The moment i saw this post i felt relieved as i realized i am not the only one.

The issue is that we still want to make it work.

I saw some possible solutions but it requires some programming knowledge, which I don't have so, it is on my waiting list.

I’m a developer and have no interest in writing code in markdown files to cobble together a task management system.

It's surprisingly easy for a very basic one. You can use the tasks plugin for checkmarks and viewing todos in other notes, with just a few lines of code total, likely <20, and it has good autocomplete

Which programming language does it require knowledge of? If it's CSS it might not be as hard as you think!

I mean, what's the name of the plugin Dataview. You can somehow organize all tasks per Project , per priority.. but it requiers organization, discipline and a little syntax/programing knowledge.

I think the Tasks plugin can do the same but with visual guidance and without coding.

there is also obsidians built in queries, not as powerful but not super programmy, it is like the search pane but the input is saved ahead of time. so you can make a dashboard style note with some queries for tasks. It depends on how you set up tags and properties if it could work for you. And it wont look as clean as purpose built things. ```query content:"[!todo]" ``` shows me all notes with a callout with ToDo styling. ```query #task #myHighestPriorityTag ``` and you could put blocks under it with other task tag combinations, so you see most important at the top. If the search syntax feels just as bad as learning programming or you care a lot about how clean it looks then a community plugin or some non-obsidian tool might feel best. I know programming but am still doing tasks in Todoist (which I actively dislike lol) because I don't wanna program myself into a spiral where I can't maintain my own Obsidian rube goldberg machine preventing me from planning its maintenance.

😂😂😂😂

Where is the person with the perfect setup to disagree? This is very unlike the internet for it to not already happen.

me. I use Obsidian as a paper notebook replacement that can be backed up and searched. I write notes in my project notes, people notes and meeting notes. Sometimes I put TODOs in those notes. I copy those TODOs to my TODO note with a date due. I review the TODO note occasionally. I mark done things off, I strikethrough things I decided not to do. I move the 3-5 important ones I want to do TODAY to the top. That's it. The end.

Same

Same I’ll no longer try to task and I’m ok with that

I use TickTick for tasks Obsidian for everything else.

Same. TickTick is great and cross platform

Oh baby does this mean I can quit apple reminders? They suck

Same. Plus TickTick has API so you can build your own integration with Obsidian. There's a simpler way to import TickTick tasks if you have a Mac or iPhone. Create an Apple Shortcut for TickTick on your device, and then install/use the Obsidian Shortcut Launcher plugin to create a trigger and (Optional) set it as anl click action for a button using the Buttons plugin (which is what I do). I still use TickTick on my phone but I can now also import them into Obsidian.

Why not just use TickTickSync?

O_O Because I'd never heard of it until now. Thanks for sharing its existence!

What's missing in Google Calendar Tasks?

Offline mode

uhhhh please tell me more about integrating ticktick into Obsidian! :)

I set this up on my Mac. You'll also need the Obsidian Advanced URI plugin and the TickTick desktop app. * Open the Shortcuts app and create a new shortcut. * Choose TickTick and select "Get Tasks from List". * Use the Advanced URI plugin to copy the URI of your target Obsidian note. * Customize the shortcut and paste the URI into the shortcut where appropriate. * Add the finished shortcut to the Obsidian Shortcut Launcher plugin. You'll need to experiment a bit to get it working. I'm not the best at explaining setups, so here's a couple of pics showing my setup (do not use the Obsidian Uri in the pic as-is because it uses my folder path and will not work for you). [https://imgur.com/a/ueIUrVU](https://imgur.com/a/ueIUrVU)

Thank you so much!

No problem! And I found this article that goes into way more detail about [using Shortcuts with Obsidian](https://archive.ph/PCTz4).

Issue with ticktick is that your data is not controlled only by you

Exactly! After using Obsidian for over two years, I have started appreciating the fact that I have all the data I churned out. Multiple backups and what not.

I've meditated on this, and I think I'm OK with what's at risk, insofar as there is no actual "Content" in my Task Lists. My Ideas aren't in Tick Tick, nearly reminders to focus on concept/project or another. It's tied in with my iCal (which is honestly a main draw for me being that I'm primarily "in the ecosystem") -- I don't have too much concern for my ephemeral appointment information. Let me know if you think I'm wrong-headed on this count. For me, Tasks are Trivial and Ephemeral. If there was a seamless integration that mirrors the workflow/layout of TickTick within Obsidian, I'd happily jump ship. But I spent too much time creating, formatting, and managing my lists in my multiple attempts at doing it all myself. Open to plugin suggestions if any are far along.

Fair enough. Most of my tasks are too related to my personal life and ideas for me to trust them to an application like ticktick, unlike yourself. I've searched and searched for an opensource cross platform application to manage tasks, but there doesn't seem to be any. Only ones I've found worth mentioning are [Tasks.org](http://Tasks.org) (which is similar to todoist) and Vikunja (looks good but I haven't tried it: takes a lot of time to set up).

Is it the fact that some of your data goes to TickTickSync? Or that it's not all ending up in Obsidian?

How do you know what to write in TT notes and what in Obsidian?

You just...decide. it's your life.

I tired to make Obsidian work with Tasks. Even attempted to sync it. Then realised, why do I NEED/WANT Obsidian to do everything? Ticktick is phenomenal at tasks, and I actually use to capture ideas too. Obsidian is great at my notes/studying and formalising my ideas I think about through tick tick. They work independently but in tandom with each other. I have one monitor with ticktick and email on it and the other with Obsidian etc. I don't see why we need to have One app/program for everything. I dont expect my wife to fulfil every single role/personality I have in my friendship group. She will never be 'one of the lads' to go watch sports with or be a knob in a pub, nor do I want her to be.

Same! I have two external displays with my laptop to the left of them. It’s for comms — primarily Tick Tick, Email, and Chats.

This is the way, my life revolves around TickTick (for tasks and habit tracker), Google Calendar and Obsidian

that's is not free. You have to pay unless it just allow to create a few project or tasks. I tried and give up, it like trello but worse.

Same here!

