The quickest way to get started with Buttons is to use the Button Maker. You can open the Button Maker from the Command Palette. Here is an overview of the Button Maker options.

  • Name: The name of your button.
  • Button Type: Choose which type of button to create your options are:
    • Command: Click the Button to run a Command from the Command Palette.
    • Link: Click the Button to open a URL or URI.
    • Calculate: Click the Button to run a math calculation. Calculate Buttons can reference lines from the note.
    • Template: Click the Button to prepend, append, insert, or create a new note from a template note.
    • Text: Clock the Button to prepend, append, insert, or create a new note with specified text.
    • Swap: A Swap Button is a special type of Inline Button. With a Swap Button you can run a different type of Button on each click.
  • Action: Depending on what Button Type you choose, you will choose an Action to perform:
    • Command: Choose the Command Palette Command to run.
    • Link: Write the URL or URI.
    • Calculate: Write the math equation.
    • Template: Choose Prepend, Append, New Note, or Line and the template you want to use:
      • Prepend Template: Click the Button to prepend a template into the current note.
      • Append Template: Click the Button to append a template into the current note.
      • Add Template at Line: Click the Button to add a template into the current note at the specified line.
      • New Note From Template: Choose the Template, write the name of the new note, choose whether the new note should replace the existing tab, open a new tab or split pane.
    • Text: Choose Prepend, Append, New Note, or Line and the text you want to use:
      • Prepend Template: Click the Button to prepend text into the current note.
      • Append Template: Click the Button to append text into the current note.
      • Add Template at Line: Click the Button to add text into the current note at the specified line.
      • New Note From Template: Write the name of the new note, choose whether the new note should open in a split pane.
    • Swap: Write the button-block-ids of the Buttons the Swap Button will be on each click, e.g. [id1, id2] (for more information on Swap Buttons, see below).
  • Remove: You can remove the Button after you click it. You can also remove other Buttons in the note by supplying an array of button-block-ids, e.g. [id1, id2].
  • Replace: You can remove lines from the existing note which can then be replaced using the Append Template or Prepend Template Button types. Write an array with the starting and ending line numbers, e.g. [startingLine, endingLine].
  • Inherit: By adding a button-block-id of another Button, the Button you are making can inherit arguments.
  • Templater: If the templater arg is true you can include a Templater command inside your button. The command will be converted to its value when the button is clicked and converted back to the command after. This cannot be used with Inline Buttons.
  • Custom Class: Supply a custom CSS class to style your Button.
  • Color: Choose a Button color.

Button Block ID

The button-block-id is a block-id placed direcly below a Button codeblock and starts with button, e.g. ^button-id. Button-block-ids can be used to:

  • Create inline buttons (see below for details on inline buttons) button-button1
  • Choose which Buttons to use in an Inline Swap Button: swap [button1, button2]
  • Inherit arguments from another Button: id button1
  • Remove multiple Buttons with a remove [button1, button2] argument

Inline Buttons

Inline Buttons can be created inline with other text, or other Buttons. An Inline Button is essentially a copy of an existing Button codeblock placed inline. To create an inline button:

  1. Create a regular Button using the Button Maker or hand-written Button codeblock.
  2. Ensure your Button has a unique button-block-id.
  3. Go to the note you want an inline Button and run the Insert Inline Button Command, or write the button-block-id between backticks, e.g. button-id.

Inline Buttons must start with button, whereas other usages of the button-block-id only require the id.

Swap Button

A Swap Button is a special type of Inline Button. When you click a Swap Button it cycles through multiple other Buttons. Use a Swap Button to run a succession of actions with one Button. To Create a Swap Button:

  1. Create Buttons that perform the actions you want the Swap Button to do. Ensure each button has a unique button-block-id.
  2. Create a Swap Button and supply the button-block-id of the other buttons, e.g. swap [id1, id2, id3]. Ensure the Swap Button has a unique button-block-id.
  3. Insert the Swap Button as an Inline Button using the Insert Inline Button Command.

Swap Buttons can currently only be used as Inline Buttons.

Inherit Button Args

If you are using the same (or similar) Buttons across many notes, you can create one parent Button and have other Buttons inherit from the parent.

  1. Create a Parent Button with the arguments you’d like to be inherited. Ensure the Parent Button has a unique button-block-id.
  2. Create Child Buttons and supply the Parent Button button-block-id id parentButton.

Child Buttons can also have their own arguments. Any argument supplied on the Child supersedes arguments from the Parent Button.

Templater Button

The Templater arg allows you to supply a Templater command inside the Button. The command is converted to its value when the Button is clicked and then converted back to the Templater Command for the next click. This is best used with the New Note Button type.

