Task board

Run Deckard: Open Task Board, or select Task Board at the top of the Context view or the board icon in the Tasks view’s title bar. Drag a card to another column, or choose one from its ⋯ menu, to change the task in its note. The menu’s Move to… moves the task and its steps under another heading. A card with steps shows Steps 2/5 done (40%) · next: Draft the email. Board and Table, under the search box, switch the view. Add task and ⋯ sit at the top right: ⋯ holds Save search…, List in Tasks view, Export tasks…, the status columns and other view options, Theme… and Zen, Help on this page, and Keyboard shortcuts. Parked tasks are left off unless the search says is:parked.

Groupings

Group, under the search box, chooses the columns:

• Status: a column per open task status in your list, each headed by its name and, muted after it, its character: Todo [ ], In progress [/], Waiting [w], Someday [s], Blocked [=]. Status columns, in ⋯, says which are columns and in what order. A character no status names that an open task uses gets a column of its own after them, such as Unknown [!].
• Dropping on a status column writes its status’s character, so - [ ] Draft dropped on In progress becomes - [/] Draft. A #status/… tag on the line is a tag like any other, and stays.
• Priority: a column per priority. Dropping writes it in the task’s format, such as ⏫ or [priority:: high].
• Due date: Needs a new date (more than 30 days overdue, titled in red), Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, Within a week, Later, and No due date. Drop on Today or Tomorrow to set the date, or No due date to remove it; other columns take no drops.
• Tag…: one namespace’s tags, alphabetical, then No context. Choosing Tag… opens a menu of the namespaces your open tasks use; grouped by one, Group shows it, such as #context. A task with two such tags is in both columns. Dropping replaces the tag on the line, or removes it in No context; an inherited tag stays. See Contexts, areas, and projects.
• Every grouping ends with Done, showing the 20 most recently completed tasks. Drop a card there to complete it, with its done date and next occurrence; drag it out to reopen it.
• Cancelled, ticked in ⋯’s Status columns, draws a Cancelled [-] column after Done. Dropping a card there cancels it, with its ❌ date.
• A card shows its status when its column doesn’t, such as In progress on a card grouped by priority.
• A card says who its task is for, such as for @dana, unless the board is grouped by Person or the task is yours: the person deckard.me names, as is:mine reads it. With no one named there, every card with a person shows it.

Lanes

Lanes, beside Group, splits the board into rows by a second axis: None, Status, Priority, Due date, Person, or Tag…, the tags of a namespace, such as #team. It offers every axis but the one Group uses; Tag… stays while the columns are a tag, for another namespace. The board keeps your choice with its grouping, and choosing for Group the axis the lanes are by sets Lanes back to None.

• Each lane is a row of the board’s columns, a cell in every column, so a column’s cells line up down the page. The lanes are what Group would make columns of, in the same order: Payments, Rates, then No team last. A task with two of a namespace’s tags is in both lanes.
• The column heads are drawn once, at the top, and count over every lane, a task in two lanes once. A lane’s head is its name, its count, and +; select its name to fold it or show it again, for as long as the board is open.
• Drag a card to another cell to write both: the column’s change, then the lane’s, in one edit of the task’s line, with one Undo. Dragged along its lane it changes its column; dragged up or down its column, its lane. On a board sorted by Rank, dragging it within its cell ranks it.
• Each cell keeps its column’s rules. While a card is held, a cell that will not take it fades and says why: the Overdue column or lane, and the other date ranges, which no single date stands for; Done in another lane, since completing a task cannot also change its lane; and, with lanes by status, any cell but where Done meets the Done lane for a done task.
• Done shows the 20 most recently completed tasks of each lane, and Show N more in a cell shows the whole column.
• + on a lane, Add a task to Rates, opens Add Task with the lane’s value filled in, such as #team/rates, for @dana, or a priority; the + on a column head fills in the column’s.
• A card’s ⋯ offers Move to lane when the lanes are tags or people; status, priority, and due date lanes are moved to by the menu’s own choices. [ and ] move a card along its lane, and ↑ and ↓ go on past a cell’s first or last card into the lane above or below.
• The Table has no lanes.

Searching and filtering

• Search with the same search box as search pages, such as #project/atlas, priority >= high, or plain words. Refine counts only tasks. The board opens on is:open; clear the box for every task, or search is:done.
• Can start now narrows to is:available, leaving out tasks that are blocked, not started, or on hold (Waiting, Someday, Blocked). Press it again for is:open.
• Save search…, in ⋯, keeps the search in the box, whether or not Enter has run it, as a saved search that reopens on the board. List in Tasks view, in ⋯, makes the Tasks view list it, and is checked while it does; select it again to list every open task.
• Export tasks…, in ⋯, copies or saves every task the search found as a Markdown table, a Markdown list, or CSV.

Editing what the Tasks view lists

Edit What the Tasks View Lists…, in the Tasks view’s title ⋯ menu, opens the board on the view’s search, with Editing what the Tasks view lists and Cancel above the search box.

• Change the search, then select Save to Tasks view. The view lists what the box shows, whether or not Enter has run it, and the board runs it too. A notice says what the view lists now, such as The Tasks view lists “#project/atlas” now.
• The board’s own is:open is left out, as the view lists only open tasks; is:open alone lists every open task. The search is written to deckard.tasks.viewQuery in the workspace’s settings when the workspace sets it, and in your user settings otherwise, as List in Tasks view writes it.
• A search that does not parse is not saved: the box shows its error.
• While the view lists the search in the box, Save to Tasks view is held and says so; change the search to save again. The board stays open, so you can go on refining.
• Save to Tasks view is the filled button at the top right while you edit, and Add task beside it goes plain. Save search…, in ⋯, keeps the search as a named saved search, as on any board.
• Cancel makes it a plain board again and leaves the Tasks view as it is. Opened any other way, such as with Deckard: Open Task Board, from Home, or from a saved search, the board is a plain one.

