Use filename as complete date

[Taarde]

⚠️ Please check that this feature request hasn't been suggested before.

• I searched previous Ideas in Discussions didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I searched previous Issues didn't find any similar feature requests.
• I am only requesting a single feature. Multiple changes should be split into individual requests, with links between them.
• I believe my requested feature will be generally applicable to other users, not just me: it is not uniquely tied to my personal workflow.

🔖 Feature description

Usually I would check my completed evening tasks on the next morning. Now I need manually change completed date.

✔️ Solution

Add possibility to use filename as timestamp

❓ Alternatives

No response

📝 Additional Context

No response

[claremacrae]

Hi @Taarde, thanks for using Tasks.

I understand the request, and will have a think about it.

It's quite a specific mechanism to your workflow, so my initial inclination is to see if it can be implemented instead with something like:

• Apply properties to all tasks in a file via YAML frontmatter #3090

[claremacrae]

Hi @Taarde, I have been thinking about this a lot and I really don’t understand how it would work.

How would Tasks know under what circumstances to ignore the current date and use the file date as the Done date?

I need to know that you have thought this request through and can explain how it should work please - as, as far as I can see, it would be confusing and risky.

Perhaps you have figured something out that I am missing.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Taarde]

Hi! My initial idea was to have checkbox in settings that would allow use filename (or date from yaml optionally) as done date everytime.

But if it possible to define special condition, specific filepath may be helpful, like "use only if file path contain "Dairy"" type of thing. For me also works "if file name match regex" as I use standart YYYY-MM-DD

[claremacrae]

Transparency note from maintainer: above comment divided in to 2 separate paragraphs for quick readability....

[claremacrae]

Hi! My initial idea was to have checkbox in settings that would allow use filename (or date from yaml optionally) as done date everytime.

OK so what that is saying is that on every single task that you complete, regardless of where it is in your vault, if there is a date in the file name, you want Tasks to ignore the calendar date when you complete the task, and put the filename's date in as the Done date....

That seems to me to be a really confusing idea, going against the entire design of the plugin.

I don't think I could support spending time implementing, documenting and maintaining that.

But if it possible to define special condition, specific filepath may be helpful, like "use only if file path contain "Dairy"" type of thing. For me also works "if file name match regex" as I use standart YYYY-MM-DD

The existing 'Use filename as scheduled date' does have an option to allow the user to specify which folders the feature applies to...

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Getting+Started/Use+Filename+as+Default+Date#Folders+setting

But this feature request is for something different - it's not about when there is no Done date on the task, it is about changing the entire meaning of Done date...

[claremacrae]

I'm afraid that, having read the discussion above, I don't feel that this request, as written, fits with the design of the Done date with the Tasks plugin.

It's possible that future facilities to allow frontmatter to change the behaviour of Tasks per-file or per-folder may allow you to design your own implementation of this kind of idea.

So I would suggest that you up-vote that request, and Subscribe to it for updates.

In view of this size of the backlog for this project, and the demotivating effect of a very long backlog on volunteer energy levels, I go through a continual process of reviewing tasks for things that are one or more of the following:

• unlikely to be realistically achievable, from the design of the current code, and the planned future refactorings
• not sufficiently high priority to a broad community of users, based on the feedback I receive from a variety of sources
• do not fit the core purpose of the Tasks plugin
• are better covered by a different plugin - to share the development and maintenance effort

So I'm marking this one as 'not planned'. This doesn't mean 'won't fix' - it means not likely to be done in the foreseeable future.