Yearly Timeline

A visually intuitive vertical timeline plugin for Obsidian that allows you to track and visualize your notes across a yearly view.

How to use

1. Install the plugin and enable it in your Obsidian settings.
2. Click on the Activate view icon in the left ribbon (looks like a Gantt chart) to open the timeline view.
3. Use the year selector at the top to navigate between different years.

Frontmatter Configuration

To display a note on the timeline, you need to add specific fields to your note's frontmatter (YAML). The plugin automatically picks up any note that contains at least a startDate.

Required Date Format

Dates MUST follow the DD/MM/YYYY format. (Day, Month, Year).

Fields

• startDate: (Required) The start date of the event or note.
• endDate: (Optional) The end date.
  • If provided: The note is marked as Done (100% saturation).
  • If not provided: The note is marked as In-Progress (50% saturation) and automatically extends to today's date.
• name: (Optional) The name of the event or note. If not provided, the plugin will use the file name.
• category: (Optional) Categorizes the note for color-coding. The plugin automatically assigns one of 12 vibrant colors to any new category it discovers.

Status & Appearance

The plugin automatically determines the status and visual style of a note based on its properties:

Status	Frontmatter Requirement	Appearance
Todo	No startDate	Hidden from timeline
In-Progress	startDate but no endDate	50% Saturation, ends today
Done	Both startDate and endDate	100% Saturation

Category Colors

Notes are colored based on their category. The plugin uses a dynamic 12-color palette, assigning colors in the order categories are discovered (chronologically by note date). A legend button in the top-left of the timeline view shows the current mapping. If no category is provided, the default theme accent color is used.

Example

---
startDate: 10/01/2026
endDate: 25/01/2026
category: work
---

Features

• Yearly Perspective: See your entire year's activities at a glance in a vertical layout.
• Category Color Coding: Automatically assigns one of 12 vibrant colors to categories discovered in your notes.
• Progress Visualization: Automatically distinguishes between "In-Progress" and "Completed" notes using saturation levels.
• Dynamic Legend: Access a quick legend in the top-left to see active categories and their colors.
• Overlap Handling: Automatically organizes overlapping notes into separate columns.
• Interactive Navigation: Click on any block in the timeline to instantly open the associated note.
• Leap Year Support: Full support for leap years and varying month lengths.