Tension with recurring tasks

[jpmoo]

I'm having a hard time working with recurring tasks. I understand that they need scheduled dates, and that due dates don't really matter. Because of this, however, setting them up, filtering for them, and thinking about them takes a little bit more thought than I think might be necessary.

When I set up any task, I tend to use a schedule day that's before the absolute due date. The assumption here is that I can complete that task on or after the scheduled day, by the due date.

Since recurrence doesn't really consider due dates, this doesn't work with recurring tasks. They therefore don't have as much "dimension" as other tasks--that is, I can't approach them in the same way as others, thinking "I can do this today, or some later date before the due date."

I also have to make special consideration for filtering for them with the "completed" property.

I understand and appreciate the desire to keep all of the info within the same file, rather than creating a new file, etc.

That said, for me anyway, I'm sort of expecting that, when I click a recurring tasks done, it rewrites its due and scheduled dates to match the recurrence I've set up. The scheduled date could be the date of the actual recurrence, with the due date adjusted appropriately. (That is, if the scheduled date is Wed, and the due date Friday, and the recurrence is weekly on Wed, then clicking it done would reset the scheduled date to the following Wed, and the due to however many days ahead it was in the prior recurrence--that is, two date, making it the following Friday.)

For me, it'd be great for it to reset the priority to "none" as well, but that might not work for everyone. (Maybe an option in settings?)

Am I missing something in how recurring tasks should be handled, or am I getting something else fundamentally wrong? I'm happy to be wrong about this!

[kmaustral]

If I may add to this discussion, I find that clicking a recurring tasknote as done, doesn't change the scheduled date, at least immediately. I can see the future task in the calendar where it should be, but the scheduled date remains as today. Is that normal behaviour? Is it designed to help track done tasks for each day?

[callumalpass]

Hi @jpmoo and @kmaustral . To clarify--the scheduled date is currently used to determine when the reccurence series begins, rather than indicating when the next occurance of a task is due. All recurrences of a task are determined purely by the "RRULE" in the "recurrence" property of a task. This rule dictactes on what days the task will appear throughout the plugin (i.e. in the Agenda view, and in the Advanced Calendar, which are both date-sensitive). So, yes, @kmaustral , the behaviour you are seeing is normal and expected.

It seems, however, like a lot of people are finding this behaviour counter-intuitive. Thanks @jpmoo for the suggestions.

I am considering adding the start date to the "RRULE" (start dates are part of the RRULE standard), and of making sure the scheduled date gets updated to indicate the next occurance of a task. I'm not certain how this will work, but I'm thinking it will only be updated when the task's "completed dates" array is modified.

I'm less sure whether I'll make changes to the due date functionality. It seems non-obvious to me that the "due" property should stand in a relative relationship (e.g. "two days after") to the "scheduled" date. I'm hesitent to make that the default behaviour. But I'm open to further suggestions!

[callumalpass]

Here's a bit of a plan. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this.

RRULE DTSTART & Dynamic Scheduled Date Specification

Overview

Enhance recurring task management to use RFC 5545 DTSTART properly and make scheduled dates dynamic (showing "next occurrence") rather than static series start dates.

Core Requirements

1. DTSTART in RRULE Strings

• All RRULE strings must include DTSTART (e.g., DTSTART:20250121;FREQ=DAILY)
• DTSTART supports both date-only (YYYYMMDD) and datetime (YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ) formats
• Recurrence context menu presets include DTSTART set to "today"
• Custom recurrence modal has start date picker

2. Dynamic Scheduled Dates

• task.scheduled always shows the next uncompleted occurrence
• Auto-updates when:
  • Task instances are completed/uncompleted
  • Recurrence rule changes
• Manual scheduled date edits set manually_rescheduled: true to prevent auto-updates
• Completing a manually rescheduled task clears the flag and resumes auto-calculation

3. Calendar Drag/Drop Behavior

Two distinct behaviors based on what's being dragged:

Dragging Next Scheduled Occurrence (task.scheduled date):

• Updates only task.scheduled (manual reschedule)
• Sets manually_rescheduled: true
• Does NOT change DTSTART or recurrence pattern

