Capture: Add entries to your daily note

This cookbook gives you one QuickAdd choice that adds text to today's daily note - even when the note or the target heading doesn't exist yet.

Every recipe starts from the same base Capture choice; you only change the Capture format and the target heading.

Base setup

1. In QuickAdd settings, add a new Capture choice.
2. Name it (for example, Daily entry) and open its settings.
3. Disable Capture to active file.
4. Set File path / format to match your vault's daily-note path and date pattern, for example Daily/{{DATE:YYYY-MM-DD}}.md.
5. Enable Create file if it doesn't exist.
6. Set Write position to After line....
7. In the Insert after field, enter the heading you want entries placed under, for example ## Journal.
8. Enable Insert at end of section so each capture appends at the bottom of the section.
9. Enable Create line if not found and set its placement to Top so the heading is inserted when a fresh note does not have it yet.
10. Leave Link to captured file disabled.
11. Enable Capture format and use one of the recipes below.

Recipes

Each recipe shows what to change from the base setup.

Timestamped journal line

Keep Insert after set to ## Journal.

Capture format:

- {{DATE:HH:mm}} {{VALUE}}\n

Produces:

## Journal
- 18:54 first journal entry
- 18:55 second journal entry

End non-task formats with \n so each capture lands as its own complete line.

Task line

Change Insert after to ## Tasks.

Task: on (in the Content section).

Capture format:

{{VALUE}}

Task wraps the value in - [ ] ... automatically. Do not add - [ ] to the format manually.

Task with a date prompt

Task: on.

Capture format:

{{VALUE}} due {{VDATE:due,YYYY-MM-DD}}

QuickAdd prompts for the task text and then for due. You can enter an exact date or a natural-language date such as tomorrow. Result: - [ ] pay rent due 2026-07-07.

Callout line

Change Insert after to the callout opener, for example:

> [!info]- Captured today

Capture format:

> {{VALUE}}\n

On first use, Create line if not found inserts the callout opener at the position you chose. Each subsequent capture appends before the next blank line or heading, so keep the callout as one contiguous quoted block. The > prefix is required to keep the entry inside the callout block.

Quote

Change Insert after to ## Quotes.

Capture format:

> {{VALUE}}\n

Same format as the callout recipe but targeting a regular heading. Produces a blockquote line under the section.

Table row

Use this when the daily note already has a table under a heading and the table is the last block in that section. Keep Write position as After line..., set Insert after to the heading above the table, and keep Insert at end of section enabled. If more content follows the table in the same section, target the table separator row instead.

Capture format:

| {{DATE:HH:mm}} | {{VALUE}} |\n

This keeps the row attached to the table:

## Log
| When | What |
| --- | --- |
| 09:00 | existing |
| 18:55 | section row |

Tomorrow's daily note

Change File path / format to:

Daily/{{DATE:YYYY-MM-DD+1}}.md

The +1 shifts the target date one day forward. Combine with any of the formats above.

Troubleshooting

Captures run together on one line. For non-task formats, end the capture format with \n or press Enter at the end of the format field. Formats that use Task do not need one; QuickAdd inserts that line break.

Pasted multiple lines became one task. The Task setting wraps the whole capture once. Capture one task at a time, or use an advanced macro or userscript if you need to split pasted lines into separate tasks.

The heading is not found and capture fails. Enable Create line if not found with placement Top (or Bottom). QuickAdd inserts the heading on first use and places new content after it.

You need to insert above a placeholder. Use Before line... instead of After line... and target the placeholder, such as <!-- quickadd:notes -->. See Insert before for the full setting.

Capture writes to the wrong file. The date pattern in File path / format must match your vault's daily-note naming exactly. If your notes are named 2025.01.15.md inside Journal/, use Journal/{{DATE:YYYY.MM.DD}}.md.

Table rows or callout content breaks when using bottom-of-file placement. Use After line... with Insert at end of section instead of Bottom of file. Bottom-of-file placement starts non-task captures on a new line, and when the file already ends with a newline that leaves a blank line before the captured content. That blank line splits table rows and callout blocks.