Obsidian plugin · 4.12.3

Template Variables Reference

TaskNotes supports template variables for dynamic content generation in body templates, folder paths, and filenames. Variables use the {{variableName}} syntax and are replaced w...

TaskNotes supports template variables for dynamic content generation in body templates, folder paths, and filenames. Variables use the {{variableName}} syntax and are replaced with actual values when content is created.

Overview#

Template variables are available in three contexts:

Body templates - Content templates for task and note files
Folder templates - Dynamic folder paths for file organization
Filename templates - Dynamic filename generation

Not all variables are available in every context. The tables below indicate where each variable can be used.

Task Properties#

Variables for task-specific data.

Variable	Description	Body	Folder	Example
`{{title}}`	Task title	Yes	Yes	`My Task`
`{{titleLower}}`	Title in lowercase	Yes	Yes	`my task`
`{{titleUpper}}`	Title in uppercase	Yes	Yes	`MY TASK`
`{{titleSnake}}`	Title in snake_case	Yes	Yes	`my_task`
`{{titleKebab}}`	Title in kebab-case	Yes	Yes	`my-task`
`{{titleCamel}}`	Title in camelCase	Yes	Yes	`myTask`
`{{titlePascal}}`	Title in PascalCase	Yes	Yes	`MyTask`
`{{priority}}`	Task priority value	Yes	Yes	`high`
`{{priorityShort}}`	First character of priority (uppercase)	Yes	Yes	`H`
`{{status}}`	Task status value	Yes	Yes	`active`
`{{statusShort}}`	First character of status (uppercase)	Yes	Yes	`A`
`{{context}}`	First context from contexts array	No	Yes	`work`
`{{contexts}}`	All contexts (comma-separated in body, `/` in folder)	Yes	Yes	`work, home` or `work/home`
`{{project}}`	First project from projects array	No	Yes	`ProjectA`
`{{projects}}`	All projects joined by `/`	No	Yes	`ProjectA/ProjectB`
`{{projectFilePath}}`	Full path of the first project, without `.md`	No	Yes	`Work/Projects/ProjectA`
`{{projectFilePaths}}`	Full paths of all projects, joined by `/`	No	Yes	`Work/Alpha/Personal/Beta`
`{{projectFolder}}`	Folder containing the first project note (its file path without the note's own name)	No	Yes	`Work/Projects`
`{{projectFolders}}`	Folders of all projects, joined by `/`	No	Yes	`Work/Personal`
`{{dueDate}}`	Task due date	Yes	Yes	`2025-01-15`
`{{scheduledDate}}`	Task scheduled date	Yes	Yes	`2025-01-10`

Body Template Only#

Variables available only in body templates (not folder templates).

Variable	Description	Example
`{{details}}`	User-provided details/description	`Task description text`
`{{parentNote}}`	Parent note name/path where task was created	`Projects/MyNote`
`{{tags}}`	Task tags (comma-separated)	`urgent, review`
`{{hashtags}}`	Task tags as space-separated hashtags	`#urgent #review`
`{{timeEstimate}}`	Time estimate in minutes	`30`

Date and Time#

Variables for current date and time values.

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{date}}`	Full current date	`YYYY-MM-DD`	`2025-01-07`
`{{year}}`	Current year	`YYYY`	`2025`
`{{shortYear}}`	Short year	`YY`	`25`
`{{month}}`	Current month	`MM`	`01`
`{{day}}`	Current day	`DD`	`07`
`{{monthName}}`	Full month name	-	`January`
`{{monthNameShort}}`	Abbreviated month name	-	`Jan`
`{{dayName}}`	Full day name	-	`Tuesday`
`{{dayNameShort}}`	Abbreviated day name	-	`Tue`
`{{week}}`	Week number of year	`WW`	`02`
`{{quarter}}`	Quarter of year	`Q`	`1`
`{{shortDate}}`	Compact date	`YYMMDD`	`250107`

Time Variables#

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{time}}`	Current time (compact)	`HHmmss`	`143052`
`{{time24}}`	24-hour time	`HH:mm`	`14:30`
`{{time12}}`	12-hour time with AM/PM	`hh:mm a`	`02:30 PM`
`{{hour}}`	Current hour (24-hour)	`HH`	`14`
`{{hourPadded}}`	Hour with leading zero	`HH`	`14`
`{{hour12}}`	Hour in 12-hour format	`hh`	`02`
`{{minute}}`	Current minute	`mm`	`30`
`{{second}}`	Current second	`ss`	`52`
`{{ampm}}`	AM/PM indicator	`a`	`PM`