Dragging Pattern Instances (other recurring dates):

• Updates DTSTART in the RRULE string
• Recalculates task.scheduled to new next occurrence
• Moves entire recurrence series

4. Visual Hierarchy

• Next scheduled occurrence: Normal task styling (solid border, full opacity)
• Pattern occurrences: Recurring preview styling (dashed border, reduced opacity)

Backward Compatibility

• Tasks without DTSTART use task.dateCreated as fallback anchor
• No data migration required
• Legacy RecurrenceInfo objects still supported

[jpmoo]

Thanks! How would this interact with (if at all) due date? If scheduled is updated, and I am filtering or sorting on due, what will happen? I'm thinking about a saved view that I have that pulls in tasks that are due today or earlier. Would one of these tasks pop on that list even though scheduled is actually later than the due date?

[yngwi]

This sounds good to me, especially because the auto-updated schedule will also appear in bases at the correct date.

[kmaustral]

That seems all very well thought out. I looked at filtering for scheduled_instances but I couldn't work out how to create a relative date filter with a list.

[kmaustral]

I'm not sure if anyone else does this, but this Base view is an alternative to the TaskNotes widget and can be placed anywhere in the Project note:

We just need to find a way of filtering out the completed recurrent tasks for that day.

[callumalpass]

Hopefully once the recurrence logic is updated recurring tasks will work better with Bases.

[kmaustral]

And one minor point that may be a problem down the track, the date entered today for complete_instance is yesterday for me. I am in Australian Eastern Standard Time. Maybe it is using a different time zone.

[callumalpass]

That shouldn't be happening--I'm in AEST too! I'll have a look into it, though. Timezones have been causing problems like this a lot for this plugin.

[callumalpass]

The bug you're seeing was documented here. I assume you're using the latest version?

[kmaustral]

Hah. I was trying to guess your time zone from when you replied. I thought you must be in the states staying up very late.
Yes, 3.15.

[callumalpass]

Hi, @kmaustral , a couple of questions:

• Is this a problem for you when you select "Mark complete for this date" in the context menu, or does it also happen when you use the little "Completions" calendar in the "Edit task" view :

• If you open the "Mini Calendar" view, which date is selected here? Please note that "Mark complete for this date" action will use the value of the date selected in the Mini Calendar (this is probably unintuitive behaviour, and I will consider altering it).

[kmaustral]

Being able to generate a list of due tasks is a key function. To remove previously done recurring tasks from that list, I've resorted to manually changing the scheduled date. I haven't found any alternative solution for the time being. It may be better to keep the Tasks plugin for these routine tasks. I'll do that for the time being as TaskNotes evolves.
Your revisions will be greatly appreciated.

[callumalpass]

Ah that make sense, thanks! Yes, making Bases aware of the "repeats every three days" logic will require the changes to the scheduling logic described above.

Can I ask--are you using the Agenda view at all? It is the view most equipped for handling recurring tasks.

[kmaustral]

Actually, I hadn't tried it. It looks amazing. I like how it highlights useful information.

[kmaustral]

But strangely, it skipped a day. It went from Thursday to Monday, despite Friday having scheduled tasks. Could this be due to the time zone issue?

[callumalpass]

You might want to check if there are any filters being applied?

The timezone issue shouldn't be affecting the Agenda view--the "completed_instances" logic and the Agenda logic are separate, and the Agenda has been more robustly tested.

[callumalpass]

You might also want to double check that the right week is being looked at. If you use the mini calendar at all, this can change the date that the Agenda view displays.

[kmaustral]

You're right. I was filtering for tasks due before tomorrow. I didn't need to do that with the Agenda view. I presume that overdue tasks will reappear in Today.

…

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[callumalpass]

Yes, overdue tasks appear in today :)

[callumalpass]

Hi @jpmoo . Could you please confirm that you're aware of the Agenda view as well? It seems that a few people now having trouble with recurring tasks have not known about the Agenda view.

[jpmoo]

Yep. I do use agenda view for various things. My use case here is more related to a GTD-style practice of carrying around a list of focused tasks that I should be thinking about right now. I tend to show those in a task list or kanban grouped on priority or context.

