Time Canvas
SETIX-A78 downloadsRevisit your past: surface notes written on this day in previous years as collapsible cards in the sidebar.
- Overview
- Scorecard
- Updates3
English | 简体中文
Time Canvas
An Obsidian plugin that surfaces notes written on this day in previous years, displayed as collapsible cards in the sidebar.
Features
- On This Day — Automatically finds notes from the same month and day across all previous years
- Active Note Pinned to Top — The currently open note always appears first in its year group, doubling as a quick outline
- Dual View Modes — Switch between outline view (headings only) and snippet view (content preview)
- Collapsible Cards — Expand or collapse individual notes and year groups
- Date Source Priority — Choose between
created,date, or custom frontmatter fields, with fallback to file creation time - Follow Active Note — Dynamically updates based on the currently opened note's date
- Display Properties — Show frontmatter properties (title, tags, custom fields) on each card
- Exclude Folders — Filter out folders you don't want included in the history search
- Customizable Appearance — Font sizes, colors, card backgrounds, and hover effects
- Bilingual UI — Full Chinese and English support
Installation
From Obsidian Community Plugins (Recommended)
- Open Settings → Community Plugins
- Search for "Time Canvas"
- Click Install, then Enable
Manual Installation
- Download
main.js,styles.css, andmanifest.jsonfrom the latest release - Create a folder named
time-canvasin your vault's.obsidian/plugins/directory - Copy the three files into that folder
- Enable the plugin in Settings → Community Plugins
Usage
Opening the Sidebar
- Click the calendar-clock ribbon icon on the left sidebar
- Or run the command "Time canvas: Open sidebar" from the command palette
View Modes
- Outline mode — Shows heading links for each note
- Snippet mode — Shows a text preview of each note's content
Use the view mode toggle button in the sidebar header to switch between them.
Date Detection
Time Canvas detects note dates in this priority order (configurable in settings):
- Frontmatter field (e.g.,
date,created, or a custom field) - Date pattern in the filename (e.g.,
2024-01-15 Daily Note.md) - File system creation time (fallback)
Settings
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Follow Active Note Date | Update sidebar based on active note's date | On |
| Show Active Note | Include the current note in results (pinned to top) | On |
| Date Field Priority | Which frontmatter field to read first | date first |
| Display Properties | Frontmatter fields to show on cards | title, tags |
| Max Heading Level | Maximum heading level to display | H1–h3 |
| Heading Spacing | Vertical gap between heading items | 2px |
| Snippet Lines | Lines shown in snippet mode | 3 |
| Collapse Year Groups | Also collapse year groups when folding | Off |
| Show Time Span | Display "X years ago" next to year | On |
| Exclude Folders | Folders excluded from search | None |
| Card Hover Glow | Highlight card borders on hover | Off |
| Font Sizes | Adjustable offsets for all text elements | Follow theme |
| Colors | Customizable colors for titles, tags, headings | Follow theme |
Development
# Install dependencies
npm i
# Development build with watch mode
npm run dev
# Production build
npm run build
# Lint
npm run lint
License
0-BSD
HealthExcellent
ReviewSatisfactory
About
Surface notes written on this day in previous years as collapsible sidebar cards, grouped by year with the active note pinned atop its group for quick context. Switch between outline (headings) and snippet (content preview) views, show frontmatter properties on cards, and collapse year or note groups for focused browsing.Details
Current version
1.0.2
Last updated
2 months ago
Created
2 months ago
Updates
3 releases
Downloads
78
Compatible with
Obsidian 1.7.2+
Platforms
Desktop, Mobile
License
MIT
Sponsor
Author