Exercise 3: The Tasks plugin

In this exercise, you will collect tasks from all over your vault in your daily notes using the Tasks plugin.

Step 1: Install the Tasks plugin

  1. Open Settings (gear icon bottom left)
  2. Go to Community plugins
  3. Click Browse
  4. Search for Tasks (it should be on the very top of the list, created by Clare Macrae et al.)
  5. Install and Enable the Tasks plugin

Step 2: Add some tasks to your notes

Now add 2–3 example tasks to your notes (not the daily notes, you can e.g. use one of your notes from Exercise 1).

Any tasks are fine, you can just invent some.

Add due dates to the tasks (e.g. today or tomorrow).

TipAdd due dates with “Tasks”

You should see a drop down menu after the task that lets you add a due date like in the image below. You can add a due date by either of these methods:

  • Select one of the suggested options
  • Type a date
  • Type a natural language date like “next sunday” and see if the plugin suggests the correct date

Tasks plugin suggestion menu after a task, offering due date, start date, scheduled date and priority options.

Step 3: Add the tasks query to your daily template

  • Open your daily note template
  • Find the section where your tasks should appear
  • Add the following “Tasks” query block
```tasks
due on {{date}}
```

{{date}} will be replaced automatically with the date of each daily note.

This depends on your keyboard layout. Common options:

  • US/UK keyboards: key left of 1 (often shared with ~)
  • Windows (many non-US layouts): key near Shift or Enter, or AltGr + key (varies by layout)
  • Mac (many non-US layouts): Option (⌥) + key (often the same key as ~)

If it still doesn’t work: Search online for: “backtick key” + your keyboard layout + Windows/Mac

Test it:

  • Check the due dates of your tasks again → Find a due date for which you don’t have a daily note yet. If all tasks already have a daily note, just add a new task with a future due date
  • Create the daily note for that due date

If all worked well, the task should now automatically appear in the newly created daily note.

Check if

  • the daily note was created after you added the query to the template. Older notes don’t have the query.
  • the due date of the task is the same as the date of the daily note
  • the query says exactly due on 2026-02-01 (with the date of the daily note). Click into the query block to see it.

Optional tasks (if you finish early)

Modify the tasks query

The Tasks plugin allows you to change how tasks are displayed and filtered.

For these exercises:

  • Modify the Tasks query in one daily note (not in the template)
  • Observe what changes
  • Keep what you like by adding it to your daily template

Pick one or two queries below that sound useful to you. You may need to create a few extra example tasks or adjust due dates.

Compact display mode

Add short mode to your Tasks query (replace the date with a date in your note):

```tasks
due on 2026-02-01
short mode
```

List overdue tasks

List all tasks that are overdue:

```tasks
due before 2026-02-01
```

Show all open tasks

```tasks
not done
```

Filter tasks by folder

Show only tasks from a specific folder. Replace log with a folder that is in your vault.

```tasks
path includes log
```

Combine different queries

Try combining multiple options above.

Examples to try:

  • Overdue tasks in short mode
  • Tasks due today that are not done
  • Tasks from a specific folder that are due today

Update your template

If you found task queries that you like from the previous task, modify your daily template accordingly. Then create a few notes to test it.

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