Support todo.txt format [will not be implemented]

[dadamsuk]

The todo.txt format is quite widely used and supported by other tools. How things are specified is clearly defined. Is there a reason not to support that format? It feels like it would extend the applicability of this - the widespread use of that format plus the power of your querying tools would make a good combination.

[schemar]

Thanks for the suggestion! I like the idea. However, this would require some effort and it is currently not a priority for me.

On a side note: Supporting letters as priority should be possible when I add priorities.

Some things are not entirely clear to me. For example, I am not sure how you would do context and project tags. What would you suggest? Also: would all todos be in a single file or would we need to parse every line of every file in the vault to find all todos?

[Holi0317]

Would all todos be in a single file or would we need to parse every line of every file in the vault to find all todos?

Have been thinking for this for a while. I am thinking using code fence to define the todo.txt block because the now abandoned obsidian todo.txt plugin says:

Obsidian API as of Nov 2021 does not provide a clear way to implement new text file formats that integrate into obsidian in the same way that the markdown editor does

Wrapping todo.txt with code fence like following seems the easy way to go with.

```todotxt
2021-12-19 Clean garbage
.``` <-- Ignore the first dot

Anyway, I think supporting todo.txt format should deserve a separate plugin rather than cramping into this one.

[schemar]

Anyway, I think supporting todo.txt format should deserve a separate plugin rather than cramping into this one.

At the moment, I completely agree with this. It's quite different and I cannot stem the maintenance overhead it would incur.

[ccchan234]

Anyway, I think supporting todo.txt format should deserve a separate plugin rather than cramping into this one.

At the moment, I completely agree with this. It's quite different and I cannot stem the maintenance overhead it would incur.

hey,
previously/currently i, on android, use simpletask and/or markor to handle the todo.txt format; they can handle todo.md files too (of course, both are ASCII text files).

for this discussion, i guess the problem is, for an entry, how can it be recognized in simpletask/markor YET also recognized as an entry in this obsidian-task plugin.

obsidian alone +/- any plugin ON THE ROAD is not competitive to the above 2 apps.

so "an entry understandable by obsidian+plugin or simpletask/markor" is the solution.

currently an entry there is like:
(A) 2021-09-21 buy apple +personal @freetime

and currently ob-task need - [ ] to be at the very front:

• (A) 2021-09-21 buy apple +personal @freetime

which makes ST/MK cant recognize them.

is it possible to let us use the label #task or other means IN MIDDLE/AT THE END to mark it as an ob-task?

(A) 2021-09-21 buy apple +personal @freetime - [ ] [pri::A] [cat::3] #task

in this way, the entry may be understood by ST/MK and ob-task; yet i personally have to keep the first part and the latter part synchronized.

thanks

ps:

i also want to use dataview on .todo.txt, so that it can grab those #task in my vault, and i can sort them.

thanks

[pcause]

I'd also like this as an import/export capability.

The format is in order:

• x if done
• prioriry letter [A-Z] is more than enough. You could have an option to set high/normal/low letter values for import/export. on import anything between high and normal is high, etc
• creation date, something you don't have yet, but is optional, so can be skipped for now.
• text of the todo,

in the text of the todo there are conventions that have been adopted:

• t:YYY-MM-YY means start date
• due:YY-MM-DD means due date
• rec:N[dwm] is a recurring item where N is a number and d is days, w weeks, m months
• +project is a project tag
• @context is a context (work, office, etc)

today I can put the projects and contexts in one of your todos and you have recurring. Seems export would be a good first stepes to create a new note in the same folder with the export.

For import you could also make the projects and contexts tags, and use an emoji for each to represent in obsidian. like you do for due date today.

I think the start/scheduled would overlap in meaning for todo.txt as start doesn't hide hide anything but todo.txt is extensible so maybe sch:YYY-MM-DD is used for scheduled.

For me, having an export would be #1 of what is there already.

[claremacrae]

The focus of the Tasks plugin is on getting data from Markdown lists.

The todo.txt format is completely different, and not compatible with the Tasks code. As said above, it should be a different plugin.

And existing workload from user requests is already immense.

So I am marking this wontfix, to avoid any expectation that it will be fixed.

[claremacrae]

Since Discussions can now be closed, I am closing this, which was already marked as "status: wontfix".