The Free edition ships the core Gantt chart, task table, quick add, change log and more β the full visual planning experience, at no cost.
Go to Settings β Community plugins β Browse
Search for TaskNexus Free, then install and enable it
Once enabled, a ποΈ icon appears in the left sidebar β click it to open the Gantt chart
When you open the Gantt chart, the plugin scans every Markdown note in the folders you configured, picks up the - [ ] task lists inside them, and renders them as a visual Gantt chart.
No task data yet? Use Quick add (below) to create your first task in seconds.
The Gantt chart is the heart of Task Nexus. It turns the Markdown task lists in your notes into a colour-coded timeline, so you can see progress and due dates at a glance.
Six time scales cover every kind of planning horizon:
| Time scale | Best for | How to switch |
|---|---|---|
| Week (1w) | This weekβs sprint, short-term focus | Click β1wβ in the toolbar |
| Fortnight (2w) | Short iterations, two-week planning | Click β2wβ in the toolbar |
| Month (1m) | Monthly planning β the most used view | Click β1mβ in the toolbar |
| Quarter (3m) | Quarterly OKR tracking | Click β3mβ in the toolbar |
| Half-year (6m) | Half-year project planning | Click β6mβ in the toolbar |
| Year (1y) | Annual strategy, the big picture | Click β1yβ in the toolbar |
Bars can be dragged with the mouse, so dates change straight on the chart:
When a parent task has sub-tasks with dates, its own bar automatically spans from the earliest start date to the latest due date β no manual maths. Parent bars are drawn semi-transparent to show the dates are derived from sub-tasks.
Tasks in different folders get different colours, so you can tell at a glance which project a task belongs to. Set a colour per folder under Settings β Folder colours.
The Gantt chart offers several filters:
The task table sits to the left of the Gantt chart and lists every task with its details. You decide which columns are shown.
| Column | Description | Hideable |
|---|---|---|
| βοΈ Checkbox | Marks a task complete β one click and it is done | Yes |
| Task name | The task title; click to open the editor inside the plugin | Yes |
| Owner | Who the task belongs to, parsed from the role/assign/xxx tag | Yes |
| Priority | β« High / πΊ Medium / π½ Low / β¬ Lowest | Yes |
| Start date | When the task starts | Yes |
| Due date | When the task is due; highlighted once overdue | Yes |
| Progress | Completion percentage | Yes |
| Tags | The taskβs Obsidian tags | Yes |
| Note | Name of the note file the task lives in | Yes |
There are two ways to show or hide table columns:
Click the π button next to the search box and tick the columns you want
Go to Settings β Task Nexus β Task table columns and configure them one by one
Click a task name and the task editor opens on the right-hand side of the plugin, where you can change attributes (owner, priority, dates and so on) as well as the task body.
Quick add creates a task in one go, so you never have to type Markdown syntax by hand.
Ctrl + Shift + T (Cmd + Shift + T on macOS)| Field | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Task name | Required β the task title | (empty) |
| Target file | Which note the task is written into | Todayβs daily note |
| Target heading | Which heading in that note it goes under | End of file |
| Owner | Who the task belongs to | The default owner from settings |
| Priority | β« High / πΊ Medium / π½ Low / β¬ Lowest | The default priority from settings |
| Due date | When the task is due | Today |
The due date field offers five quick buttons:
Press Ctrl+Shift+T or click the toolbar button
Type the task name (required), then accept the defaults or adjust the other fields
The task is written into the target note as - [ ] Task name π
YYYY-MM-DD πΊ
Selective scheduling re-dates only the tasks you select and leaves everything else untouched β perfect when you need to reshuffle part of a plan without breaking the rest.
Tick the tasks you want to reschedule in the task table (click the βοΈ column)
Click βπ Selective schedulingβ in the toolbar
The plugin assigns new dates to the selected tasks only, following priority and dependencies β unselected tasks stay exactly as they were
The change log tracks the history of every task operation and supports one-click rollback, so every adjustment leaves a trace.
Click βπ Change logβ in the Gantt toolbar to open the change log panel.
| Type | Description | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| Date change | Start or due date adjusted | π |
| Status change | To do β In progress β Done | π |
| Task added | A new task was created | β |
| Task deleted | A task was removed | β |
| Cross-file move | A task moved from one note to another | π |
If something went wrong, you can roll a task back to any earlier state:
Locate the target taskβs history in the change log panel
Click the ββ© Rollbackβ button to the right of that record
Once confirmed the task returns to that earlier state, and a new rollback record is added
.task-gantt/changelog.json file, so restarting Obsidian will not lose it. You can back the file up manually.
Open Settings β Task Nexus to configure the plugin. These are the settings included in the Free edition:
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Include paths | Folders to scan; separate multiple paths with line breaks | Entire vault |
| Exclude paths | Folders to skip | (empty) |
| Default owner | The owner pre-filled in Quick add | (empty) |
| Default priority | The priority pre-filled in Quick add | πΊ Medium |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Folder colours | Assign a bar colour per folder to tell projects apart |
| Show the taskβs note | When on, tasks from the same note are grouped into a virtual row |
| Parent duration aggregation | Parent task dates follow the range of their sub-tasks automatically |
| Indentation creates sub-tasks | When on, Tab-indented tasks are treated as sub-tasks |
| Read ordered-list tasks | Recognises ordered lists such as 1. [ ] / 2. [x] |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Default target file | Where tasks are written: todayβs daily note / a specific file / the file currently open |
| Default target heading | Which heading (##) in the note they go under |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Open task notes inside the plugin | Clicking a task name opens the editor inside the plugin instead of jumping to a note tab |
| Sub-task linking method | How new or dragged sub-tasks are linked (wiki link or indentation) |
| Start-date icon | The emoji written with each task; must match the Tasks plugin format |
| Auto-create a folder per module | Creates a matching folder for each module automatically |
In the βTask table columnsβ area of the settings page you can show or hide each column independently. You can also do it quickly with the π button beside the Gantt search box.
Check that Settings β Task Nexus β Include paths is configured correctly. The plugin only scans notes in the folders you list; if you leave it empty, it scans the whole vault.
Make sure the task line follows the format - [ ] Task name π
2026-08-22. A task needs a due date to appear on the timeline.
Check that the note file is editable and not read-only. After a drag, dates are written back to the note automatically.
You need to tick at least one task in the task table before the button becomes active.
Click βπ Change logβ in the Gantt toolbar to open it. Change data is stored in .task-gantt/changelog.json.
Pro adds the project view, Today panel, task timer, stats dashboard, task kanban and much more. See the Pro edition guide or the plan comparison.
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