Notion-like content calendar in Obsidian // Obsidian Projects plugin

Obsidian Projects is positioned as a cleaner, more reliable way to build a Notion-like content calendar inside Obsidian—by separating the “input” metadata in each content note from the “output” views that display and manage that metadata. That separation matters because it fixes common pain points from earlier setups that relied on multiple plugins reading different fields in different ways, leading to calendar overlaps and duplicated entries.

The workflow starts with one note per content item—video, blog post, article, or feature—containing the structured details and a checklist for follow-through. In the creator’s older approach, Fantasy Calendar and Kanban were used together, but they weren’t truly synchronized. Fantasy Calendar required specific YAML front matter parameters (calendar selection, scheduled release date, and category for color coding). Kanban, by contrast, didn’t read those same YAML fields; it stored its board as a markdown file with links and images, so the two systems effectively tracked different sources of truth. The result was a less seamless experience: overlapping events on busy days and occasional repetitions where the same note appeared more than once.

Obsidian Projects is introduced as a modular layer that keeps everything aligned. Instead of forcing each view plugin to interpret separate data formats, Projects treats the note’s metadata as the canonical input and then renders it through configurable views. Each view becomes an “atomic component,” letting users rearrange how content is presented without changing the underlying note structure.

The setup begins by creating a Templater-based template for new content notes (example: a “video” template). The template includes fields such as a scheduled date (initialized from today), a Published boolean, and a Status field that uses a Templater prompt to choose from stages like ideas to research, to film, to edit, to publish, and done. The template also leaves URL blank initially and sets a tag to YouTube, with cover left empty.

Next, a folder named content is created, and Obsidian folder templates are configured so new notes inside content automatically use the video template. After that, Obsidian Projects is installed (via the Community plugins section) and a new project is created for the content calendar, pointing to the content folder and selecting the templates video template.

From there, the same underlying items are shown in multiple synchronized views: a Table view for quick field editing, a Calendar view (“Schedule”) that automatically uses the date parameter and can display a Published checkbox, and a Board view (“Kanban”) that groups items by the Status field. A Gallery view (“Thumbnail”) demonstrates how cover images can be mapped—by adding a thumbnail image to the note, copying the image filename into the cover field, and then selecting the cover parameter as the gallery’s source.

The payoff is practical: changing values in a view updates the note’s YAML metadata, and the calendar, board, and gallery all stay consistent. The broader claim is that Projects isn’t limited to its built-in views; it provides a framework for adding additional plugins as views—opening the door to specialized editors or generators (the transcript mentions possibilities like Excalibrain/Excalidraw-style drawing or other workflow tools) as future integrations.