Fields

A field is a named snippet: today’s date, a signature, the note’s ID. Type { in a note to pick one of your fields from a menu, and keep typing to narrow it ({si). Since 0.13.0 Each row shows what it will insert; picking one inserts it in place, once, as fixed text. Enter picks the highlighted field, the first one too, even before you type a name. Since 0.15.0 The menu stays closed for CriticMarkup ({++, {--, {~~, {==, {>>), a second {, and inside code and math. Edit fields… at the bottom opens Vault Settings → Fields. Fields are also in the slash menu. For a date, type a space and ! instead (see Tasks). Since 0.13.0

Fields also work in a slides template’s header or footer (Vault Settings → Slides), or a note’s header / footer attribute, where (unlike in the editor) they’re evaluated fresh every time the note is presented or exported, so a date stays current. Write a field there as {name}, such as {signature}. The older !name still works: use it if the vault is also opened with a version before 0.13.0, which shows {name} as written. Since 0.13.0 A token ({date}, {iso}, {uuid}, {id}, {title}, {page}, {total}, in any case) wins over a field with the same name. The Slide number and Slide count types have a value only there.

The Fields list

Vault Settings → Fields lists the vault’s fields, edited in place: each row is the field’s type, its name and what it inserts. Changes are saved as you type. Since 0.13.0

• Add field adds a row and puts the cursor in its name. A name starts with a letter, followed by letters, digits or _.
• The type is the icon at the start of the row: click it to pick another. Switching back to the type a field had restores its value.
• The trash at the end of the row deletes the field.

Each field has a type: Since 0.13.0

Built-in fields Since 0.13.0

Every vault has these fields. They’re listed first, with a lock where the trash would be: they can’t be changed or deleted, and no other field can take their names.

title is no longer a built-in field. A vault that already has it keeps it as one of its own fields, which you can change or delete; new vaults don’t get it. Since 0.13.0

Fields no longer have a description: a vault’s descriptions are dropped the next time its fields are saved (its git history keeps them). The autocomplete and the slash menu show what a field inserts instead. Since 0.13.0

Dates

A Date field’s value is a menu showing today’s date in its format. Pick one of the preset formats, or Custom… to write your own. Since 0.13.0

In Custom…, the format is a text field where each date part shows as a chip: Since 0.13.0

• + inside the field inserts a part at the cursor: year, month, day, weekday, hour, minute, second, week. Each part shows a sample value from 11 December 1911, Naguib Mahfouz’s birthday. A part that would run into the text beside the cursor is greyed out, since the two would read as a different part: Month right after Month reads as the month name. Type a separator, such as a space or -, first. Since 0.17.0
• Click a chip to swap it for another part, or to Remove it. A part that would run into its neighbours is greyed out there too. Since 0.17.0
• Type anything else, such as /, - or a word, between the chips.
• Keep text as written by putting it in square brackets: [Summary] YYYY inserts Summary 2026, where Summary YYYY would read the mm in Summary as the minute. A word that shows a chip by mistake has Keep “Summary” as text in its chip’s menu, which adds the brackets for you. The brackets show dimmed, and no part can go inside them. Mahfouz versions before 0.20.0 show the brackets and still read the parts inside them. Since 0.20.0
• Arrow keys step over a chip as one character, and Backspace deletes it whole. Alt← and Alt→ (also Ctrl← and Ctrl→ on Windows and Linux) jump from chip to chip, and Alt↓ opens the menu of the chip beside the cursor.
• Back to presets (the arrow beside the field) returns to the menu.

A format’s codes, which also work in a {date:FMT} token:

Month and weekday names are in English, so a field reads the same on every computer. A format that shows the week and no month or day prints the week’s own year: 29 December 2025 is in week 1 of 2026, so GGGG-Www gives 2026-W01. A format with a month or day prints the calendar year. Since 0.13.0

A format has no way to mark letters as plain text: letters that spell a code are always read as one, so Summary shows a minute (mm) chip. Since 0.13.0

Long text Since 0.13.0

A Long text field holds several lines, such as a signature, inserted as written, blank lines included. Switching it to Text joins its lines with spaces.

Tokens

A Text field can mix plain text with these tokens. Anything else passes through as written.

A literal {id} already in a header or footer now expands to the note’s ID. Since 0.13.0

The fields file

The fields live in the vault as .config/fields.md, which you can also edit by hand. It’s a definition list: the field’s name on one line, then : and its value on the next, with any further lines of the value indented two spaces. Since 0.13.0

standup
: {date:dddd} standup

signature
: Best,
  Naguib

The built-in fields aren’t in the file. A file in the older table form is still read, and is rewritten as a list the next time the fields are saved. When a vault opens, a row in it with a built-in field’s name is dropped if it’s the same as the built-in, and otherwise kept under a new name, such as today_2. Since 0.13.0

Fields are also how the New note prefix names new notes.