Customize a template

ZotLit ships six built-in templates that control literature note filenames, note bodies, annotations, the managed region, and citations. You can override any of them by creating an editable file in your vault.

Create an editable template file

To create all six template files at once, click the Create all editable template files button at the top of the Template files section.

Edit the template

Open the template file and change its content. Templates use Liquid syntax by default. The file is standard Markdown with embedded {{ zt.field }} expressions that pull data from the Zotero item.

To discover which fields are available and copy their paths, use the Template Data Explorer.

See changes take effect

ZotLit watches the template folder and recompiles changed files immediately. No plugin reload is needed.

To apply your updated template to an existing literature note, run:

ZotLit: Update literature noteCopy →

This re-renders the managed region using the current template. To update only frontmatter fields without touching the body, run:

ZotLit: Update literature note metadataCopy →

Restore the built-in default

Two options return a template to its built-in default:

• Reset to default (rotate icon on the template row): replaces the file's contents with the built-in default while keeping the file in place. A confirm modal asks: "Replace '{name}' with the built-in default? Your changes will be lost."
• Delete template file (trash icon on the template row): moves the file to Obsidian's trash. With the file gone, ZotLit falls back to the built-in default automatically. The watcher picks up the deletion immediately.

Switch to Eta (JavaScript)

After enabling the JavaScript Templates gate, each template row shows a Template language dropdown with Liquid and JavaScript (Eta) options. See Enable JavaScript templates for the opt-in procedure.

Selecting JavaScript (Eta) replaces the file. It does not convert syntax between Liquid and Eta.

See also