Automatic creation date about obsidian-tasks HOT 29 CLOSED

An alternative would be to be able to select multiple tasks and change their dates all at once.

That's a nice idea, and is definitely a different thing from this request... which I would label with scope: bulk edits.

There is only one bulk-edit feature request so far:

• #1160

from obsidian-tasks.

Appends ➕ [today's date] to the end of the current line, if the line does not already contain ➕

I didn't know about the Commander plugin, and if it can do that, I can see it fixing my problem. I'll look into it, thank you.

Not sure where my previous description went wrong, but in case it helps, the only reason for me to use the pop-up was so that the created date was added to the task. Any way that allows me to add the date and move to the next task entry with minimal distraction/fuss is good with me.

from obsidian-tasks.

In case anyone finds this while looking for options:

After looking a bit into QuickAdd, Templater, core templates, Commander... it looked relatively easy to just blindly add a "+ date" to the current line; but it is a very different thing to do it in a way that works whether the line is a task or not, or if it already has a date, or that removes the date if the task is toggled back into a simple bullet point.

Fortunately there's the ToggleList plugin, which deals with all of this (and more!) quite nicely, without needing to reach out for the mouse at all.

from obsidian-tasks.

I typically find myself creating multiple tasks in rapid succession in a list, for example taking action items during / after a meeting. Trying to do this and adding e.g. creation dates is currently cumbersome / involved.

Can you please say how you create those? What steps do you use?

from obsidian-tasks.

Also, if you are simply typing a list item, hitting return, typing the next item, then I have found it's very easy to use Auto-Suggest to add the created date as you go: Adding Created date to tasks.

from obsidian-tasks.

Probably the most universal would be to just have an option to have today's date automatically added to every new task.

I do not believe that there is a way for Tasks to do that. Auto-suggest is the closest thing.

from obsidian-tasks.

Can you please say how you create those? What steps do you use?

In my current configuration: lists are continued automatically, Cmd+Enter is mapped to "Tasks: create or edit":

1. I start typing a line
2. press Cmd+Enter
3. the tasks pop-up apperas, I accept it with Enter
4. I'm in the next line, which is a task. Type some more.
5. press Cmd+Enter
6. The pop-up doesn't appear because of (4). The pop-up won't appear again unless delete the line to restart the list.

from obsidian-tasks.

Trying to do this and adding e.g. creation dates is currently cumbersome / involved.

This is the bit of the request that makes me suspect that you are not using Auto-Suggest - it works very well when configured to your tastes.

I have changed its settings to this, so it doesn't pop up all the time, and I get more suggestions:

  "autoSuggestInEditor": true,
  "autoSuggestMinMatch": 1,
  "autoSuggestMaxItems": 11,

2 works well for autoSuggestMinMatch as well...

from obsidian-tasks.

"autoSuggestMinMatch": 1,

To me, having the suggestions pop-up appear randomly while typing is pretty distracting. Maybe if there was a hotkey for that...? but that again turns into a sequence of hot/keys per task created.

from obsidian-tasks.

Can you please say how you create those? What steps do you use?

In my current configuration: lists are continued automatically, Cmd+Enter is mapped to "Tasks: create or edit":

1. I start typing a line
2. press Cmd+Enter
3. the tasks pop-up apperas, I accept it with Enter
4. I'm in the next line, which is a task. Type some more.
5. press Cmd+Enter
6. The pop-up doesn't appear because of (4). The pop-up won't appear again unless delete the line to restart the list.

Ah right, that's not a usage pattern I've seen before, so it's rather valuable information to include in the request - thank you.

So, because there's not an access key for Created date in the modal, you would have to tab through the fields to use td + space to add the date there.

With the above flow, if I understand your flow correctly, I would do the following:

• 3 the tasks pop-up apperas, I accept it with Enter
• 3.5 Type ` cr to append creation date to the line just edited by the modal.
• 4 I'm in the next line, which is a task. Type some more.

from obsidian-tasks.

"autoSuggestMinMatch": 1,

To me, having the suggestions pop-up appear randomly while typing is pretty distracting. Maybe if there was a hotkey for that...? but that again turns into a sequence of hot/keys per task created.

Agreed - that's why I am suggesting increasing the min-match setting.

If you haven't tried it out with that field adjusted, please do. It works well.

from obsidian-tasks.

3.5 Type ` cr to append creation date to the line just edited by the modal.

I don't think I'm following. With this I just end up with `cr appended to the line.

Anyway, I should have mentioned that in my Tasks configuration I enabled "Set created date on every added task", so the created date is already populated in the popup and I don't need to tab my way inside it. So I can really just type my line, press Cmd+Enter, press Enter... which would be OK, if only it kept working with every line.

If you haven't tried it out with that field adjusted, please do. It works well.

It does work, but in effect the workflow now is

1. Ensure that you're in a task line (which turns into its own separate problem; new hotkey?)
2. Type the task
3. Type the sequence C-R-E-Enter-Enter.

Plus the distraction of random popups whenever I happen to type the beginning a tasks keyword, making sure I'm not accepting the popup, etc. Lots of papercuts.

from obsidian-tasks.

OK, well I don't understand the above, from your earlier description - but it doesn't matter.

I'm currently adjusting the Edit Task modal so that there is an access key and it will be just a few keystrokes to your muscle memory, to populate the Created date for second and subsequent tasks.

So that will give you another option, and I will release that shortly.

I understand that this may not be as streamlined as you would like, but I have to balance where to spend volunteer time, and I will never be able to satisfy everybody's requests.

Some more suggestions, that use existing capabilities in other tools and plugins:

• Investigate tools like AutoHotKey (Windows), Alfred (Mac) or similar, to append the Created date
• Look at the Commander plugin in combination with the Templater plugin, create a Macro that:
  • Appends ➕ [today's date] to the end of the current line, if the line does not already contain ➕
  • And then opens the Modal
  • You could then give that macro the shortcut Cmd + Enter

Actually, that last one would work really well and not have to change your muscle memory at all. That's definitely what I would do.

from obsidian-tasks.

In view of this size of the backlog for this project, and the demotivating effect of a very long backlog on volunteer energy levels, I'm going through a continual process of reviewing tasks for things that are one or more of the following:

• unlikely to be realistically achievable, from the design of the current code, and the planned future refactorings
• not sufficiently high priority to a broad community of users, based on the feedback I receive from a variety of sources
• do not fit the core purpose of the Tasks plugin
• are better covered by a different plugin - to share the development and maintenance effort

So I'm marking this one as 'not planned'. This doesn't mean 'won't fix' - it means not likely to be done in the foreseeable future.

from obsidian-tasks.

the only reason for me to use the pop-up was so that the created date was added to the task

Oh right, then the solution is much, much simpler - that would be trivial to do with QuickAdd, Templater or some combination of both those plugins...

No need for Commander at all.

from obsidian-tasks.

Changing to 'Won't fix' - it's definitely not worth spending time on something that is so easy to do with existing plugins.

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Thank you for the update.

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