Days Left

Days Left is a highly customizable countdown and count-up timer for Obsidian. Keep track of upcoming deadlines, exciting future events, or see how many days have passed since important milestones—right inside your notes.

With its smart Spotlight mode and proactive alerts, your notes become dynamic dashboards that actively remind you of what matters most.

💡 Why use "Days Left"?

Static dates in notes easily get lost. You write "Project due on 2026-10-15", but unless you check it daily, it sneaks up on you. Days Left solves this by:

1. Making time visible: See exactly how many days remain (e.g., "5 days left") or how much time has passed (e.g., "14 days ago").
2. Highlighting urgency: The Spotlight mode automatically changes the color and font weight of the counter when a deadline approaches.
3. Proactive reminders: Get smart, non-intrusive notifications when an event enters the critical "Spotlight" zone, even if the note is closed.

✨ Key features

• Two display modes: Beautiful, centered code blocks for major events, and subtle inline tags to embed counters directly into sentences.
• Dynamic & Static tracking:
• Count down to a future date (to:).
  • Count days elapsed since a past date (to:).
  • Calculate the exact duration between two dates (from: and to:).
  • Track an ongoing streak from a specific date until today (from:).
• Spotlight mode: Set a threshold (e.g., 3 days). When an event is within this range, the counter visually transforms to grab your attention.
• Smart notifications: Choose between a discrete popup (Notice) or a full-screen alert (Modal) when a deadline hits the Spotlight zone.
• Live refresh: Any changes made in the settings immediately update all visible counters in real-time.
• Multi-language support: Output text automatically adapts to your preferred language (English, Polish, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Ukrainian, Chinese).
• Customizable aesthetics: Control colors, formats, text variations ("Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow" vs. "-1/0/1 day"), and visibility of past events.
• Global & local settings: Define your default styles in the plugin settings, but override them for specific events right in the note!

🚀 How to use

You can insert counters manually or use the built-in Obsidian commands (Ctrl/Cmd + P -> Insert countdown block) to generate it instantly.

1. Code blocks (For major events)

Create a daysleft code block. It supports multiple parameters, but only to is strictly required.

text: Flight to Tokyo! ✈️
to: 2026-05-24
language:en

Result: Displays a large, centered counter saying "5 days left" (or "Today!") below the text "Flight to Tokyo! ✈️", with the final formatted date underneath.

2. Inline counters (For seamless text integration)

Use the following inline syntax inside your sentences or task lists:

- [ ] Submit the tax report ⏳ `dl:2026-04-30`

(Note: Simply type the letters dl: followed by the target date, all wrapped in single backticks).

Result: The tag renders seamlessly as "5 days" (or "5 days ago" / "Today" depending on the date), making it perfect for tracking task deadlines.

🔦 Spotlight mode & smart alerts

This is where the magic happens.

In the plugin settings, you can configure the Spotlight threshold (e.g., 2 days).

• When your event is more than 2 days away, it uses the standard color.
• When it hits the 2-day mark, it enters Spotlight mode. The text changes to your designated spotlightColor and can become bold.
• Alerts: If enabled, Obsidian will proactively notify you (via Notice or Modal).

The Smart Engine:

• No typing spam: If you are actively editing the daysleft block, the plugin stays quiet. It will only alert you later or upon restarting the app.
• Day rollover: Leave Obsidian open overnight? The plugin automatically checks for new Spotlight events at midnight!
• Quick navigation: Click a Spotlight notice to instantly open the note containing the deadline. Hold Ctrl/Cmd while clicking to open it in a new tab!

⚙️ Configuration parameters (Local overrides)

You can configure global defaults in the Obsidian Settings menu. However, you can also override any global setting locally inside a specific code block!

Here are the parameters you can use inside a daysleft block:

⚠️ Note on Spotlight: Spotlight styling and alerts work ONLY for dynamic upcoming events. If you use the from: parameter (duration mode), Spotlight features are automatically disabled for that specific block.

Example of local override:

```daysleft
text: Extremely urgent deadline!
to: 2026-05-10
spotlightColor: #ff0000
spotlightAlert: modal
todayTomorrow: false
```

🌍 Supported languages

The plugin automatically formats plurals and grammar rules according to the selected language:

• 🇬🇧 English (en)
• 🇵🇱 Polish (pl)
• 🇪🇸 Spanish (es)
• 🇫🇷 French (fr)
• 🇩🇪 German (de)
• 🇯🇵 Japanese (ja)
• 🇺🇦 Ukrainian (uk)
• 🇨🇳 Chinese (zh)

📥 Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins (Recommended):

1. Open Settings -> Community plugins.
2. Turn off Restricted mode.
3. Click Browse and search for Days Left.
4. Click Install, then Enable.

Manual installation:

1. Download the latest release (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css) from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Place the files in your vault's plugins folder: .obsidian/plugins/days-left/.
3. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings.

🤝 Contributing and support

Days Left is designed and maintained by creesee.

If you find a bug, have a feature request, or want to contribute a new language translation, feel free to open an Issue or a Pull Request on the GitHub repository!

If you love this plugin and it helps you stay organized, consider leaving a ⭐ on GitHub! If you'd like to support my work and fuel future updates, you can treat me to a coffee:

☕ Buy me a coffee! (buycoffee.to/creesee)