Conditions (IF)
A rule’s IF block decides which notes it applies to. A condition row has, in order: a type dropdown (what to check), a property-name field (Property conditions only), an operator dropdown (how to compare), and a value field (what to compare against) — the value field is skipped for exists / does not exist / is empty.
Condition types
| Type | Checks | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Property | Any frontmatter property’s value | Property |
| First level title | The note’s title — the H1 immediately after frontmatter (not Obsidian’s separate “inline title” feature) | First level title |
| Note file | The file’s own name, or the folder(s) it lives in | Note file |
Six comparison operators
These are the exact labels in the operator dropdown for Property and First level title conditions. Note file conditions use a different, five-option dropdown instead — see Note file — none of the six below apply there.
| Operator | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
exactly match | Exact match | Property: type → exactly match → "meeting" |
contains | Substring match | Property: name → contains → "Diego" |
does not contain | Does not contain | Property: tags → does not contain → "draft" |
exists | Property present | Property: status → exists |
does not exist | Property absent | Property: reviewed → does not exist |
is empty | Empty value | Property: tags → is empty |
exactly match, contains, and does not contain also accept a /regex/ value instead of a literal string — see Regex Matching.
Combining conditions
A single rule can have more than one condition — see Multiple Conditions for the Match dropdown’s Any of the following (OR) vs All of the following (AND).
Note
A later rule’s condition sees property (or filename/folder) changes an earlier rule already made in the same scan — not just the state from before the scan started. See Multiple Actions → Rule chaining within a scan for details.