Exclude certain folder(s) for Set done date on every completed task

[kohane27]

Hello there! Hope you're doing well.

Thank you for making such a great plugin. This makes GTD task management possible in Obsidian!

I'm using the Global task filter #task. I also have the Set done date on every completed task option toggled on. I'd like the option to exclude "Obsidian Tasks from working in certain folders." Please see the video below:

simplescreenrecorder-2022-06-15_13.27.31.mp4

It's from my daily note. Checking the box produces the done date, which is a bit of a misnomer. However, I do want to have this done date feature on other notes.

Thank you!

[claremacrae]

There isn't currently a way to do this. But can you please explain why setting the done date in a daily note is a misnomer? Why did you tick it off, if it was not done?

[claremacrae]

Hi @kohane27

Just to add to my question above... I found out today that if I complete a task with the built-in command 'Toggle checkbox status' it does not add the completion date, so this might provide a workaround, for occasions when you are completing tasks that you don't want to have the completion date added.

[kohane27]

@claremacrae Thank you for responding quickly:)

why setting the done date in a daily note is a misnomer? Why did you tick it off, if it was not done?

Misnomer in the sense that since it's a daily note, a check mark already implies it's done on that particular day, so it doesn't require the need of a done date.

But for my use case, it's just visual clutter (and I can easily just manually delete the done date in my daily notes). I thought excluding certain folders might be useful in some other cases, hence the suggestion. But I guess this feature is not needed or useful to others.

Thank you again. I really appreciate it. Also thank you for taking the role as a new maintainer. Seeing your new commits and new feature updates are very exciting for every user of Obsidian Tasks.

[claremacrae]

Hi @kohane27

why setting the done date in a daily note is a misnomer? Why did you tick it off, if it was not done?

Misnomer in the sense that since it's a daily note, a check mark already implies it's done on that particular day, so it doesn't require the need of a done date.

Ah right, thank you. So not so much that it was mis-named, as that it was duplicate information so unnecessary... I see.

But for my use case, it's just visual clutter (and I can easily just manually delete the done date in my daily notes). I thought excluding certain folders might be useful in some other cases, hence the suggestion. But I guess this feature is not needed or useful to others.

We can wait and see how many up-votes this gets. That will be a guide, over time, as to its popularity.

Some people might end up doing a find-and-replace in their daily notes, using Visual Studio Code or similar, to remove unwanted completion dates, I suppose.

Thank you again. I really appreciate it. Also thank you for taking the role as a new maintainer. Seeing your new commits and new feature updates are very exciting for every user of Obsidian Tasks.

Thank you very much for those very kind words! ❤️

[nathanielburbank]

The lack of this feature is the main thing holding me back from adopting this plugin. I have a "tasks" folder in my vault that contains the tasks I use with my GTD system, and I would love to use this plugin to manage those. The global filter lets me focus on just this folder with my queries, which is good.
However, every time I edit or interact with a checklist item in another part of my vault, I end up with extra visual clutter I don't want. The only current option is to turn these features off globally (meaning I can't get their benefits when I'm working on items in my Tasks folder) or constantly be correcting for their additions.

[claremacrae]

The lack of this feature is the main thing holding me back from adopting this plugin.

That’s absolutely fine - no problem at all. As volunteer maintainers of free software, we are never going to be able to please everyone, and we have to be able to prioritise things that some combination of:

• We are interested in using our free time to work on
• We personally will find the feature valuable
• The feature will benefit a large proportion of existing and potential users

With only two upvotes this particular isn’t currently going to be considered a very high priority.

[CarelessLisper]

I would also love this to be a feature. I use checkboxes for a shopping list as well and would prefer not to have a completion date added to each ingredient when I check it off.

[endquote]

Looking for this sort of thing too. And similar to #1163. One way it could be implemented:

• a new frontmatter property: TQ_enabled
• a new plugin setting: enabled by default

When enabled by default is true, tasks manages markdown checkboxes in all files where TQ_enabled has not specifically been set to false.

When enabled by default is false, tasks manages markdown checkboxes in all files where TQ_enabled has not specifically been set to true.

By "manages", I mean the "set done date" functionality but also the typing suggestions.

[claremacrae]

Thank you for the comment.

That is roughly the way I might expect this to work.

I chose the prefix TQ to control Tasks Query behaviour.

I would expect a different prefix to be used for this feature though, as it is not a query thing.

I would also want the name to be more specific or descriptive than ‘enabled’.

I envisage there being some frontmatter properties with names roughly similar to some of the options in Tasks settings - allowing frontmatter values on specific notes to override the values in the vault’s Tasks settings.

And then some major refactoring would be required to how Tasks reads the settings, to provide an abstraction to look for a particular settings value:

1. First in the file containing the task
2. Then on data.json

This issue is not currently prioritised for implementation. See the project Roadmap (linked at the top of the README) for the things currently prioritised for implementation, based on the maximum benefit to:

1. Users
2. Me, doing user support.

[claremacrae]

Just to be clear, I do not intend to introduce a new setting for this. I expect to provide additional ways to control the current settings.