Daily notes

Since 0.20.0

Today’s note opens the note for today, and creates it the first time you ask. Each day gets its own note in a Daily notes database, with a live list of that day’s tasks at the top and a place to write below it. Since 0.20.0

Today’s note Since 0.20.0

Choose Today’s note in any of these places:

The command palette: type “Today’s note”.
The menu you get by right-clicking the sidebar’s background, right after New note.
The vault menu.
On desktop, File → Today’s Note.
On a phone, the ⋯ menu at the top of Home.
The Today’s note button at the end of the Daily notes database’s toolbar. On a phone, it’s the first row of the database’s ⋯ menu.

If today’s note already exists, it opens. If it doesn’t, Mahfouz creates it, and creates the Daily notes database too if the vault doesn’t have one yet. Choosing it again the same day opens the same note.

Today’s note has no default keyboard shortcut, since ModAltD hides the Dock on macOS. To give it one, set a key for Today’s note in Settings → Shortcuts, or add a today_note row to the ## Shortcuts table in the vault’s .config/settings.md.

The Daily notes database Since 0.20.0

The first time you open today’s note, Mahfouz creates a database called Daily notes at the top of the vault, with two views:

Calendar, which places each day on its date.
Table, which lists every day.

Each day is a row, a note titled with its date as YYYY-MM-DD, such as 2026-11-02. It has a day attribute holding the same date, which is what the Calendar uses. A new day’s note looks like this:

# 2026-11-02

## Tasks

```day-tasks
day: 2026-11-02
```

## Notes

The cursor lands under Notes, where you write. The block under Tasks lists the day’s tasks: see The tasks block.

In this database, New row and a Calendar day’s + open that day’s note instead of adding a blank row. If the note doesn’t exist yet, it’s created.

Each day’s note has a fixed name and ID that come from its date. If two of your devices both create the same day’s note before they sync, they write the same file, so git merges them like any other note.

The tasks block Since 0.20.0

The Tasks section of a day’s note holds a day-tasks block. In the file, the block stores only its date:

```day-tasks
day: 2026-11-02
```

In Preview, Mahfouz draws it as a live list of that day’s tasks, read from the tasks in your vault. Nothing is copied into the daily note, so the list stays current as you add, change or finish tasks elsewhere.

What it lists

Whose tasks: when you’re signed in to GitHub, the tasks assigned to you plus the tasks with no assignee. When you’re signed out, everyone’s tasks.
Which vault: only the tasks in the vault the note is in.
Today: the tasks due today, open or done, plus the open tasks that are overdue, in their own Overdue group.
A past day: only the tasks due that day, open or done, as they stand now.
Not the note’s own tasks: tasks written in the daily note itself aren’t listed, since they’re right below the block.

Obsidian’s tasks blocks (the Tasks plugin’s query blocks) aren’t affected. They stay ordinary code blocks.

Working with it

Tick a task in the list to complete it. Mahfouz ticks it in the note where the task is written.
Open a task’s note by clicking the note’s name on its row. The note opens at the task’s line.
Add a task with the block’s New task due row, which names the block’s day. It writes a new task line due that day right after the block, assigned to you when you’re signed in. It’s turned off while you’re suggesting.

In any note

The block works in any note, not only in a daily note. To add one, type / and choose Tasks for a day in the slash menu. It inserts a block for today; change its day: line for another date.

When a note leaves the app Since 0.20.0

The list is drawn from your vault, so it can’t go with the note everywhere:

Publishing, Share (sending a copy) and the export formats that plugins add, such as PDF, show *Tasks (not published)* in place of the block, so your tasks don’t leave with the note.
Quick Look shows its own placeholder, Tasks · open in Mahfouz.
The built-in Markdown export, slides and a live note share keep the block as written, its day: line included.