Obsidian/Q/Does Obsidian have the ability to handle kanban-style TODO DOING DONE todos?
Properties
- see-also
- QuartzMD, Obsidian/Q/What options do I have for publishing my obsidian vault as a web application?
Does Obsidian have the ability to handle kanban-style TODO DOING DONE todos?
- Kind of, with Obsidian/Plugins
- Obsidian/Feature/Bases changed this after the answer below was written: it is a core plugin, and since Obsidian 1.14 it draws a kanban of cards in columns grouped by a frontmatter property. It groups files, so the answer below still stands for boards made of checkbox lines. QuartzMD/Q/Which Obsidian technique for rich todos renders on a QuartzMD site? weighs the two for a published garden.
- Short answer: Not in core. Obsidian’s built-in checklists are only todo (
- [ ]) and done (- [x]). There is no native kanban board and no native TODO / DOING / DONE keyword markers like Logseq. You get that workflow with community plugins—pick either Logseq-style keywords or kanban columns, or combine plugins. Logseq-style TODO / DOING / DONE (keyword markers)
- Use the community plugin Obsidian/Plugin/Obsidian Todoseq: it scans the vault for lines with state keywords (
TODO, DOING, DONE, LATER, NOW, WAIT, etc.), shows them in a unified task list, and documents Logseq compatibility (same syntax, priorities, SCHEDULED: / DEADLINE: patterns on markdown-based Logseq exports). - Core Obsidian and the popular Obsidian/Plugin/obsidian-tasks plugin treat tasks as characters inside the brackets (
, /, x, -), not as leading keywords—so plain - TODO … lines are just text unless a plugin recognizes them.
Kanban-style columns (visual board)
- obsidian-kanban — dedicated board notes; columns are typically H2 headings, cards are list items under each column. Widely used; board state lives in one markdown file (with plugin metadata in HTML comments).
- Obsidian/Plugin/Task List Kanban — builds a kanban from checkbox tasks (
- [ ]) across the vault; assign columns with tags; includes a Done column and drag-and-drop between columns (syncs back to source files). - Obsidian/Plugin/Kanban Block — renders a
todo code block as a three-column board mapping [ ] → To Do, [/] → In Progress, [x] → Done (column names configurable)—closer to a compact TODO/DOING/DONE feel without Logseq keywords.
- Checkbox workflow without a board (still three states)
- Obsidian/Plugin/obsidian-tasks ships with Todo (
), In Progress (/), Done (x), and Cancelled (-). Configure symbols and cycling under Settings → Tasks → Task statuses; query and group tasks in tasks code blocks. This is not a kanban UI unless you add another plugin or a manual board.
- Migrating from Logseq
- Converters such as logseq-to-obsidian map
TODO / DOING → - [ ] and DONE → - [x] for Obsidian-native checklists. To keep keyword syntax in Obsidian, prefer TODOseq over conversion, or run conversion only for notes you do not need to round-trip to Logseq.
- Practical picks
- Same vault as Logseq, same
TODO/DOING/DONE lines: TODOseq (+ optional obsidian-kanban for a separate board view of selected work). - Kanban first, standard markdown tasks: obsidian-kanban or Task List Kanban.
- Three states in lists, queries, no Logseq keywords: Tasks (optionally plus Kanban Block for an inline board).
- Publishing with QuartzMD (static site)
- QuartzMD is a static SSG: it renders markdown on disk, not Obsidian plugin UIs. None of the kanban plugins above run at build time. What you get on the published site is whatever is already in the
.md files (plus Quartz’s built-in Obsidian-flavored transforms). - Most compatible for Quartz
- Plain GFM task lists (
- [ ], - [x]) — render as normal HTML lists/checkboxes. Turn on enableCheckbox: true in Plugin.ObsidianFlavoredMarkdown() in quartz.config.ts for interactive checkboxes in the browser (ObsidianFlavoredMarkdown); without it, checkboxes still appear but are not enhanced by Quartz’s toggle script. - obsidian-kanban board files — often publish acceptably as static outline:
## column headings and bullet cards under each. You lose drag-and-drop, lane chrome, and plugin-only metadata; embedded HTML comments used by obsidian-kanban may still appear in source or be ignored depending on the markdown pipeline—do not expect a board UI on the site. - Pre-converted Logseq-style lines — if you convert
TODO/DOING/DONE to - [ ] / - [x] before publish (logseq-to-obsidian), Quartz shows ordinary checklists.
- Poor or no Quartz rendering (without extra tooling)
- TODOseq keyword lines (
- TODO …, - DOING …) — publish as plain list text; no task panel, no state cycling. - Tasks plugin query fences (
tasks code blocks) and Dataview task queries — not executed by Quartz (community note); you see the raw fenced block or empty output unless you pre-render in Obsidian. - Task List Kanban aggregated board — no live board on the site; only the underlying per-note
- [ ] lines if those notes are included in content/. - Kanban Block
todo code fences — typically a code block, not a three-column board, unless you write a custom Quartz transformer.
- If you need plugin output on the published site
- Bake in Obsidian before push: e.g. Quartz Syncer compiles Dataview/Datacore (and related) to static HTML in the markdown Quartz builds—same pattern as “render queries in Obsidian, commit the result.” There is no first-class Quartz support for TODOseq or obsidian-kanban views; you would manually snapshot boards or use a custom compile step.
- Aligns with the caveat on Obsidian/Q/What options do I have for publishing my obsidian vault as a web application?: community plugins do not run on the static site by default.
- Quartz-friendly workflow for TODO/DOING/DONE *on the web*
- Author in Obsidian with checkboxes (
/ / / x) or headings + lists on obsidian-kanban board notes, not plugin-only views. - Enable
enableCheckbox in Quartz if you want clickable tasks on the site. - For dashboards, use static lists/tables in markdown, or pre-render Dataview/Tasks output before
npx quartz build.
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