How to Automatically Combine Daily and Weekly Notes in Obsidian, Without Dataview

Download my demo vault to see how it works

Screenshot by Author

When I created my weekly log template in Obsidian, I really thought I’d given up daily notes for good.

But it seems that those single-focused, ubiquitous repositories of anything and everything had more of a hold on me than I’d thought. Not only were they hard to give up, I found I didn’t actually want to let them go!

So I created a system where I can switch between daily and weekly notes at will, without giving up the best features of either. I’m going to show you how you can write in a daily note when you feel like it, while keeping a weekly log at the same time. With no extra work.

Getting Started

I’ve explained in past articles why I like the freedom to choose between the weekly and daily formats, so today I’m going to show you how I’ve set up my templates in Obsidian to automatically show daily notes in my weekly log, and weekly log notes in the corresponding daily file.

You can download my sample vault, or follow the instructions below to create your own from scratch.

If you are brand new to Obsidian, make sure you have a good read through their help files before beginning. Nicole van der Hoeven’s videos are another excellent place to get up to speed.

To make sense of what’s to follow, you’ll need to be familiar with —

• How to install plugins and access their settings

• Block references ^ref

• Transclusion ![[Transcluded link]]

Step 1 — Set Up Your Templates

It doesn’t matter if you’re starting from nothing or modifying my vault to suit your needs; your first step is to add a TEMPLATES folder to your vault and fill it with your Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly templates.