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Capture Ideas Into Your Daily Note Tutorial

:::info Coming in the next release

The Obsidian integration is not in version 0.9.0. This tutorial is published ahead of the release it ships in (as a beta); check Settings > About for your version.

:::

Most ideas die in the gap between having them and writing them down. You are in a call, in your editor, in the middle of a sentence, and opening your vault to find today's note costs just enough attention that you skip it.

In this tutorial you will set up one shortcut that closes that gap. Hold it, say the idea, let go, and a line like this appears in today's daily note:

## Log

- 09:12 Started the release checklist
- 14:05 #idea Ask the bank for the fixed rate before Friday

You never leave the window you are in. It takes about five minutes.

Prerequisites​

  • Knowii Voice AI installed and transcribing (see the Getting Started Tutorial)
  • An Obsidian vault with daily notes (the core Daily Notes plugin, or Periodic Notes)

Step 1: Pick your vault​

  1. Open Settings > Integrations.
  2. Under Vault, choose your vault from the list. It shows the vaults Obsidian knows about on this computer; use Browse… if yours is not there.

Knowii Voice AI reads your daily note settings and fills in two destinations. The one you want is Append to a note: its Note field already points at today's daily note, in your folder and with your date format.

Step 2: Point it at the right section​

In the Append to a note card:

  1. In Under the heading, type the heading your log lives under, exactly as it appears in your daily note, emoji included. For example ## Log, or ## 🗒️ Notes.
  2. Set Text layout to Timestamped line. Each capture becomes one line that starts with the time.
  3. Optional: set a Marker such as #idea, if you want every capture tagged.
  4. Make sure Use for captures is selected on this card.

Look at the Preview under the card: it shows today's note with a sample line added where your captures will go. If the heading does not match your note exactly, the preview shows it added as a new heading at the end of the note instead; fix it until the line lands where you want it.

:::tip If your daily note does not exist yet

Knowii Voice AI does not create an empty daily note: your vault's own template would then skip it. Open today's note in Obsidian once in the morning (most people's routine anyway), or pick a Template for a missing note that has no Templater code. A capture made before the note exists waits in History, and Retry puts it in the right note later, for the right day.

:::

Step 3: Give it a shortcut​

  1. Click the Capture shortcut field and press the keys you want, for example Ctrl+Alt+Space.
  2. That shortcut now records a capture. Your normal dictation shortcut still types, as before.

With Push To Talk on (Settings > General), hold the shortcut while you speak and let go when you are done. With it off, press once to start and again to stop.

Step 4: Try it​

  1. Switch to any other app.
  2. Hold your capture shortcut, say "Ask the bank for the fixed rate before Friday", let go.
  3. The recording indicator shows 📝 while you speak, then Saving to Obsidian, then a notification names the note.
  4. Open today's daily note in Obsidian: the line is there, under your heading.

Nothing was typed into the app you were in. That is the point: a capture goes to your vault, a dictation goes to your cursor.

Going further​

  • A new note per idea instead. Select Use for captures on the New note per capture card. Each capture becomes its own note in Voice notes/, named with the date and the first words you said.
  • Better titles. Turn on AI titles to let the AI provider you set up in AI Post-Processing write a short title for each new note.
  • A button instead of a key. knowii-voice-ai --toggle-capture starts and stops a capture, for a Stream Deck or a panel button (see the Dictate From a Button Tutorial). The tray menu has Capture to Obsidian too.
  • Old dictations. Any entry in History can be sent to your vault with Send to Obsidian; it lands in the daily note of the day you said it.

Next Steps​

  • Read the full Obsidian guide: placeholders, templates, properties, and what the beta does not do yet.
  • Tell me how it fits your workflow: this is a beta, and your feedback shapes what comes next.