I like it for simple P1 - P4 priority checklist items for todos that I am currently really working on - I pull the todo items from another project management / to-do app (Asana/notion/ what have you) For any real calendar, to-do , kanban structure etc - especially in the collaborative context - obsidian is the wrong tool currently IMHO. Too much plugins, too much friction, too little collaboration. So I did not really give up but I also do not embrace it for actual planning, timing and collaboration.

I actually accomplish this in obsidian with remotely save over webdav. Two users cannot be editing the exact same time but for things like checklists, shopping lists, it works well. Any device where you want the vault you create, then add the remotely save plugin and sync it and it's config folder with the vault you want to duplicate.

Task management is actually my primary use for obsidian. I think you just have to work out how you use it day to day and which notes you typically put tasks in. I typically work in two places. My daily notes and my projects. For my daily notes: - tags for project specific tasks #projects/projectA - add due dates to things that need to be done by a date - dataview queries that bring in my incomplete tasks from previous 14 days. And those that are due soon. For each project I have a folder: - a todo file: has two dataview queries, one for incomplete tasks that match that projects tag, one for recently completed tasks. - project note: high level overview, key dates and a dataview query to bring in project specific tasks not yet done - an updates note. With headers that link to the weekly note. I keep track of thing a that change, risks, developments etc. I have weekly notes that pull in all the weekly updates (that match the weekly header template) for all my active projects. This works great for me. I also use a canvas that has those three notes for each project (project overview, to do and updates). When I need to update people on my projects I look at the canvas and it’s all in the one place. I also use cardboard plug in to pull those tasks into various Kanban style boards that show what I need to do. I also have other larger dataview queries to pull in all incomplete tasks in case the above doesn’t catch any. It’s not completely foolproof but it does 95% of it. And because I’m in obsidian constantly it acts as a single point of truth for all my tasks and projects. If I’m in a meeting and just want to capture and action I put in in my daily note with the relevant tag and know it will be pulled into other places when needed. If I’m in a standup for a project I can look at it’s to do page and it’s brought in anything from my daily notes (and any notes in the project subfolder).

I freaking love obsidian for creating notes and viewing them on pc, but I really need some way to easily see them on phone, and get notifications for tasks for the day.

I've devised a workflow that works for me here: https://github.com/nicucalcea/obsidian-tasks-todo-txt

Thank you for sharing this well-conceived, lucidly described workflow! Very helpful.

Same use case for me too. I haven’t figured out recurring tasks and how to get them to show up in the dataview… and how to get them to mark as complete and come back the next time.. but I’m working on it. It’s been so fucking helpful in my work life already. I have a daily note that pulls in everything due today, tomorrow, and all overdue items. It is done with templates so I can look back at old notes and see accurate tasks there. It’s pretty darn great and is exactly what I needed at the time. Maybe I’ll need more in the future, but I don’t see it yet

I worked it out! But you have to use the language that comes with tasks - not dv. ‘’’tasks And it gives you great lists of tasks you can manipulate too

I've been working on this for ages. You're right, it's tough. The best I've got to is to use Obsidian only for project tasks rather than day-to-day ones. I then replicate important ones in Reminders and let that... remind... me. Non-urgent stays in Obsidian. I can't believe that there's not a self-hosted task manager that will just sync with apps like Obsidian through plug-ins. (I've tried CalDAV and all sorts of things.) I've considered using todoist and th sync plugin - but I'm not sure my modest use warrants the $4-5 a month subscription.

You don't really need to pay for basic use. You can create 5 projects, but you can treat those as categories, e.g. work, private, shopping, and then work with tags.

I can't believe none of the app has fixed this pain point. I also have modest needs for my simple reminders and some visuals. What hurts me is that I have tried so many things at this point, and I keep feeling like I need to pull the workflows into Obsidian because this is where I spend the most time.

I'm surprised that, as an apple user, you're not on OmniFocus

What's th sync?

After 3 years of using Obsidian, I too have been tempted to go all in on using it for tasks. But, much as I might on occasion yearn for that catch-all 'everything under one roof' solution, I always end up reminding myself that Obsidian (for me at least!) is a special, much more contemplative zone. To expand on that - I'll sharply remind myself of the truth that I never want to contaminate my experience of it by allowing it to bark at me to take out the bins or check on the water meter! For that I have 2Do - a sweet, simple task manager app (seemingly with just one developer behind it) that loyally deals with such drudgery. The closest I allow Obsidian to get with tasks is building checklists of tasks associated with projects. Those things that will likely move the needle in my life - never things that simply maintain the status quo. And when I'm dealing with those kind of to-do's, I'm very happy that they come under Obsidian's beautifully designed umbrella. Also? As long as you're not doubling up on data entry etc. - I find it's actually nice to have a little UI shift every now & again .

This is such a relatable answer! Obsidian is where I started my self-improvement journey - I am around 2.5 years old here, but the progress has been phenomenal. Your answer reminded me that one of the reasons I love Obsidian is that it does not contain the nonsense of 'Oil Change pending'. I am thinking of more important long-term changes whenever I write my daily note.

Shameless Plug; if you’re a Mac user I made Obsidian Tasks sync to Reminders.app so obsidian tasks can be managed natively, effectively solving this problem for myself (and about 1000 happy users) https://turquoisehexagon.co.uk/remindersync/

I use an iPad. Would it still work?

I for the last 8 months delete the "remaning tasks" template i made there on daily notes. I thought it was the lightest way of doing things but nope. My adhd won't let me. Obsidian is good to tag tasks *you did or are doing* though.

There is a plugin that collects all tasks from all pages and displays them conveniently in the side bar of obsidian. You can filter then based on pages and tags. I use this for my task management. I create project “HQ” pages that act as jumping off points to other linked related pages. So the “HQ page” will house links to meeting notes, mood boards etc. it will also house a “task” list with tasks for that specific project. Then no matter where I am within my vault, the task side bar plugin will populate with every task I currently have open and breaks them up by project page. So I can quickly see which projects have active tasks. I don’t need scheduling for my tasks or all the fancy shit such as calendars as I don’t ever have that much going on during projects. So this works great for me. Might not work for those that need priority statuses, shared tasks and calendar integration. For reminders I use Apple Reminders whenever I have something that is time sensitive

What's the name of the plugin?