With that, I'm trying to achieve a view for task list or kanban that shows anything due today or overdue, plus anything that has any kind of priority level. This works fine except for recurring tasks. I can't figure out a way to bring them forward when they're due or overdue. I can find them in other views (like agenda, etc.) and manually assign them priority or give them a due date, but that adds some drag to my processing.

I'm hoping for a solution that ultimately treats any given instance of a recurring tasks as much the same as any other task as possible. Logically, I want a recurrence to be just any other task, except that the system generates it at the time of completion of the last recurrence instead of me generating it through my other collection means. I'm not advocating for the plugin to generate a new note, of course. I am thinking, though, that YAML properties can be used to hold history and recurrence pattern like they currently do, but that due/scheduled dates could be rewritten to match the next occurrence whenever the task is marked complete.

Here's my current "focused" view for task list or kanban ...

[paulsnedden]

This is where I'm at as well. I want to do something very similar, and would have thought that the Due Date would be "overwritten" to reflect the new occurrence of the recurring task (like the Obsidian Tasks plugin does).

[jpmoo]

Perhaps related to the other date issue mentioned in this thread ... my calendar for a recurring task looks like this:

The recurrence on this task is weekly on Tuesday. The dates highlighted in the calendar, while in the appropriate column for where I expect Tuesday to be, are actually a day off--the 21st and 28th are actually Mondays.

Is this a known bug or should I file? Or just something I'm doing wrong?

[callumalpass]

Sorry, @kmaustral , I just saw this. This is a bug that I was seeing a few versions ago, which I thought I had fixed. I'll look into it some more. This is very likely related to the problem that you are seeing. Strangely, I haven't yet been able to replicate this problem.

[kmaustral]

Is this for me? I am finding the Agenda view the most useful so far. It would be great to develop the recurring tasks feature so it is possible to see due tasks properly in Bases as well.

[callumalpass]

Oh sorry @kmaustral ! @jpmoo, the above is intended for you. It looks like there issue #160 needs to be reopened though.

[jpmoo]

@callumalpass Thanks! I am on the latest version.

[callumalpass]

@kmaustral and @jpmoo . In 3.17.0 the scheduled date will be automatically updated when you complete a recurring task. It will update to the next scheduled occurrence. You are able to move this "next scheduled occurrence" (the scheduled value) off of the recurrence pattern as well (i.e. if a task usually recurs at 7am, you can reschedule the next occurrence without affecting all other occurrences.

[jpmoo]

@callumalpass Thanks! This is moving in the right direction, even though I'm still seeing some odd behavior (outlined in my latest message in this thread).

[kmaustral]

@callumalpass Good work. That makes it much easier to get a filter for due tasks.

[kmaustral]

Here's a little puzzle with using Bases for filtering due Task Notes:

scheduled <= today() results in all those tasks scheduled for today or before, except those with a scheduled time, such as 2025-08-05T16:00:00

On clunky solution is to add another filter:

scheduled != today() + "1 day

[jpmoo]

@kmaustral I've had this issue in other apps. Try scheduled < tomorrow().

EDIT: changed <= to < tomorrow ().

[callumalpass]

@jpmoo is correct, I think! One thing that I've learnt very thoroughly with all the timezone bugs is that Javascript treats dates as "midnight moments". So the "today" variable in Bases will probably be interpreted as something like 2025-08-05T00:00 (assuming today is 5th of August).

[kmaustral]

Thanks @jpmoo and @callumalpass

Bases doesn't have tomorrow() but this works: scheduled < today() + "1 day"

[jebeaudoin]

I really the overall approach but the recurring tasks feature is difficult for me to implement conceptually. I am trying to create a view in TaskNotes called "Today" that shows me every uncompleted task that is due before tomorrow, including recurring tasks. Like @jpmoo I can't find a way to bring recurring tasks forward when they are due or overdue, and while I can look in the agenda, a few show up only on past days and not on Today. It may be user error - that I am just not used to managing both "due" and "scheduled" dates and/or that I'm writing the filter incorrectly. But I need 100% confidence that overdue uncompleted recurring tasks show up on my today list so that I can either do them today, or schedule them for a future date without changing the recurrence. I gratefully welcome any help! :)

[callumalpass]

Thanks for raising this @jebeaudoin . I think I need to do some more work on the Agenda view to accommodate the recent changes to the recurring tasks.

