In any note, I can add a code block with the special type tasks and create an ad-hoc to-do list for tasks that satisfied a given query. There’s a handful of plugins that can help you collect tasks in a more global list, but I chose towards Obsidian Tasks because of its custom query block. I’ve tried to replicate this quite closely in Obsidian.īy default, Obsidian doesn’t have any real organization for tasks beyond Markdown support for rendering checkboxes and a special filter in the core Search plugin.

My tasks could stay in the context of the notes and project that spawned them in the first place, but could be collected together into a global to-do list on command by calling up the agenda buffer. Like I mentioned in Part Zero, the first real productivity workflow that clicked for me was Org Mode’s agenda system.

As an added bonus, because I’m keeping notes about my day and what I’m reading, it’s easy for me to keep tasks in the context of the thoughts that spawned them. Community plugins and external tools have made Obsidian work just as well for me as any task management app I’ve used in the past. But just because it wasn’t built as a to-do app, doesn’t mean it can’t become one. Obsidian is first and foremost a Markdown editor with first-class support for internal links between notes.

Obsidian todoist