Add option to hide all tags [done] and specific tags [not yet done]

[mariuskimmina]

Referring to: https://obsidian-tasks-group.github.io/obsidian-tasks/queries/layout/

I would like an option to hide tags. I use a filter like this

tags include ba
hide backlink
hide edit button

So I know that all task in this list have the tag ba and I would like to hide that, which currently doesn't seem to be an option - or am I missing something?

[claremacrae]

Hi @mariuskimmina, thanks for the question.

Sorry, I'm not aware of a way of doing this.

[ManonLef]

I’d love this option ❤️

[claremacrae]

If you haven’t up-voted it, please do. That’s how I’m tracking interest (too time-consuming to remember or review all the comments!)

[ManonLef]

First thing I did. Fully understandable you like that method and I saw you mention that on discord. Thanks for your sublime work Clare.

[ghost]

I need this too

[claremacrae]

Fixing this depends on #929 being fixed, so that the display code will have a reliable list of the tags in the task, and not accidentally break the display of text which wasn't a tag, but Tasks thought it was.

[claremacrae]

Another request: #1203 - which has some useful suggestions for the instructions and behaviour.

[claremacrae]

Another request: #1397

[claremacrae]

This is partially fixed in release 4.1.0.

There are now instructions hide tags and show tags.

It's not yet possible to show and hide specific tags yet.

[ManonLef]

Thanks for the update @claremacrae 💪

[ksdavidc]

Seems that explain does not mention tags being hidden. Might be useful.

[claremacrae]

@ksdavidc Yes. Explain only explains filters currently.

If you have time to check if there is already a feature request for explaining show/hide, and if not, to create one, that would be a great help.

[claremacrae]

Logged as #2093 - thank you.

[siebentod]

individual tag can be hidden with a snippet

a.tag[data-tag-name="#quick"] {
display: none;
}

[claremacrae]

Thanks. That works if you want to hide it everywhere.

This issue is about hiding it in particular tasks query blocks.

[claremacrae]

individual tag can be hidden with a snippet

a.tag[data-tag-name="#quick"] { display: none; }

@siebentod Ahah - I've just realised that Tasks could use this behind the scenes, though, to hide individual tags on user request - many thanks!

[claremacrae]

See also #2305

[dictionarymouse]

I would use this to hide the included tags in a query, especially where the context (callout, section headings) already makes it clear, for example: Heading: Morning, query: "#morning". The morning tag adds nothing but visual clutter, but there could be a tag like "medical" or "financial" that is informative.

[calebhearth]

For interest tracking purposes, it seems like this discussion may be incorrectly conflating hiding all tags and hiding specific tags--I appreciate that hiding all tags has been implemented but I'd still definitely like to see the ability to filter out specific tags.

Consider a query such as

tag includes #work
happens today
not done
hide tag #work

The last line hide tag #work would be really useful to eliminate noise on the results, which might include other tags such as those specifying a specific project.

[claremacrae]

For interest tracking purposes, it seems like this discussion may be incorrectly conflating hiding all tags and hiding specific tags

No, there is no confusion - see my comment #848 (comment) above...

Which is also why this discussion is still open...

I appreciate that hiding all tags has been implemented but I'd still definitely like to see the ability to filter out specific tags.

Consider a query such as

tag includes #work
happens today
not done
hide tag #work

The last line hide tag #work would be really useful to eliminate noise on the results, which might include other tags such as those specifying a specific project.

Indeed - that is exactly what the remaining work is on this open request.

[edakimling]

It's a pain, but it appears for now if you use dataview query, you can replace inline specific tags with empty string....
But yeah, you need to use the dataview query with regex so it is harder to maintain, read and construct.
So hiding specific tags would be awesome. Especially when doing a group by on tags.

Speaking of group by, it would be great to be also able to specify root tag for group by....so the grouping would not occur on unwanted tags.

[claremacrae]

@edakimling,

Speaking of group by, it would be great to be also able to specify root tag for group by....so the grouping would not occur on unwanted tags.

Pretty sure that's already possible - have a look at all the grouping docs about tags...

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Queries/Grouping#Tags

If you still need help, please start a new discussion to keep this one focussed, and avoid spamming the other 6 people here with unrelated discussion....

[claremacrae]

Where this request sits in the long list of things to do

As a purely cosmetic feature, this is unlikely to be implemented in the foreseeable future - I don't need any more messages telling me it is important to some people, it is just competing against a long list of much more valuable, large amounts of work in the Roadmap.

How to do this for yourself, using CSS snippets....

There is a very easy workaround that you can implement in your own vault, using existing Obsidian facilities.

I will describe the steps I took, so that anyone here can copy them and use them in their own vault.

Setup

1. I created this CSS file hide-selected-tags-in-tasks-searches.css

.hide-tag-health .block-language-tasks a.tag[data-tag-name="#health"] {
    display: none;
}

.hide-tag-wealth .block-language-tasks a.tag[data-tag-name="#wealth"] {
    display: none;
}

2. I put the file in my vault's .obsidian/snippets/ folder
3. I enabled the snippet in Obsidian's Settings > Appearance.
4. I created this Markdown file for testing, with tags #health and #wealth:

- [ ] #task 1 sadfasf #health 
- [ ] #task main-with #health 
    - [ ] #task sub-without
- [ ] #task main-without
    - [ ] #task sub-with #wealth 

```tasks
path includes {{query.file.path}}
sort by function task.lineNumber
show tree
```

The snippets are not active yet, so all the tags are still visible:

Usage

5. I then used Obsidian's File Properties view to add the hide-tag-health value to the cssclasses property:

Which adds 4 lines to the start of the file:

---
cssclasses:
  - hide-tag-health
---
- [ ] #task 1 sadfasf #health 
- [ ] #task main-with #health 
    - [ ] #task sub-without
- [ ] #task main-without
    - [ ] #task sub-with #wealth 

```tasks
path includes {{query.file.path}}
sort by function task.lineNumber
show tree
```

The hide-tag-health property activates the bit of the snippet that hides the #health tag in Tasks search results... note that the #health tags are still shown in reading mode, but hidden in the search results:

Using this yourself

You can take that CSS file and change the tag names to fit your use.

And the cssclasses property supports multiple values, so you can hide more than one tag if you wish.