Adding start date automatically when changing status to IN_PROGRESS, and vice versa?

[FilSalustri]

I use the custom status feature of Tasks.

Given a task that has no start date and status type TODO, I've noticed that if I set the task to a status of type IN_PROGRESS, no start date is added.

I thought those two changes would be linked so that if I changed the status from type TODO to IN_PROGRESS, then it'd automatically get a start date that matched the date of the change of status - and vice versa.

Example 1: When the current date is on or after the start date of a task, its status changes to an IN_PROGRESS type.
Example 2: When a task without a start date changes status from TODO to IN_PROGRESS, a start date is set automatically.

Am I missing something? I've looked through all the doc and the discussions, and I can't find anything helpful.

[claremacrae]

Hi @FilSalustri

It's kind of hard to say without knowing how you are making the changes, but I wonder whether you are re-discovering this warning in the docs for the Edit task modal:

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Getting+Started/Create+or+edit+Task

[claremacrae]

Oh no, I misunderstood.

Start date is completely independent of status.

[claremacrae]

Start date is intended as the date when you intend to start work on the task.
Not a record of when you actually started working on it.
https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Getting+Started/Dates#%F0%9F%9B%AB+Start

[FilSalustri]

Ah. Okay. That's a perfectly sensible approach. I misunderstood.

Bit of a challenge, though, to keep it straight. At least for my poor brain.
I appreciate the quick reply.