One-click task dashboard with Dataview and Buttons

Build a dashboard note that lists every open task in your vault and completes any of them with one click, powered by MetaEdit’s update() API. Then layer Progress Properties on your project notes so task counts maintain themselves.

Prerequisites

• MetaEdit 1.9.0 or later. The plugin requires Obsidian 1.12.7+ and works on desktop and mobile.
• The Dataview community plugin with “Enable JavaScript queries” turned on in its settings (the dashboard is a dataviewjs block).
• The Buttons community plugin for the first dashboard variant. The second variant uses a plain HTML button and needs no extra plugin.
• Optionally Templater, if you want new task notes to prompt for their metadata.

Step 1: shape the task notes

Each task is its own note, tagged #tasks, with inline Dataview fields in the body:

#tasks

Status:: To Do
Project:: [[Website relaunch]]
Due Date:: 2026-07-15

- [ ] Draft the launch copy
- [ ] Review with the team

Two things matter about this shape:

• Seed Status:: with a value. The API’s update() only updates properties that already exist - on a note without a Status field it resolves silently and writes nothing.
• Dataview normalizes inline field names for queries: Status:: is t.status, Due Date:: is t["due-date"].

You can create these by hand, or use a Templater template that prompts for the status as the note is created. The classic “New Task” template lives in API examples, and the prompting pattern is walked through in Prompt for metadata in Templater templates.

Step 2: the dashboard, Buttons variant

Create a Task dashboard.md note containing this dataviewjs block:

const {update} = this.app.plugins.plugins["metaedit"].api
const {createButton} = app.plugins.plugins["buttons"]

dv.table(["Name", "Status", "Project", "Due Date", ""], dv.pages("#tasks")
    .sort(t => t["due-date"], 'desc')
    .where(t => t.status != "Completed")
    .map(t => [t.file.link, t.status, t.project, t["due-date"],
    createButton({app, el: this.container, args: {name: "Done!"}, clickOverride: {click: update, params: ['Status', 'Completed', t.file.path]}})])
    )

Every row of the table gets a “Done!” button. Clicking it calls update("Status", "Completed", t.file.path), which rewrites the value of every Status:: field in that task note. On the next Dataview refresh the .where() clause drops the row, so the dashboard only ever shows open work.

The API object is available at app.plugins.plugins["metaedit"].api whenever MetaEdit is enabled; see the API overview.

Step 3: the dashboard, plain HTML variant

If you would rather not install Buttons, build the button yourself:

const {update} = this.app.plugins.plugins["metaedit"].api;
const buttonMaker = (pn, pv, fpath) => {
    const btn = this.container.createEl('button', {"text": "Done!"});
    const file = this.app.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fpath)
    btn.addEventListener('click', async (evt) => {
        evt.preventDefault();
        await update(pn, pv, file);
    });
    return btn;
}
dv.table(["Name", "Status", "Project", "Due Date", ""], dv.pages("#tasks")
    .sort(t => t["due-date"], 'desc')
    .where(t => t.status != "Completed")
    .map(t => [t.file.link, t.status, t.project, t["due-date"],
    buttonMaker('Status', 'Completed', t.file.path)])
    )

Same behavior, no extra plugin: a click awaits update() against the task’s file.

Why update() and not something else

update(propertyName, propertyValue, file) is the right call for a status flip:

• It replaces the value of every inline field named Status in the note, in place, leaving the rest of the line and all other content untouched. A status is one piece of state, so replace-all is exactly what you want.
• It never creates anything. A task note missing the field is silently skipped rather than polluted - which is why the template seeds Status:: up front.
• Rapid clicks are safe: MetaEdit serializes all of its writes to a given file, so two button presses cannot race each other. See Write safety.

appendDataviewField() would be wrong here: it adds a new Status:: ... line and leaves the old one, so Dataview would then read Status as a list of two values and the != "Completed" filter would misbehave. Reach for appendDataviewField() when you want to accumulate instances of a field (log entries, a growing wishlist), not replace state. Both methods are documented in Properties API.

Step 4: automatic task counts on project notes

Each Project:: field links to a project note. Give those notes live task counts with Progress Properties:

1. Open Settings, then MetaEdit, and turn on the “Progress Properties” toggle (description: “Update properties automatically.”).
2. Click the row’s extra button to expand the configuration table and click “Add” three times. Name the rows Total, Complete, and Incomplete, with the types “Total Tasks”, “Completed Tasks”, and “Incomplete Tasks” respectively.

3. Seed the three properties in each project note yourself - Progress Properties updates existing properties but never creates them:

---
Total: 0
Complete: 0
Incomplete: 0
---

# Website relaunch

- [x] Choose a platform
- [x] Migrate content
- [ ] Draft the launch copy
- [ ] Review with the team

About 5 seconds after your last edit to the note, MetaEdit rewrites the counts - here 4, 2, and 2:

The rules the automator plays by

Progress Properties (like the Kanban Board Helper) only processes markdown files that have YAML frontmatter, skips Excalidraw notes and unchanged content, and waits out a 5-second debounce that resets while you keep typing. It never creates a property - it only updates ones that already exist, matched by exact, case-sensitive name. Only [x] and [X] count as complete; custom markers like [/] or [-] count as incomplete.

The full behavior, including counting rules and troubleshooting, is in the Progress Properties guide.

Going further

• Drive project status from a Kanban board instead of buttons: Kanban-driven project status.
• Prompt for Status and Project when a task note is created: Prompt for metadata in Templater templates.
• The complete method reference: Properties API.