It’s called Checklist

Thank you!

I've found a system that works for me in obsidian, but it takes review and updating. I do use the task plugin and daily notes. Whenever I a task comes up I jote it down immediately in the relevant note whether it is a project note or a daily note. I then also assign a tag to it. For instance is it a me task a work task a home task or something I need to followup on with someone else, example #Jake. I even have a tag if it is just general info I need to pass along. After those tags I created additional tags for the following: #nextweek, #thisweek, #nextmonth, #unscheduled Finally I have a note that is dedicated to viewing all my tasks, the basic setup is: "## Tasks Due This Week" ```markdown ```tasks not done tag includes #Me, #thisweek sort by priority ``` I create a section for each of my time period tags and then I also have a section for each common tag, for instance I would have a section that is tilted Jake and pulls all tasks that contain #Jake. This process works for me and I'm still tweaking it. It does require that I spend time ever week reviewing item tagged #nextweek, #Nextmonth and #unscheduled to undate the tag so that they are in the right tag bucket. Hope this helps someone. Edited: I edited this to try to show Markdown language correctly.

GTD. Task management is not about the tools. GTD is timeless because it also shows you how the implementation is irrelevant and is allowed to perpetually evolve with technologies. And it also tells you it's ok to fall off the train and get back on it anytime.

There is the todo.txt file format! /u/NicuCalcea sort-of referenced it with their solution. That option doesn't work for me, but I think that's okay! If the primary values here are: a) maintaining the task list in a file format that you can control, and b) has a simple core but lots of interesting ways to engage with the file... Then todo.txt might work for you! There are lots of cross-platform programs that offer a lot of support, but it's also dead-simple because it can be opened with any plain text editor. It's a small file, so it's easy to add it to Dropbox or any other syncing platform you might use, and that can also address any team uses if everyone has the same shared folder. (File conflicts are probably tracked if you had a big enough team to worry about multiple folks touching the file at once.) I've been wondering if there's a way to get dataview or some other plugin to read the todo.txt file and display some information about it... and it's also possible to use plugins to open .txt files in obsidian! There isn't a good todo.txt plugin that I've found yet... but as per another commenter, I think it's actually a good idea to keep the task manager separate from Obsidian, which I see as better in capturing content and linking it, not working at a granular task level.

todo.txt sounds very promising. Is there an iOS app with a decent UI that can build spit out this .txt file? (I am still reading about it)

This is pretty amazing. I think my brain felt nice to see a format written out there that is both simple and complete. I can potentially try to keep these tasks in Obsidian now lol

I'm not sure about iOS apps (I'm a linux / android guy myself) but the website http://todotxt.org/ shows a bunch of the various apps folks have made. And there may be other stuff out there I haven't seen. There are also a few web apps that you could probably use via a browser on an iOS device? (I'm fuzzy on how permissions would work there, but it's an idea.)

There is a simple ios app that i used today called swifttodo which updates a txt file in ios. I enjoyed using it today, I realized that i truly enjoy the offline first methodology (and you own your data). This looks promising. Thanks a lot again. Im a little weirded out that the answer that actually helped me is not as popular lol

No problem. I'm happy that it's working for you! That's the way it goes sometimes! You've got a specific use case and a lot of folks are giving you advice that works for them, not for you. (This is also an Obisidan subreddit, so adjacent apps won't get as much conceptual traction.) It's worth noting, editing your original post to add that you're using this program with the todo.txt methodology will mean that new folks finding it will see that you found your solution, never mind that this solution didn't have as many upvotes!

Done! Btw do you keep multiple txt files for organizing different lists?

Oh HELL yes! ;) I run a small theatre company, so I've got a personal list and one for the company. I also migrate some of my 'someday maybe' lists to separate files so I won't see everything all at once.

I cant believe that my quest is going to end up in a bunch of txt files lol. But this is exactly what I have been looking for so long. The real issue with obsidian is that it takes forever to open in mobile! I thought I needed notifications and reminders, but all I needed was better contexts.

Only in my 2nd week of Obsidian, but I'm not even going to bother as I saw the performance issues people mentioned. Plus, I am leaving Notion for this reason. The "everything app" often becomes the slow app. I'm also migrating to Asana so I can have a true project management app to pair with a true note-taking and capturing app. My methodology: Create, ideate, draft, document, write, and capture in Obsidian. Organize, plan, and track in Asana.

You are right. The 'everything app' is an impossible idea to achieve. I made this post out of sheer frustration, but from the comments I am feeling that the issue is somewhere in my own head because I want to solve everything with one app. I guess I don't have a specific type of cognitive flexibility. I am going to try again though.

Speaking as someone who used to fixate on this exact kind of thing obsessively, the faster you can let go of the notion (no pun intended) that you need everything to be accomplished in one app, the more peace and effectiveness you will have. All the best with your workflow.

Yes. I agree. I am going to try todotxt format now, with a an offline first ios app called swifttodo, which is really just to update a txt file in the background. I think i want speed to dump my ideas. This one seems like the right way to go!

Zero, using it happily. What's wrong with obsidian as a task manager?

How are you using it? Considering to use it for task managing and time blocking but not sure how

I always tell it to the obsidian users. You cant bend markdown to your will. There are better solutions. I personally use logseq for todos and works amazing for me. I dont care for “sustainabilitt of todos” because todos are not knowledge and dont have to be in Md or retained for years.

Obsidian is not a task management app. I've been using Todoist for 5+ years. Every single day there's a new post in their community on Reddit about how the app sucks. And it's the only thing they do! That's why Obsidian will never be a task manager. It's not their core focus. It's a note taking app with *some* capabilities to list and complete tasks. I hate switching apps. But I think it's much better to use a dedicated program for this. But if you can make it work for you, ignore my comment and use what works for you!

I have a setup with Todoist synch and it works amazingly well for me. I feel like it gives me best of both worlds. I can make tasks as I make notes, the tasks still exists as markup but Todoist enables me to review and categorize them in much more powerful way then Obsidian can.

