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Capture

Allows to quickly capture your input and save it from anywhere in Obsidian, without leaving your current window setup e.g.

  • Add messages to your work log
  • Save interesting links for later reading and watching
  • Individually timed notes in Daily notes file

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Capture To​

Capture To is the name of the file you are capturing to. You can choose to either enable Capture to active file, or you can enter a file name in the File Name input field.

This field also supports the format syntax, which allows you to use dynamic file names. I have one for my daily journal with the name bins/daily/{{DATE:gggg-MM-DD - ddd MMM D}}.md. This automatically finds the file for the day, and whatever I enter will be captured to it.

Capturing to folders​

You can also type a folder name into the Capture To field, and QuickAdd will ask you which file in the folder you'd like to capture to. This also supports the format syntax. You can even write a filename in the suggester that opens, and it will create the file for you - assuming you have the Create file if it doesn't exist setting enabled.

For example, you might have a folder called CRM/people. In this folder, you have a note for the people in your life. You can type CRM/people in the Capture To field, and QuickAdd will ask you which file to capture to. You can then type John Doe in the suggester, and QuickAdd will create a file called John Doe.md in the CRM/people folder.

You could also write nothing - or / - in the Capture To field. This will open the suggester with all of your files in it, and you can select or type the name of the file you want to capture to.

Capturing to a folder will show all files in that folder. This means that files in nested folders will also appear.

Capturing to tags​

Similarly, you can type a tag name in the Capture To field, and QuickAdd will ask you which file to capture to, assuming the file has the tag you specify.

If you have a tag called #people, and you type #people in the Capture To field, QuickAdd will ask you which file to capture to, assuming the file has the #people tag.

Capture Options​

  • Create file if it doesn't exist will do as the name implies - you can also create the file from a template, if you specify the template (the input box will appear below the setting).
  • Task will format your captured text as a task.
  • Write to bottom of file will put whatever you enter at the bottom of the file.
  • Append link will append a link to the file you have open in the file you're capturing to.

Insert after​

Insert After will allow you to insert the text after some line with the specified text.

With Insert After, you can also enable Insert at end of section and Consider subsections. You can see an explanation of these below.

I use this in my daily journal capture, where I insert after the heading line ## What did I do today?.

It's also possible to use Create line if not found, which will create the line if it doesn't exist. This is useful if you want to insert after a line that might not exist in the file you're capturing to. This setting can place the line at the start or end of the file, or at your current cursor position.

Consider subsections -option​

Consider subsections disabled​

Behavior with Insert after & Insert at end:

## 1. First heading

**Insert after** comes here.

-   content 1
-   content 2
-   content 3
    **Insert at end** comes here.

### 1.1. Nested heading 1

Content

## 2. Another heading

Content

Consider subsections enabled​

Behavior with Insert after & Insert at end:

## 1. First heading

**Insert after** comes here

-   content 1
-   content 2
-   content 3

### 1.1. Nested heading 1

Content
**Insert at end** comes here. Captures to after this, as it's considered part of the "1. First heading" section.

## 2. Another heading

Content

Capture Format​

Capture format lets you specify the exact format that you want what you're capturing to be inserted as. You can do practically anything here. Think of it as a mini template.

If you do not enable this, QuickAdd will default to {{VALUE}}, which will just insert whatever you enter in the prompt that appears when activating the Capture.

You can use format syntax here, which allows you to use dynamic values in your capture format.

In my journal capture, I have it set to - {{DATE:HH:mm}} {{VALUE}}. This inserts a bullet point with the time in hour:minute format, followed by whatever I entered in the prompt.