Should Query "Done After <date>" include "Not Done"?

[MalignantCarp]

So I recently realized that my daily note queries were showing current unfinished tasks as opposed to the tasks that were actually unfinished as of that particular date, so I rewrote my queries to specify the unfinished tasks as "Done After", and for the older entries, where those tasks had been long completed, this seemed to work just fine. But as I approached tasks that were unfinished, I realized the queries were showing no tasks. Then I realized why: those tasks are not yet done, so they're not being returned by the query.

It seems to me that a task that is not finished should still qualify as being done after a particular date, because as of that date, it was not done, but having reviewed the source code for the particular parts of the query in question, I see why it is not responding in the manner I expected.

I'm not sure if others expect this sort of functionality, but it would be useful to have, even if just optionally via some other qualifier or with some sort of combinatory query (not done OR done after ).

Thoughts?

[schemar]

Thank you for the idea @MalignantCarp. The current behavior with regards to done/not done is what most people expect, I think. The current way to have "tasks that are not done" and "tasks that are done" in a daily note is using multiple queries. Something like:

## Done Today
```tasks
done today
```

## Overdue
```tasks
not done
due before today
```

## Scheduled
```tasks
not done
scheduled before tomorrow
```

Of course, adapt it to your needs. An older daily agenda example is in the documentation: https://schemar.github.io/obsidian-tasks/advanced/daily-agenda/
But it doesn't use scheduled.

[claremacrae]

There are no plans to change the search behaviour for this question, but note that Boolean combinations of filters have been available since 1.9.0.

[MalignantCarp]

Hmmm, I'm not quite sure you understood where I was coming from, so allow me to illustrate.

So, my daily notes are a snapshot of a particular date. So I always embed that specific date (no today/tomorrow for me) so the queries show the state of tasks as of that date. When I look back on a daily note, I am looking to see what the state of tasks was on that date: Tasks I added, tasks I completed, tasks that were unfinished at the time.

Thus what I am looking for is more "tasks that were not done" vs "tasks done" and "tasks not done". Technically speaking, any task that is still unfinished is a task that was not done on that date.

Currently, the only way to achieve that is to have two queries:

## Started On/Before May 22, 2022 (Unfinished)
```tasks
not done
starts before 2022-05-23
```

## Completed After May 22, 2022
```tasks
done after 2022-05-22
starts before 2022-05-23
```

When combined, these queries show the same thing: a task that started on or before but was not done on May 22.

Does that clarify where I'm coming from?

[claremacrae]

... Technically speaking, any task that is still unfinished is a task that was not done on that date.

Interesting. Even if it wasn't yet created on that date?

Started On/Before May 22, 2022 (Unfinished)

not done
starts before 2022-05-23

I'm curious as to how the above works, having learned recentlyin the docs for the starts filter:

When filtering queries by start date, the result will include tasks without a start date.

I'm guessing that all your tasks have start dates, for this to work as you described...

If not, then #629 may help, when the next release is made. That PR adds these extra instructions:

has due date
has start date
has scheduled date

So perhaps adding has start date to your 'Started On/Before May 22, 2022 (Unfinished)` block would help it match your probable intention.

When combined, these queries show the same thing: a task that started on or before but was not done on May 22.

It's good to hear that you do have searches already that match what you want...

If the above doesn't help, then please could you say again what the problem is with your current search is?

[MalignantCarp]

Haha. You got me. I do in fact always include a start date. But you are quite correct, the proposed change would yield unfinished tasks that hadn't been created yet without accounting for start date.

[claremacrae]

Should Query "Done After " include "Not Done"?

I think the suggestion is to change 'done after yyyy-mm-dd' so that it also includes tasks that are not done, and therefore have no 'done' date...

If I understand this correctly, then I feel it would be a recipe for confusion, and breaking lots of existing searches...

My first thought when I saw the task blocks in #672 (comment) was that if there was a problem with those task blocks having separate results lists, then something more general such as boolean combinations of filters would be a good approach?

[MalignantCarp]

My suggestion was merely whether or not 'Done After <date>' should include tasks that are not done.

(Though having said that now, I feel like I saw in some earlier suggestions about removing the done date from tasks, which could throw a wrench into things if a task is done but has no done date).

Boolean combinations would certainly be more than adequate, and probably the best approach, though more complex to implement.

[claremacrae]

(Though having said that now, I feel like I saw in some earlier suggestions about removing the done date from tasks, which could throw a wrench into things if a task is done but has no done date).

That's true. Other scenarios for having completed tasks without Done dates include:

• User has imported Markdown in to Obsidian with tasks that were completed before using Obsidian (or the Tasks plugin)
• User also view tasks via Dataview queries, and sometimes marks them as complete, in which case no Done date will be added
• User didn't want to the clutter of done dates, so turned off this setting in Tasks' preferences:

Boolean combinations would certainly be more than adequate, and probably the best approach, though more complex to implement.

Agreed!