Timestamps#

Variable	Description	Format	Example
`{{timestamp}}`	Date and time combined	`YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss`	`2025-01-07-143052`
`{{dateTime}}`	Date and time (no seconds)	`YYYY-MM-DD-HHmm`	`2025-01-07-1430`
`{{unix}}`	Unix timestamp (seconds)	-	`1736264852`
`{{unixMs}}`	Unix timestamp (milliseconds)	-	`1736264852000`
`{{milliseconds}}`	Current milliseconds	`SSS`	`123`
`{{ms}}`	Milliseconds (alias)	`SSS`	`123`

Timezone#

Variable	Description	Example
`{{timezone}}`	Timezone offset	`+01:00`
`{{timezoneShort}}`	Short timezone offset	`+0100`
`{{utcOffset}}`	UTC offset	`+01:00`
`{{utcOffsetShort}}`	Short UTC offset	`+0100`
`{{utcZ}}`	UTC Z indicator	`Z`

Unique Identifiers#

Variable	Description	Example
`{{zettel}}`	Zettelkasten-style ID (date + seconds since midnight in base36)	`250107abc`
`{{nano}}`	Unique nano ID (timestamp + random string)	`1736264852000x7k2m`

ICS Calendar Event Variables#

Variables for content created from ICS calendar events. Available when creating notes or tasks from calendar events.

Event Information#

Variable	Description	Body	Folder
`{{icsEventTitle}}`	Event title	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleLower}}`	Event title lowercase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleUpper}}`	Event title uppercase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleSnake}}`	Event title in snake_case	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleKebab}}`	Event title in kebab-case	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitleCamel}}`	Event title in camelCase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventTitlePascal}}`	Event title in PascalCase	No	Yes
`{{icsEventStart}}`	Event start time (ISO format)	Yes	No
`{{icsEventEnd}}`	Event end time (ISO format)	Yes	No
`{{icsEventLocation}}`	Event location	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventDescription}}`	Event description	Yes	Yes
`{{icsEventUrl}}`	Event URL	Yes	No
`{{icsEventSubscription}}`	Calendar subscription name	Yes	No
`{{icsEventId}}`	Unique event identifier (UUID)	Yes	No

Current Note Folder Variables#

Variables available for inline-created tasks and the default tasks folder.

Variable	Description	Example
`{{currentNotePath}}`	Path to the current note's folder	`Projects/Notes`
`{{currentNoteTitle}}`	Title/name of the current note	`Meeting Notes`

Examples#

Body Template#

---
created: {{date}}
priority: {{priority}}
status: {{status}}
---

# {{title}}

{{details}}

Created from: {{parentNote}}
Tags: {{hashtags}}

Folder Template#

Organize tasks by project and status:

Tasks/{{project}}/{{status}}

Result: Tasks/MyProject/active

Organize by date hierarchy:

Daily/{{year}}/{{month}}/{{day}}

Result: Daily/2025/01/07

Organize ICS events by year and title:

Events/{{year}}/{{icsEventTitleKebab}}

Result: Events/2025/team-meeting

Filename Template#

Using Zettelkasten ID:

{{zettel}}-{{titleKebab}}

Result: 250107abc-my-task.md

Using timestamp:

{{shortDate}}-{{title}}

Result: 250107-My Task.md

Notes#

YAML Safety#

When used in YAML frontmatter, values containing special characters (colons, brackets, quotes) are automatically quoted to prevent parsing errors.

Folder Path Sanitization#

In folder templates, title values have filesystem-unsafe characters (<>:"/\|?*) replaced with underscores to ensure valid paths. Project file path variables preserve folder separators and sanitize unsafe characters within each path segment.

Empty Values#

If a variable references data that isn't available (e.g., {{project}} when no project is set), it resolves to an empty string.

Case Transformations#

The case transformation variables work as follows:

Transform	Input	Output
`titleLower`	`My Task Name`	`my task name`
`titleUpper`	`My Task Name`	`MY TASK NAME`
`titleSnake`	`My Task Name`	`my_task_name`
`titleKebab`	`My Task Name`	`my-task-name`
`titleCamel`	`My Task Name`	`myTaskName`
`titlePascal`	`My Task Name`	`MyTaskName`