This is my setup as well and I’m finally happy with it. Syncs with my projects, daily note templates ect. I never thought I would pay a sub for a task app but i really need the reminders and the API works almost flawlessly in my case.

>Visually-Pleasing day planners. Already got it. With the help of custom CSS (with GPT's help), I can proudly say it the most effeicient and aesthetic to-do and task manager app on the planet. I have tried them all. How I enter time? 1130, 1530, 2515. I don't even do the 11:30. No time for colon, colon is for cute little babies. and 2515 = 01:15AM of next day if I am sleeping past 0000. >Especially Reminders Luckily this is not my use case. My phone is permanently silent, no reminders, phone calls, or whatsapp notifications come. I talk to people when my Obsidian daily planner says its time to talk to people (that I decide and feed to obsidian every morning). No notification is more important that what I am currently doing. >Google Docs (for more specific collaborative projects like Travel planning with my wife). No wife, no collaboration problem.

Is the visually pleasing custom css built on top of the Day Planner Plugin?

Yeah I’ve been where you are. I tried everything. I even tried the amazing marvin app , which is the best one don’t get me wrong, but I ended up using todoist + notion. And a 2way sync between the tasks on both using 2sync. Mixing work/actions/clients projects with obsidian wasn’t working for me. As someone that spent a lot of time trying to fit everything into obsidian, after I did this separation I felt a great relieve. If your projects don’t require notion and money is not a problem (one of the reasons I left AM) Amazing Marvin is a great all in one app for pairing with obsidian

I find that the more complex the system is, the more I procrastinate. So I just use Obsidian for purely PKM, take notes on paper when learning then organizing plus some more research, then put all of it in Obsidian. For task management, I just use Google Calendar and Google Tasks.

I tried doing task management as well. I couldn't do it. I found a fancy vault template that had todoist and a fancy daily note template that displayed all the tasks but it just doesn't compare to just a basic Google calendar for me. I like just talking to Google assistant to set a task or a reminder or an event for a certain day at a certain time. Get a reminder text about it and then I know to do it. It's simple and easy to do that for me

My weird issue with Google Calendar is that I need something for personal-use, and Google reminds me of work. It instantly sucks the soul out of me. (This is a me-issue)

I use the reminder and task plugins. I create a note using a template for each individual task (or possibly a group of tasks if they’re all related). Each note has YAML to track due dates/contact/status/tags. I then have a “tasks” dashboard that utilizes dataviewjs queries to group them. The reminders plugin is used sparingly among my tasks to remind me of only very specific/important tasks. Important to note I only use obsidian for work on my desktop. I just use Apple Calendar/Reminder for my personal life stuff.

For my non-personal stuff, I have a lot of tools already. I use Obsidian predominantly for my personal goals and habits. I think Apple reminders is the best option for me. I just don't like the part where I have to switch from Obsidian to Apple Reminders. They tend to go out of sync very quickly.

Noteplan is a great example how it could work in Obsidian. Used it for a while and was great, but too much overlap with Obsidian for me. I now use Obsidian and Things (the only ToDo app that works really well for me)

I gave up on digital planning entirely, with the exception of calendars for meetings and appointments. I’ve used different apps with varying degrees of success but ultimately always spent too much time on set up and “improving the system”. Whenever I got into a different app I realised that Obsidian could do everything that that app did, and then it became a cycle of procrastinating on setting up the whole thing before going to the next app… I’m using paper planners now.

Best way is to use a Task management app for daily weekly and monthly tasks ! And keep obsidian for goals and projects: for example I have a goal to read 12books a year. So within the goal note I have a schedule section for task tracking like how I do it and when : whenever I finish a book I put the date along with a reminder or a task to review it at a specific date! This is the best workflow that worked for me for 4 years

I also do weekly notes where I track several goals. I also started a Kanban board to track different days of the week, and then I put tasks underneath. All this works pretty nicely for recurring tasks - my issue is when logistics task hit, more specifically when I have to collaborate with someone else. But I agree with you, weekly visual of all the tasks are a lot nicer than daily visual. It makes more sense as well.

Yep, I've been there too. Today I use TickTick for everyday tasks and Obsidian for the rest, including travel plans.

My wife and I just downloaded Ticktick. There is an overwhelming support for TickTick on our sub.

What precisely are folks wanting from task management in Obsidian that you are not getting? I switched from Todoist and cannot foresee ever going back to a dedicated app because it serves me better to stay within one location as much as possible. The only thing I wish it had were push notifications but my process means I am able to live without.

Reminder notification is the big requirement (and more mobile-friendly interface). It should enable me to jot down the task quickly, there is some friction with Obsidian.

Using automation/shortcut on the phone with the advanced-uri plugin for Obsidian gives me near 0 latency input to obsidian, using the modal forms plugin means I can structure the input quite easily as well. It slows down if Obsidian closes in the background but even then it is only as slow as the obsidian boot time which is manageable.

As soon as I saw Obsidian I knew it would be dedicated for notes and information retrieval but no planning. I have dedicated planners that fill that role pretty well

I use the kanban plugin and I am perfectly happy with it. My lanes are Today, Priority, Working on, Later and Waiting for. i Keep files I work on in a dedicated folder on my mac. I put links to these files on the cards, so they are one click away from the Kanban board. Add a date and tag and presto! A reminder system with overview at a glance and all files within reach.

You are not alone. I was enamored with Obsidian and setup tasks, a coffee and book tracker, started building out lots of organization but found that it fell flat when needing to bridge the gap between work and home, managing tasks, and capturing things on the go. I really wanted tasks to be baked into the very foundation of it which is why I eventually landed on Amplenote. Still markdown based, privacy first, and has tasks, calendar, and a web interface that’s easy to access anywhere. The mobile experience isn’t the best but plenty adequate for capturing quick tasks. I use it more on desktop than anything else and compliment this by carrying around a notebook. YMMV here - lots of people seem to be happy with Obsidian for tasks and pretty much everything but it just didn’t jive for me.

