Filtering, Sorting and Cleaning up

[nbarman2022]

Hi again,

As a newbie, I have a few more questions as I'm setting up my Obsidian Tasks setup... hoping someone can easily help with these questions:

• Is there an easy way to "clean up" (e.g. remove) hundreds of tasks from the past that have no creation or completion dates (they are simply set up in [ ] format)? I don't want to start tagging my tasks with a hashtag and I like using a simple [ ] structure, but need to clean up lots of such instances from the past.

• Moving forward, I've set Tasks to automatically log the "completed date" of each task that I mark complete. Is there a way to show a filtered view of all tasks completed in the last 60 days?

• When I create a new task, I can't find a way to automatically have the "created date" populated in the task if I create the task by typing "- [ ] task name" and then pressing Enter. I can do it through the modal or the auto-suggest dropdown, but this adds an extra step, so I'm wondering if there's a way to automatically populate created date by default.

• is it possible to create a Base (using the new Obsidian bases) of tasks?

• Lastly - if I wanted to show tasks on my Today page, what would be the script I would use to sort those tasks as follows: Show "scheduled today" or "due today" tasks first. Then show all open tasks, first organized by Project Name (would be in the Project property of the source file), then within each project, organized by Priority, then after showing all projects, move on to showing tasks organized by Opportunity Name (would be in Opportunity property of the source file), then within each opportunity organized by Priority, and then finally showing all open tasks that are from anywhere in Obsidian (e.g. no project, no opportunity, etc.) organized by Priority (tasks with no priority showing last)

If someone can show me the exact script for achieving these outcomes, then I think I'll start figuring out exactly how sorting and filtering works. Right now, reading about it theoretically in the User Guide pages is just getting me confused.

Perhaps you can help @claremacrae ?

[claremacrae]

Hi again,

As a newbie, I have a few more questions as I'm setting up my Obsidian Tasks setup... hoping someone can easily help with these questions:

I will have a go, but in future, please:

1. stick to one question per Q&A ticket
2. link to whichever bits of the documentation you read before asking.

• Is there an easy way to "clean up" (e.g. remove) hundreds of tasks from the past that have no creation or completion dates (they are simply set up in [ ] format)? I don't want to start tagging my tasks with a hashtag and I like using a simple [ ] structure, but need to clean up lots of such instances from the past.

No, tasks does not provided that facility.

There are other plugins that do, but I cannot recommend which ones.

You can always look for prior discussions in the Task Management channel in Obsidian Members Discord.

• Moving forward, I've set Tasks to automatically log the "completed date" of each task that I mark complete. Is there a way to show a filtered view of all tasks completed in the last 60 days?

done on or after 60 days ago

• When I create a new task, I can't find a way to automatically have the "created date" populated in the task if I create the task by typing "- [ ] task name" and then pressing Enter. I can do it through the modal or the auto-suggest dropdown, but this adds an extra step, so I'm wondering if there's a way to automatically populate created date by default.

The only provided facilities are listed here:
https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Getting+Started/Dates#Adding+Created+date+to+tasks

• is it possible to create a Base (using the new Obsidian bases) of tasks?

No. Bases does not support any plugins yet.
See the Obsidian Roadmap: https://obsidian.md/roadmap/

• Lastly - if I wanted to show tasks on my Today page, what would be the script I would use to sort those tasks as follows: Show "scheduled today" or "due today" tasks first. Then show all open tasks, first organized by Project Name (would be in the Project property of the source file), then within each project, organized by Priority, then after showing all projects, move on to showing tasks organized by Opportunity Name (would be in Opportunity property of the source file), then within each opportunity organized by Priority, and then finally showing all open tasks that are from anywhere in Obsidian (e.g. no project, no opportunity, etc.) organized by Priority (tasks with no priority showing last)

That is an unreadable wall of text that I just do not have time to digest and interpret.

At this point, I think it's time to ask you start working through the Tasks documentation in small chunks, and experiment with the things that I have already included in earlier replies.

If you are still stuck on any aspects, you are welcome to ask individual questions - but be sure to show me what you have already tried, and what bits of documentation you had already read.

If someone can show me the exact script for achieving these outcomes, then I think I'll start figuring out exactly how sorting and filtering works. Right now, reading about it theoretically in the User Guide pages is just getting me confused.

Sorry about that - I recommend looking at the examples, and reading it in smaller chunks.

There is also a #tasks channel in Obsidian Discord, where more people hang out and can help.

But again, ask one thing at a time.