Commands
Everything Journals does from the command palette — opening today's note, stepping to the next one, zooming between period lengths — is a command. Some come built in; the rest you create, aimed at the journals you want, and bind to hotkeys or the ribbon.
| You want to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Open the next or previous note | Built-in commands |
| Move between daily, weekly and monthly notes | Zoom |
| Add a command for a journal, a shelf or a type | Commands you create |
| Change which note a command opens | A command's settings |
| Open a note from outside Obsidian | Links |
Built-in commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open next note, Open previous note | Opens the next or previous note that already exists in the open note's journal. Never creates one. |
| Zoom out, Zoom in | Opens the note one period length longer or shorter than the open note's. See Zoom. |
| Insert link to journal note | Asks for a journal and a date, and inserts a link to that note at the cursor. |
| Connect note to a journal | Connects the open note to a journal and date. See Notes. |
| Open view | Opens a view. |
| Change shelf in view | Picks the shelf an open view shows. |
The palette lists a command only where it can do something — Open next note only while a journal note is open, for example. A hotkey or ribbon button runs it anyway and shows a notice saying why nothing happened.
Insert link to journal note
With a note open in the editor, pick a journal — skipped when you have only one — and a date within its timeline. The link points at the period's note wherever it actually is, or at the path it would be created at. The note is not created until you follow the link.
Zoom
Zoom out and Zoom in move between journals of different period lengths from the note you have open. From a daily note, zooming out opens that week's note; from there, the month's. Zooming in walks back down to the shorter period that holds the first day of the current one: from a monthly note, the 1st of the month — or the week holding the 1st, which can start in the previous month.
- Zooming stays among the journals on the same shelf as the open note's journal, or every journal when it is on no shelf.
- A period length no journal in scope writes is passed over: with only daily and monthly journals, zooming goes straight between them.
- A custom interval journal takes its place by how long its interval runs; a two-week sprint sits between weekly and monthly.
- A journal whose timeline does not include the date is passed over too.
- The note is created if it does not exist. Where two journals in scope write the same length, you are asked which.
Commands you create
A command opens a journal note for a date worked out from today or from the note you have open. Add them in four places, and where you add one decides what it targets:
| Added from | Targets | In the palette as |
|---|---|---|
| Commands on the main settings page | every journal of one period length | name |
| Commands on a journal's settings page | that journal | journal: name |
| Commands on a shelf's page | the shelf's journals of one period length | Shelf: shelf: name |
| Commands on a notelet type | creates a notelet of that type | journal: name |
When a command targets more than one journal and more than one could open a note for the date, it asks which.
A new vault comes with commands on the main settings page for the current, next and previous daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly note — "Open today's note", "Open next weekly note", "Open previous monthly note" and so on — opening in a new tab. Edit or delete them like your own.
To run a command from the keyboard, give it a key in Obsidian's own Settings → Hotkeys, where every command — built in or your own — is listed.
A command's settings
Name — must be unique among the commands in the same place. For a journal command, the journal's name is added in front of it in the palette automatically; for a shelf command, the shelf's name is.
Icon and Show in ribbon — show it as a ribbon button.
Note type — for commands on the main settings page or a shelf: Daily note, Weekly note, Monthly note, Quarterly note or Yearly note.
When the command runs — which note it opens, relative to the date below. The choices depend on the period length:
Choice Daily Monthly, quarterly Weekly, yearly, custom current note — "Open today's note", "Open current weekly note" ✓ ✓ ✓ next, previous note ✓ ✓ ✓ next, previous existing note ✓ ✓ ✓ same day next or last week, same day next or last month ✓ same day, month or quarter next or last year ✓ ✓ The existing choices skip to the nearest period that already has a note and never create one; every other choice creates the note if it is missing. A notelet command always creates a new notelet, so it has no existing choices.
Context — which note's date the command treats as the current date.
- Today — always today.
- Open note's date, or today — the open journal note's date, or today's date when no journal note is open.
- Open note's date only — the open note's date; the command runs only while a journal note is open.
Open note — Replacing the active note, In a new tab, Next to the active note or In a popout window.
Pin the note — opens the note in a pinned tab. If the journal already has a pinned tab — any pinned tab holding one of its notes, notelets excluded — that tab switches to this note instead of a second one being pinned. Nothing is ever unpinned. Not offered on notelet commands.
Examples: Step back over missing days, Keep today's note pinned.
Examples
Step back over missing days
A daily journal with Folder day has notes for 10 and 12 September 2030, and none for the 11th. On the main settings page, add a command named Open last available day's note: Note type Daily note, When the command runs Open previous existing daily note, Context Open note's date, or today.
With day/2030-09-12.md open, running it opens day/2030-09-10.md. It skips the 11th and does not create a note for it.
Keep today's note pinned
On a daily journal's settings page, add a command: When the command runs Open today's note, Pin the note on, Show in ribbon on. Click its ribbon button each morning — the first click pins today's note; every click after that moves that same pinned tab to the new today's note instead of pinning another one.
For a shelf command, see A command on a shelf; for opening a note from outside Obsidian, Links.