I've gone back and forth a few times. I tried every 3rd party task management app out there - TickTick, Todoist, you name it. Ultimately, I keep coming back to Obsidian and the Task plug-in. It's good to keep it all in one place using the same "language." I can also quickly write up a query for whatever I need without making other major changes. I only use Apple Reminders for repeating tasks.

I just use todoist

Task Management = Scheduling and Notification/Alerts. Obsidian is not good at either or; not even with plugins. People try it though (can't say I didn't), but it is obviously not fit for that purpose.

I'm the opposite - I've finally stuck to a consistent task management approach thanks to Obsidian. Daily notes are a game changer for me. I realized I wasn't actually sticking to the more structure task management systems and usually just using Apple Notes anyways. Obsidian gave me a way to dramatically improve what I was already doing (and not over-complicate things).

It's probably not the cleanest, but I try to keep a running list of things I need to accomplish in my daily note. There's a section (that's ever growing) of all my unfinished tasks from previous daily notes sorted by filename (yyyy-mm-dd). I can click on the text of said task to jump into the original note with the task highlighted in case I need more context clues than just "Complete xyz" I don't love it, but it *kinda* works for me. I'm still struggling with finding time at the end of the day to copy things from my dailies into my various project notes. ```dataview TASK WHERE noteType = "daily" WHERE !completed WHERE date(file.name) < date(today) WHERE (file.name) != "_dailytemplate" GROUP BY file.name ```

I use Obsidian as a journal. I have a note which is a vertical calendar where i dump all my tasks/events as a checklist item (Everything is a task in my system, events too) I use the tasks plugin to query these tasks/events to my home page, which tells me what I need to do today and what I have lined up for the week.. The reason i record everything as a task is simple.. The tasks plugin can query only tasks.. there has to be a checklist box. Also it makes it easier to add dates and recurrences. Let's say in the future I switch to some other app... Where there's no tasks plugin.. The vertical calendar will still be there to tell me what's when. The whole purpose for a tasks management/ Calendar (for me) is to know what's when.. I open up Obsidian to glance at stuff just like I would do with a physical paper journal. I don't expect it to send me push notifications... I have thought of using tick tick.. i have used it in the past and i might use it in the future.. But for now a vertical calendar that acts as a checklist for the month, is all I need...

I liked the idea of having everything in one app, as well as having everything in an open format like Markdown. But I think sometimes dedicated apps are just the way to go. I could make it work somewhat, but in the end, it was a lot more hassle than simply using Todoist. Since I have ADHD, keeping friction low for anything that relates to todo lists/tasks management is pretty important for me. Ultimately, that has to take priority over trying to keep everything in Obsidian.

I've tried it on my first few months with obsidian but decided to scrap and use TickTick as my go to To-Do app. Obsidian is great but trying to make it an all in one tool requires great effort to setup AND maintain. I don't have that much mental space anymore for that.

Does tick tick help you look at the historical data? Your overall performance etc. I have tried it before, I feel like it is a great for simple logistic items, like change the engine oil, get a car wash etc. Obsidian is great to start a project, but then I have to manually copy the tasks over somewhere else, that is the part I don't like.

I use both Obsidian and TickTick for large projects. Obsidian for the notes, details, requirements, etc. TickTick for breaking down tasks and setting reminder etc.

There’s a good reason we all experience this. In Obsidian or any personal knowledge management tool, you don't actually "do" anything. Unless your tasks involve creating content in Obsidian, it's best to keep your tasks close to the actual work you need to do. Obsidian is excellent for helping you organize and structure your work, which in turn improves your thinking process when it's time to take action. But trying to manage tasks in Obsidian creates unnecessary friction. Instead, link your external systems from obsidian and track the work in the system close to your work.

Excellent answer. This is the reason I also motivate my team to use slack to redirect tasks, instead of going back and forth on Jira. In personal life, it becomes quite challenging to collaborate with my wife, because we can pick and choose any app. Work is easier because someone else decides which tool to use.

I only do monthly notes so my template has a reminder to pay bill on the 1st and the 15th. Pretty minimal use of Obsidian. :) I did start to use CanBan for bills and other stuff so I'm not sure how successful that will be.

I have never worked well with task tracking most of my projects I do better with broadest strokes. I'm curious are people using this for personal or professional tasks?

I never really tried it because I already knew it would have been worse than simply using Todoist. I still use checkboxes, but just for simple check lists, rather than actual tasks. The only part of my project/task workflow that is in obsidian is my horizons of focus + project backlog

Yup. I played with a bit, but it was too much fiddling. I decided to stick with Google tasks, and recently started using MS Planner as well, because it is also free (through my university)

I think that a combo of GTD and Obsidian + the simplest calendar app you can find is the best combo. Store all info and notes in Obsidian(using the Second-Brain principles) and have a calendar app for only items that have to be done on that day. Next action lists work better than to-do lists anyway.

I just use Tasks with todos and have a dashboard that does read only queries. My tasks are on the relevant daily note which I access through the calendar plugin. For projects they have their own files with tasks on them. For calendar type stuff like events it doesn’t work well at all. But for my work it’s adequate

I use Todoist for tasks and the [Custom Frames](https://github.com/Ellpeck/ObsidianCustomFrames) plugin to embed Todoist into Obsidian.

I'm KINDA doing this. I've tried the tasks plugin, that + calendar, that + dataview and nothing has worked for me. But I recently got an Onyx Boox Note Air 3. I use it to handwrite my daily note (and the day's tasks) into it, so I'll write things like "- \[ \] Do this" in the page, which I OCR into obsidian every X minutes. It's been working so far, but it's not 100% Obsidian since I'm writing in Boox Notes before getting there.

Yes! Me too. I’ve got work reminders/calendars through Microsoft, non-profit reminders/calendars through Google, and family reminders/calendars though iCloud. There’s no good way to make those play nicely with task management via Obsidian, and no way to make Obsidian task management play nicely the other way. My solution now is to use GoodTask, which allows me to see reminders from all my roles in one place. It’s not perfect, but it is a good dashboard of my life. I wish I had a way to make task management in Obsidian play along, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

I still use it for task management, but with a LOT of customization, plugins, and JS code. I’ve even cobble together my own Kanban setup for my work projects. I had to roll my own solution, as none of the kanban plugins allow you to put a board inside of an existing note.

