Usage

Once the plugin is installed and enabled, there is nothing to click. It runs automatically in the background.

What it does

Whenever a Markdown file in your vault is modified — by you editing it in Obsidian, by a sync tool writing to disk, or by any other process — the plugin reads the file’s ctime and mtime and writes them into the front matter as two properties:

• created — set once, on the first update after the plugin sees the file. It is never overwritten afterwards.
• updated — refreshed whenever the file’s mtime moves ahead of the current value by more than one minute.

Values use the format yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm, for example:

---
created: 2024-10-27T14:12
updated: 2024-10-28T09:33
---

What triggers an update

The plugin listens to Obsidian’s vault modify event. Any write to a .md file inside your vault triggers the handler. The handler skips the file when any of the following is true:

• The file is not a Markdown file (extension != .md).
• The file is named Canvas.md.
• The file body is empty.
• The Excalidraw plugin is installed and reports the file as an Excalidraw drawing.
• The file path starts with any folder listed in the plugin’s Folders to exclude setting.

Excluding folders

Open Settings → Community plugins → Update Time. Under Folders to exclude:

1. Start typing a folder path; the autocomplete lists matching vault folders.
2. Press the + button to add it.
3. Added folders appear below, each with a Remove button.

A file is excluded as soon as its path starts with any listed prefix. For example, adding Templates excludes Templates/Daily.md and Templates/nested/Meeting.md.

Changes take effect immediately — no reload required.

Manual front matter

You can always edit created and updated manually. The plugin will not overwrite your created value. It will only overwrite updated when the file’s mtime is more than one minute ahead of the value you wrote — that is, after you actually modify the file again.