# How to Organize Daily Notes
## What Are Daily Notes?
Daily notes are **automatically created text files** that Obsidian generates for each day. Think of them as a **digital notepad that opens instantly** when you launch the app. Every day gets its own note, automatically organized in folders by date.
The goal: **Open Obsidian → Your daily note is already there → Start typing.*
## Why Use Daily Notes?
You open Obsidian and your daily note is already open and ready.
Daily notes work as a **capture system** for your day:
- **Quick capture**: Jot down thoughts, tasks, and ideas as they happen
- **Organized by date**: Find what you did on any specific day instantly
- **Linked to your vault**: Connect daily notes to projects, people, and topics
- **Lightweight**: Just plain text editing—no complexity
- **Reviewable**: Look back at your progress over days, weeks, and months
## Setting It Up
### Step 1: Enable Daily Notes
1. Open Obsidian Settings
2. Go to **Core Plugins**
3. Toggle **Daily Notes** ON
### Step 2: Create a Daily Note Template
1. Create a new note called `Daily Note Template` in a `Templates` folder
2. Add a structure:
```markdown
---
previous: '[[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD dddd", -1) %>]]'
next: '[[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD dddd", 1) %>]]'
tags:
- ☀️
resources:
stakeholders:
---
---
## Daily
### Routine Checklist
- [ ] Open Daily Note
- [ ] **Daily Checks**
- [ ] Self Care🛀🧴
- [ ] Pet Care 🐕🚶🏻♂️
- [ ] Make Breakfast ☕🍳
- [ ] Get Focused 🖥️
- [ ] Put [Calendar](https://calendar.google.com) 📆
- [ ] Check [Mail](https://mail.google.com) ✉️
- [ ] Reviews [[Yearly List]] ✅
- [ ] Review [January Log](journal/2026/Yearly%20Log.md#January) 📝
- [ ] Get Working
- [ ] Open [Pii.Link](https://pii.link)
- [ ] Check [workspace](workspace/workspace.md)
- [ ] Check [links](workspace/links.md)
---
```
3. Go to Settings → **Daily Notes**
4. Set **Template file location** to point to this template
### Step 3: Configure Daily Notes Settings
In Settings → **Daily Notes**:
**New file location:**
```
journal
```
**Date format:**
```
YYYY/MM_MMMM/YYYY-MM-DD dddd
```
This creates a folder structure like:
```
journal/
└── 2026/
└── 02_February/
├── 2026-02-05 Thursday.md
├── 2026-02-06 Friday.md
└── 2026-02-07 Saturday.md
```
### Step 4: Make It Open Automatically (The Key Step!)
This is what makes daily notes actually useful. You want Obsidian to open your daily note **every time you launch the app**.
**Using Workspaces (Recommended):**
1. Open your daily note
2. Arrange your workspace the way you like it (sidebar, panels, etc.)
3. Go to **Workspaces** plugin (Core Plugins → Workspaces)
4. Click **Save workspace as...** and name it `Daily`
5. In Workspaces settings, set `Daily` as your **default workspace**
6. Now when you open Obsidian, it automatically loads your daily note
**Alternative: Using a Plugin**
Install the **Open Daily Note on Startup** plugin from the community plugins directory. It automatically opens today's daily note when you launch Obsidian.
### Step 5: Set Up Hotkeys (Optional but Useful)
Go to Settings → **Hotkeys** and set:
- **Open daily note**: `Ctrl+Alt+D` (or your preference)
- **Create or open daily note**: Quick access anytime
## Example Daily Note
```markdown
# Daily Note - 2025-01-15
## Today's Goals
- [x] Finish project report
- [x] Review team feedback
- [ ] Plan next sprint
## Work
### Project A - Website Redesign
- Completed the design mockups
- Sent to [[Sarah]] for review
- She suggested using [[Dark Mode]] instead
- Need to iterate on [[Color Scheme]]
### Project B - Research
- Started research on [[AI Integration]]
- Found useful article about [[Machine Learning]]
- Bookmarked for [[John]] to review
## Thoughts & Learnings
- Realized [[Dark Mode]] is becoming standard - should update our design system
- Learned that [[Concept X]] is more important than I thought
- Need to discuss [[New Approach]] with the team
## Meetings & People
- Met with [[Sarah]] - discussed feedback on mockups
- Slack with [[John]] - he's interested in [[AI Integration]]
- Email from [[Manager]] - approved budget for [[Project B]]
## Tomorrow
- [ ] Iterate on mockups based on [[Sarah]]'s feedback
- [ ] Schedule meeting with [[John]] about [[AI Integration]]
- [ ] Plan next sprint with team
## Links
- [[Project A]]
- [[Project B]]
- [[Sarah]]
- [[John]]
```
When you click on any `[[link]]`, it opens that note. This connects your daily notes to your entire vault.
## Key Principles
1. **Just text editing** - No complex formatting, no databases, no fancy features. Just type.
2. **Organized automatically** - Obsidian creates the folder structure for you based on dates.
3. **Opens instantly** - Your daily note is ready when you open the app.
4. **Lightweight capture** - Quick notes, tasks, and links. Not a final destination.
5. **Feeds your vault** - Weekly review extracts important items to permanent notes.
6. **Searchable history** - Find any day's notes instantly with search.
7. **Multimodal ready** - Embed voice, images, sketches, and web content alongside text.
8. **Hybrid-friendly** - Pairs perfectly with pen-and-paper journaling for a balanced capture system.
## Date Format Examples
### By Year and Month (Recommended)
```
YYYY/MM_MMMM/YYYY-MM-DD
```
Creates: `2025/01_January/2025-01-15.md`
### By Year Only
```
YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD
```
Creates: `2025/2025-01-15.md`
### By Week
```
YYYY/[W]ww/YYYY-MM-DD
```
Creates: `2025/W03/2025-01-15.md`
### Flat (No Subfolders)
```
YYYY-MM-DD
```
Creates: `2025-01-15.md`