Projects

Projects help you organize and track tasks by grouping them under meaningful categories. Whether you're managing work initiatives, personal goals, or creative endeavors, Task Genius provides flexible ways to define and visualize projects.

What is a Project?

In Task Genius, a Project is a collection of related tasks organized under a common identifier. Projects can be defined in two ways:

1. Task-Level Projects

Individual tasks tagged with project identifiers.

Example:

- [ ] Design homepage #project/website
- [ ] Write API documentation #project/website
- [ ] Review code changes #project/backend

Each task explicitly declares its project using a tag or metadata field.

2. File-Level Projects

Entire notes designated as projects, where all tasks within the file inherit the project.

Example:

File: Website Redesign.md

---
project: true
---

# Website Redesign

- [ ] Create wireframes
- [ ] Design color scheme
- [ ] Implement responsive layout

All three tasks automatically belong to the "Website Redesign" project (derived from the file name).

Key Difference:

Task-level: Each task can have a different project (#project/website, #project/backend)
File-level: All tasks in a file share the same project (the file name)

Important: A task can only belong to one project at a time.

Why Use Projects?

Organize Work by Context

Group related tasks together for better focus and tracking.

Examples:

Work: #project/q1-sales, #project/product-launch
Personal: #project/home-renovation, #project/learning-spanish
Creative: #project/novel-writing, #project/photo-portfolio

Track Progress Across Your Vault

See all tasks for a specific project in one place, regardless of which files they're in.

Use Case: You mention the "Website Redesign" project in:

Daily Notes/2025-01-15.md: - [x] Design homepage #project/website
Daily Notes/2025-01-16.md: - [ ] Write copy #project/website
Projects/Website.md: - [ ] Deploy to staging #project/website

The Project View shows all three tasks together under "Website Redesign".

Daily Project Tracking

Add project tags to tasks in your daily notes to track what you accomplished each day.

Example Daily Note:

# 2025-01-15

## Tasks
- [x] Research competitors #project/marketing
- [x] Fix login bug #project/backend
- [ ] Write blog post #project/content

Review your project progress over time without manually organizing tasks into project files.

Project Detection Methods

Configure how Task Genius identifies projects in your vault.

If the link doesn't work: Obsidian → Settings → Community Plugins → Task Genius

Method 1: Frontmatter Key

Mark notes as projects using frontmatter metadata.

Setting: Enable "Frontmatter key" detection

Format:

---
project: true
---

---
project: "Custom Project Name"
---

Behavior:

project: true → Project name = file name
project: "Name" → Project name = "Name"
All tasks in the file inherit this project

Example:

File: Q1 Marketing Campaign.md

---
project: true
---

- [ ] Plan social media strategy
- [ ] Design ad creatives
- [ ] Launch campaign

All three tasks belong to the "Q1 Marketing Campaign" project.

Method 2: Tags

Designate files as projects using specific tags.

Setting: Enable "Tags" detection and specify tag(s)

Default Tag: #project

Format:

#project

- [ ] Task 1
- [ ] Task 2

or with custom tags:

#work-project

- [ ] Task 1
- [ ] Task 2

Behavior:

File contains the configured tag → File is a project
Project name = file name
All tasks in the file inherit this project

Multiple Tags: You can specify multiple tags (e.g., #project, #work-project). If a file has any of these tags, it's detected as a project.

Method 3: Folders

Treat all files in specific folders as projects.

Setting: Enable "Folders" detection and specify folder path(s)

Format: Enter folder paths, one per line or separated by commas

Example Configuration:

Projects/
Work/Active Projects/
Personal/Goals/

Behavior:

Any file in these folders → File is a project
Project name = file name
All tasks in the file inherit this project

Subfolder Support: If you specify Projects/, all files in Projects/ and its subfolders are projects.

Combining Methods

You can enable multiple detection methods simultaneously. Task Genius will recognize projects using any of the configured methods.

