NoteDiscovery/documentation/TEMPLATES.md

📋 Note Templates

Create notes from reusable templates with dynamic placeholder replacement.

Overview

Templates allow you to quickly create notes with predefined structures and content. Perfect for recurring note types like meeting notes, daily journals, project plans, and more.

How to Use Templates

1. Create Template Files

Templates are stored in the data/_templates/ folder as markdown files. You will need to create such folder if it doesn't exist:

data/
└── _templates/
    ├── meeting-notes.md
    ├── daily-journal.md
    └── project-plan.md

2. Access Templates

Click the "New" button (or + on any folder) and select "New from Template":

1. Choose a template from the dropdown
2. Enter a name for your new note
3. Click "Create Note"

The template will be copied with all placeholders replaced automatically!

3. Use Placeholders

Templates support dynamic placeholders that are replaced when you create a note:

Placeholder	Description	Example
{{date}}	Current date	2025-11-26
{{time}}	Current time	14:30:45
{{datetime}}	Current date and time	2025-11-26 14:30:45
{{timestamp}}	Unix timestamp	1732632645
{{year}}	Current year	2025
{{month}}	Current month	11
{{day}}	Current day	26
{{title}}	Note name (without .md)	Weekly Meeting
{{folder}}	Parent folder name	Projects

Custom date/time formats

Need a different format than the defaults above? Any of the three date/time placeholders — {{date}}, {{time}}, {{datetime}} — accepts an optional :FORMAT suffix to override its default format. FORMAT is any Python strftime() format string, so anything strftime can do, your template can do.

One rule to remember: pick the prefix whose default already covers the components you want to format. Use {{date:…}} for date-only formats, {{time:…}} for time-only formats, and {{datetime:…}} when you need both.

Common recipes

Template	Result	Use case
{{date:%Y%m%d}}	20251126	Date stamp for filenames
{{time:%H%M%S}}	143045	Time stamp for filenames
{{datetime:%Y%m%d%H%M%S}}	20251126143045	Sortable, filename-safe full stamp
{{datetime:%Y%m%dT%H%M%S}}	20251126T143045	ISO-8601 basic, no separators
{{datetime:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S}}	2025-11-26T14:30:45	ISO-8601 extended
{{date:%d/%m/%Y}}	26/11/2025	European-style date
{{date:%m/%d/%Y}}	11/26/2025	US-style date
{{date:%A}}	Wednesday	Full weekday name
{{date:%a}}	Wed	Short weekday name
{{date:%B}}	November	Full month name
{{date:%V}}	48	ISO week number
{{date:%j}}	330	Day of year (1–366)

Invalid format strings (typos) are left in the output unchanged so the mistake is visible rather than silently swallowed.

Example Template

---
tags: [meeting]
date: {{date}}
---

# Meeting Notes - {{title}}

**Date:** {{datetime}}  
**Participants:** 
- 

## Agenda
- 

## Discussion


## Action Items
- [ ] 

## Next Steps

When you create a note called "Team Sync" from this template, it becomes:

---
tags: [meeting]
date: 2025-11-26
---

# Meeting Notes - Team Sync

**Date:** 2025-11-26 14:30:45  
**Participants:** 
- 

## Agenda
- 

## Discussion


## Action Items
- [ ] 

## Next Steps

Example Templates

We provide three example templates in documentation/templates/ that you can copy to your data/_templates/ folder:

1. meeting-notes.md - Structured meeting notes with agenda, discussion, and action items
2. daily-journal.md - Daily journal with morning goals and evening reflection
3. project-plan.md - Project planning template with objectives, timeline, and status tracking

Using Example Templates

Option 1: Copy Manually

cp documentation/templates/*.md data/_templates/

Option 2: Create Your Own

1. Create a .md file in data/_templates/
2. Add content and placeholders
3. Save and it's ready to use!

Tips

• ✅ Templates can include YAML frontmatter for tags and metadata
• ✅ Use descriptive template names (they appear in the dropdown)
• ✅ Templates work in any folder - the context is preserved
• ✅ You can edit templates anytime - changes apply to new notes only
• ✅ Combine templates with tags for powerful organization

---

See also:

• Tags Documentation - Learn about organizing with tags
• Features Overview - All application features