⚙️ Configuration Guide - devonthesofa/obsidian-note-status GitHub Wiki

Configuration Guide

Complete guide to customizing the Note Status plugin.

Settings Overview

Access via Settings → Note Status

Status Templates

Controls which predefined status sets are available.

Template Selection

☐ Colorful workflow (9 statuses with full lifecycle)
☐ Minimal workflow (4 essential statuses)
☐ Academic research (7 research-focused statuses)
☐ Project management (8 development statuses)

Impact: Enabled templates add their statuses to dropdown.

Template Details

Colorful Workflow - Complete content lifecycle:

💡 idea (#FFEB3B)        - Initial concepts and brainstorming
📝 draft (#E0E0E0)       - First draft creation
🔧 inProgress (#FFC107)  - Active development work
🖊️ editing (#2196F3)     - Review and editing phase
⏳ pending (#9C27B0)     - Waiting for external input
⏸ onHold (#9E9E9E)       - Temporarily paused
🔄 needsUpdate (#FF5722) - Requires updates/revision
✅ completed (#4CAF50)   - Finished and ready
📦 archived (#795548)    - Long-term storage

Minimal Workflow - Essential only:

📌 todo (#F44336)        - Needs attention
⚙️ inProgress (#2196F3)   - Currently working
👀 review (#9C27B0)      - Needs review
✓ done (#4CAF50)         - Completed

Academic Research - Research-focused:

🔍 research (#2196F3)    - Information gathering
📑 outline (#9E9E9E)     - Structure planning
✏️ draft (#FFC107)        - Writing phase
🔬 review (#9C27B0)      - Peer review stage
📝 revision (#FF5722)    - Revisions needed
📚 final (#4CAF50)       - Final version
🎓 published (#795548)   - Published work

Project Management - Development workflow:

🗓️ planning (#9E9E9E)      - Planning phase
📋 backlog (#E0E0E0)       - Backlog items
🚦 ready (#8BC34A)         - Ready to start
👨‍💻 inDevelopment (#2196F3) - Development phase
🧪 testing (#9C27B0)       - Testing phase
👁️ review (#FFC107)        - Code review
👍 approved (#4CAF50)      - Approved
🚀 live (#3F51B5)          - Production/live

File Explorer Screenshot

User Interface Settings

Status Bar Configuration

✅ Show status bar
   Shows "Status: active" at bottom of editor

☐ Auto-hide status bar
   Hides when status is "unknown"
   Useful for clean interface when no status assigned

File Explorer Integration

✅ Show status icons in file explorer
   Displays status icons next to filenames

☐ Hide unknown status in file explorer
   Improves visual clarity by hiding ❓ icons
   Recommended for large vaults

Status Pane Options

☐ Default to compact view
   Starts status pane in dense layout mode

✅ Exclude unassigned notes from status pane
   Skips files with "unknown" status
   CRITICAL for performance with large vaults (>5000 notes)

Status Behavior

Multiple Status Support

✅ Enable multiple statuses
   Allows notes to have multiple simultaneous statuses
   Changes dropdown behavior from replace to toggle

When Enabled:

  • Clicking status toggles it on/off
  • Notes can have combinations like ("active", "inProgress",....)
  • Status bar shows all assigned statuses When Disabled:
  • Clicking status replaces current status
  • Notes have single status only
  • Simpler workflow for basic usage

Status Tag Configuration

Status tag prefix: "obsidian-note-status"

Purpose: YAML frontmatter key for storing statuses Default: obsidian-note-status Custom example: project-status, task-state

Frontmatter examples:

# Default
---
obsidian-note-status:
    - active
---
# Custom prefix
---
project-status:
    - inProgress
    - testing
---

Strict Status Validation

☐ Strict status validation
   Only allows statuses defined in templates/custom
   ⚠️ WARNING: Removes unknown statuses when editing

Impact when enabled:

  • Dropdown only shows defined statuses
  • Unknown statuses automatically removed during edits
  • Ensures consistency but may lose data

Use cases:

  • Team environments with standardized workflows
  • Clean data requirements
  • Migration from other systems

Custom Status Management

Creating Custom Statuses

  1. Navigate to Custom Statuses section
  2. Click "Add Status"
  3. Configure fields:
Name: [unique identifier]
Icon: [emoji or symbol]
Color: [CSS color value]
Description: [optional tooltip text]

Field Specifications

Name Field:

  • Must be unique across all statuses
  • Case-sensitive
  • No spaces
  • Used in frontmatter and commands

Icon Field:

  • Emoji recommended: 🔥, ⭐, 🎯
  • Unicode symbols: ◆, ▲, ●
  • Text symbols: !, ?, +
  • Fallback: ❓ if empty

Color Field:

  • Hex format: #FF5722
  • CSS variables: var(--text-success)
  • Named colors: red, blue
  • RGB/HSL: rgb(255, 87, 34)

Description Field:

  • Optional tooltip text
  • Shows on hover in dropdowns
  • Useful for team workflows
  • Example: "Waiting for client feedback"

Custom Status Examples

Personal Workflow:

urgent     🔥 #FF0000 "Requires immediate attention"
someday    💭 #9E9E9E "Future consideration"
waiting    ⏰ #FFC107 "Waiting for external input"
delegated  👥 #2196F3 "Assigned to someone else"

Content Creation:

brainstorm 💡 #FFEB3B "Initial idea development"
research   🔍 #9C27B0 "Gathering information"
outline    📋 #E0E0E0 "Structuring content"
writing    ✍️ #2196F3 "Active writing phase"
editing    ✏️ #FF9800 "Revision and editing"
published  🌟 #4CAF50 "Live and published"

Custom-Only Mode

☐ Use only custom statuses
   Ignores all template statuses
   Uses only custom-defined statuses

Use cases:

  • Highly specialized workflows
  • Team standardization
  • Legacy system migration

Quick Status Commands

Configure which statuses get dedicated commands in Command Palette.

Command Generation

For each enabled status, creates:

  • Set status to [status] - Direct assignment
  • Toggle status [status] - Toggle on/off (if multiple statuses enabled)

Recommended Quick Commands

✅ active      - Most common work status
✅ completed   - Frequently used completion
✅ onHold      - Common pause state
☐ todo         - Redundant with "active"
☐ archived     - Infrequent use

Hotkey Assignment

  1. Settings → Hotkeys
  2. Search "note-status"
  3. Assign keys to quick commands

Suggested hotkeys:

Ctrl+Shift+A  →  Set status to active
Ctrl+Shift+D  →  Set status to completed
Ctrl+Shift+H  →  Set status to onHold
Ctrl+Shift+S  →  Change status of current note

Advanced Configuration

Performance Tuning

Large Vault Settings (5000+ notes)

✅ Exclude unassigned notes from status pane
✅ Hide unknown status in file explorer
Items per page: 50 (reduce from default 100)

Memory Optimization

☐ Show status icons in file explorer (disable if slow)
☐ Auto-hide status bar (reduce DOM updates)

Import/Export Configuration

WIP

Export Settings

WIP

Import Process

WIP

Migration Between Vaults

WIP