Automatically update front matter to include creation and last update times.
This Obsidian plugin keeps the created and updated front-matter properties of your notes in sync with the file's actual creation (ctime) and modification (mtime) timestamps. Once installed and enabled, it runs in the background — no commands to click, no manual housekeeping.
This plugin is a simplified reimplementation of the update-time-on-edit plugin. It was originally created to work around the fact that the original plugin did not integrate well with Obsidian Publish (see beaussan/update-time-on-edit-obsidian#75).
- Automatic — front matter updates happen whenever a note is modified (from Obsidian or from external tools).
- Accurate — values come from the file's underlying
ctimeandmtime. - Respects existing values —
createdis never overwritten;updatedis debounced (MINUTES_BETWEEN_SAVES= 1 minute) to avoid fighting active edits. - Folder exclusions — skip templates, archives, or any other folder.
- Excalidraw-aware — Excalidraw files are detected and skipped.
- Canvas-safe —
Canvas.mdand non-Markdown files are skipped. - Fully local — no network calls, no telemetry.
- In Obsidian, go to Settings → Community plugins.
- Disable Restricted mode if you have not already.
- Select Browse, search for Update Time, install it, and then enable it.
- Download
main.js,manifest.json, andstyles.cssfrom the latest GitHub release. - Copy them into
<YourVault>/.obsidian/plugins/update-time/(create the folder if it does not exist). - Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins.
Open Settings → Community plugins → Update Time to add folders to the exclusion list. Any note whose path starts with an excluded folder will not be touched.
Full settings reference: docs/configuration.md. User guide: docs/.
Important: this plugin modifies files in your vault. Back up your vault before enabling it.
The plugin reacts to all file modifications — including writes made by sync tools (Obsidian Sync, Syncthing, etc.). If Obsidian is open on two devices at the same time, each device can trigger front-matter updates in response to the other's syncs, producing conflict files.
Mitigations: only leave Obsidian running on one device at a time, or enable the plugin on a single device.
Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
MIT.
To stay up to date about this plugin, Obsidian in general, personal knowledge management, and note-taking, subscribe to my newsletter. The best way to support my work is to become a paid subscriber, or to buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dsebastien ❤️.
