4D Eisenhower Matrix
Jaroslav Krčál1k downloadsVisualize tasks across your vault in a 5-quadrant Eisenhower matrix (DO / DECIDE / DELEGATE / DELETE / OPEN) + Kanban view. Reads and writes standard task — tags, due/start/done dates, and priority.
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4D Eisenhower Matrix — Obsidian plugin
Visualize tasks across your entire vault in a 5-quadrant Eisenhower matrix (DO / DECIDE / DELEGATE / DELETE / OPEN) + Kanban view. Reads and writes Obsidian Tasks syntax — #tags, 📅 due, 🛫 start, ✅ done, priority.
A morning dashboard for deciding what to do now: open it, see tasks split by priority, check off the done ones, add new ones. Markdown files stay the source of truth — the plugin is just a visual layer on top.
Features
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| 5-quadrant matrix | DO / DECIDE / DELEGATE / DELETE plus a catch-all OPEN. The quadrant is the first #tag after the checkbox (#DO, #DECIDE, #DELEGATE, #DELETE); anything else lands in OPEN. |
| Kanban view | Expand any quadrant to full width with To-do · In progress · Scheduled · Done status columns. On desktop drag cards between columns to change status, onto another quadrant to move them, or add a task straight into a column. On mobile/tablet the board scrolls horizontally and you change status via the card menu (Mark as…). |
| Cross-vault aggregation | Collects tasks from every .md file in the vault (Dataview-like), not just today's daily note — one board for your whole second brain. |
| 6 task statuses | Things-style [ ] to-do · [/] in progress · [x] done · [-] canceled · [>] forwarded · [<] scheduling. Each card shows a status box; set any state via right-click → Mark as…. |
| Full CRUD | Add (text + tags + due date + priority), edit inline, toggle done, move between quadrants — every change is written straight back to your Markdown. |
| Priority | Obsidian Tasks convention: 🔺 highest · ⏫ high · 🔼 medium · 🔽 low · ⏬ lowest. It's also the manual lever for ordering — raise a priority and the task jumps up. |
| Due / start / done dates | Reads and writes 📅 due, 🛫 start, ✅ done. Overdue tasks are highlighted and float to the top of their quadrant. |
| Markdown in task text | Inline bold, italic, code, #…###### renders the task as a heading. |
| Clickable links | [[wikilinks]] (with #heading / |alias) and [text](url) in the task title are live — click to open the note (resolved relative to the task's file) or the URL; Ctrl/Cmd-click opens in a new pane. Clicks don't trigger drag or edit. Only https:/http:/mailto: URLs open externally — other schemes stay plain text. |
| Tag autocomplete | Suggests existing vault tags as you type, so you don't create near-duplicates. |
| Filter by tag | Context-tag chips in the filter bar (multi-select, OR logic) + a virtual "Other" chip for untagged tasks. |
| Due-date quick filters | Today (overdue + due today), Selected (due exactly on the date picked in the header), and This week (overdue + next 7 days) buttons at the start of the filter bar, set apart in orange. |
| Date navigation | ← / → / calendar / Today, plus a day-cutoff banner offering to jump to today after midnight. |
| Undo grace period | A 3-second window with a green countdown bar after you complete or cancel a task — click again to undo. |
| Compact mode | Header toggle that shrinks every card to two lines (text + priority/due date) for a denser overview. |
| Show / hide done | The "Done" toggle reveals or hides finished tasks ([x] + [-]); the task counter follows the toggle. |
| Collapsible UI | Collapse individual quadrants or the whole header to free up space — handy on mobile. |
| Deterministic sorting | Within a quadrant: overdue → priority → due date → alphabetical. No accidental drag-reordering. |
| Daily note integration | New tasks go under a configurable section heading; if today's daily note is missing it's created automatically, honoring your core "Daily notes" template ({{date}}, {{title}}, {{time}}). |
| Excluded folders | Point the matrix away from templates, archives or anything you don't want scanned. |
| Desktop & mobile | Works on desktop and Android (isDesktopOnly: false); responsive layout with touch-friendly controls. |
| Theme-aware | Built entirely on Obsidian CSS variables, so it adapts to your light/dark theme and accent colour. |
Installation
Settings → Community plugins → Browse → search "4D Eisenhower Matrix" → Install → Enable.