Example Setup:

✅ Frontmatter key (for explicit project files)
✅ Tags (#project, for flexible tagging)
✅ Folders (Projects/, for organizational structure)

Result: Files are detected as projects if they:

Have project: frontmatter, OR
Contain #project tag, OR
Are located in Projects/ folder

Assigning Tasks to Projects

Tasks can be associated with projects in three ways:

1. Project Tags (Most Common)

Use tags with the format #project/name.

Syntax: #project/your-project-name

Example:

- [ ] Design wireframes #project/website
- [ ] Write unit tests #project/backend
- [ ] Review budget #project/q1-planning

Benefits:

Works in any file (daily notes, meeting notes, etc.)
Explicit and visible
Easy to search and filter

2. Dataview-Style Metadata

Use inline fields with the project:: syntax.

Syntax: [project:: name]

Example:

- [ ] Update documentation [project:: website]
- [ ] Fix API endpoint [project:: backend]

Benefits:

Compatible with Dataview plugin
Cleaner appearance (can be hidden with CSS)
Structured metadata

3. File Location (Inherited)

Tasks automatically inherit the project from their containing file if the file is detected as a project (via frontmatter, tag, or folder).

Example:

File: Projects/Website Redesign.md (in "Projects/" folder)

- [ ] Create mockups
- [ ] Develop homepage
- [ ] Write CSS

All tasks automatically belong to "Website Redesign" project (no manual tagging needed).

Benefits:

No manual tagging required
Clean task syntax
Organized file structure

Note: If a task has an explicit project tag or metadata (methods 1 or 2), it will override the file-level project (method 3).

Project View

The Project View provides a dedicated interface for managing project-based workflows.

Opening Project View

Open the Task Genius View
Select "Projects" from the left sidebar
The left panel shows your project list, the right panel shows tasks

Project List (Left Panel)

Projects are displayed in either:

Tree View: Hierarchical structure (if projects have nested names like work/project1)
List View: Flat list of all projects

Clicking a project loads its tasks in the right panel.

Task Display (Right Panel)

Shows all tasks belonging to the selected project, regardless of which files they're in.

Features:

Complete, edit, or organize tasks
See task details (due dates, priority, tags)
All standard Task View interactions

Project Status: The project's status (if any) is displayed but not editable in this view.

Filtering Projects

Use the Popover Filter to narrow down displayed tasks.

Example Filter:

Property: project
Condition: is
Value: website

This shows only tasks belonging to the "website" project.

Advanced Filtering: Combine project filters with other criteria:

Show incomplete tasks in "website" project due this week
Show high-priority tasks across multiple projects

Metadata Configuration

Customize how project metadata is displayed and interpreted.

Property Keys

Map custom property names to Task Genius fields for internationalization (i18n) or personal preference.

Use Case: You prefer Chinese property names in your vault.

Example Configuration:

状态 → status
优先级 → priority
项目 → project

In Your Notes:

- [ ] 设计界面 [项目:: 网站] [状态:: 未完成]

Task Genius understands 项目 as project and 状态 as status internally.

Benefits:

Use your preferred language
Match existing vault conventions
Maintain consistency across notes

Status Mapping

Map custom status labels to Task Genius's internal status categories.

Use Case: You use custom status names that differ from Task Genius defaults.

Example Configuration:

未完成 → incomplete
进行中 → in_progress
已放弃 → canceled
已完成 → completed

In Your Notes:

- [ ] 任务 [状态:: 未完成]
- [/] 任务 [状态:: 进行中]

Task Genius interprets "未完成" as "incomplete" and "进行中" as "in_progress" for filtering and progress tracking.

Benefits:

Localization support
Custom terminology
Better readability

Use Cases & Workflows

Daily Project Tracking

Track which projects you worked on each day without organizing tasks into project files.

Setup:

Enable project detection via tags (#project)
Add project tags to tasks in daily notes

Example Daily Note:

# 2025-01-15

## Work
- [x] Client meeting #project/sales
- [x] Update proposal #project/sales
- [ ] Code review #project/backend

## Personal
- [ ] Gym workout #project/fitness
- [ ] Read 30 minutes #project/reading

Review: Open Project View → Select "sales" → See all sales tasks across all daily notes.

Multi-Project File Organization

Organize tasks by file type (daily notes, meeting notes) while maintaining project associations.

