Daily Bullet Notes

This VSCode extension is designed specifically around my way of tracking daily tasks at work. It is pretty close to the popular "Bullet Journal" method. I started my particular method in 2016, and it has worked for nearly a decade at this point. This method, which I'll describe below, is particularly useful at helping me track everything I need to do, but also all of the things I have done. It's a good resource for your daily standup meeting, and also to track what you worked on throughout an entire year for a yearly self review. Or use it outside of work to keep track of personal tasks too.

Here is an example

+----------------------------------------+
|               Daily Log                |
+----------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------+
|                  2024                  |
+----------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------+
|                December                |
+----------------------------------------+
12/4 -------------------------------------
here is whatever you did yesterday

12/5 -------------------------------------
and this is today
[x] this task is complete
[/] this task is blocked, you are waiting on someone or something before more progress can be made
[-] this task is either no longer relevant or tracked by someone else now
[+] you made some progress on this task today, but it isn't done yet
[ ] this task is ready and waiting to be worked on
[>] this task was added today, but you plan to work on it tomorrow
Here is a quick note you took about the day, like you took the afternoon off or attended an event

+----------------------------------------+
|              Example List              |
+----------------------------------------+
This is an example where you might keep things like your career goals,
longstanding tasks on your backburner, ideas for an upcoming hackathon,
some inspirational quotes, or even just your last meeting notes.
You can create many lists like this, and they will always live just below
your latest daily entry.

Here is how my method works:

1. Each day contains a list of tasks. This list should contain everything I plan to do, everything I have done, and possibly some tasks I know I won't get to yet but still want to keep track of on a daily basis.
2. Each task starts with a box like [ ], and what's inside the box depends on the task's status:
   1. [ ] - empty box means this task has not been touched today and is open to work on
   2. [x] - done
   3. [+] - I worked on it, but it is not done yet
   4. [/] - task is blocked, I cannot make progress
   5. [-] - task is no longer needed, or I'm no longer tracking it
   6. [>] - task was added today, but no plan to work on it until tomorrow
3. For each task I may have some notes or sub-tasks indented on the next lines. Sub-tasks may also have their own status box.
4. As I work on tasks throughout the day, I update their status. If I work on something unplanned, I add it to my list with the appropriate status.
5. At the start of each day, I copy the previous day's list. I remove tasks that are done [x] or no longer needed [-], and keep all other tasks. All these tasks will start with an empty [ ], and I will immediately update their status as needed (e.g. if I already know something is blocked for the day).

Below these daily tasks, I also keep a few lists or notes. These are just small lists meant to help me track things that might not make sense in the context of a particular day. Examples are tasks on my "backburner", ideas for upcoming hackathons, career goals or inspirational quotes.

The main benefits of this method to me are:

1. Simple - no fancy apps, just a text file
2. Searchable - just hit Ctrl+F and find anything
3. Fast - no fancy process or system to get in your way
4. Scalable - archive older years in a separate file to keep your main log small
5. Portable - use any service to sync your file wherever you desire

Getting Started

1. Get this extension
2. Run Initialize New DBM File to create a new file with everything needed for today, pre-populated with an example of each type of task

Extension Features

1. Syntax highlighting - year/month/day headers, list headers and task boxes are all colored
2. Folding (collapsing) - fold years/months/days and lists
3. Commands - a bunch of built in commands to help manage your tasks/notes
4. Rendered view - an optional view of the same file with nicely rendered year/month/day headers and colored status icons, which you can edit just like the text (see below)

Rendered View

The rendered view shows your file as a journal: years and months become headings, each day shows its weekday (and a Today badge), and every task box becomes a status icon in the same color your theme gives it in the text view. It is just another way of looking at the same .dbm file, so everything you type is saved to that file exactly as if you had typed it in the text view, and save, undo/redo and git all work as usual.

