Introduction
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It is a fair generalisation and images can spark not only memories, but emotions as well. That’s the power of images. So why not add some to your Daily Notes with a new plugin available for Obsidian that interacts with Google Photos?
Install and Enable the Plugin
This is done in the usual way through Community Plugins in Obsidian using the Browse button. Once installed, you will need to enable it and then set it up so it can interact with Google photos. The documentation, to which there is a link in the plugin setup, explains the procedure for getting the Google API keys. Obviously, you will need to have a Google account established to get these keys. Here is my setup below:
Changes
I have left everything as default except the following:
- I am storing the thumbnail images in my standard folder in Obsidian where I keep all my attachments. This is a matter of personal choice.
- Default to showing photos from Note Date – switched to “on”
- In the Daily Note Date Format, I have amended the format to reflect how my Daily Notes are titled as they have the Day following the date. i.e. YYYY-MM-DD dddd.
I recommend setting the Daily Note Format default to on as it saves you scrolling through all the photos in your Photos to find today’s image. The plugin detects when you are in your Daily Note and the rest of the time it will bring up all the photos.
Using the Plugin
You can either set a hotkey to access the plugin or use Ctrl/Cmd P to call up the command palette, then start typing Google and the Insert Google Photo will highlight in the modal.
If you have the Daily Note default turned on, it will only bring up photos for that date.
To identify which image you want to insert in your general notes, you will need to scroll through all the photos to find it. If you have a look at the image below, you will see the calendar icon showing. You can use this to select a date and see images taken on that day. Unfortunately, you can’t put in a range at this stage, however I have left a feature request on the developer’s github site as a suggestion.
Conclusion
This is a really nifty little plugin that is perfectly suited for Daily Notes and enhancing your memories with a photo you have snapped. Of course, you aren’t limited to photos taken on your phone either. You can upload photos from your computer or screenshots you want to add into notes.
Finally, here’s an image of the walking track I traverse every morning from my Daily Note. We are very lucky to have such beautiful open spaces.
Bonus Video
Here is a video demonstrating the installation and use of the plugin.
