Notion Bases for Obsidian

The database engine Obsidian deserves

7 views. 18 column types. Charts, subtasks, formulas and relations. Zero code required.

Turn any folder into a Notion-style database with Table, Board (Kanban), Gallery, List, Calendar, Timeline (Gantt), and Chart views — powered by plain Markdown and frontmatter. Your data stays yours, always.

Now available in Obsidian's Community Plugins directory — install it directly in the app

Website · Latest Release · Report Bug · Request Feature

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Highlights

• 7 views — Table, Board (Kanban), Gallery, List, Calendar, Timeline (Gantt), Chart
• 18 column types — Title, Text, Number, Select, Multi-select, Checkbox, Date, URL, Email, Phone, Status, Formula, Relation, Lookup, Rollup, Image, Audio, Video
• Charts — Bar, line, and pie charts with configurable axes, aggregations, and smart formatting — pure SVG, zero dependencies
• Subtasks — Hierarchical rows with expand/collapse, up to 3 levels deep, powered by self-relation columns
• Rollup columns — Aggregate values across related databases with 7 functions (sum, count, avg, min, max, count_values, list)
• Formula engine — Spreadsheet-style functions: IF, SUM, AVG, CONCAT, LEFT, ROUND, and many more
• Relations & Lookups — Link rows across databases and pull values from related notes
• Advanced filters — Type-aware operators with AND/OR logic
• Live placeholders — {{column}} tokens in a note body render the current cell value in reading view, updating as you edit the table
• Auto-arrange — Optionally file rows into nested subfolders driven by property values (status=Done, priority=High → Done/High/row.md)
• 7 languages — English, Português (BR), Español, Français, Deutsch, 中文, 日本語
• 100% local Markdown — Every row is a .md file, every column is a frontmatter field. No lock-in, no cloud, no telemetry

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Why Notion Bases?

Obsidian's built-in Bases plugin is great for tables and has its own expression-based formula system. Notion Bases focuses on a different set of trade-offs — more views, more column types, and a spreadsheet-style formula syntax.

Views

View	Notion Bases	Core Bases
Table	Yes	Yes
Board / Kanban	Yes	No
Gallery	Yes	No
List	Yes	Yes
Calendar	Yes	No
Timeline / Gantt	Yes	No
Chart view	Yes	No

Notion Bases offers 5 exclusive views that Core Bases doesn't have — Board, Gallery, Calendar, Timeline, and Chart — giving you the flexibility to visualize data the way that fits your workflow.

Data modeling

Feature	Notion Bases	Core Bases
Column types	18	6
Formulas	Spreadsheet-style (IF, SUM, AVG, CONCAT)	Expression-based (JS-like)
Relation columns	Yes	No
Lookup columns	Yes	No
Rollup columns	Yes	No
Image columns	Rendered in cell	Text only
Subtasks / Sub-rows	Yes	No
Number formatting (prefix, suffix, decimals, thousands)	Yes	No

With relation and lookup columns, you can link databases together and pull values across notes — just like Notion. The spreadsheet-style formula syntax is familiar to anyone who has used Excel or Google Sheets.

Table experience

Feature	Notion Bases	Core Bases
Column reordering (drag)	Yes	Yes
Column resizing (drag)	Yes	Yes
Column pinning	Yes	No
Row height options	Yes	Yes
Text wrap toggle	Yes	No
Aggregation row	5 functions always visible	Right-click → Summarize
Multi-column sort with priority	Yes	Basic sort
CSV import / export	Yes	No
Bulk actions (delete, duplicate, move)	Yes	No

Both plugins let you resize, reorder columns and adjust row height. Notion Bases goes further with column pinning, text wrap, a persistent aggregation footer, multi-column sort with drag-to-reorder priority, CSV import/export, and bulk row actions.

Shared features

Feature	Notion Bases	Core Bases
Embed database in any note	Yes	Yes
Multiple views per database	Yes	Yes
AND/OR filter logic	Yes	Yes
100% local Markdown	Yes	Yes

If you ever wished Obsidian had Notion-level databases without leaving your vault, this is it.

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Views

Table

A fully interactive spreadsheet: inline editing, resizable/reorderable/pinnable columns, aggregation footer, row height options, text wrap, multi-column sort, and bulk row actions.

Board (Kanban)

Drag cards between columns grouped by any select or status field. Add cards directly to a column. Hide empty or no-value columns. Configure which properties appear on each card.