• Switch between the text view and the rendered view at any time with the button in the editor title bar (or Open Rendered View / Open Text View from the command palette)
• Choose which view opens .dbm files with the Default View setting
• Click a task's status icon to change its status (or press Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter on the task). Parent tasks don't have a picker; their status comes from their sub-tasks, just like in the text view
• Enter starts a new task, Tab/Shift+Tab indent and un-indent, and Backspace at the start of a task turns it into a note
• Drag a task or note by the grip that appears to its left when you hover it to move it, with everything under it, anywhere in a day or list (or into another day or list). Drag right or left to nest it under the item above or take it out. Alt+Up / Alt+Down move it with everything under it too
• Click a year, month or day to fold it. Folded days show a summary of their tasks
• The daily log and your lists are on separate Daily Log and Lists tabs in the toolbar at the top (turn off Rendered View: Tabs to have everything on one page). Searching, or commands like Add New List, switch to the right tab for you
• The toolbar stays visible while you scroll (without tabs, turn off Rendered View: Pin Toolbar to let it scroll away): Standup view folds everything except the two most recent days, New list adds a list, and Expand all / Collapse all unfold or fold everything on the tab
• The year and month you are looking at stay pinned at the top while you scroll (turn off Rendered View: Pin Year and Month Headers to disable)
• Add Today, Standup View and Add New List work in the rendered view too, and are also in its right-click menu
• When today isn't in your log yet, an Add Today & Standup View button shows below your most recent day, and the Lists tab ends with a New list button
• Ctrl+F / Cmd+F searches the file
• Lines starting with - , * or 1. show as bullets and numbered lists, like markdown. Enter continues the list
• Markdown links like [text](https://example.com) show as links; Ctrl+Click / Cmd+Click opens them. Select some text and paste a URL to turn it into a link
• The rendered view is a centered column by default; turn off the Rendered View: Centered Layout setting to use the full width of the editor

Customizing Colors

Every task status and header has its own syntax scope, so themes, or you with editor.tokenColorCustomizations, can color each one individually. Status colors apply to both the text view and the rendered view. Themes that don't know about these scopes color them like the common scope they start with (for example keyword for complete tasks).

For example, in your settings.json:

"editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
    "textMateRules": [
        { "scope": "keyword.status-done.daily-bullet-notes", "settings": { "foreground": "#3fb950" } },
        { "scope": "string.status-blocked.daily-bullet-notes", "settings": { "foreground": "#f0883e" } }
    ]
}

In the rendered view, year, month and day headers use your theme's terminal cyan, and the Today badge its terminal red (terminal.ansiBrightCyan and terminal.ansiBrightRed).

Commands

Settings

Release Notes

See Change Log

Known Issues

• Many edge cases are not handled if your file is not formatted well. If you let the extension handle adding new days, you'll be fine.
• Days in the future are NOT handled yet. If you add today, it will always assume today should be at the very bottom.

Upcoming Features (aka Todo List)

• [ ] goto today command (standup view is basically the same, and complete)
• [ ] archive previous year command
• [ ] archive previous month command
• [ ] auto archive setting
• [ ] archive location setting
• [ ] daily log location setting
• [x] show month/year text when folded
• [x] add new list command
• [ ] collapse all previous months
• [ ] collapse all previous years
• [x] collapse all but today and yesterday (standup view)
• [ ] setting to include month/day or just day in daily header
• [ ] set width of headers
• [ ] consider what happens if you skipped some days
• [ ] command to add vacation/sick days
• [x] command to start a brand new dbm file from a template
• [ ] formatter (remove extra empty lines, format headers and boxes to correct width, set special header on today, indenting?)
• [ ] add tomorrow command
• [ ] setting to skip weekends for add tomorrow
• [ ] next day command with possible sub-commands:
  • add current day (skip missing days since last day)
  • add next day after last day
  • add sick/vacation day
• [ ] support days in the future
• [x] update main task box based on sub-task status (sort of complete, may be bugs or behavior tweaks needed)
• [ ] Readme updates
  • [ ] Include more examples
  • [x] getting started section
  • [x] settings/commands tables
• [ ] ability to add recurring todos on a specific day of week or date or maybe cadence, or even just once on a specific date
• [x] bug: x and - is not removed if indented, but others are cleared
• [x] add [] when adding new line after a task
  • [x] backspace should then clear entire box
  • [x] tab should indent it
• [x] bug: syntax highlight [ ]
• [ ] preference for [] vs [ ]
• [x] refactor commands into separate classes
• [ ] auto format a box if you have a space and enter an x, like [ x] or [x ]
• [x] bug? folding is not provided on brand new unsaved file
• [x] auto highlight contents of [ ] when clicking inside so you can easily replace via keyboard
• [x] bring up auto complete when cursor is inside of [ ]
• [x] ctrl + space auto complete when inside of [ ]
• [x] new day + standup view command
• [ ] enable this as a web extension
• [ ] click to change a task into a note (with a bullet) or vice versa
• [x] settings to control updating parent task status
• [ ] when adding a newline, bring up the auto-complete for task status with open and bullet note at the top