Auto Note Importer

Import and sync notes bidirectionally between Airtable and your Obsidian vault with smart field mapping and organization features.

✨ Key Features

• Bidirectional Sync: Sync notes from Airtable to Obsidian and back
• Formula & Relation Support: Auto-fetch computed values after syncing to Airtable
• Conflict Resolution: Choose how to handle concurrent edits (Obsidian wins, Airtable wins, or manual)
• Smart Field Selection: Dropdown-based field selection with type validation
• Subfolder Organization: Automatically organize notes into subfolders based on field values
• Safe File Naming: Compatible field types (Text, Select, Number, Formula) for filenames
• Template Support: Customize note format with powerful template system
• Obsidian Bases Compatible: Optimized YAML properties for table/card views
• Automated Syncing: Manual sync, scheduled intervals, or automatic on file change
• Zero Coding Required: Point-and-click setup with intuitive UI

📦 Installation

1. Open Obsidian
2. Go to Settings > Community plugins > Browse
3. Search for "Auto Note Importer" and install it
4. Enable the plugin
5. Configure your Airtable settings

🚀 Quick Start

1. Get Airtable Personal Access Token

1. Go to Airtable Tokens page
2. Click Create new token
3. Select scopes:
   • data.records:read - Required for importing notes
   • data.records:write - Required for bidirectional sync
   • schema.bases:read - Required for field selection
4. Select your bases and click Create token
5. Copy the token and paste it in plugin settings

2. Configure Plugin

1. Airtable PAT: Enter your Personal Access Token
2. Select Base: Choose from your available bases
3. Select Table: Pick the table to sync
4. Filename Field: Choose field for note names (Text/Select/Number only)
5. Subfolder Field: Optional - organize notes by field value
6. Destination: Set folder location for imported notes
7. Template: Optional - customize note format

3. Sync Notes

Use Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) to access sync commands:

Command	Description
Sync current note from Airtable	Refresh current note from Airtable
Sync all notes from Airtable	Import/update all notes from Airtable
Sync current note to Airtable	Push current note changes to Airtable*
Sync modified notes to Airtable	Push all pending changes to Airtable*
Sync all notes to Airtable	Push all notes to Airtable*
Bidirectional sync current note	Sync to Airtable, then fetch formula results*
Bidirectional sync modified notes	Sync modified notes with formula refresh*
Bidirectional sync all notes	Full bidirectional sync with formulas*

*Commands marked with * require Enable bidirectional sync to be turned on. They are hidden from Command Palette when disabled.

• Auto: Set sync interval in minutes (0 = manual only)
• Watch: Enable file change detection for automatic sync

⚙️ Settings Guide

Basic Settings

Setting	Description
Airtable Personal Access Token	Your Airtable PAT for API access
Select Base	Choose Airtable base (auto-populated from PAT)
Select Table	Choose table within base
Filename Field	Field to use for note filenames (safe types only)
Subfolder Field	Field to organize notes into subfolders (optional)
New File Location	Destination folder in your vault
Template File	Custom template for note format (optional)
Sync Interval	Auto-sync frequency in minutes (0 = disabled)
Allow Overwrite	Update existing notes vs skip duplicates

Bidirectional Sync Settings

Setting	Description
Enable bidirectional sync	Allow syncing changes from Obsidian back to Airtable
Conflict resolution	How to handle conflicts: Manual, Obsidian wins, or Airtable wins
Watch for file changes	Automatically detect and queue changes for sync
Auto-sync formulas	Fetch computed formula/relation results after syncing
Formula sync delay	Wait time (ms) for Airtable to compute formulas (default: 1500)

Supported Field Types

✅ Safe for Filenames & Subfolders:

• Single line text
• Single select
• Number
• Formula (validated for filename compatibility)

❌ Not Supported for Filenames:

• Email, URL, Phone (special characters)
• Date, Time (formatting issues)
• Multiple select (unpredictable results)
• Attachment, User (complex data types)

🔒 Read-only Fields (synced from Airtable only):

• Formula, Rollup, Count, Lookup
• Created time, Last modified time
• Created by, Last modified by
• Auto number

Unsupported fields are automatically hidden in dropdowns to prevent errors.

