Keyboard shortcuts to enter current date/time

sam.baron · May 20, 2020, 7:26pm

Keyboard shortcuts to enter the current date, current time, and current date/time combined

curtismchale · May 20, 2020, 9:33pm

Should also support 24-hour clock or other formats. Maybe a setting that gives a default and uses some ISO standard format language to change it if you want.

Alfred for macOS uses this: http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr35/tr35-31/tr35-dates.html#Date_Format_Patterns

death.au · May 20, 2020, 9:51pm

I would argue that this would be for a plugin rather than core functionality.

I’m not arguing against its usefulness, though. I currently use a text expander for this purpose so I can do the same thing in other apps, too.

sam.baron · May 20, 2020, 10:19pm

@death.au My one concern about this being a plugin and not in-app is that I’m hoping Obsidian has some consistency in how it handles date/time so plugins can rely on a consistent date/time format. Maybe @Licat can chime in.

Licat · May 21, 2020, 2:15am

@sam.baron has a good point. There are some preferences that maybe redundant such as time format preference.

I’d still think it goes with plugins, but maybe we can provide a centralized configuration that could be shared among plugins if necessary.

death.au · May 21, 2020, 2:55am

@sam.baron, @Licat Good points.

So potentially a plugin to insert dates via a keyboard shortcut, but the plugin should respect date format(s) set up in the app preferences
Would require the plugin interface to expose functions for getting the date format, and probably convenience functions to get preformatted dates.

Fovea · May 26, 2020, 3:24am

It’d be cool if you could set the plugin to auto insert time/date (or any text) during custom conditions.

eg

end of a line after link break
each bullet in list (meeting minutes)
on format (like headers)
opening new note

Luhmann · May 26, 2020, 3:30am

Ideally one should be able to enter any date, using the same format set in the Daily Journal plugin settings.

bboystiff · May 27, 2020, 3:35am

Must have function I believe to access shortcut to a date picker or time by entering / like dynalist.

For now, I created a link to a batch file script that would copy the date to clipboard as a workaround. All you have to do is paste it to your notes.

The script is simple:
cmd /c date /t | clip

enjoy

tang · May 29, 2020, 8:08pm

I’d love it if a date/time object could be part of obsidian’s core (although I understand this increases obisidan’s scope a bit).

My workflow around tasks is to link to the due dates and use the backlinks of a given day as an agenda of sorts. It’d be awesome if the daily notes plugin could leverage the backlinks and a date/time object to create a proper agenda!

Klaas · May 31, 2020, 12:23pm

I do exactly the same @death.au. I use Espanso on my Mac - lightweight and works well, with regular updates.

bdillahu · May 31, 2020, 7:40pm

Was just coming to add a mention of espanso - https://espanso.org/

I’ve been creating templates for my daily entries, dates in my favorite format, etc.

krishnanunnihm · June 1, 2020, 1:49pm

I already have a autohotkey code running that allows me to generate time and date stamps with Alt+T, Alt+D respectively.
I use this in al of my note taking devices.

ljantzen · June 1, 2020, 2:20pm

I second this. I’m on Linux, and Autohotkey or similar functionality is outdated and/or missing on this platform.

mrjackphil · June 1, 2020, 2:31pm

If Plugin API would allow to setup new hotkeys there will be no problem to provide such a plugin, I believe. I saw what they even have MomentJS under the hood which gives more control over Date/Time.

bdillahu · June 1, 2020, 7:01pm

Check out espanso mentioned above… runs on Linux.

tang · June 1, 2020, 7:01pm

Obsidian could take inspiration from the Discourse form for specifying a date/time (with the little calendar icon in the post editor). A benefit of this is that it’s machine-readable (and for the most part, human readable, especially when the WYSIWYG editor lands):

[date=2020-05-31 timezone="America/Los_Angeles"] -> 2020-05-31T07:00:00Z
[date=2020-06-01 time=17:00:00 timezone="America/Los_Angeles"] -> 2020-06-02T00:00:00Z
[date=2020-06-01 format="YYYY-MM-DD" timezone="America/Los_Angeles" timezones="UTC" recurring="1.weeks"] -> 2020-06-01

I don’t particularly care for the explicit timezone, but I can definitely see it’s value. It’d be extra awesome if Obsidian could parse something in the form - [ ] Important meeting [[date=2020-06-15 time=13:00:00]] and insert a link to the daily note for 2020-06-15. Extra brownie points if date/time objects can be inputted/displayed with natural language like Discourse does .

goodsignal · June 1, 2020, 7:39pm

In the mean time, if you’re a windows user, here are my AutoHotKey scripts for text expanding dates. Change the shortcut to whatever works for you.

::ddtt::
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::sddtt::
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyyMMdd_HHmm
SendInput, %Time%
Return

^!t::
::ddtts::
KeyWait Control, L  ; Wait for both Control and Alt to be released. (Required on Lenovo Yoga 14. Modifier keys would stay stuck and fuck shit up!)
KeyWait Alt, L
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::ddd::
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyy-MM-dd
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::dddd::
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyy-MM-dd dddd
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::sddd::
FormatTime, Time, ,yyyyMMdd
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::ttt::
FormatTime, Time, ,HH:mm:ss
SendInput, %Time%
Return

::ttm::
FormatTime, Time, ,HH:mm
SendInput, %Time%
Return

ksandvik · June 1, 2020, 8:14pm

espanso is great. As a bonus you could create any keyboard shortcuts you wish. But yes it requires a little bit config work many end users might not be able to do. A default key for current date and current time + date as OneNote has might be needed.

ljantzen · June 1, 2020, 9:00pm

Thank you. Just what the doctor ordered!