How to Create Templates in Obsidian

You can learn how to create templates in Obsidian without installing a community plugin. Put reusable text in a template folder, select it with Insert template, and let the built-in variables fill in the note title and date. You'll need an Obsidian vault and the Templates core plugin.

How to create templates in Obsidian without breaking properties

The surprising part happens before insertion: Obsidian's Properties panel can rewrite unquoted template variables and damage the template. Edit the template in Source mode, and put quotes around text variables inside its opening properties block. Those changes protect the placeholders while you build the note.

The official Templates guide, checked October 9, 2026, spells out that behavior. My pick for a first template is a short meeting note. It gives you a title, a date and somewhere to record decisions without turning every meeting into a form-filling exercise.

If you're new to the app, the Obsidian project page explains its place among the notes and knowledge management tools. The core app is free; buying Sync or Publish isn't part of this setup.

1. Create a folder for reusable notes

Create a folder inside your vault for the source templates. Templates is an easy name to recognize. Keep it separate from your finished meeting notes so you don't accidentally edit the original while recording a conversation.

This is a suggested folder arrangement, not a special naming rule. You could keep templates under Resources/Templates instead. What matters is that the location you enter in the plugin settings matches the folder containing your template notes.

Start with one template file. A pile of slightly different meeting forms makes the picker harder to use and leaves you wondering which one you meant to keep. Name the file for its job, such as Meeting note, rather than the meeting you're about to attend.

2. Enable the Templates core plugin

Open Settings, then Core plugins, and enable Templates. Set Template folder location to the folder you just created.

If a template doesn't appear in the picker later, return to this setting first. A note elsewhere in the vault won't become a template just because its filename contains the word template. The folder setting controls where the plugin looks.

Use the built-in plugin for this guide. You don't need Templater syntax, JavaScript or a plugin installation to insert a fixed outline with the three supported variables. Keeping the first version small makes a damaged placeholder easier to spot.

3. Write your meeting template in Source mode

Create a note in your template folder and edit it in Source mode. Here's an original example you can adapt:

---
meeting_date: "{{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}"
meeting_title: "{{title}}"
tags:
  - meetings
---

## Purpose

## Decisions

## Actions

- [ ]

## Open questions

The headings ask different questions. Purpose records why the meeting happened. Decisions records what changed. Actions is for work someone will do afterward. Open questions holds the things the group couldn't settle.

Remove any heading you routinely leave empty. For a weekly one-to-one, you might replace Purpose with Topics. For a project review, add a section for the release being discussed. Those are changes to your own outline, so you can shape them around the meeting instead of copying a prescribed system.

I prefer leaving participants out of the opening properties block for a first version. Put their names in ordinary text if you need them. You can introduce more structured fields after the basic template produces the note you want.

4. Choose the date and time format

The core plugin recognizes {{title}}, {{date}} and {{time}}. The default date format is YYYY-MM-DD; the default time format is HH:mm. A format after a colon changes that particular variable, as in the example above.

You can also change the defaults through Settings → Core plugins → Templates → Date format and Time format. Use a format that makes sense when you search your own files. A year-first date is a sensible choice for meeting notes because you can read it without guessing whether the month comes first.

Only add the time if it helps identify the meeting. A start time can help separate two notes from the same day. It adds little to a reusable reading summary where the date is enough.

5. Insert the template into a finished note

Create the entry that will hold the actual meeting, give it a title and put the cursor where the outline should start. Select Insert template in the ribbon, then choose your meeting template.

You should see its text appear at the cursor with the title and date placeholders filled in. If you prefer the Command palette, use Templates: Insert template. The same command can have a custom keyboard shortcut.

Put the cursor at the start of an empty note when your template includes a properties block. This keeps the opening block in its intended position. A template containing only body headings can go farther down an existing note, for example when you're adding a second agenda.

Treat the inserted outline as your working document. Fill it with the meeting's actual details. Editing the source template later changes what you insert into future notes; don't expect it to rewrite meeting records you've already completed.

Known problems with template properties

An Obsidian forum discussion from May 2026 shows a template turning its placeholders into nested properties. The replies trace the problem to editing unquoted variables through the metadata editor.

A second snag in the same discussion is property type. Quoting a numeric placeholder makes it text. If you need a numeric property, keep the source template in Source mode and set the property's type after inserting it into the destination note. Don't reshape the template through the Properties panel to fix the final note.

Two variations worth keeping

For a reading note, replace the meeting headings with Source, Main idea and Questions. Add a plain-text place for the book or article URL. That gives you a record of what prompted the note without forcing a reading session into an agenda.

For a daily note, use the Daily notes core plugin's Template file location setting to select the template. Its official help page confirms that daily notes can use template variables too. A daily outline could separate appointments from a short journal entry; it doesn't need the meeting properties shown here.

Completion checklist

• The template is stored in the configured folder.
• Text placeholders in its properties block have quotes.
• A fresh note shows a real title and date after insertion.
• The outline leaves space for actual decisions and actions.
• You edited the finished note without changing the source template.

Next steps

Use the template for one kind of note before adding more fields. If the real problem is encrypted notes across devices, compare the Standard Notes listing. For a local notebook with tasks, see Makagiga; for notes alongside a shared file workspace, see Nextcloud. More options sit in Software & Online Tools.

Sources

Obsidian Help: Templates, Daily notes and Properties; Obsidian pricing; the May 2026 template-properties forum discussion. Official facts checked October 9, 2026.