Note taking templates I use in Obsidian (Obsidian Tour 2023)

Obsidian templates have become a practical antidote to repetitive, low-value note-taking—turning repeated “same-structure” work into one-click creation with consistent metadata, checklists, and cross-links. After noticing years ago that she was rewriting the same note types over and over, Nicole van der Hoeven leaned on Obsidian’s core Templates plugin to automate note creation, and later built a library that now totals 110+ templates. The payoff isn’t just speed; templates enforce structure, improve searchability, and create traceability across related notes (so quarterly reviews point back to yearly ones, and recurring meetings roll up into a single index).

Templates in Obsidian come in two flavors: the built-in core plugin and the community plugin Templater. Core templates handle most needs, while Templater adds “templates on steroids,” including more complex macros and even JavaScript execution inside an Obsidian vault. Her focus stays on the templates themselves—how they’re organized and how they’re used across distinct workflows.

She groups her template usage into five major categories: meetings, people, periodic notes, gaming, and creating. Meeting templates start with a default “ad hoc” meeting format that includes frontmatter metadata such as date, meeting type, and company, plus structured sections for attendees, agenda (pre-meeting), meeting log (during), and next actions (after). When creating a meeting, she inserts the template via hotkeys or a modal, then runs a command to replace template strings (like date and title). A key detail is that headings can be links that update automatically, reducing manual cleanup.

People templates focus on keeping personal notes organized and controllable. Metadata may include optional fields (like a “Hugs” preference), and a small code snippet moves person notes into a private folder so they can be excluded from Obsidian Publish. She also embeds agendas from people’s notes into meeting notes—so a meeting with David can automatically pull in an agenda item tied to his own stored context.

Periodic notes rely on templates to drive goal-setting and continuity. Her yearly review template prompts for OKRs and uses embeds to pull last year’s review and OKRs into the current year’s note. Quarterly templates then link back to the yearly review, creating a chain from weekly to monthly to quarterly to yearly. That structure keeps attention on higher-level goals rather than only the “now.”

Gaming templates support session documentation and continuity. A player session template includes metadata for use with Fantasy Calendar/calendarium, a session summary, and an embedded recap from the previous session. GM templates add structure for pacing, and additional templates help capture post-session entities like deities, NPCs, items, or locations—especially useful for systems with a fixed sequence of events.

Finally, templates support creation workflows. Video templates standardize metadata and include production checklists, while writing templates provide structured prompts so the blank cursor doesn’t trigger writer’s block. She recommends starting with templates only when repetition demands it, storing them in a dedicated Templates folder, updating templates when patterns change, and using find-and-replace (or an editor) to retrofit older notes. Quick Add macros can automate multi-step creation—like generating a meeting note from a daily note, applying the template, moving it to the right folder, and opening it in a split view. The throughline: templates save time, enforce consistency, and connect notes into a navigable system.