Please know that recurring tasks at the moment pay very little attention to the 'due' date. Their 'scheduled' date gets updated automatically when you mark an instance as complete, but the due date is very rarely looked at by the plugin.

My thinking behind this is that a recurring task is due only at the end of the recurrence cycle. @jpmoo has raised some good reasons for not thinking of recurring tasks like this-that the due date refers to when a particular scheduled occurrence should be completed. I'm not yet sure how to incorporate this into the plugin.

I'll look into making the Agenda view pay more attention to the scheduled date. Hopefully this will solve your problems!

[jebeaudoin]

You are so responsive! Greatly appreciated. I'll keep my eyes open. Until you get this settled, I may use an automation to manage my recurrences too. The whole idea of one task = one note makes so much sense. Cheers!

[jpmoo]

@jebeaudoin My workflow is to create a filter showing anything due before tomorrow, and anything marked with a priority (and not marked complete). That’s my focused list for any given moment.

Each day, probably multiple times throughout the day, I gather tasks to put on this list by looking at the agenda (and other views) that show scheduled and not just due tasks. I assign priority to various tasks, including repeating ones, which puts them in my focus list.

This is a bit of a GTD approach. I set myself up with a few tasks, group them by priority across a kanban, and go back to my lists to gather more when I need more to do.

This works well for me, but it’s conceivable that I could miss a recurring task. I’m thinking of coming up with a view just of recurring tasks and reviewing that as part of my weekly review. Then, I’d set due dates for them each week, which would expose those tasks on my focus filter as soon as I hit their due date. I don’t have anything that’s more frequent than weekly, so this would work for me.

This also gives me a flexible approach to recurring due dates. I have recurring tasks that need to be done each week, for example, but I can decide each week about when to do them. Very different from, say, wishing a friend “Happy Birthday” which has a firmer due date. I may end up appreciating the “limitation” of the plugin as far as due dates for recurring tasks, as I’ve kind of lost attention on those tasks in other systems because I didn’t have to ever examine or consider them. They just showed up.

[kmaustral]

@jpmoo That's an interesting use of priority for kanban. I'll think about that.

Most of my recurring tasks are about scheduling a focus in a particular area, so that the recurring Task Note is a dashboard for that area. I rarely use the Due date, except as external deadlines.

Because I have many different area dashboards, integration with a Bases view of Task Notes is very useful. I have a status text field in my Task Notes which helps me remember the current state of that task, which I can edit directly in the Bases view.

The way I get focus is through time-blocking with the Calendar view, which is excellent.

[jpmoo]

@kmaustral The most useful/flexible implementation I've ever used is in Omnifocus on the Mac. In that app, when you set a recurring task, the due and scheduled dates adjust accordingly.

(In OmniFocus, "scheduled" or "start" is actually called "defer", and refers to the first date that the task becomes available to work on.)

So, if you set a task to be scheduled on Monday, and it's due on Wednesday, and you want it to be due every Wednesday, then the next instance would be due next Wednesday, and the scheduled date would also advance by the same interval (ie, to next Monday).

There's also a handy setting to advance the next instance based on the original scheduled/due date, or by when the task is completed.

So, if you have something that has to happen weekly, but it doesn't matter on which day (eg, "Brush the dog"), you can simply advance it a week from the date completed rather than the original scheduled/due date. Schedule it for Monday, due on Tuesday. If you actually do it on Thursday, it'll advance the next instance to scheduled for Wednesday, due on Thursday of next week.

[kmaustral]

@jpmoo Omnifocus sounds quite sophisticated. Most of my "due" dates are actually linked to Projects in the form of deadlines.

But I do use "this week", "next month", "this month", etc, in Task Notes categories. This is very useful for a Kanban review each week.

I then have a Bases filter for unscheduled tasks that are for "this week" which I review every morning. But these are all one-off tasks. It's less worry to have recurring weekly events already scheduled.