Table Calc — Obsidian Plugin

Add spreadsheet-style formulas to your markdown tables. Write =SUM(A1:A5), =B1*C1, or =AVERAGE(A1:A3) directly in any table cell and see the results rendered inline — in both Live Preview and Reading view.

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Quick Start

Add {{calc}} on the line immediately above your table to opt it into formula evaluation:

{{calc}}
| Item        | Cost | Qty | Total       |
|-------------|------|-----|-------------|
| LLC filing  | 200  | 1   | =B1*C1      |
| Dev account | 99   | 1   | =B2*C2      |
| Accountant  | 250  | 1   | =B3*C3      |
| **Total**   |      |     | =SUM(D1:D3) |

The plugin hides the {{calc}} marker and adds column letters (A, B, C…) above the header and row numbers on the left so you always know which cell to reference.

Tables without a {{calc}} marker are left completely untouched.

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Column and Row Reference

Label	Meaning
A1	Row 1, first column
B2	Row 2, second column
A1:A5	Range: column A, rows 1 through 5
A1:C3	2D range: columns A–C, rows 1–3

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Supported Formulas

Functions

Formula	Description	Example
=SUM(A1:A5)	Sum a range	=SUM(D1:D3)
=AVERAGE(A1:A5)	Average of a range	=AVERAGE(B1:B4)
=MEDIAN(A1:A5)	Median of a range	=MEDIAN(B1:B5)
=MIN(A1:A5)	Smallest value	=MIN(B1:B10)
=MAX(A1:A5)	Largest value	=MAX(B1:B10)
=COUNT(A1:A5)	Count numeric cells	=COUNT(A1:A5)
=COUNTA(A1:A5)	Count non-empty cells (numbers or text)	=COUNTA(A1:A5)
=PRODUCT(A1:A5)	Multiply a range together	=PRODUCT(B1:B3)
=STDEV(A1:A5)	Sample standard deviation	=STDEV(B1:B10)
=VAR(A1:A5)	Sample variance	=VAR(B1:B10)
=ABS(A1)	Absolute value	=ABS(A3)
=ROUND(A1, 2)	Round to N decimals	=ROUND(B1, 2)
=FLOOR(A1)	Round down to nearest integer	=FLOOR(B1)
=CEILING(A1)	Round up to nearest integer	=CEILING(B1)
=TRUNC(A1, 2)	Truncate to N decimals (no rounding)	=TRUNC(B1, 2)
=INT(A1)	Round down to integer	=INT(B1)
=SIGN(A1)	-1, 0, or 1 depending on sign	=SIGN(B1)
=SQRT(A1)	Square root	=SQRT(B1)
=POW(A1, B1) / =POWER(A1, B1)	Exponentiation	=POW(2, 10)
=MOD(A1, B1)	Remainder of division (result takes the sign of the divisor, e.g. MOD(-7,3) → 2)	=MOD(A1, 3)
=EXP(A1)	e raised to the power of x	=EXP(1)
=LN(A1)	Natural logarithm	=LN(8)
=LOG(A1) / =LOG(A1, base)	Base-10 log (single-arg), or log to a given base	=LOG(8, 2)
=LOG10(A1)	Base-10 logarithm	=LOG10(100)
=PI()	The constant π	=ROUND(PI(), 2)

Arithmetic

Operator	Example
+	=A1+B1
-	=A1-B1
*	=B1*C1
/	=A1/B1
^	=A1^2 (exponent)
Grouped	=(A1+B1)*C1
Scientific notation	=1e3+1 → 1001

Mixed

Combine functions and arithmetic freely:

=SUM(A1:A3)*1.1
=ROUND(AVERAGE(B1:B5), 2)
=A1+SUM(B1:B3)

Note: Function arguments must be cell references, ranges, or literal numbers — not inline expressions. Use =ABS(A1) not =ABS(A1-B1).

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Error Values

Error	Cause
#ERR	Invalid expression, divide by zero, or any other non-finite result (e.g. SQRT of a negative number)
#NAME?	Unknown function name

A function that produces #ERR invalidates the whole formula, even when nested inside another function — =SUM(SQRT(-4), 5) is #ERR, not 5.

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Formulas in Context

Hover over any result cell to see the original formula. Formulas are stored in the markdown — the plugin only changes how they're displayed.

When you click into a formula cell in Live Preview, the raw formula reappears for editing. Click away and the result renders again.

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Example: Budget Tracker

{{calc}}
| Category     | Budget      | Spent       | Remaining   |
|--------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| LLC setup    | 500         | 200         | =B1-C1      |
| Dev tools    | 200         | 99          | =B2-C2      |
| Marketing    | 300         | 0           | =B3-C3      |
| **Total**    | =SUM(B1:B3) | =SUM(C1:C3) | =SUM(D1:D3) |

Example: Sales Table

{{calc}}
| Product | Price | Units | Revenue     | Tax (10%)   |
|---------|-------|-------|-------------|-------------|
| Widget  | 29    | 12    | =B1*C1      | =D1*0.1     |
| Gadget  | 49    | 7     | =B2*C2      | =D2*0.1     |
| Totals  |       |       | =SUM(D1:D2) | =SUM(E1:E2) |

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Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins

1. Open Settings → Community Plugins
2. Click Browse and search for Table Calc
3. Click Install, then Enable

Manual Installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create a folder: <your vault>/.obsidian/plugins/table-calc/
3. Copy the three files into that folder
4. In Obsidian: Settings → Community Plugins → reload → enable Table Calc

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Commands

Command	Description
Evaluate table formulas in this note	Re-runs formula evaluation on all {{calc}} tables in the active note. Useful if a table doesn't update automatically.

