Track Your Writing Stats in Obsidian with Essential Plugins

Published: 18-Dec-2024

If you’re an avid Obsidian user who types frequently, you’ve probably wondered how you’re doing in terms of productivity. Wouldn't it be great to track useful and fun statistics like your word count, typing speed, or even how much you've written this month compared to last month? While there’s no single Obsidian plugin that covers everything you’re looking for, you can achieve this functionality with a combination of specialized plugins. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most useful plugins to enhance your Obsidian writing workflow.

1. Typing Speed Plugin

If you’re curious about how fast you’re typing in Obsidian, the Typing Speed plugin can offer real-time feedback. Tracking typing speed can help you monitor your writing pace and identify times of day when you’re most productive.

Key Features

  • Real-time feedback: Displays your typing speed in the status bar.
  • Customizable metrics: Choose from Characters per second (CPS), Characters per minute (CPM), or Words per minute (WPM).
  • Instant insight: Provides immediate feedback on your typing efficiency as you work.

Obsidian Typing Speed Demo

Use Cases

  • Writers aiming to increase productivity.
  • Typists looking to build faster habits.
  • Productivity enthusiasts seeking live feedback on performance.

This plugin is a great addition to any Obsidian productivity setup, as it provides real-time word count and live tracking of your performance, making it one of the best plugins for Obsidian users looking to boost their writing efficiency.

2. Daily Stats Plugin

Sometimes, it’s helpful to know how much you’ve written in a single day. The Daily Stats plugin provides insight into how productive you’ve been on any given day.

Key Features

  • Daily word count tracking: View word count in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  • Historical trends: Visualize productivity over time with a right-panel log, similar to GitHub’s contribution graph.
  • Inspired design: Borrowed design elements from Liam Cain's Calendar and Luke Leppan's Better Word Count plugins.

Obsidian Daily Stats Demo

Use Cases

  • Journalers tracking daily reflections.
  • Writers aiming to hit daily writing goals, like NaNoWriMo participants.
  • Habit trackers visualizing their progress and maintaining streaks.

With the daily writing tracker functionality, this plugin helps you stay on top of your daily goals and visualize your progress, making it an essential tool for those focused on writing productivity in Obsidian.

3. Novel Word Count Plugin

If you’re working on a long-form writing project like a novel, blog series, or research paper, this plugin is a must-have. Unlike Daily Stats, which tracks words per day, the Novel Word Count plugin helps you track cumulative progress toward a larger writing goal.

Key Features

  • Comprehensive statistics: View word count, page count, reading time, and other key metrics.
  • Real-time updates: Stay up-to-date as you write with live progress tracking.
  • Customizable data displays: Choose up to three data types (e.g., word count, page count, character count) to display next to files and folders.
  • Goal tracking: Track percentage completion for notes and folders.
  • Content exclusions: Optionally exclude code blocks, comments, and specific files from word counts, page counts, and character counts.

Obsidian Novel Word Count Demo

Use Cases

  • Authors writing books, novels, or large articles.
  • Students or researchers working on theses or dissertations.
  • Power users seeking insight into file, folder, and project-level word count progress.

This plugin supports word count tracking at the file, folder, and project level, making it an essential part of an Obsidian writing dashboard. It's perfect for users who work on long-form writing and want detailed insight into their overall progress.

Bonus Tips for Using These Plugins Together

By combining Typing Speed, Daily Stats, and Novel Word Count, you can build a comprehensive writing dashboard. Here’s how to make the most of them together:

  1. Real-Time Feedback: Use the Typing Speed plugin to monitor your speed as you write.
  2. Daily Motivation: Use Daily Stats to hit daily goals and keep yourself on track.
  3. Long-Term Tracking: Use Novel Word Count to track progress on big projects, like books or research papers.

By using these plugins together, you’re essentially building a writing tracker that tracks your real-time performance, daily achievements, and long-term goals in one centralized place.

With the right tools in place, you’ll not only become more aware of your progress, but you’ll also have the data you need to push yourself to new levels of productivity. So why not try out these plugins and see how they transform your writing experience in Obsidian? These plugins are some of the best choices for those looking for the ultimate writing tools for Obsidian, helping you track progress, maintain momentum, and stay productive.