obsidian-note-from-template
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Simple plugin to create Notes from a template, and fill in fields defined there
Notes from Template
This plugin adds commands to create notes based on template files. It will go through each file in the templates
directory in the settings, and create a command 'From Template: <X>' for each file. Each command will create a note based on the given template, with a popup to request values for each variable found in the template in Mustache syntax.
Discussion thread on Obsidian Forum: https://forum.obsidian.md/t/plugin-create-notes-from-templates/23452
Quickstart
An example template file might be:
---
template-output: People
tags: person, {{tags}}
template-replacement: "[[{{title}}]] ![[{{title}}#^overview]]"
template-input: title, overview, body
template-should-replace: "sometimes"
template-should-create: "open-pane"
---
# {{title}}
{{overview:area}}
^overview
Organisation: {{organisation}}
{{body}}
This would
- pop up a window requesting a note title, an overview (in a text box) an organisation (text field) and some tags.
- if the selection in the editor was "Joe Blogs - manager at Weissman Heiss - (lots of details)", the popup would be populated with Joe Blogs as the title, 'manager at Weissman Heiss' as the overview, and lots of details in the body field.
- create a note based on the template in the People directory.
- replace the selection text with the replacement string - in this case, a link to the note, and a transclusion of the overview paragraph. If there is no text selected, it won't put anything into the document.
- open the new note in a new window
Details
YAML Tags
Templates can contain YAML tags that will be filed out in the same way as the rest of the template. So this will work as expected:
---
organsiation: "{{organisation}}"
---
{{name}} works at {{organisation}}
In order to be proper YAML, values cannot start with {
or they are treated as dictionaries, so make sure to use organisation: "{{org}}"
rather than organisation: {{org}}
in the frontmatter.
From Template YAML Tags
Name | Value | Default |
---|---|---|
template-id | Unique ID for the template | Lowercase version of the base name |
template-name | Name for the command | Base name of the file |
template-output | Directory to save the output | test |
template-filename | Filename for the created note. Will have .md appended. Note: if you set a different filename, then make sure to use {{filename}} in the template-replacement strings if you want to link to the file. |
{{title}} |
template-replacement | A Mustache template to replace the selected text in the editor with. Can pass a list, which will appear as buttons in creator | {{[[title]]}} |
template-input | If the command is called with some text selected, split it up using the plugin's split pattern, and put the values into those fields | title,body |
template-should-replace | Should the template write text back to the document? "always", "sometimes" = only if text is selected, "never" | "sometimes" |
template-should-create | Should the template make and open a note? "none"=no note, "create"= create but don't open, "open"=create and open in current editor, "open-pane" = create and open in new pane | "create" |
Examples
- Create a new note with a complex filename, then insert the title with a transclusion of the overview:
template-filename: "{{title}} - autocreated"
template-replacement: "{{title}} - ![[{{filename#^overview}}]]"
- Template will always put the result back into the current document:
template-should-create: "none"
template-should-replace: "always"
template-replacement: "{{templateResult}}"
Field Types
Type | Args | Description | Example(s) |
---|---|---|---|
text | none | A text input field - this is the default | {{name}}, {{country:text}}, {{country:text:Belgium}} |
area | none | A text area - default if the field name is 'body' | {{description:area}}, {{body}} |
currentDate | format | The current date, using the format in Luxon format (https://moment.github.io/luxon/#/formatting) (Moment.js shouldn't be used for new projects, dayjs doesn't play nicely with the build system) | {{now:currentdate:dd-MM-yyyy}} |
Non-field tags
(experimental, in dev)
Field | Description | Usage Example |
---|---|---|
currentTitle | The title of the active note when the template was triggered | parent: [[{currentTitle}]] in frontmatter to create hierarchy |
currentPath | The path of the active note when the template was triggered |
Hotkeys
Some hotkeys are defined:
- Mod + enter: submit template
- Mod + (1-9): jump to field
- Ctrl + (1-9): select replacement string N
Development
Very open to collaboration - drop me a line or PR
Changelog
0.1.11
- Added CSS class to modal for styling
- Added
multi
field type to allow a multi-select with toggles - Added field descriptions:
{fieldname:text:default:description}
or{fieldname:area:description}
0.1.7
- Added
currentdate
field type, e.g.{{now:currentdate:dd-MM-yyyy}}
- Added
currentPath
andcurrentTitle
field names, e.g.[[{{currentTitle}}]]
to link back to current note
0.1.6
- Templates now loaded dynamically - no more restarts! (also: changed template folder selection to dropdown,command for re-indexing)
- Added a choice type, e.g.
{{suit:choice:hearts:spades:diamonds:clubs}}
- Note filenames are now generated from a template string, either in config, or in
template-filename
in the template. Defaults to{{title}}
, but all template fields available. - Added multiple replacement text possibility - If an array is given for
template-replacement
, then these will all be options in the template dialog - Many UI tweaks, fixed YAML parsing
0.1.5
Big changes - completely refactored, new options, new fields, most defaults in settings, should be more responsive to template changes