EasyView vs Obsidian: One Reads a Project Folder, the Other Builds a Knowledge Base

When people first see EasyView, they often ask: “How is this different from Obsidian?” Both open a folder, render Markdown and draw Mermaid diagrams, so they look alike. But they solve different problems.

In short: Obsidian builds a knowledge base around Markdown notes. EasyView lets you read and edit all the documents in a project folder in one place. This article lays out the differences so you can choose for your own situation, or use both.

56-second demo: EasyView opens a project folder, renders Markdown and Mermaid, navigates by outline and tabs, opens Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, XMind mind maps, images and zip archives, and compares file formats with Obsidian.

The short answer

Your situation	Better fit
Building personal notes over time, with backlinks, a graph view and plugins	Obsidian
Opening an existing project folder with Markdown, Word, Excel, PPT and PDF mixed together	EasyView
Already working in VS Code / Cursor and want visual Markdown viewing and editing there	EasyView’s VS Code / Cursor extension
Just focusing on writing one Markdown article	Writing or preview tools such as Typora or Marked are also worth a look

Difference 1: a “vault” or a project folder

Obsidian manages a folder as a vault. According to its official docs, it natively supports Markdown, Bases, Canvas, images, audio, video and PDF; other formats need community plugins. That suits a notes-first workflow.

Project folders are rarely organized that way. One feature folder may hold a design note in .md, a requirements doc in .docx, a schedule in .xlsx, a review deck and a PDF contract. EasyView simply opens that folder: the file tree is on the left, and each file you click opens in a tab. Word and Excel files can be edited and saved, PPT and PDF can be previewed, and you don’t have to switch to Office or a PDF reader.

EasyView with a project folder open: file tree on the left, document in the middle, outline on the right, tabs across the top — EasyView: the project folder's file tree on the left, the outline on the right, and Markdown, Word, Excel, PPT and PDF files open in tabs.

File type	Obsidian (no plugins)	EasyView
Markdown	Edit, render	Visual editing, source editing
PDF	View, embed in notes	Preview, convert to Markdown
Images, audio, video	Supported	Images (including HEIC) and SVG
Word (.docx)	Needs a community plugin	Edit and save, or convert to Markdown
Excel (.xlsx)	Needs a community plugin	Edit and save
PPT	Needs a community plugin	Preview, present
Archives, XMind, CSV	Needs a community plugin	Browse and preview supported content

Editing a Word document in an EasyView tab — EasyView: edit a Word document right in a tab, without opening Office.

Editing an Excel spreadsheet in an EasyView tab — EasyView: an Excel task sheet opened in the same window as the Markdown plan.

Difference 2: Markdown rendering and Mermaid

Both are strong here. Obsidian officially supports Mermaid diagrams and MathJax math, plus its distinctive callouts.

Callouts rendered in Obsidian. Image: DoULikeIce, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

EasyView renders Mermaid locally, so diagrams show up as soon as you open the document, with no network needed. PlantUML, Graphviz, D2 and BPMN are supported too (these are rendered online), and math uses KaTeX. EasyView also edits visually by default: add or remove table rows and columns, merge cells, or type / on an empty line to insert a block, while the file stays plain Markdown.

A Mermaid flowchart rendered inside a Markdown document in EasyView — EasyView: a Mermaid flowchart rendered directly in the document.

For long documents, an outline beats search. EasyView keeps the outline next to the document. You can fold it by heading level, click to jump, and drag a heading to move its whole section. In a design doc with dozens of sections, the outline is much faster than scrolling.

EasyView's outline panel beside a long document with a table — EasyView: the outline on the right lists every section and jumps to it in one click. (The outline's two mode buttons are still labeled in Chinese in the English UI.)

Obsidian also has an outline panel and tabs, plus something EasyView doesn’t have: the graph view, which shows how notes link to each other. If most of your value comes from links between notes, that is a clear Obsidian advantage.

Obsidian's graph view. Image: Paulcaillard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (one frame of the animation).

EasyView’s tabs lean toward keeping different file types from one project open at once: a Markdown design doc in one tab, an Excel schedule in another, a PDF in a third. The desktop app restores your open files and layout the next time you launch it.

Difference 4: inside your editor

If your day happens in VS Code or Cursor, EasyView also comes as an extension. On a Markdown file, choose “Reopen Editor With… → EasyView_Md” to get the same visual editor without leaving your code repository.

Which to choose

Building a long-term personal knowledge base where links, the graph and plugins matter: choose Obsidian.
Working from an existing project folder full of mixed formats, and you just want to open, read and edit: choose EasyView.
They don’t conflict. In the same folder, you can take notes in Obsidian and open the Word, Excel and PPT files with EasyView.

Download EasyView

Platform	Where to get it
macOS / Windows	Official website
Windows	Microsoft Store
VS Code / Cursor	VS Code Marketplace

For more features, see the EasyView_Md guide. If something feels smooth or awkward, let me know with an issue on GitHub.