Access via Cmd+P (Mac) or Ctrl+P (Windows/Linux).

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How It Works

Formulas are stored as plain text in your markdown file — the plugin never modifies the source. A MutationObserver watches for rendered tables and evaluates any =formula cells on the fly. Only tables immediately preceded by a {{calc}} paragraph are processed; all others are ignored. In Reading view the cell's display is replaced with the computed result; in Live Preview the raw formula stays visible (tinted, since those cells are natively click-to-edit and rewriting their text would break Obsidian's cursor placement) and the result shows as a tooltip on hover instead.

This means your notes remain portable: open them anywhere and you'll see the raw formulas. Enable the plugin and you see the results.

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Testing

npm test runs the automated suite: engine.test.js covers the formula engine directly, and main.test.js exercises processTable's DOM handling (via jsdom) — in particular, that Live Preview never rewrites a formula cell's text (Obsidian's Live Preview tables are natively click-to-edit, and CM6 maps cursor position by walking the cell's rendered text, so any change to it desyncs that mapping and corrupts editing).

test/example-vault-note.md is a manual fixture, not run by npm test. Copy it into any vault with this plugin installed to eyeball formula evaluation, error handling (#ERR/#NAME?), and Live Preview vs. Reading View rendering side by side — every Result cell should match the Expected cell next to it (Section 6 is deliberately the exception).

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Limitations

• Column letters support A–Z (26 columns max)
• Circular references are stopped at depth 20 and return 0
• Formulas only evaluate in Live Preview and Reading view, not in Source mode
• Function arguments must be cell references, ranges, or literal numbers — not inline expressions (use =ABS(A1), not =ABS(A1-B1))
• A cell counts as numeric only if it's a complete, well-formed number. 1,234 (correctly-grouped thousands separator) is recognized and parsed as 1234, but 5 apples (trailing text), the literal text Infinity/NaN, and malformed groupings like 12,34 or 1,23,456 are all treated as text, not as the number they might resemble — they're excluded from COUNT. This is intentional: parseFloat in JavaScript would otherwise silently read 1,234 as 1 and the string "Infinity" as the number Infinity.
• A text cell (non-blank, not a formula, not a valid number) referenced directly in a formula or passed as a specific function argument — =A1, =A1+5, =ABS(A1), =ROUND(A1,2) — returns #ERR instead of silently treating the text as 0, matching Excel/Sheets' #VALUE! behavior for direct arithmetic on text. A blank cell is not text and still silently contributes 0. SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, MEDIAN, PRODUCT, STDEV, and VAR, on the other hand, skip non-numeric cells within a range instead of erroring or treating them as 0 — this matches how Excel and Google Sheets handle text inside a range argument to those same functions. A range member that's a formula resolving to a number counts as a number everywhere, including MIN/MAX/COUNT/MEDIAN/PRODUCT/STDEV/VAR.
• Errors are contagious, like in a real spreadsheet: if a formula references another cell (directly, in a range, or as a function argument) whose own formula resolved to an error, the referencing formula also returns #ERR — it's never silently swallowed into 0 partway down a chain of formulas.
• Numbers are standard JavaScript doubles (IEEE 754), the same numeric type spreadsheets like Excel use. Integers beyond 2^53 (~9 quadrillion) lose precision, and results are snapped to 8 decimal places to absorb ordinary binary floating-point drift (e.g. 0.1+0.2 reliably shows 0.3, not 0.30000000000000004)
• ROUND rounds half away from zero (ROUND(2.5,0) → 3, ROUND(-2.5,0) → -3), matching spreadsheet conventions rather than JavaScript's native Math.round (which rounds -2.5 to -2)
• References are positional, not tracked. A2 always means "column A, row 2 of the table as it exists right now" — there's no concept of a formula "belonging" to a row. If you insert, delete, or reorder rows, formula text doesn't shift to compensate, so a formula can silently start pointing at the wrong cells. Re-check (or rewrite) formulas after restructuring a table. This is intentional: the plugin never modifies your markdown source, and auto-shifting references would require doing exactly that

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Disclaimer

Table Calc is designed for personal notes, budgets, and quick calculations — the kind of arithmetic you'd otherwise reach for a spreadsheet for. It is not intended for safety-critical, financial-regulatory, or any other high-stakes computation. Results are rendered in-browser using JavaScript's standard IEEE 754 floating-point arithmetic and are subject to the same rounding characteristics as any spreadsheet. Always verify critical numbers independently.

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License

MIT