Recently Created File in Obsidian --> New Finder Folder, DEVONthink Group & OmniFocus Project

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hey! I am trying to setup my new PKM system.

The idea:

  • Using Obsidian to manage Project notes.
  • Using DEVONthink to manage Project reference files.
  • Using Finder to manage Project creations (mostly Microsoft Word files).
  • Using OmniFocus to manage Project tasks.

I want to use Obsidian to trigger the setup in DEVONthink (new Folder/"Group"), Finder (new Folder) and OmniFocus (new Project). The new Folder/"Group"/Project would just have the name of the recently created file.

For those not familiar with Obsidian, creating a new note just results in a new Markdown file in a Finder folder.

So to simplify, I am looking for something like this:
Trigger: Recently created file in a certain Obsidian folder.
Actions:

  • Get name of the recently created file.
  • Create a Finder folder with the same name.
  • Create a DEVONthink folder/"Group" with the same name.
  • Create an OmniFocus Project with the same name.

I know it is kind of complex given the different apps and that I might need to find some specific scripts for DEVONthink and OmniFocus, but any ideas on how to achieve any part of the Workflow would be appreciated! I can't even get the Trigger + Get Name + Create Finder Folder part :frowning:

Thanks!!!

2

Two problems here:

  1. The "add an item" folder trigger also fires when a file changes, like when you (or Obsidian) save an already-created note. You can overcome that by letting the macro fire and, as the first action, checking the file's creation time and cancelling the macro if that's more than a few seconds in the past. You can use the %TriggerValue% token to get the path to the file, and can use that to get the file's "Creation Date" attribute (and the file name for the later steps).
  2. Not a user but, IIRC, Obsidian can also have folders you save notes in -- it creates sub-folders in the "parent" Finder folder for those (and even sub-sub-folders, etc). Unless you are running a totally flat structure in Obsidian a folder trigger won't work, unless you add one for every sub-folder, sub-sub-folder, etc. So you may have to think your workflow -- perhaps using a macro to do the initial "Save" action in Obsidian too and carrying on from there, or saving the file and then running a script in Obsidian to fire the KM macro.

Other people on the board swear by Hazel for these "any file in any child of a single watched folder" triggers (and many other things besides), so you may want to take a look at that.

Have a think about what's going to work best for you.