📙 NoteHelpers plugin

This plugin (now a Core Plugin bundled with NotePlan 3.16.1 onwards) provides commands to do things with notes that aren't yet provided in the app:

• add number of days to dates: looks for bullets in your current open note that end with [[YYYY-MM-DD]]: and adds the number of days to or since that date. Useful for making lists of important days and easily knowing number of days to (or since) that day.
• add trigger to note: makes it easy to add a trigger to a particular note. It lists the functions from all plugins that it can work out are written for triggers, but also allows any function to be picked. (See NotePlan help page on Triggers.)
• add to frontmatter (alias addFM): add a key:value pair to the frontmatter of the current note. Can also be run from x-callback with arg0 (key) and arg1 (value).
• add title to note body (alias atnb): for a chosen folder and its subfolders, adds a missing H1 at the start of note body from the frontmatter title: field. If an H1 already exists but does not match title:, that H1 is updated. First logs the notes that will change (with a warning for updates) and asks for confirmation. Optional folderToStart parameter for template/callback. (Team)Space notes and special folders are skipped. Uses the 'Folders to ignore' setting.
• convert to frontmatter: convert the current note to use frontmatter syntax, including optional default text that can be added in the Plugin's settings.
• delete note (alias dn): delete the current note (moves to Trash). This is quicker than the current convoluted way through the NotePlan UI.
• duplicate note (alias dupe): duplicates the currently-open note, and unlike the built-in command, it allows the user to specify a new title and folder for it. It also doesn't duplicate anything after any ## Done section in the original note. It's particularly useful if you want to move notes to a (Team)Space, as drag-and-drop in the sidebar doesn't work.
• enable heading links: converts Local links to headings (they start with the # character) to x-callback-url links that call jump to heading with the heading in arg0. Note: they currently only support links to headings within the same note. (by @nmn)
• find and link unlinked notes in current note: finds and creates links to existing notes in the current note (by @aaronpoweruser). See below for more details.
• index folders (alias index): make/update indexes for all notes in a folder (and sub-folders if wanted). Since the introduction of 'Folder Views' in the app, this command is no longer necessary. So it may be removed in a future release. There are settings available to customise this:
  • Sort order for index items: 'alphabetical', 'createdDate' or 'updatedDate'
  • What type of date suffix to add?: 'none', 'timeSince' last update, 'updatedDate'
  • Include Subfolders when making an index? If set, then all subfolders will be indexed in the same name as the folder.
  • Title to use for Index notes: this can include a placeholder {{folder}} or {{full_folder_path}} which will be replaced by the folder's name or full path.
• jump to heading (alias jh): jumps the cursor to the selected heading in the current note. See below for how to use this from a x-callback-url
• jump to note's heading (alias jn): jump to a different note, and then to the selected heading
• jump to done (alias jd): simply jumps the cursor to the ## Done section of the current note (if it exists)
• list inconsistent note filenames: lists the names of notes whose filenames are inconsistent with their titles. (Note: because of NP's architecture, this doesn't apply to notes in Teamspaces.)
• list published notes: generates a list in a 'Published Notes' note of all notes that have been published to the internet through NotePlan. The note is created in the root folder; after this it can be moved to a different folder if desired.
• log Editor Note: logs the main details about the currently open note to the plugin console.
• log Editor Note (detailed) command that does the same as log Editor Note but also logs line type and rawContents.
• move note (alias mn): which moves a note to a different folder the user selects
• new note (alias nn): creates a new (regular, not calendar) note with a title you give, and in a folder you can select. If the "Default Text to add to frontmatter" setting isn't blank, then the note will be created using that frontmatter.
• new note from clipboard (alias /nnc): takes the current text in the clipboard to form the basis of a new note. The command asks for the note title and folder location.
• new note from selection (alias /nns): takes the current selected text to form the basis of a new note. The command asks for the note title and folder location.
• open url from a note: asks for a note, and then presents a list of URLs found in that note. The selected one is then opened in your default browser. (There's a setting to ignore URLs in closed tasks.)
• rename note filename: renames the currently open note to one you specify. Note: this changes the underlying filename not the visible title. This has proved very helpful for people renaming notes who have imported them from other systems, including Obsidian. Note: because of NotePlan's architecture, this cannot work on Calendar notes, or those in Teamspaces.
• rename filename to title: renames the current filename to the title of the note. Note: because of NotePlan's architecture, this cannot work on Calendar notes, or those in Teamspaces.
• rename inconsistent note filenames: renames the files of notes whose filenames are inconsistent with their titles. When run it offers to rename all in one go, or to go one by one so you can choose which ones to rename. Note: because of NotePlan's architecture, this cannot work on Calendar notes, or those in Teamspaces.
• reset title to match filename: resets the current note title to match its filename. Updates the frontmatter title: field when present, and any body H1.
• reset caches: this simply runs the command of that name in the NotePlan Help menu.
• update all indexes (alias uai): updates all the existing folder index notes
• Write changed/modified date to frontmatter (alias modified): writes the modified date to frontmatter (on each save). Writes to 'modified' key. Also (optionally) writes the author's initials to the 'author' key (see plugin settings).

Tip: some of these are even more helpful if you assign a keyboard shortcut to them, using macOS's Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts system. For example I have mapped ⇧⌘H to /jump to heading.

The open note in new window/split commands now live in the Window Tools plugin. Show This Month/Quarter/Year are in NotePlan's own menus.

(If these commands are useful to you, you'll probably find the TidyUp plugin helpful too. It's rather arbitrary which commands live in which plugin.)

If you would like to support my late-night work extending NotePlan through writing these plugins, you can through:

Thanks!

"find and link unlinked notes ..." commands

Here is a demo:

Awaiting @aaronpoweruser to provide more detailed documentation.

• There is also a version of the command /find and link unlinked notes in all notes which runs over all notes, not just the current one
• It introduces a new onEditorWillSave trigger called triggerFindUnlinkedNotes which can be added to any notes of interest.

Using from x-callback-url calls

You can trigger these commands from outside NotePlan using the x-callback-url mechanism. This can be used in a template or shortcut, or any other place a URL can be accessed. Every call takes the same form:

noteplan://x-callback-url/runPlugin?pluginID=jgclark.NoteHelpers&command=<encoded command name>

As with all x-callback-urls, all the arguments (including the command name) need to be URL encoded. For example, spaces need to be turned into '%20'. Tip: use @dwertheimer's Link Creator Plugin's "/Get x-callback-url" command to do the fiddly work for you.

Additionally the add trigger to note, add to frontmatter, add title to note body, index folders, jump to heading and jump to note's heading commands can take arguments, which also need to be encoded.

noteplan://x-callback-url/runPlugin?pluginID=jgclark.NoteHelpers&command=<encoded command name>&arg0=<encoded string>[&arg1=<encoded string>]

The arguments are:

enable heading links rewrites [label](#heading) links in the current note to x-callback URLs that run jump to heading with that heading in arg0.

Support

If you find an issue with this plugin, or would like to suggest new features for it, please raise a Bug or Feature 'Issue' in GitHub.

History

See CHANGELOG for the plugin's history.