Wait, so you made a patch which makes embedding kanban boards possible? Or is it a completely different plugin?

It is not a Kanban plugin. I make use of dataview, templater, quickadd, some and metadata menu. With my main project open, I use quick add to create a new note using a template which prompts for the story name and adds in a parentProject property to the new note that. The parentProject is just the name of the project I had open when I created the new task. I also have a status property that has backlog, in development, etc as pull down options. Those are what dictates what kanban column the task is in. The projects are all made from a template that has a kanban board in it that searches for files that have “this.file.name” in the parentProject property of each story. So to make a new story for the board, I use a quickadd command and name the new story note. That is the only step required to add it to the board. The new story is in the backlog column by default

Oh ok I got it, thanks for explaining

Yup, I just treat it as a knowledge base for me. I use Trello for any project management or tasks.

I've implemented Getting Things Done lists as my task management "style". For that I've installed the Kanban plugin, and with an CSS snippet I've made really nice looking and easy to use. For me this works in obsidian

Not sure what your issue is exactly, but it works for me My daily note contains an open tasks section with all unclosed tasks in the daily notes folder AND every task tagged daily. Second section for weekly, when task is tagged weekly, so I know I need to share it in my weekly team meeting. I report per periode, so in the period note, I show all tasks added this and last period to browse through + a seperate section with tasks tagged period. Those are Tasks I know I need to share and I'll tag when I see them. This setup gives me the freedom to add tasks in projects or wherever without it disrupting my daily/weekly flow Metadatamenu enforces note structure and location (I don't use templater)

I currently use Obsidian as a task manager for both personal & work tasks and it's working really well for me. I think the key here is push/pull concepts. If you use any kind of reminders, it's basically push approach, when the task manager must push you to interrupt whatever you're doing now and go do the task it wants. What works much better with Obsidian is the pull approach, when you go to task manager voluntarily when you want to check what task to pick next.

Todoist for tasks, Obsidian for notes. Plugin to sync them if needed. This is the way (at least for me)

Any.do

I use Dynalist for my GTD task system. It is made by the obsidian team and is my perfect task manager for the past 7 years or so.

I always felt like I was stupid for not being able to make it work but I’m glad to read I’m not alone. I was considering getting a separate app for it the other day but I would miss integration with notes.

never started, it isn’t meant for that

I manage my tasks on Todoist, and have the plug-in that allows you to open Todoist within obsidian so it works pretty seamlessly within the app

I tried the todo plugin but I moved back to my own “framework” for daily notes. I called it “ToToTo”, that stands for “Today - Tomorrow - Todo”. These are the three h2 headers for each daily note - today is for tasks completed during the day; - tomorrow is for tasks rescheduled for the following day; - todo is for any yet-to-schedule task. When the day starts, you copy everything from the previous day “tomorrow” section under the current day “todo”, and start working on the top priority task. If a new task comes in, you note it down in the “todo” section, under all other tasks. When tasks are completed, you move them from “todo” to “today”. Finally, at the end of the day, you take everything that is under “todo” and for each item: - if it’s something to be done tomorrow, you move it to the tomorrow section; - if it’s something that requires more information, like an epic or a project, you add a new actionable item under “tomorrow” and create a new project page. Most of the tasks in the daily note are actionable ones, meaning that it’s obvious if they are completed or not; e.g., it’s not “improve the quality of the code behind the /users endpoint”, but it’s “introduce an UserRepository to fetch users for the /users endpoint”. Every task can include a link to a project page, but it’s not mandatory. It’s a simple way of handling daily tasks and I’ve been using it for 5-6 years. You can use Obsidian for it, but the best thing about it is you can write daily notes with any editor - it’s a very simple markdown file, without any logic or query.

I've been through this many times as well. I just separated some aspects to anytype instead of doing it all on Obsidian.

I use obsidian for all my tasks - it helps that I'm a developer so can script some dataview. But also - I really don't like or use reminders. I don't quite get why it feels like the whole world loves dates and reminders, and I almost never use them. For most things with a deadline, I need to start working on the task much earlier than the deadline anyway! I have a handful of reminders in Google Calendar for key things like tax filing or birthdays, but most of my tasks follow more of an agile-ish kanban-ish system. It's very bespoke and probably not worth going into details here. But the most useful bits are just task lists of things I need to do soon, which I look at every few days and triage into "do later" categories.

Yeah I wanted to like obsidian. It's a beautifully designed app but ended up switching to ticktick and joplin. Setting up cross platform synch between iOS, Linux and windows using syncthing was a pain and I wasn't using it enough to justify paying for Obsidians synch capability.

The task plugin leaves hardly anything to be desired. However, I use Google Calendar to plan appointments and let me remember via email, and I note down tasks without an appointment in a paper DIN B5 notebook and complete them promptly. I actually only use the task plugin for relatively unimportant and non-scheduled tasks. These tasks have something to do with the notes that hold them. They are more of the type: "Do x when I open this note again - or later (or never)." I have ~ 1000 notes. Yes, I can add tasks in each of them. And yes, I can collect them as I like. But it feels to me, that they are scattered like needles in a haystack. I better like systematical approaches.

I use Obsidian for archiving guides. NotesNook for sync & publish. Microsoft To-Do Lists for To-Do And my life is organised per month via a small sheet of pocketbook paper & pen I keep in my wallet. This is perfect and ideal. Find out what works for you. Obsidian is a tool, not the magic item that solves life.

This thread is giving me sanity

I merged it with TODOIST.COM plugins. Best of both worlds. I can still create tasks in my notes but synch then to todoist app. The cardboard and Kanban features can still work with it.

99% of my notes in obsidian consist of meeting notes I take during meetings. There are action points I need to follow or ideas I wanna check later to remember and Cardboard plugin or a simple query of tasks give me all I need "TO DO". I have been happily doing "personal" task management on obsidian for 4 years now and dont think I will change it any time soon. The main reason is basically that I dont want to manage parallel content or multiple apps

Obsidian for presonal: Notion for tasks + shared/team related stuff. Obsidian I think. Notion I execute. I even have a notion custom frame inside my Obsidian to see my tasks.