Then open it via the ribbon icon (grid, in the left sidebar) or the command palette → Open matrix.
Task syntax
The plugin reads/writes standard Obsidian Tasks syntax:
- [ ] #DO #Personal ⏫ 📅 2026-05-20 🛫 2026-05-15 Important call with Alice
- [x] #DECIDE Long-term planning ✅ 2026-05-10
- [ ] task without a quadrant tag ← lands in the OPEN quadrant
Quadrant tags (the first token after - [ ]):
| Tag | Quadrant | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
#DO |
🔴 DO | Important + Urgent |
#DECIDE |
🔵 DECIDE | Important + Less Urgent |
#DELEGATE |
🟢 DELEGATE | Less Important + Urgent |
#DELETE |
🟡 DELETE | Less Important + Less Urgent |
| (other / none) | ⚫ OPEN | Uncategorized |
Priority (Obsidian Tasks convention):
| Emoji | Level |
|---|---|
| 🔺 | Highest |
| ⏫ | High |
| 🔼 | Medium |
| 🔽 | Low |
| ⏬ | Lowest |
Controls
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Toggle a task | Click the checkbox · 3 s grace period (click again to undo) |
| Add a task | Click + in the quadrant header → text + #tags + 📅 + ⏫ → Enter |
| Edit a task | Desktop: double-click the card. Mobile: long-press / double-tap → menu → Edit |
| Change due date alone | Click the 📅 badge on the card |
| Move between quadrants | Desktop: drag the card onto the target quadrant. Mobile: long-press / double-tap → menu → "Move to…" |
| Open the source file | Desktop: right-click the card. Mobile: long-press / double-tap. → menu (current pane / new tab / split / window) — the cursor lands on the task's line |
| Filter by tag | Click a chip in the filter bar (multi-select, OR) |
| Due-date quick filter | The Today (overdue + due today) / Selected (due on the date picked in the header) / This week (overdue + next 7 days) buttons at the start of the filter bar |
| Previous / next day | The ← → arrows in the header, the calendar, or "Today" |
| Collapse a quadrant | Click the ▼/▶ arrow next to the quadrant name |
| Collapse the whole header | The ▲ button top-right (handy on mobile) |
| Show completed tasks | The "Done" toggle in the header |
| Compact view | The "Compact" toggle in the header — 2-line cards |
| Set task status | Right-click the card (or the status box) → Mark as… |
| Kanban view | Click the kanban icon in a quadrant header → status columns; click it again to return to the grid. On mobile/tablet the columns scroll horizontally; change a card's status via its menu (Mark as…) |
In-quadrant order
Deterministic — cannot be reordered manually:
- Overdue (📅 < today) — at the top
- Priority desc — 🔺 → ⏫ → 🔼 → 🔽 → ⏬ → no priority
- Due date asc — nearest deadline first
- Alphabetical by text
The manual lever for reordering is priority — set it and the task jumps up.
Settings
Settings → 4D Eisenhower Matrix:
- Daily folder — where new daily notes are created. Empty = respect the core "Daily notes" plugin config. Override = a custom path (with a folder suggester).
- Daily section heading — the heading in the daily note under which today's tasks are read and added. Default:
# Today. Set it to whatever you use (e.g.# Dnes,## Tasks). - Excluded folders — tasks from these folders are ignored. Default: none — add the folders you want excluded yourself. UI with + / × buttons and a folder suggester.
Daily note integration
The plugin looks for a configurable section heading in the daily note (set via Settings → Daily section heading, default # Today). New tasks are inserted under that heading.
If a daily note for the given day doesn't exist and you add the first task, the plugin creates it automatically:
- If the core "Daily notes" plugin has a template configured, it uses that (expanding
{{date}},{{title}},{{time}}). - Otherwise it falls back to a minimal scaffold (frontmatter + the configured section heading).
