in Obsidian, I have an outline of the day, with a bullet point for each hour, and items indented inside that hour. it starts at 5am at the top (thankfully I almost never use that one) and goes to 11pm at the bottom.
To try out the forward log, instead of drag and drop with the mouse, I realized I could use keyboard shortcuts: I added three new markdown headers to break up the day outline: Archives, Up Next, and Forward Log (initially bunched together at the top of the outline). I use the "Move Line Down" command with hotkey mapped to command-down arrow to move these markdown headers forward in time. (initially the hotkey for "Move Line Down" was conflicting with the "Outliner: (Un)fold the list" so I had to clean that up.)
Moving the Forward Log and the Up Next markdown headers down though the time outline during the day has the effect of giving me an "Up Next" window centered around the current time.
For "pushing" an item to another day or week, I'm considering using the Text Transporter plugin's push actions.
I'm now considering ways to re-work the structure of my timeline outline to make this work even better; might flatten the outline a bit so the items nested under hours move all the way to the left, and promote the hour headers to actual markdown headers (one size smaller than the Up Next header). Will give me more room to put sub bullets under the actual appointments, events, etc. in each hour.
Kevin, I love it! Thank you for sharing your workflow. I used to do something similar, relying on shortcuts for moving lines up and down. The main issue I have with Obsidian is its inability to remember the folding state of headers. That, and the problem of children not moving with their parent header.
It sounds like you are using daily notes, is that right? Whereas I'm working with what's essentially one big file. Not that I'm suggesting my way is best; far from it. Having options is what I'm advocating for, and your workflow is a prime example of doing this well. I like using Workflowy, but I could switch back to Obsidian fairly seamlessly at any time—all information intact.
Wow, I did not know that! It's going to be useful. If Obsidian can also implement saved folding states, that'd be even better. For now I'll be sticking with Workflowy for my calendar and tasks, and import a backup daily into Obsidian—where I could continue the process at any time. Love this kind of freedom!
The script I use is my obsessive desire to preserve my data, that prompts me to export all my WF data in one go, every few days. I'm not worried about losing anything between backups because WF sends me daily emails (automatically archived, but ready if I need them) detailing any changes.
When I export that loooong Markdown file from WF, it goes straight into the Archive of my Obsidian vault. Hazel then watches that folder, and only allows one backup file to exist there at any one time, thus avoiding confusion when searching for hashtags and the like. Hazel puts the older WF backups into their own folder in my Dropbox archive.
Automation is good, and all, I have nothing against the idea of it, but I don't feel it's needful to fully automate plonking my WF data into Obsidian. TBH I wouldn't actually know how to do that, and that doesn't bother me.
Nice. After a few days I’ve found moving the “up next” too much work. I’m keeping the markdown headers for hours though and in fact using headers more in general now.
One thing I really like about this method is it makes the note feel more like a journal, and therefore it's getting me back into interstitial journaling. I'm always focused on the "Up Next" header, and it feels like a write head or the tip of a pen, marking the next place I'll be typing. so far I've gotten away with only moving the Up Next header. I do wonder if there's a drag and drop plug-in for obsidian... or even a plugin which keeps showing the current time in a markdown header lol
yes, I'm using daily notes and also a very light weekly note (just a list of critical items for the week). I also find the lack of memory and syncing of folding state annoying; with one big note that would be even worse! on the plus side, I'm using the outline pane for the first time ever
in Obsidian, I have an outline of the day, with a bullet point for each hour, and items indented inside that hour. it starts at 5am at the top (thankfully I almost never use that one) and goes to 11pm at the bottom.
To try out the forward log, instead of drag and drop with the mouse, I realized I could use keyboard shortcuts: I added three new markdown headers to break up the day outline: Archives, Up Next, and Forward Log (initially bunched together at the top of the outline). I use the "Move Line Down" command with hotkey mapped to command-down arrow to move these markdown headers forward in time. (initially the hotkey for "Move Line Down" was conflicting with the "Outliner: (Un)fold the list" so I had to clean that up.)
Moving the Forward Log and the Up Next markdown headers down though the time outline during the day has the effect of giving me an "Up Next" window centered around the current time.
For "pushing" an item to another day or week, I'm considering using the Text Transporter plugin's push actions.
I'm now considering ways to re-work the structure of my timeline outline to make this work even better; might flatten the outline a bit so the items nested under hours move all the way to the left, and promote the hour headers to actual markdown headers (one size smaller than the Up Next header). Will give me more room to put sub bullets under the actual appointments, events, etc. in each hour.
Kevin, I love it! Thank you for sharing your workflow. I used to do something similar, relying on shortcuts for moving lines up and down. The main issue I have with Obsidian is its inability to remember the folding state of headers. That, and the problem of children not moving with their parent header.
It sounds like you are using daily notes, is that right? Whereas I'm working with what's essentially one big file. Not that I'm suggesting my way is best; far from it. Having options is what I'm advocating for, and your workflow is a prime example of doing this well. I like using Workflowy, but I could switch back to Obsidian fairly seamlessly at any time—all information intact.
I just learned you can drag and drop in the outline pane (and it brings children along): https://www.reddit.com/r/ObsidianMD/comments/12ahiiy/do_you_know_that_you_can_drag_and_rearrange_your/
Wow, I did not know that! It's going to be useful. If Obsidian can also implement saved folding states, that'd be even better. For now I'll be sticking with Workflowy for my calendar and tasks, and import a backup daily into Obsidian—where I could continue the process at any time. Love this kind of freedom!
Do you have a script for automating the backup from workflowy and import into obsidian?
The script I use is my obsessive desire to preserve my data, that prompts me to export all my WF data in one go, every few days. I'm not worried about losing anything between backups because WF sends me daily emails (automatically archived, but ready if I need them) detailing any changes.
When I export that loooong Markdown file from WF, it goes straight into the Archive of my Obsidian vault. Hazel then watches that folder, and only allows one backup file to exist there at any one time, thus avoiding confusion when searching for hashtags and the like. Hazel puts the older WF backups into their own folder in my Dropbox archive.
Automation is good, and all, I have nothing against the idea of it, but I don't feel it's needful to fully automate plonking my WF data into Obsidian. TBH I wouldn't actually know how to do that, and that doesn't bother me.
Nice. After a few days I’ve found moving the “up next” too much work. I’m keeping the markdown headers for hours though and in fact using headers more in general now.
One thing I really like about this method is it makes the note feel more like a journal, and therefore it's getting me back into interstitial journaling. I'm always focused on the "Up Next" header, and it feels like a write head or the tip of a pen, marking the next place I'll be typing. so far I've gotten away with only moving the Up Next header. I do wonder if there's a drag and drop plug-in for obsidian... or even a plugin which keeps showing the current time in a markdown header lol
yes, I'm using daily notes and also a very light weekly note (just a list of critical items for the week). I also find the lack of memory and syncing of folding state annoying; with one big note that would be even worse! on the plus side, I'm using the outline pane for the first time ever