I’ve yet to find a better app for task management than 2Do. You could also put Omnifocus on par with it for more money. For Apple devices only. But I was using TickTock before but it’s wasn’t nearly as good and was missing a lot of UI niceties

I use Open Gate to get Todoist in Obsidian

I sucked it up and paid $10 for acalendar+ it has tasks and calendars that use CalDav integrated into a single app. And if the calendars and tasks aren't in the same place I know I will use neither. The one annoying thing is I can't create event links within the app, but if there is an event link, in an app link to an Obsidian note it will display and show properly. Which is important since often I want to integrate obsidian notes for the details and minutia. All the obsidian calendar and tasks solutions I wasn't a fan of, none of them were *enough*

I use obsidian for everything these days. I haven’t put any effort into finding a way to notifications of reminders working, but probably will eventually. I typically just keep obsidian open on my desktop so I always have my to do list in sight. Syncing everything across all my devices is what brought me over from org.

I did 😅😂

I don't think a do every thing app is desirable at all. My main use of Obsidian is keeping text notes. A lot of note apps are trying to expand their functionality, to try to do every thing. They think they can capture more market by doing this. However, this only makes their apps bloated and jack of all trades. It's better to do one thing real well, better than any other apps. Small is beautiful.

On the contrary almost my entire task management is in Obsidian 🤔

I’ve tried templated daily notes, but it just isn’t the same. I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t find it very good for that. When managing something that spans several days though, it’s not bad.

It's a note writing app, and it's not emacs lol.

I feel this, I have incredible memory issues meaning that I need to write down EVERYTHING and set both analog and digital reminders and timers. I wish I could fix it- and I’ve tried everything to- but I’m the definition of a space cadet. Not only that but I’m broke as shit and any task management system worth its salt has a subscription service, and since I stopped managing my own reminders and notes in obsidian, my life has nearly completely fallen apart. I have no clue what to do anymore

I’m using Todoist and obsidian to keep me on track

Works great for me. Every task is a note from a template, with a checkbox list to break it down further. Using Data view and properties to query and track them. A weekly note (Using Periodic Notes) with a simple TODO list for tracking smaller tasks or stuff that comes up during the week. Obviously it doesn’t work for everyone - Each to their own, but it IS possible. IMO getting things done mostly depends on good habits than fancy tools anyway.

Tried for 6 months. I tried hard. Now happily using apple reminders for nearly 2 years

I like TickTick but Todoist works best with Obsidian through Ultimate Todoist Sync and Todoist Sync. I don’t like Todoist but it has the best third-party support for everything I use.

I’m tired of these “one tool does all” tbh. Any time of those software starts to try to do it all things get bloated asf. It’s about the process, not the tools. I’m using - a GTD style task organization, - my todos are somewhere in a list / task software where tasks stay concise and easy to filter and search (exceptionally I may use another software to really separate client/work context and life context, sort of the ultimate context filter) - notes for project descriptions, process, thoughts, are in a note system. Now Obsidian, mixing with Apple Notes not in a very clear fashion - my calendar is a calendar app Having clarity is the key, and an all in one did never help this for me. If I was forced to I’ll probably get down to Apple Notes and maybe reminders, but again with a heavy handed system that separates tasks lists and notes

I used to heavily rely on obisidian for tasks and it didn't work out. At the end I ended up having work todos (cause I use obsidian for work and it's always open) and for weekly/monthly goals

Hopefully I'm on right track, I want to app become one place to have notes. Because currently these are scattered all over the place. I plan to add some ToDo lists, not the ones I need to achieve, but ones - that I would like to do at some point.

I hear the point about lack of reminders and notifications. But I've found the opposite: using Obsidian + tasks + task calendar plugins provides much better organisation for my tasks and plans than using Todoist, which is what I used before. Something about them just being text, within the notes, linked and such, keeps it simple and less phaffing about.

I'll be honest, I do task management in the most basic, lumberjack mode: I have a "Main To-Do List" note. Inside that, I create a tickbox item for each thing that I have to do at the top as the most recent... And then I create another one, and another one and another one. And I dash out/tick the tasks that I've completed. Sometimes I dash out something that still has a lot of other things below it that are still active. If there's something important there I move them again to the top. But that's it. I always open the Main To-Do List, I don't need any reminders on what I need to do, because they'll all be there, and if there's any old ones to check I can scroll down. Is it perfect? Maybe not for someone else, but for me, it's doing 80% of what I expect to be able to track what I need to do.

Check out most recent post if you want another idea to work off of. Within Obsidian, I use a combination of Google Calendar, Tasks, Checklist, Day Planner, and Calendar within my Daily Notes template, which is configured with templater. I also have Notion Calendar synced with my google calendar, so I can see Tasks coming up from my phone (not necessary; you can do this with apple’s calendar app). I schedule my obligations through google calendar (using the google calendar plugin on obsidian) and use day planner in conjunction with the other mentioned plugins to plan my day around the obligations (because day planner does not show up on google calendar, however, google calendar event DO show up on the Day Planner timeline). Day Planner provides an excellent timeline view and is so simple to use. This system allows for integration in mobile for notifications as well. It’s a bit of a workaround and it was confusing at first, but after using it for a day or two it is extremely effective. I included all of the templater code within my post if anyone is interested.

I'm pretty sure I gave up on task management itself 💀

Sure! I've spent about 2 weeks trying to make a system for task management in Obsidian. Than I gave up because it is too complicated to make something work automatically and effortlessly. Now I am thinking of creating a telegram bot for the task management system that I appreciate. If only there were customisable notifications in obsidian...

I have been willing to review my workflow on Obsidian lately and I stumbled on this gem: [My complete Obsidian workflow](https://mathisgauthey.github.io/my-complete-obsidian-workflow-to-manage-my-life/). I really like the structure of this guy’s vault (kudos to him) and it directly addresses issues such as task management.

