Obsidian Weekly Planning Template: Plan, Execute, Review

Use this Obsidian weekly planning template to choose three outcomes, link them to active projects, plan only committed work, and close the week with a short review. Start with the core Templates plugin. Add Periodic Notes, Templater, or Tasks only when that upgrade solves a problem you have.

The simple weekly planning template

Copy this template into a note named for the week, such as 2026-W33. Keep project links in the plan instead of copying every project task into one weekly note.

---
week: 2026-W33
type: weekly-plan
---

# Week 33: August 10–16

## Three outcomes

- [ ] Outcome 1 — why it matters
- [ ] Outcome 2 — why it matters
- [ ] Outcome 3 — why it matters

## Active projects

- [[Project Alpha]] — next action
- [[Project Beta]] — next action

## This week

- [ ] Monday:
- [ ] Tuesday:
- [ ] Wednesday:
- [ ] Thursday:
- [ ] Friday:

## Waiting and blocked

- Item — owner — review date

## Weekly review

- Wins:
- Finished:
- Learned:
- Carried over:
- Drop or defer:
- Next week focus:

Use three outcomes, not a list of everything that could happen. Add daily tasks as they become real. Link each outcome to its project note so the weekly page points back to context, decisions, and source material.

For daily capture, connect this page to the Obsidian daily-notes workflow. For larger task views, see the Obsidian task-management guide.

Plan and review in one note

A weekly note works when it closes the loop between intention and evidence:

Stage	Write down	Keep it useful by
Plan	Three outcomes and the next action for each	Link outcomes to project notes
Execute	New tasks, decisions, and blockers	Capture first; process later
Review	Wins, unfinished work, lessons, and next focus	Move, drop, or defer every carry-over

Review the note at the end of the week. For every unfinished item, choose one action: move it to next week, return it to the project, delegate it, schedule it, or drop it.

Do not turn the weekly note into a second task database. If a task already lives in a project note, link to that note or surface it with a query. Duplicate checkboxes create two sources of truth.

Set up weekly notes with core Templates

The core Templates plugin handles a manual weekly note without community plugins. In Settings → Core plugins → Templates, set a template folder. Insert the template with Templates: Insert template or assign that command a hotkey. Built-in variables include {{title}}, {{date}}, and {{time}}; format dates with tokens such as {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}.

If the template contains YAML properties, edit it in Source mode. The official documentation warns that the Properties in document panel can overwrite unquoted template variables.

Use this smaller core-only template when you want a weekly note with no automation:

---
week: {{title}}
type: weekly
---

# {{title}}

## Week plan

**Focus:**

- [ ]
- [ ]
- [ ]

## Review

### Wins

-

### Carried over

-

### Next week focus

-

The {{title}} variable uses the active note title. Name the note first, then insert the template.

Add automatic weekly-note creation

Install the community Periodic Notes plugin when creating and navigating weekly notes by hand becomes friction. Its Open Weekly Note, Next Weekly Note, and Previous Weekly Note commands create or open the current weekly note.

Configure three settings:

Setting	Starting choice	Why
Folder	Weekly	Keeps time-based notes separate from projects
Template	Your weekly template	Inserts the plan and review structure
Format	gggg-[W]ww	Creates sortable week names such as 2026-W33

Periodic Notes supports weekly template tags such as {{title}}, {{date:gggg [Week] ww}}, and weekday values such as {{monday:YYYY-MM-DD}}. Check the plugin documentation for the exact format used by your locale and version.

Templater is optional. Use it when you need calculated date ranges, previous/next week links, or logic that core Templates cannot provide. Do not add it only to insert a title or date that core Templates already handles.

Link daily notes to the weekly plan

Daily notes are the capture layer. The weekly note is the planning and review layer:

1. Capture a task, decision, or idea in today’s note.
2. Link it to a project when it needs context beyond today.
3. During the weekly review, promote only useful next actions into the next plan.
4. Carry forward unfinished work once, then decide whether it still matters.

If you use Periodic Notes and Templater, add these seven daily-note links to a weekly template. Replace the date format with the one used by your vault:

## Daily notes

- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 0, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 1, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 2, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 3, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 4, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 5, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]
- [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 6, tp.file.title, "YYYY-[W]ww") %>]]

Use this block only with Templater. Core Templates does not evaluate <% ... %> expressions.

Surface tasks without duplicating them

Choose a task tool based on the job:

Need	Best starting point	Trade-off
Three weekly outcomes and a short review	Markdown checklist	Manual, but portable and easy to maintain
Due dates, recurrence, and cross-note task queries	Tasks plugin	Adds syntax and plugin setup
Note-level project views and properties	Bases or Dataview	Needs consistent properties
Calendar-based weekly note creation	Periodic Notes	Adds a community plugin

For Tasks, keep the task in its source note and query it from the weekly page. This is a starting pattern; adjust the path and syntax to match your vault:

not done
(due before tomorrow) OR (happens before tomorrow)
sort by due
group by due
hide backlinks

The Tasks plugin documentation is the source of truth for query syntax and date semantics. Test a query on a small folder before placing it on a weekly template used across your vault.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Wrong week number	Filename and template formats differ	Use one format, such as gggg-[W]ww, across the plugin and template
{{title}} stays visible	The template was pasted instead of inserted	Name the note, then run Templates: Insert template
<% tp.date... %> stays visible	Templater did not process the file	Use core {{date}} variables or configure Templater
Task list shows duplicates	The task exists in weekly and project notes	Keep one checkbox in the source note and query it
Weekly page becomes too long	It contains every daily log and task	Link to daily notes and show only current outcomes or filtered tasks
Date link opens the wrong note	Date format or folder differs	Match the daily-note format and path before generating links

A five-minute weekly review

Use this sequence at the end of the week:

1. Check the three outcomes.
2. Record wins and useful evidence.
3. Review project links and open tasks.
4. Move each unfinished item, or drop it.
5. Write one focus for next week.

Keep metrics only when they change a decision. A small table with two or three meaningful measures beats a dashboard that takes longer to maintain than to review.

Obsibrain fits after the capture and planning problem is clear: its task-management, project, and periodic-review workflows keep related notes and actions connected. See how Obsibrain supports connected planning in Obsidian.

Official references and examples

• Obsidian Templates
• Obsidian Daily notes
• Periodic Notes documentation
• Periodic Notes community page
• Vaultorial weekly plan and review template
• Vaultorial core Templates example

For the larger system, continue with Obsidian project management, daily notes, or the Obsidian plugins guide.