📋 Complete Field Type Reference →

🔄 How It Works

Unique Identification

Each note gets a unique primaryField (Airtable record ID) in frontmatter to prevent duplicates and enable proper sync tracking.

File Naming Logic

1. Use selected Filename Field if available and non-empty
2. Fallback to Airtable record ID for guaranteed unique, safe filename
3. All filenames are sanitized for cross-platform compatibility

Subfolder Organization

• With Subfolder Field: destination/field-value/note.md
• Without Subfolder Field: destination/note.md
• Supports nested folders (e.g., "Category/Subcategory")
• Recursive duplicate detection across all subfolders

Bidirectional Sync Flow

┌─────────────┐     Push      ┌─────────────┐
│   Obsidian  │ ───────────▶  │   Airtable  │
│   (Notes)   │               │  (Database) │
│             │  ◀───────────  │             │
└─────────────┘     Pull      └─────────────┘

1. Obsidian → Airtable: Edit frontmatter fields in Obsidian, sync pushes changes
2. Formula Computation: Airtable computes formulas, rollups, and relations
3. Airtable → Obsidian: Pull back computed values to update notes

Conflict Resolution

When the same field is modified in both Obsidian and Airtable:

Mode	Behavior
Manual	Show notification, skip conflicted fields
Obsidian wins	Overwrite Airtable with Obsidian values
Airtable wins	Keep Airtable values, ignore Obsidian changes

📝 Template Usage

Create custom note templates using {{fieldName}} placeholders:

---
title: "{{Title}}"
status: "{{Status}}"
author: "{{Author.name}}"
created: "{{Created time}}"
---

# {{Title}}

## Summary
{{Summary}}

## Content
{{Description}}

## Attachments
{{Attachment.0.url}}

Advanced Features:

• Nested Access: {{Attachment.0.url}}, {{User.name}}
• Multi-line Support: Automatic YAML block scalar formatting
• Bases Optimization: Proper YAML types for table/card views

📝 Template Examples & Best Practices →

🔗 Obsidian Bases Integration

This plugin creates Bases-compatible YAML frontmatter with proper data types for seamless table/card view editing. Import your notes, enable the Bases plugin, and create a database from your imported folder for powerful data management workflows.

📊 Example Workflows

One-way Import

1. Collect Data: Use automation tools (n8n, Zapier) to gather content
2. Store in Airtable: Organize and process your data
3. Import to Obsidian: Use this plugin to create structured notes
4. Organize Automatically: Subfolder structure based on your data
5. Manage in Bases: View and edit in table/card format

Bidirectional Workflow

1. Import from Airtable: Pull records as Obsidian notes
2. Edit in Obsidian: Modify frontmatter fields (status, tags, notes)
3. Sync to Airtable: Push changes back to update the database
4. Formula Updates: Airtable computes formulas and relations
5. Pull Results: Fetch computed values back to Obsidian

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

• No fields showing: Check PAT permissions and base/table selection
• Sync fails: Verify network connection and Airtable credentials
• File naming errors: Ensure selected field type is supported
• Missing subfolders: Check subfolder field value isn't empty
• Bidirectional sync not working: Ensure PAT has data.records:write permission
• Formulas not updating: Increase formula sync delay in settings
• Conflicts detected: Check conflict resolution mode in settings

Field Selection Tips:

• Use descriptive text fields for filenames
• Choose categorical fields for subfolder organization
• Formula fields work for filenames but are validated for compatibility

Bidirectional Sync Tips:

• Read-only fields (formulas, rollups) are automatically excluded from push
• Use "Obsidian wins" mode for faster sync (skips conflict detection)
• Increase formula sync delay for complex Airtable formulas

☕ Support

If you find this plugin useful, support development:

📄 License

MIT License