Actions
An Action is one note with mtm-kind: action, and one card on the board. Its title is the note’s file name: rename it in the inspector and every link to it follows.
Every Action has:
- A type, which gives it its colour and icon: Call, Message, Write, Meet, Buy, Visit or your own. See Types and statuses.
- A status, which gives it its column.
- A Matter, which gives it its lane. Without one, it is in the Inbox.
And, when it helps:
- Dates: a due date, and a start date for something that spans days. A date with a time makes it an appointment on the calendar.
- A priority: high, medium or low.
- People: who is involved, and who you’re waiting on. The card shows how long you’ve been waiting; after two weeks it gently stands out.
- Details and a checklist, written in the note itself.
Selecting and opening
Select a card, row or bar once to show the Action in the inspector, in the right sidebar. Double-click it, or ⌘-click (Ctrl-click), to open its note. Opening an Action’s note from anywhere also shows it in the inspector.
Links to Actions
Wherever you link to an Action in a note, the link shows as a chip: the Action’s type in its colour, its title, and its due date while it’s open, in the today or overdue colour. A done Action’s chip is faint and struck through.
- Wikilinks and Markdown links, in reading view and Live Preview. With an alias, such as
[[Meet Alice to plan chapter 4|the planning session]], the chip shows your words, and the Action’s title appears when you point at it. - A chip is still a link. Select it to open the Action’s note, which also shows it in the inspector. Hover over it for Obsidian’s page preview, with the Action’s type, Matter, due date and status at the top.
- While you write, the link the cursor is in shows as plain text, as Obsidian does with every link, and turns back into a chip when you move on.
- Chips follow their Action. Mark it done or change its date, and every chip that links to it changes too.
Left as they are: embeds (![[…]]), links in properties, and source mode.
To turn chips off, use Show links to Actions as chips in settings. To list Actions in a note rather than link to them, use a matters block.
Done
An Action is done when its status is closed. Mark as done sets your done status and records the date; Reopen moves it back to the backlog. Done Actions are struck through and are never overdue.
Order on the board
Within a cell, cards sort themselves: priority first (high to none), then due date (soonest first, undated last), then title. To put them in your own order instead, see Cards in your own order.