Mobile
Works on Android (isDesktopOnly: false; iOS untested but should work).
- Long-press or double-tap a card → context menu (Edit · Open file · Move to…)
- Moving between quadrants on mobile is done via the menu ("Move → DECIDE" etc.). Touch-drag is unreliable inside the Obsidian mobile webview, so the menu is used instead — two taps, deterministic.
- Collapsed header (the ▲ button) — frees up vertical space for the matrix.
Roadmap
- Quick-add task via the Command Palette (without opening the view)
- Keyboard shortcuts inside the view (J/K navigation, X toggle, N new task)
- Full moment.js syntax in daily templates (currently only
{{date}}/{{title}}/{{time}})
Missing something? Open an issue.
Known limitations
- Manual ordering across files (one task in a daily note, another in a project) is not supported — the sort is deterministic.
Bugs / contributing
Issues · Pull requests welcome.
Changelog
1.0.27 — Security hardening + cleanup after a code audit: external links in task titles are now restricted to https: / http: / mailto: — anything else (file:, javascript:, data:, …) renders as plain text and never opens (checked both at render time and again at open time). Also, tasks with empty text (e.g. a lone - [ ] #DO line) are now hidden from the matrix consistently — previously they showed as "(empty text)" cards when they came from the daily note.
Earlier versions
1.0.26 — Task titles now render clickable links:
[[wikilinks]](including#headingand|aliasforms) and[text](url). Internal links open the note resolved relative to the task's own file; external URLs open in the browser; Ctrl/Cmd-click opens in a new pane. Clicking a link doesn't start a drag or open the editor, so drag-to-move still works. (Requested by Ampa — thanks!)1.0.25 — Fixed the date picker jumping by a whole month: navigating months in the calendar (the ↑/↓ arrows) no longer commits the date prematurely — it just shows the next/previous month so you can click the exact day. The native picker's month-navigation
inputevents were being treated as a final selection; the picker now commits only on the realchange(day click). Applies to the header date navigation and every due-date badge.1.0.24 — Added a Selected due-date quick filter (between Today and This week): shows tasks due exactly on the date currently picked in the header bar — no overdue, just that one day. Follows the date picker live.
1.0.23 — Changed the default Daily section heading from
# Dnesto# Today. Only affects fresh installs / users who never set their own — existing configurations keep their value.1.0.22 — Kanban view is now available on mobile and tablet, not just desktop. The status columns scroll horizontally (swipe between them); since touch-drag is unreliable in the Obsidian mobile webview, you change a card's status through its menu (Mark as…) — the card jumps to the matching column.
1.0.21 — Lint cleanup for the store review: void-wrapped the async event handlers, switched to
activeDocument/activeWindowfor popout-window compatibility, removed a redundant type assertion, and described the remaining directive comment. No user-facing changes. (Three deprecation recommendations are left as-is — their replacements aren't available atminAppVersion1.8.0.)1.0.20 — Store-compliance fixes flagged by Obsidian's automated review: raised
minAppVersionto 1.8.0 (the plugin uses newer vault/workspace APIs), documented the twoeslint-disabledirectives, and madeonunloadsynchronous.1.0.19 — Refined the due-filter chips: the selected one now stands out clearly (orange fill + border) while the unselected one is distinguished by orange text only.
1.0.18 — Due-date quick filters: Today (overdue + due today) and This week (overdue + next 7 days) buttons at the start of the filter bar, set apart in orange.
1.0.13–1.0.17 — Kanban view (desktop): per-quadrant toggle into To-do / In progress / Scheduled / Done status columns, drag to change status or move quadrant, add tasks per column, "Back to grid" button.
1.0.7–1.0.12 — Six Things-style task statuses with a custom status box, Markdown headings in task text, half-square "in progress" icon, view controls kept in the collapsed header.
1.0.6 — Inline Markdown in task text + compact 2-line card mode.
1.0.0 — First release: 5-quadrant matrix, cross-vault aggregation, CRUD, priority, tag autocomplete, filters, dates, grace period, daily-note integration.