Calendar events in Journal

[m3thm4th]

If I create a note and set it to Collection and Calendar view I can add child notes with startTime and endTime and they will be displayed on the calendar grid. However this does not work with the Journal. The documentation is unclear, it seems it's not possible to create multi-day or multi-hour events in the Journal.

The docs show a table view which I have not been able to recreate, I can only modify the attributes to set start/end date/time

It looks like the culprit is the #calendarRoot attribute, (there is also #workspaceCalendarRoot but it's not explained what is the difference between the two). Why is this attribute needed? Can it be removed from the Journal? Can someone explain more in detail how calendars work?

[dosubot[bot]]

You're right that the #calendarRoot attribute is the key difference between how Journals and regular Collection/Calendar views handle events. In a regular calendar view (without #calendarRoot), you can create events with start/end dates and times, and they’ll display as timed or multi-day events, which you can drag and resize. In contrast, when #calendarRoot is present (as in Journals), the system expects each child note to represent a single day (using the #dateNote attribute), and all events are shown as all-day, regardless of any start/end time attributes. This design prevents multi-hour or multi-day events in Journals and disables interactive editing like dragging or resizing events reference.

#calendarRoot and #workspaceCalendarRoot both mark a note hierarchy as a calendar root, enforcing this "day note" behavior. The difference between them is subtle and mostly internal, but both result in the same limitation: only day-level notes are shown, and time-specific events are ignored reference.

If you remove #calendarRoot from a Journal, it would revert to regular calendar behavior, allowing timed events—but this breaks the Journal’s day-note structure and isn’t recommended unless you want to lose the Journal’s automatic day-note features.

The table view shown in the docs is available in regular calendar views (set with #calendar:view=table), but not in Journals, because the Journal’s structure and #calendarRoot prevent the display of time-specific events as rows reference.

If you want to manage timed events, create a separate Collection/Calendar view without #calendarRoot. Journals are best for daily notes, not for scheduling events with specific times.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[Aitanuqui]

Does your calendar note have the attributes referenced in the Calendar documentation?

#viewType=calendar
#label:startDate(inheritable)="promoted,alias=Start Date,single,date"
#label:endDate(inheritable)="promoted,alias=End Date,single,date"
#hidePromotedAttributes

Note that there is no #calendarRoot attribute, as it would otherwise prevent events from being displayed.

Journal usage is covered in the documentation under Advanced Usage / Advanced Showcases / Day Notes.

I believe that an attribute named "journal" would be more descriptive of the behaviour, and that the documentation should move its explanation to somewhere easier to locate.

Also, check out dosubot's reply and the issue #6204 it references, as they provide further insight.

[m3thm4th]

Yeah, in the end I created another note named "Calendar", but since it has not the #calendarRoot attribute I have to manually create the subfolders for years and months, and then cross-reference with the Journal notes. Do you think there's a better way to do it?

[Aitanuqui]

@m3thm4th scripting might help.
What is your workflow? You could have a journal for your personal thoughts or daily activity and a calendar to mark special events.

[m3thm4th]

You could have a journal for your personal thoughts or daily activity and a calendar to mark special events

That's what I'm doing indeed. I use backlinks from Journal to Calendar when needed

scripting might help

what's your idea?

[Aitanuqui]

what's your idea?

My idea was that if you are able to make scripts to automate your workflow, you could do so. I asked about your workflow to better understand how this could be implemented. Ideally, you would prefer to add events to journals out of the box, right?

Just to note, I don’t have a lot of experience with coding, so my guidance on that part may be limited

[contributor]

but since it has not the #calendarRoot attribute I have to manually create the subfolders for years and months, and then cross-reference with the Journal notes.

I don't know/understand the workflows in this topic, as I only use date notes to view edited notes. But I do often create subfolders for years and months.

For example, when I need to quickly analyze when/how notes where created/edited in a branch/project, I use "Create years brekadown" function in my builds. It creates year and month notes for years you specify.

When I'm done with analyzing, I delete the day notes (since it is easy to recreate later if need)

If that something that others are interested in, I can create a PR

[m3thm4th]

Is that like an advanced search by date? That would be quite useful

[contributor]

Is that like an advanced search by date? That would be quite useful

Yes, something like this. Rather browse by date. You don't put search string, just browse notes and they show notes according to day/month/year (encoded in #dateNote label value)