A button with this command…

```button  
name Make an Hourly Note  
type note(<% tp.date.now("HH:MM") %>) template  
action Log Template Note  
templater true  
```

…will convert when clicked to:

```button  
name Make an Hourly Note  
type note(16:20) template  
action Log Template Note  
templater true  
```

And then 09 will change back to <% tp.date.now("HH:MM") %>.

The Templater arg also works with the Text Button type:

```button  
name Add Current Time  
type line(1) text  
action <% tp.date.now("HH:mm:ss") %>  
replace [1,1]  
templater true  
```

This will insert the current time on line one of the note, replacing any existing text on that line and then convert back to the Templater command for future use.

Button Styling

Style Settings

Install the Style Settings plugin for an easy way to change the default Button styling.

Custom Class

If you want a truly custom style, or want Buttons with multiple different styles, you can add a class argument in a Button and use a css snippet to style it.

Remove Button after command execution

If you have a Button that only needs to run once and then can be removed from a note (handy for inserting prompts into a Daily Note) you can add a remove true argument to your Button.

If you have multiple Buttons in a note and want to remove them all when a Button is clicked, you can supply an array of button-block-ids to the remove argument, e.g. remove [id1, id2, id3].

Replace content in section

When using an Append or Prepend Template Button, you may want to remove lines from the existing note which will be replaced by the Template. To do this, write a replace argument and supply the first line and last line in an array; e.g. replace [1, 5] will remove lines 1 through 5.

Examples

Command Button

Open the previous day’s daily note using the Periodic Notes Plugin:

```button  
name Open Previous Daily Note  
type command  
action Periodic Notes: Open previous daily note  
```  
^button-previous

Turn spellcheck on/off:

```button  
name Toggle spellcheck  
type comand  
action Toggle spellcheck  
color blue  
```  
^button-spellcheck

Open the Obsidian Forum:

```button  
name To the Forum Batman!  
type link  
action https://forum.obsidian.md/  
```  
^button-forum

Template & Line Button

Append

Append a Log Template Note:

```button  
name Log  
type append template  
action Hourly Log Template Note  
```  
^button-log

Append the current time:

```button  
name Log  
type append text  
action <% tp.date.now("HH:mm") %>  
templater true  
```

Prepend Template

Replace a Weather Template Note with the updated Weather:

```button  
name Current Weather  
type prepend template  
action Weather Template Note  
replace [1,5]  
```  
^button-weather

Prepend a weekly todo list and remove other buttons:

```button  
name Monday List  
type prepend template  
action Monday Template Note  
remove [mon,tues,wed]  
```  
^button-mon  
  
```button  
name Tuesday List  
type prepend template  
action Tuesday Template Note  
remove [mon,tues,wed]  
```  
^button-tues  
  
```button  
name Wednesday List  
type prepend template  
action Wednesday Template Note  
remove [mon,tues,wed]  
```  
^button-wed

Even better, set up those buttons and then add them all on one line as Inline Buttons:

`button-mon` `button-tues` `button-wed`

Add Template at Line

Say you want the weather to appear at a specific place in your note that isn’t directly beside the button:

```button  
name Current Weather  
type line(1) template  
action Weather Template Note  
replace [1,5]  
```  
^button-weatherLine

New Note From Template

Create a new note in a new split pane for an upcoming meeting based on a Meeting Note Template:

```button  
name New Meeting  
type note(Meeting, split) template  
action Meeting Note Template  
```  
^button-meeting

Dynamically add the hour and minute to the note title and open as a new tab:

```button  
name New Meeting  
type note(Meeting-<%tp.date.now("HH-MM") %>, tab) note  
action Meeting Note Template  
templater true  
```  
^button-meeting2

Calculate Button

Do some simple math:

```button  
name Add Em Up  
type calculate  
action 2+2  
```  
^button-add

Reference numbers outside of the Button:

Bananas Have: 5    
Bananas Lost: 5  
  
```button  
name How Many Bananas Today?  
type calculate  
action $1-$2  
color yellow  
```  
^button-bananas

Natural Language Math:

5 dogs plus 2 cats divided by 2 people  
  
```button  
name Who Get The Pets?  
type calculate  
action $1  
class sad-button  
```  
^button-breakup

The calculate button uses math-expression-evaluator, so it should support any symbol supported by that library.

Swap Buttons

Let’s create a Swap Button using the button-block-id of previous Buttons:

```button  
name Crazy Swap Button  
swap [add,meeting,forum]  
```  
^button-swap

Then insert that button inline:

`button-swap`
  1. On the first click of Crazy Swap Button we will add 2+2.
  2. On the second click of Crazy Swap Button we will create a new Meeting note.
  3. On the third click of the Crazy Swap Button we will go to the Obsidian forum.

Note: swap count is reset if you close the note.

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