Gallery

A responsive card grid. Pick a cover field, choose card size (small / medium / large), and display any properties below the title.

List

A minimal, single-line view — title plus property chips. Great for quick overviews and task-oriented databases.

Calendar

Monthly calendar. Position notes by any date field. Click a day to create a note with the date pre-filled. Notes without a date appear in a collapsible section.

Timeline (Gantt)

Horizontal bar chart with three zoom levels (days / weeks / months). Drag bar edges to resize start or end dates. Group rows by any field.

Chart

Bar, line, and pie charts rendered as pure SVG. Pick a category column (X axis), choose count or a number column (Y axis), and select an aggregation function. Smart axis formatting with k/M suffixes and integer ticks. Responsive sizing and full mobile support.

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Features

Category	What you get
Column types	Title, Text, Number, Select, Multi-select, Checkbox, Date, URL, Email, Phone, Status, Formula, Relation, Lookup, Rollup, Image, Audio, Video
Formulas	IF, SUM, AVG, CONCAT, LEFT, ROUND and more
Relations & Lookups	Link rows across databases, pull values from related notes
Rollup	Aggregate values across related databases: sum, count, avg, min, max, count_values, list
Charts	Bar, line, pie — pure SVG with aggregations and smart axis formatting
Subtasks	Hierarchical rows with expand/collapse up to 3 levels via self-relations
Filters	Type-aware operators, AND/OR groups
Sorts	Multi-column with priority ordering
Aggregation	Sum, Average, Min, Max, Count — updates live
Number formatting	Prefix ($, R$), suffix (%, kg), decimals, thousands separator
Column controls	Pin, resize (drag), reorder (drag)
CSV	Import and export
Bulk actions	Select rows to delete, duplicate or move
Schema inference	Auto-detects column types from existing frontmatter
Embeds	Embed any database inside a note via code block — free multi-view or pinned to any view type
Multi-view	Each view has independent filters, sorts and field visibility
Live placeholders	{{column}} tokens in note bodies resolve to cell values in reading view
Folder arrangement	Auto-file rows into subfolders by property values, with batch preview
i18n	Full UI translation in 7 languages (en, pt-BR, es, fr, de, zh, ja)
100% Markdown	Every row is a .md file. No lock-in, ever

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Column types

Type	Description
title	Note filename — always the first column
text	Plain text
number	Numeric value with optional formatting
select	Single option from a defined list
multiselect	Multiple options
checkbox	Boolean true / false
date	Date value
url	Clickable link
email	Email address
phone	Phone number
status	Colored badge with inline management
formula	Computed value from other columns
relation	Link to a note in another database
lookup	Pull a field from a related database
image	Display an image from the vault
rollup	Aggregate values from related databases
audio	Inline audio player with folder-based file picker
video	Video with modal player and folder-based file picker

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Getting started

Installation

Via Community Plugins (recommended)

Notion Bases is available in Obsidian's Community Plugins directory:

1. Open Settings → Community plugins → Browse
2. Search for "Notion Bases"
3. Click Install, then Enable

Or install it in one click from your browser: open in Obsidian.

Manual installation

1. Download main.js, manifest.json and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/notion-bases/
3. Copy the three files into it
4. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Create your first database

1. Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) → "Create new database"
2. Pick a folder — a _database.md file marks it as a database
3. Click the table icon in the ribbon (or run "Open database") to open it

Add views

Click + in the view tab bar to add a new view. Each view has its own filters, sorts and field visibility. Drag tabs to reorder.

Embed in a note

```nb-database
path: Projects
```

Pin a fixed view type (no tabs) — any of table, list, board, gallery, calendar, timeline or chart:

```nb-database
path: Projects
type: board
```

A pinned embed inherits its configuration (board grouping, calendar date column, …) from the matching view defined in the database, so different notes can show the same data as a board, a calendar or a chart.

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How data is stored

Everything lives in your vault as plain Markdown:

What	Where
Rows	.md files in the database folder
Column values	Frontmatter fields in each note
Schema & view config	Frontmatter of _database.md
Embed view configs	Frontmatter of the hosting note

Open any file in any text editor and your data is right there.

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Requirements

• Obsidian 1.8.7 or later
• Desktop and mobile supported

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Support the project

If Notion Bases makes your vault more powerful, consider supporting development:

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the Contributing Guide before submitting a pull request.

For bugs and feature requests, use the issue tracker.

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License

GPL v3 — free to use and modify, but any distribution must remain open source under the same license.