Obsidian Callouts: Complete Guide, Syntax, and Customization

Obsidian callouts let you highlight, group, and hide certain content within your notes using a simple blockquote-based syntax. Whether you want to attract attention to exam tips, create collapsible task lists, or separate author notes from manuscript text, callouts provide a flexible way to organize information without breaking your writing flow.

Quick Answer: How to Create an Obsidian Callout

Here’s the core syntax to create a callout:

> [!note] This is a callout.

• Use > [!type] at the first line of a blockquote

• Replace note with another type like tip, warning, or question

• Press Enter and continue with > to add multi-line content

• In Live Preview, use the Command Palette and select “Insert callout” to add a default callout block instantly

What Are Obsidian Callouts?

Callouts are styled blockquote blocks that Obsidian renders with colors, icons, and optional folding behavior. They were introduced around mid-2022 and have become a core feature for organizing notes visually.

When Obsidian encounters a blockquote starting with [!type], it parses it specially and displays a callout box instead of a plain blockquote. Inside the body, you can use standard markdown syntax, wikilinks, embeds, tasks, code blocks, and internal links.

Visually, a callout displays with a colored sidebar, a callout icon (like a lightbulb for tips or an exclamation mark for warnings), an optional title bar, and the body text below.

Common uses include:

• Summarizing key points at the top of meeting notes

• Highlighting exam-relevant material in study notes

• Adding spoiler boxes in book annotations

Note that callouts render only in Obsidian. In plain markdown viewers or on GitHub, they appear as ordinary nested blockquotes—the content remains readable, just without styling.

Callout Syntax and Configuration

This section covers all syntax elements: type, title, folding, and body content.

The basic structure looks like this:

> [!note] Title text
> Body content goes here
> - Bullet points work too

The first line contains three pieces:

• Type identifier in square brackets: [!note], [!warning], [!tip]

• Optional fold marker: + or - directly after the type (e.g., [!tip]-)

• Optional custom title text after the type (e.g., [!tip] Exam hint)

Body lines start with > like normal blockquotes and can include bullet points, code blocks, images, or task checkboxes.

The type keyword is case-insensitive—[!NOTE], [!Note], and [!note] all work identically.

Changing Callout Titles

By default, Obsidian uses the type name as the title (e.g., “Note” or “Warning”).

To override the default title:

> [!warning] Read this before deploying

Compare these two approaches:

• [!tip] displays with the default “Tip” heading

• [!tip] Faster workflow displays “Faster workflow” instead

A title-only callout works too—just use a single line like > [!info] System requirements with no body lines following.

Titles can contain emojis, wikilinks, and formatting like bold text.

Foldable (Collapsible) Callouts

Adding a plus sign or minus sign directly after the type controls whether the callout can fold:

• [!note]+ Always expanded by default

• [!note]- Collapsed by default

Both markers make the callout foldable. The sign determines whether it starts open or closed.

Practical uses for collapsible callouts include:

• Hiding detailed solutions in study notes

• Collapsing long checklists under a [!todo]- header

• Tucking away spoilers in book notes

In Reading and Live Preview modes, users click the triangle icon to expand or collapse. In Source mode, the fold marker appears as raw markdown.

Nested Callouts

You can nest callouts by placing another callout block inside a parent callout’s body.

The inner callout lines use an additional > for each nesting level:

> [!warning] Potential issue
>> [!tip] Here's a workaround

This creates a warning callout containing a nested tip. Another example: a [!question] with nested [!example] answers.

Limit nesting depth for readability—two levels usually suffices. When printed or exported, heavily nested callouts may degrade to nested blockquotes in some tools.

Supported Callout Types in Obsidian

Obsidian ships with built-in types, each mapped to a color and icon. Unsupported types fall back to note styling.

Common default types and their aliases:

• note: general-purpose info

• abstract / summary / tldr: summaries

• info: extra context

• todo: tasks and action items

• tip / hint / important: advice and key points

• success / check / done: completed items

• question / help / faq: questions

• warning / caution / attention: potential problems

• failure / fail / missing: missing info

• danger / error: serious issues

• bug: software bugs

• example: code or conceptual examples

• quote / cite: highlighted quotations

Different community themes can restyle these types, so the same [!warning] may look different across themes.

In Live Preview, right-click a callout’s gutter to change its type from a context menu instead of editing the markdown manually.

