Time Things (Fork)

Fork of Time Things by Nick Winters with enhanced editing time tracking.

Track total editing time and modification timestamps in frontmatter. Show clock and typing indicator in the status bar.

This plugin uses moment.js, a time manipulation library already included in Obsidian.

Fork Changes

Typing Indicator

• Visual indicator in the status bar showing whether you're actively editing
• Customizable active/inactive icons (default: ✏🔵 / ✋🔴)

Configurable Editing Timeout

• Slider + textbox combination for precise control over editing timeout
• Defines how long after you stop typing before the plugin stops tracking
• Works with both CAMS (custom) and BOMS (Obsidian API) modes

Date Refresh Threshold

• Set a minimum active typing duration before the modification timestamp updates
• Prevents minor edits from updating the "last modified" date

Real-time Format Validation

• Date format fields now validate in real-time as you type
• Invalid formats are highlighted immediately

Customizable Edit Duration Format

• Format how the editing duration is displayed in the status bar

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Clock

• Option to change the date format. Recommended: HH:MM:ss and hh:mm A.
• Option to use UTC timezone.

Modified frontmatter key

• Have a key that records the time when you last modified a file.
• Supports nesting.
• Option to change the date format. Recommended: YYYY-MM-DD[T]HH:mm:ss.SSSZ.

Edit duration frontmatter key

• Track time spent editing a note
• Display editing duration of current note in the status bar

About custom frontmatter handling solution

Custom frontmatter handling solution (CAMS) is disabled by default since Obsidian's frontmatter API (BOMS) is more stable. However, advanced users may enable CAMS for a smoother experience. Don't forget to regularly back up your vault.

Reasons to enable CAMS

• Updates values instantly
• Only touches one line, which means it never makes your cursor jump or shows "A file has been modified" popup
• Doesn't reformat your frontmatter to fit any standard
• Allows for shorter editing timeout (as low as 1 second)

Reasons to use BOMS (default)

• More stable with nested keys
• Works better without templates (can create keys if they don't exist)
• Less prone to edge cases

Credits

Original plugin by Nick Winters