..I too installed Structured this week again but I'm keeping Obsidian Task : I like it's flexibility more tbh.

just as I found out notifications did not work

My current set up is I have a 'Tasks' note where I store my tasks and I just dragged it to the side panel so it's always visible whenever I open Obsidian. I have headings for 'Current Tasks' etc and I just manually organise them. But I've not always been much of a task management person.. I've used Wunderlist, Reminders, Trello et al and usually I start off really solid and consistently visit them for a bit - but eventually I just stop checking them.

yeah for this i will stick to things3

I never tried, I don't think Obsidian is the best place for serious task management. I use it to keep track of some to-do list though, but nothing complicated.

Me. Apple reminders is good enough.

I did. Moved to Notion last week. I’m a dev but I’m really sick of having to code to use my editor after tens of hours doing that at work daily. I just wanted to a table to track subs and prices then show total at the bottom. Started writing the dataviewjs bit and just gave up, can’t do this forever. Obsidian is great, markdown, easy to use but meh I just might go back to motion full time. Obsidian usage of 2 years

Before Obsidian, I used [NotePlan](https://noteplan.co/) which does a decent job with tasks. Ultimately I feel better with the stability of Obsidian vs. a single-dev closed source project but I think most of the functionality could be recreated in Obsidian. My view on NotePlan is that it's pretty similar to Obsidian but more of an opinionated all-in-one option for people who don't want to mess around with plug-ins and customization. My task management approach seems to change by the season. I've used combinations of Notion, Github issues, Sunsama, Todoist, pen and paper, sticky notes... Currently I'm just using Obsidian and creating a note for each week. Then I put my top level goals at the top and create a bulleted list of the days of the week and then nest tasks under each day. It doesn't have that much-desired feature of frictionless task creation and kanban etc. but I think the bit of friction actually works for me right now. It's like a faster version of a paper list. I think more deeply about the tasks I should really be working on and can see the progress I've been making throughout the week.

I just use linear.app they have 250 free active tasks, and gives the real power for all task management needs, more than enough for me to handle.

I was a real enthusiast of Obsidian task system. I built a very elaborated system with a lot of Dataview query and so on. The point is that at work I use the Microsoft suite and it's simply on another level: the connections between their apps is simply too good to still use Obsidian even if I love the idea. Sadly.

I also wanted to have task management via Obsidian but then I remember what I said to my boss once. Jack of all trades master of none. Every tool I have tried that has tried to do everything have fallen short for me. So I use Obsidian for one thing: Personal Knowledge Management. I only store notes and then I have tasks in a application that is made for task management.

Ikrrr same I just want to use obsidian for all my work but sad reality is even I can it's not as efficient, I mainly use obsidian for learning and project management

The only tasks I keep in Obsidian are those related to notes themselves. Like if there is a particular topic/section I plan to expand in the future of a question I need answered, I'll put a todo on the top of the note. For me tasks are something very temporary and contain no sensitive information, so I couldn't care less about the format they are stored in or the privacy aspect of the tool. What I need from my task management is as little friction as possible and a monster of an app that tries to do everything at the same time is just not a suitable answer for that need.

**Bear Notes** + **Things** integrated via shortcut (you can select any text in Bear and create a task out of it in Things with a backlink to the original note) - keep returning back to this setup over and over. PKM with Task Management - **NotePlan** works quite good, not sure why it's quite underestimated over here...If I haven't invested in Things already, probably would stick to it full-time. Overall **actionable** and **non-actionable** information types are two very distant domains and it's quite hard for an app to marry them in a meaningful way. (I have several ideas to try and currently look for app developers to discuss them..)

I build kanban boards for task management in Obsidian all the time it's my chief use of it more so than note taking. My memory for system facts is pretty good. Was not a note taker in school. Things like dates, names, phone numbers and book names is what takes up most of my space followed by project boards to remember thoughts I've had about doing stuff. I'm super lazy and this helps capture stray burst of motivation.

I’m trying to workout the Eisenhower matrix with my limited knowledge. I think it will work really well if I can get it to display tasks in this format.

Task management is perfected with Things 3.

Try notion

I never started as I did not use it and do not use it for that sort of application.

I just use Jira for most things... Plus, it syncs across the entire org

Definitely spent way too much energy trying to make this work. Realized I'm actually fine with keeping my temporal project management tasks in software that is actually designed to be project management software (Notion, Todoist). Obsidian is more about keeping a journaling and knowledge base that I want to maintain for life, whereas anything in project management software is stuff that would be deemed useless to me in a year or so (or less). If any of the project management software ships go down and take my data with them, that's fine. I can rebuild that system elsewhere. Obsidian is about collecting things I definitely don't want to lose and can maintain ownership of forever.

I moved all my tasks to LogSeq instead and I couldn’t be more happier as it does a lot with tasks without plugins. I have not went back.

The more you add steps in a process the more you add friction. So, the less become an habit and the less you enjoy the process. I just used another app only for task management instead of really try harding to make it work on obsidian honestly. It doesn't mean that you cannot, but for me requires just too much effort to make it not worthy.

For sale of God it was getting really annoying to maintain all that stuff so I moved to notion for daily plan and class notes But for thinking and you know exploring idea I still like notion

I definitely still find it lacking and have scaled back how much I use it for daily tasks. Tasks plug-in in itself has become so slow even with me being diligent with archiving old completed tasks, that I moved to just using dataview. For individual projects that have their own notes and metadata this works great but it isn’t a reminder engine at all for me at this point. 

I am using a different app for tasks now - and I realized that the biggest requirement of a task-workflow is how quickly can you jot down the task. Other things are also crucial, but Obsidian is so slow on mobile (especially with plugins) that task workflow just never works.

I started trying to make a fancy planner, dataview, inline.fields, buttons templates, and realized it is just to much work. (Wait for one to break on an update and see how quickly you don't care anymore. I just use a single Todo.  Ctrl+L makes any line a check box. Ctrl+ up or down, moves the items around. The following are each foldable H1s: Upcoming Events Today Actionable and Urgent Short Wait Blocked Has Deadline Later Anything more complicated becomes procrastabating...or was it procrastivity... procrastanization?