How a base is built

A .base file has up to three sections:

filters:
  and:
    - file.hasTag("formatting")
    - file.ext == "md"
 
formulas:
  Area: file.folder
 
views:
  - type: table
    name: All formatting pages
    order:
      - file.name
      - description
      - formula.Area
    sort:
      - property: file.name
        direction: ASC

filters

Which notes are taken in. Joined with and, or and not. Common expressions:

Expression	Meaning
file.hasTag("x")	carries this tag
file.inFolder("x")	sits in this folder
file.ext == "md"	is a Markdown file
property != null	field is set

formulas

Calculated columns. They are available afterwards as formula.Name — handy for pulling two fields together or shortening a path.

views

A base can have several views of the same data. The Quartz plugin knows table, list, cards, board and gallery; the default is table.

Key	Effect
type	kind of view
name	label of the view
order	which columns, in which order
sort	ordering, with property and direction
groupBy	grouping by a field
limit	maximum number of entries

Where this is edited

Obsidian has an interface for it — the YAML file is only the store. Anyone writing it by hand should open it in Obsidian afterwards and check it.

Linking to one

A wikilink to such a file needs the extension:

[[en/3-obsidian-formats/01-bases/Formatting-Pages.base|Formatting pages]]
[[en/3-obsidian-formats/02-canvas/Structure of the template.canvas|Structure of the template]]

Quartz keeps the extension in the address of the page (…/formatting-pages.base), unlike with Markdown files. Without it the link leads nowhere — and that does not stand out, because an unresolved wikilink gets no special marking here.