Cards and columns

• Due dates read by distance, such as Overdue 15 days · 2026-09-08 or Due tomorrow · 2026-09-24; beyond a month only the date shows. A task more than deckard.tasks.needsNewDateAfterDays (30) days overdue reads was due 2026-07-01 in muted text.
• Column headers count cards and overdue ones: 40 · 38 overdue.
• deckard.board.limits sets work-in-progress limits by status, its name with a hyphen for a space, such as { "in-progress": 3 } for In progress. The header reads 5 / 3, and a column over its limit gets a dashed outline. Drops are never refused.
• A column over 100 cards shows Show N more.
• Add task, the filled button at the top right, runs Add Task: its editor names the note the task goes to, today’s by default, and you can choose another. The + at the end of a column’s title, Add a task to In progress, opens the same editor with that column’s status, priority, date, person, or tag already filled in. Done has none. A card’s ⋯ menu offers Due on a date… for any day, and Snooze until…, which puts the task off by its start date.
• Select a card to open its line, or a tag to open its overview.
• Show the tag each task is under, in ⋯’s Cards, puts the tag the task is part of above its title on cards, and the board keeps your choice. Nearest first: the first tag on the nearest tagged heading above it, then its note’s front-matter tag, which in a hub note is the tag it describes. A tag the task’s own line writes is skipped, since its title shows it, wherever on the line it is written, and so is a tag of the namespace the board is grouped by. A task under ## Launch #project/atlas shows #project/atlas; - [ ] Call Ren #project/atlas shows the tag in its title instead. Select the tag to add it to the board’s search, as Refine does: Shift-click adds it with OR, beside a tag of the same namespace the search already has, and Alt-click leaves it out. Cmd/Ctrl-click opens the tag’s page in a new tab.
• Sort, beside Group, orders the cards in each column: Rank (the default), Most urgent, Newest created, Oldest created, Recently updated, Least recently updated, A-Z, or Z-A. A tie, and every card you haven’t ranked, goes by due date, then priority. Done and Cancelled always list the most recently closed first.
• Rank a card by dragging it up or down its own column, or with Alt+↑ and Alt+↓, while the board is sorted by Rank. A line shows where it will land. There is one rank for all your tasks, kept outside your notes, shared with the table and the Tasks view: grouped by priority or by tag, the cards you ranked keep their order among themselves. Dragging a card to another column still changes the task, and it keeps its rank.
• Every move is checked against the indexed line first, so a newer edit is never overwritten.

Table

• Table, beside Board under the search box, shows tasks as rows: title, due date, priority, person, and note by default. Add other fields in ⋯’s Columns. Select a header to sort, again to reverse; Sort by rank restores your ranking. A query block draws the same table with view=table.
• In Rank order, with no header sorting it, rank a table row by dragging it, by right-clicking it (or pressing the menu key) for Move up, Move down, Move to top and Move to bottom, or with Alt+↑ and Alt+↓, whatever the board’s Sort. While a header sorts it, rows keep the place the sort gives them.
• Status columns, in ⋯, lists every status in your list: the open ones in the board’s order, then Done, which is always a column, then Cancelled. Tick a row to show its column, clear it to hide it; drag an open status’s row, or press the menu key on it, to reorder. A row says how many open tasks have its status, and 9 open, hidden when its column is hidden; the board’s total still counts them. Hidden statuses are under More statuses in a card’s menu. New status… and Edit statuses… open Edit Task Statuses. Cancelled is hidden until ticked. These choices are kept on this machine, as the board’s layout and grouping are.

Keyboard

The board is one Tab stop. Arrow keys move between cards and columns. On a focused card:

• x completes it; t and m make it due today or tomorrow; d asks for a date in plain words; f asks who it is for; z snoozes it until tomorrow, next week, or a day you type.
• 1 to 5 set priority; 0 clears it.
• [ and ] move it to the adjacent column.
• e opens the task editor; s breaks it into steps; Enter opens its line, and Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows and Linux) opens it beside the board.
• ?, or Keyboard shortcuts in ⋯, lists the keys.

A card’s ⋯ menu checks the task’s current status, priority, and due date, and shows the key for each choice; the keys work in the menu too. The ⋯ shows on the card under the pointer or with focus, and on a touch screen always. Right-click a card, or press Shift+F10, the menu key, or Alt+Enter on a focused one, to open the same menu. A table row’s ⋯ shows the same way, and stays a Tab stop.

Contexts, areas, and projects

Group by a tag namespace for GTD and PARA lists:

• Contexts, where a task can be done: #context/phone, #context/computer, #context/errands. Not @phone, which Deckard reads as a person.
• Areas, what you keep up: tags: [area/health] in front matter puts every task in the note in the area.
• Projects, what you finish: a heading tag, ## Launch #project/atlas, puts every task under the heading in the project.

Then choose Group Tasks By… in the Tasks view’s title, Tag namespace…, and #context; or Tag… in the Task board’s Group. A task with two contexts is in both lists. Dragging a task to another context rewrites the tag on its line; an inherited project or area stays.

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