Task Details View

The Task Details Panel is a dedicated sidebar for viewing and editing every property of an individual task. It opens alongside any view and keeps your context intact while you make changes.

Overview

The panel provides a single place to manage all task metadata. Changes are saved instantly and synced to every other view in real time.

Opening the Panel

  • Right-click any task in Grid, Board, or Gantt view and select Open details.
  • Single-click a bar in the Timeline View.
  • Double-click a node in the Dependency Graph View.
  • Follow an obsidian://open-planner-task?id=...&project=... URI link.

The panel opens as a right-side split pane and reuses the same pane if it is already open.

Fields & Field Order

Fields appear in this order:

  1. Title — editable text field.
  2. Description — Markdown editor with edit/preview toggle.
  3. Status — dropdown with project-configured statuses.
  4. Priority — dropdown (Critical, High, Medium, Low).
  5. Tags — assign tags from the project's configured tag list.
  6. Checklist — sortable subtask items with drag-to-reorder.
  7. Card Preview — controls what appears on Board cards (None / Show Checklist / Show Description).
  8. Bucket — assign to a Board bucket.
  9. Dates — Start Date and Due Date pickers (YYYY-MM-DD); Duration is auto-calculated and shown read-only.
  10. Effort — Effort Done and Effort Remaining (hours); % Complete and Effort Total are auto-calculated.
  11. Cost — Cost Type (Fixed or Hourly), Estimated Cost, Actual Cost, and an optional per-task Hourly Rate override.
  12. Project — dropdown to move the task to a different project (shown when more than one project exists).
  13. Dependencies — add/remove predecessor relationships with type selector (FS/SS/FF/SF).
  14. Links — Obsidian internal links or external URLs.

Note

For parent tasks with subtasks, dates, effort, and % complete are read-only — they are rolled up automatically from children (MS Project style). The Σ symbol and a tooltip indicate a rolled-up value.

Editing Properties

Title

Click the title text, make your changes, and press Enter or click away to save. If Markdown Sync is enabled, the task's .md file is renamed automatically.

Status & Priority

Click the dropdown and select a new value. The change saves immediately. Marking a task Completed moves all remaining effort hours into completed and sets % Complete to 100.

Tags

Select from the project's tag list. Tags are created and managed in Settings → Tags — they cannot be created from the task panel.

Dates

Click a date field to open a date picker. Dates are stored as YYYY-MM-DD. Once both Start Date and Due Date are set, Duration (days) is calculated automatically and shown as a read-only row.

Effort Tracking

Enter hours in Effort Done and Effort Remaining. The plugin follows Microsoft Planner behaviour:

  • Changing Effort Done auto-adjusts Remaining from the established total.
  • % Complete is derived from Done / (Done + Remaining) × 100.
  • Marking a task Completed moves all remaining hours into completed.
  • % Complete reaching 100 automatically sets status to Completed.

Cost Tracking

Set Cost Type to Fixed (enter amounts directly) or Hourly (cost is calculated from effort hours × rate). The hourly rate falls back to the project default if no per-task rate is set. Variance (Estimated − Actual) is shown read-only.

Description

The description field supports full Markdown syntax. Click Edit to write; click Preview to see rendered output.

Dependencies

  1. Scroll to the Dependencies section.
  2. Click + Add Dependency.
  3. Search for and select the related task.
  4. Choose the dependency type (FS, SS, FF, or SF).
  5. To remove, click the × button next to the dependency.

Note

Dependencies added here are immediately reflected in the Dependency Graph, the dependency column in Grid View, and the dependency arrows in Timeline View. If auto-scheduling is enabled, dependent task dates cascade automatically.

Checklist

  1. Scroll to the Checklist section.
  2. Click + Add Item and type the entry.
  3. Click the checkbox to mark an item complete.
  4. Drag items to reorder them.
  5. Click × to delete an item.

Card Preview

Controls what is shown on the task's card in Board View:

  • None (default) — no extra content on the card.
  • Show Checklist — interactive checklist rendered directly on the card.
  • Show Description — rendered Markdown description excerpt on the card.

Moving to Another Project

If more than one project exists, a Project dropdown appears. Changing it moves the task to the selected project, clearing its bucket, parent, and dependency links.

Copying a Task Link

Right-click the task in any view and select Copy link to task. The link format is:

obsidian://open-planner-task?id=TASK_ID&project=PROJECT_ID

Paste this anywhere in your vault to create a clickable deep link back to the task.

Integration with Other Views

  • Grid View — opening a task from the Grid displays the panel in a right-side split.
  • Board View — clicking a card on the Board opens the panel.
  • Timeline View — clicking a bar on the Timeline opens the panel.
  • Dependency Graph — double-clicking a node in the Graph opens the panel.
  • Markdown Sync — every edit in the panel is written to the task file immediately (if enabled).

Tips & Best Practices

  1. Use the description field for meeting notes, acceptance criteria, or any long-form context.
  2. Keep tags consistent across the project — create them in Settings before assigning.
  3. Assign a bucket early so the task appears in the correct Board column from the start.
  4. Set both start and due dates to get the most value from the Timeline View and effort tracking.
  5. Use the checklist for multi-step tasks and enable Card Preview to check items off directly from the Board.
  6. Set effort hours before work begins so the auto-scheduling and roll-up features have data to work with.
  7. Review dependencies periodically — remove any that are no longer relevant after tasks complete.

Troubleshooting

Panel doesn't open when clicking a task

Right-click the task and choose Open details from the context menu. If the panel was previously closed, Obsidian may need to create a new right-side split.

Changes are not saving

Check that the project's task file (.planner-tasks.json) is not read-only and that you have write access to the vault folder. If Markdown Sync is enabled, also verify the Tasks/ folder is writable.

Effort or dates are read-only

The task has subtasks and Parent Roll-Up is enabled. Those fields are calculated automatically from children. Edit the individual subtasks instead, or disable Parent Roll-Up in Settings.

Tags or buckets are missing from dropdowns

Tags and buckets are project-scoped. Confirm you are viewing the correct project. Tags must be added in Settings → Tags before they appear here.

Support & Related Pages