File Structure:

Daily Notes/
  2025-01-15.md (contains tasks for multiple projects)
  2025-01-16.md (contains tasks for multiple projects)
Meetings/
  Client Call 2025-01-15.md (contains #project/sales tasks)

Benefit: Keep chronological or topical file structure without losing project context.

Project-Dedicated Files

Create dedicated files for large projects with all tasks in one place.

Setup:

Enable folder detection: Projects/
Create project files in that folder

Example:

File: Projects/Website Redesign.md

# Website Redesign

## Phase 1: Design
- [ ] Wireframes
- [ ] Mockups
- [ ] Color scheme

## Phase 2: Development
- [ ] HTML structure
- [ ] CSS styling
- [ ] JavaScript interactions

All tasks automatically belong to "Website Redesign" project.

Benefit: Centralized project documentation with embedded tasks.

Hybrid Approach (Recommended)

Combine file-level and task-level projects for maximum flexibility.

Structure:

Projects/
  Website Redesign.md (file-level project)
Daily Notes/
  2025-01-15.md (tasks tagged with #project/website)

Workflow:

Create a project file for planning and documentation
Add project-tagged tasks to daily notes as you work on them
Use Project View to see all tasks (from both sources) together

Benefit: Centralized planning with distributed execution tracking.

#project/website-redesign
#project/website-redesign
#project/website-redesign

Avoid:

#project/website-redesign
#project/WebsiteRedesign
#project/website_redesign  ← Different names split the project!

Tip: Create a project list in your vault's index or MOC for reference.

3. Archive Completed Projects

Remove or archive finished project files to keep your Project View clean.

Methods:

Move to an Archive/ folder (excluded from project detection)
Remove the #project tag or frontmatter
Use a custom tag like #project-archived

4. Combine with View Modes

Use View Modes for different project perspectives:

List View: See all project tasks in a flat list
Kanban View: Visualize project tasks by status
Calendar View: See project deadlines on a timeline
Tree View: See hierarchical task structures within projects

5. Use Filters for Multi-Project Work

If you work on multiple projects simultaneously, create saved filters:

Example Filters:

"Active Projects": project in [website, backend, marketing]
"Work Projects": project starts with work/
"High Priority Project Tasks": project is website AND priority is high

Save these in Popover Filter for quick access.

Troubleshooting

Project Not Detected

Issue: A file isn't showing up as a project in Project View.

Solution:

Verify the detection method is enabled in settings
Frontmatter: Check for project: true or project: "name" in frontmatter
Tags: Ensure the file contains the configured tag (e.g., #project)
Folders: Confirm the file is in the specified folder path
Refresh the task index: Task Genius: Refresh task index

Tasks Not Appearing in Project

Issue: Tasks don't show up when viewing a project.

Solution:

Task-level: Verify the task has the correct project tag or metadata
- Check spelling: #project/website not #projects/website
- Ensure no extra spaces: #project/website not #project/ website
File-level: Confirm the file is detected as a project (see above)
Refresh the view or restart Obsidian

Task in Wrong Project

Issue: A task appears under the wrong project.

Solution:

Check for conflicting project assignments
Explicit tags override file-level: If a task in a project file has its own #project/other tag, it belongs to "other", not the file's project
Remove or correct the explicit project tag/metadata

Duplicate Projects

Issue: The same project appears multiple times with different names.

Solution:

Standardize project naming (see Best Practices above)
Search your vault for variations: #project/website, #project/Website, #project/web-site
Bulk-update inconsistent tags using find-and-replace or Bulk Operations

Project Status Not Updating

Issue: Changing a task's status doesn't update the project status.

Solution:

Project status is not editable in Task Genius
If you want to track project status, use:
- A manual field in the project file's frontmatter
- A dedicated task representing the project milestone
- Workflows to automate status based on task completion

Task View: Understand the overall task viewing system
View Modes: Visualize project tasks in different formats
Popover Filter: Filter tasks by project and other criteria
Bulk Operations: Assign multiple tasks to a project at once
Workspace: Create workspace-specific project views

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