Unknown types like [!idea] display as note visually but remain available for CSS targeting.

Practical Ways to Use Callouts in Your Vault

Here’s how callouts fit into real workflows:

• Study and learning: Use [!tip] for exam hints, [!question]- for practice questions with collapsed solutions, [!summary] at the top of lecture notes

• Software development: Add [!warning] around destructive commands, [!bug] for known issues, [!example] for API usage snippets

• Project and task management: Store checklists in [!todo]+ callouts grouped by milestone, convert to [!success] when finished

• Long-form writing: Separate author notes using [!note]- or custom types, mark plot clues as [!clue] in fiction drafts

• Personal knowledge base: Use [!info] for key facts, [!quote] for citations, [!danger] for critical warnings

Consistent conventions make search and automation easier—decide which types mean what in your vault and stick to them.

Callouts for Tasks and Checklists

Tasks inside callouts behave like normal Obsidian tasks and appear in global task search.

A [!todo] callout groups related checkboxes:

> [!todo]+ Release 1.2 checklist
> - [ ] Update CHANGELOG for 2025-04-01 release
> - [ ] Run regression tests

Change the type from todo to success to visually signal completion of an entire block.

Plugins like Tasks or Dataview can find tasks in callouts because they’re standard markdown list items under the hood.

Callouts in Long-Form and Publishing Workflows

Callouts are internal editing tools and often shouldn’t appear in final exports like books, PDFs, or blog posts.

Plugins like Longform allow adding a pre-processing step to strip callout markup before compiling. A callout removal script scans lines starting with > [! and removes the wrapper while keeping or discarding the body.

A secondary script can remove checkboxes so internal todos from [!todo] blocks don’t appear in published manuscripts.

This article won’t provide full script code, but pair callouts with an export pipeline in serious writing projects.

Customizing Callouts with CSS

Obsidian exposes callouts via data-callout attributes, letting you define custom types with custom CSS.

The pattern:

1. Choose a custom type identifier like idea

2. Use it in notes: > [!idea] New product concept

3. In CSS, target .callout[data-callout="idea"] with unique colors and icon

Obsidian uses Lucide icons for default callout icons. Custom CSS can swap icons by changing the content of the .callout-icon element.

Styling options include:

• Background and border colors for light/dark themes

• Custom icon size and alignment

• Removing the icon entirely for minimal callouts

Keep a small, focused set of custom types to avoid style sprawl.

Examples of Useful Custom Callouts

Concrete custom type ideas:

• [!clue]: For mystery or thriller writers tracking plot clues across chapters

• [!risk]: In engineering docs to flag technical or business risks

• [!meeting]: For action summaries at the top of dated meeting notes

• [!definition]: In a knowledge base to standardize terminology entries

Style these by adding a CSS snippet in your vault’s .obsidian/snippets folder.

Searching, Managing, and Exporting Callouts

Once your vault contains many callouts, you’ll need ways to find and filter them.

Search for callouts using queries like "[!todo]" to find all todo callouts. Combine with path filters: path:"Drafts" "[!clue]" to locate story clues.

Writers commonly review all [!todo] and [!note] callouts before deadlines.

Third-party tools and exporters handle callouts differently—some ignore styling but keep blockquotes, others can strip them via custom scripts.

Best practices:

• Keep important data outside callouts if it must survive export

• Treat callouts as editor-facing annotations unless your output format supports them

Limitations and Compatibility Notes

Callouts aren’t part of standard CommonMark. In editors like Typora or on GitHub, they degrade to nested blockquotes.

Some mobile markdown apps display them as plain text—the content remains readable but without colors or icons.

Heavy use of nested and foldable callouts can slow rendering on older mobile devices.

Periodically test exports (PDF, DOCX, HTML) to verify critical content inside callouts appears correctly. Consider keeping a style-guide document in your vault so collaborators follow the same conventions.

Conclusion

Obsidian callouts are enhanced blockquotes that let you highlight, group, and optionally hide information without disrupting your note flow.

Key takeaways:

• Learn the basic syntax: > [!type] Title

• Pick a small set of types that fit your workflow

• Add custom CSS only where it supports your process

Start experimenting with callouts in one real note today—your daily note or next project plan. Once you’re familiar with the core features, explore advanced uses like custom types, search workflows, and export pipelines tailored to your vault.