How to add text in Templater?

[CAVMOT]

This is gonna sound stupid. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to add text to a Templater template. I just want to add a couple headers for my templates. I can't figure out how to do this because it seems like no one else does it for some reason. I can't find anything in the docs about it. Maybe this is not a feature. I know that I can just add text, but it messes with the current Templater code I have to add frontmatter, because that's using await. I assume it would be cleaner doing it through Templater script, but I don't know. Anyway thank you for any replies, sorry for the stupid question.

[Zachatoo]

Simply add the text to your template. For example, you could have a template file with the following contents:

# Section

This is arbitrary text

<%*
// Maybe some Templater logic here? Whatever you want
-%>

[CAVMOT]

For whatever reason, this does not appear to work. I swear the behavior was different a day or two ago, as then it would insert the text before adding my frontmatter, causing the frontmatter to not insert correctly. As of testing it now, it simple does not insert any text outside of Templater logic. It does not seem to matter whether the text is above or below the Templater code. This is what I have so far.

# Goals

# Notes
<%*
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(this.app.workspace.getActiveFile(), (frontmatter) => {
  frontmatter["category"] = [("[[project]]")]
    frontmatter["note_creation_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.creation_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["modified_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["related_projects"] = []
    frontmatter["status"] = []
    frontmatter["references"] = []
    frontmatter["tags"] = []
})
tp.file.move(/Notes/ + tp.file.title)
-%>

[Zachatoo]

Try adding an await before the move. Templater is most likely getting confused when it's trying to add to the note and the note is being moved simultaneously. The await will ensure the move completes before Templater tries to update the note's contents.

[CAVMOT]

Ah, that's what caused a change in behavior. I did have await on the move before, and that's what caused it to break my frontmatter. Now, this:

# Goals

# Notes

<%*
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(this.app.workspace.getActiveFile(), (frontmatter) => {
  frontmatter["category"] = [("[[project]]")]
    frontmatter["note_creation_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.creation_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["modified_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["related_projects"] = []
    frontmatter["status"] = []
    frontmatter["references"] = []
    frontmatter["tags"] = []
})
await tp.file.move(/Notes/ + tp.file.title)
-%>

Results in this:

Goals

Notes

---

category:

• "[[project]]"
  note_creation_date:
• "[[2026-01-24]]"
  modified_date:
• "[[2026-01-24]]"
  related_projects: []
  status: []
  references: []
  tags: []

---

As you can see, the note content is added before the Templater logic, resulting in broken frontmatter. However, if I remove await from the frontmatter arguments, it simply doesn't add the frontmatter at all.

[Zachatoo]

You can wrap it in tp.hooks.on_all_templates_executed, like this

# Goals

# Notes

<%*
tp.hooks.on_all_templates_executed(async () => {
  await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(this.app.workspace.getActiveFile(), (frontmatter) => {
    frontmatter["category"] = [("[[project]]")]
    frontmatter["note_creation_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.creation_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["modified_date"] = [`[[${tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD")}]]`]
    frontmatter["related_projects"] = []
    frontmatter["status"] = []
    frontmatter["references"] = []
    frontmatter["tags"] = []
  })
});
await tp.file.move(/Notes/ + tp.file.title)
-%>

Or, even simpler, just put the frontmatter in the note

---
category:
  - "[[project]]"
note_creation_date:
  - "[[<% tp.file.creation_date("YYYY-MM-DD") %>]]"
modified_date:
  - "[[<% tp.file.last_modified_date("YYYY-MM-DD") %>]]"
related_projects: []
status: []
references: []
tags: []
---


# Goals

# Notes

<%*
await tp.file.move(/Notes/ + tp.file.title)
-%>

[CAVMOT]

This works! I didn't use the vanilla frontmatter function because it wouldn't update the date when inserting a template with templater, but I didn't even think to use templater logic inside the vanilla frontmatter. Thank you!