• Windows
  • Notes

Note apps are tiny until someone pastes a video into one

Obsidian, Notion, Evernote and OneNote on a PC. Where each keeps its data and which parts are disposable.

5 min read

Text takes almost no space, which is why a vault of ten thousand notes is smaller than one screen recording. Attachments are a different matter, and a note is one of the easiest places to drop a scan or a video and never think about it again.

Where each one keeps things

Get-ChildItem "$env:APPDATA\obsidian","$env:APPDATA\Notion","$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Notion","$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Evernote" -EA SilentlyContinue |
  ForEach-Object {
    $s = (Get-ChildItem $_.FullName -Recurse -Force -File -EA SilentlyContinue | Measure-Object Length -Sum).Sum
    '{0,8:N0} MB  {1}' -f ($s/1MB), $_.FullName
  }
AppWhere the notes areWhere the cache is
ObsidianYour vault folder, plain files.obsidian inside the vault
NotionOn the server%APPDATA%\Notion, cache only
EvernoteLocal database%LOCALAPPDATA%\Evernote
OneNoteLocal copy per notebook%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\OneNote

Obsidian: the vault is yours, the rest is not

A vault is plain markdown files, which makes it the easiest of these to inspect. The size is almost never the notes: it is attachments, the file recovery snapshots the built in plugin keeps, and plugins that bundle binaries.

cd $env:USERPROFILE\Documents\MyVault
Get-ChildItem . -Recurse -File -EA SilentlyContinue |
  Where-Object { $_.Extension -ne '.md' -and $_.Length -gt 5MB } |
  Sort-Object Length -Descending |
  Select-Object @{n='MB';e={[math]::Round($_.Length/1MB)}}, FullName -First 15

Notion is a cache, so clear freely

Everything lives on the server, so the local folder is cache and offline data. Clearing it costs a slower first load and nothing else, and the app has its own option for it in settings.

The file recovery surprise

Obsidian's file recovery plugin keeps periodic snapshots of every note you edit. On a vault edited daily for a year that database is far larger than the notes themselves, and its settings control both how often and how long.

If the vault is in a sync folder

A vault inside OneDrive is stored locally in full by default, and the version history that service keeps is on top of the version history the vault keeps. Making it online only is the fix, with the caveat that a vault needs its files present to work.

Common questions

Why is my Obsidian vault so large?

Almost never the notes. Attachments such as pasted images and PDFs, file recovery snapshots and plugins with bundled binaries make up the bulk.

Can I clear Notion's cache on Windows?

Yes. Everything lives on Notion's servers, so the local folder is cache and offline data. The app has an option in settings, and clearing costs a slower first load.

Where does Evernote store data on Windows?

In a local database under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Evernote. Attachments rather than note text are what make it grow.

Should a note vault live in OneDrive?

It works, and by default it is stored locally in full while the service also keeps its own version history. A vault needs its files present, so making it online only is not appropriate for the vault itself.

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