. Editing Toolbar: Notion & Word Style Formatting

One of the biggest complaints from people switching to Obsidian from Notion, Microsoft Word, or Apple Notes is the lack of a quick formatting bar. Memorizing keyboard shortcuts or typing raw markdown syntax like ==highlight==, ~~strikethrough~~, or <font color="red"> is tedious for beginners.

The Editing Toolbar plugin (developed by pkm-er / cnrpman) introduces a sleek, floating formatting bar above your active note.

What You Get at Your Fingertips:

  • 1-Click Formatting: Instant buttons for Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Text Highlighting, and Inline Code.
  • Callout Box Generator: Insert pre-styled Info, Warning, Note, and Tip callout blocks with a single click.
  • Custom Font Colors: Color-code text without typing raw HTML spans.
  • Table Insertion Tool: Quickly create and structure markdown tables without manually drawing pipes (|) and hyphens.

Official Plugin GitHub Repositories

You can check out the open-source code, feature roadmaps, and release notes directly on GitHub:

How to Install These Plugins in 60 Seconds

All three plugins are freely available in Obsidian's official Community Plugins directory:

  1. Open Obsidian and click the Settings (Gear) icon in the lower left corner.
  2. Under Options, select Community plugins.
  3. Make sure Restricted mode is turned Off.
  4. Click Browse and search for:
    • Excalidraw
    • Easy Typing
    • Editing Toolbar
  5. Click Install on each, then click Enable.

Summary: The Perfect Blend of Power & Simplicity

Obsidian’s plain-text local-first philosophy doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice modern visual tools or smooth typing. By pairing Excalidraw, Easy Typing, and Editing Toolbar with the core plugins from Part 1, you get the best of both worlds: complete local data sovereignty combined with the polished user experience of a premium modern writing app.

Want all of these plugins and custom CSS snippets pre-configured out of the box? Download our free 2026 Obsidian Starter Vault and check out the full Starter Vault Setup Guide!