Hello everyone,
to mark the start of the new year, I have decided to release a plugin focused on project management through tasks and planning.
I recently found myself struggling to find the ideal productivity tool for my specific use case, so I decided to create it myself.
The plugin provides a dashboard integrated directly into Joplin that allows you to view and organize tasks for various projects in a centralized and fast way.
I hope this will be useful to others as well: https://joplinapp.org/plugins/plugin/com.scrayil.joplin-plugin-projects/
Seems very powerful and would love to try it, but it's a bit scary if it can potentially delete notes. Can it indeed happen @Scrayil or is that an unrelated issue?
Hello, I'm very sorry to hear about your problem.
Can you provide me with the steps you followed so that I can try to reproduce it?
Are you saying that your notes disappeared because the plugin was disabled?
Thanks for the feedback.
I tested it for 2 weeks and it never happened to me.
The plugin saves the ID of the main âProjectsâ folder and only works within it.
Also, the only API call to delete a note is protected by a confirmation dialog box, the plugin never deletes anything automatically, so it's very strange.
Added initial support for multi-device setups. The projects' ârootâ folder is now synced along with the notes. This is achieved by using an anchor note:
When a project is created for the first time, the plugin generates a JSON file in its own data folder to track the root folder ID. An anchor note is also created and synced. This note allows other devices to identify the correct folder to use for tasks.
Scenarios
First start: As soon as the first project is created, the root folder and anchor note are generated, and the corresponding ID is saved in the plugin's data folder.
Upgrading from the previous version: The anchor note is created silently without disrupting the existing folder structure, and the existing root ID is preserved.
Installing the plugin on computer B (where notes are synced): As soon as the plugin is enabled, it scans for the anchor note.
If found: The dashboard is populated with data and the parent ID of the anchor is saved in the plugin's data folder, to ensure proper synchronization
If not found: A new project structure is generated upon the first project initialization.
User deleted the root project's folder: Since the plugin cannot find the saved ID or the anchor note, a new folder structure is created.
Hotfix v1.1.1
Fixed a bug where updating tasks via the dashboard would overwrite the corresponding todo content deleting eventual manually user-added descriptions.
Fixed an issue where checking off a task could incorrectly toggle other tasks with similar names (e.g., "Buy Water" vs "Buy Water and Bread")
yesterday i installed projects plugin 1.1.1. I also have the yesyoukan plugin installed. I clicked on tools>create a new kanban board. ( I had not clicked on tools>create a new project.) this produced a kanban editor to right of the normal note editor. It said âkanbanâ on it. also, it was trailing off right side of joplin window. I couldnât find a way to view the whole âkanbanâ board.
I also couldnât find a way to close the âkanbanâ editor pane. disabling plugin yesyoukan didnât help. Today I disabled the projects plugin and the âkanbanâ viewer went away. (Yesyoukan is still enabled). However, the right side, non functional, not closable editor pane is there even is Yesyoukan is disabled, if Projects is enabled. (yes, restarting joplin after every enable/disable)
There are no projects, or projects folder, in the sidebar.
Seems like âcreate a kanbanboardâ creating, a âprojectsâ board, that canât be fully seen or closed without disabling plugin âprojectsâ is not ideal behavior. nor is labeling the editor âkanbanâ when it is âprojectâ .
Hi @astro46, I think there is some confusion regarding how the Projects plugin works. YesYouKan and Projects are two different plugins and their inner mechanisms are different.
The appearance of the side panel on the right is unrelated to the YesYouKan note creation.
When you enable "Projects" for the first time, the side panel appears.
Of course the panel view can be both toggled and resized.
Take a look at this screenshot:
However, in the next release I will try to simplify and improve the user experience further.
Maybe I will add toggle options in the toolbar and change the corresponding icon as well.
Thanks for trying the plugin, inputs help a lot.
Oh as a side note, the plugin offers 3 different views, of course the kanban one is labelled as such, to distinguish it from the others.
thanks. i had no idea about the taskbar icons and Projects. Since starting with Joplin, once I managed to get the screen and behavior set the way I wanted, I have avoided touching taskbar icons for fear of making behavior worse.
@astro46 You're welcome! I'm currently implementing a keyboard shortcut and a toolbar menu option to toggle the side panel. This will be available in the next update.
@nchris I would like to add mobile support as well. Unfortunately, at the moment, the plugin relies on a few Node.js modules that are only available for desktop applications.
Implementing this feature would require significant refactoring and changes to the business logic.
Hey hey so sorry the late reply. I realised later on: after turning off the plug-in my notes disseppeared than I needed to reset the layout to get back the notes (unfortunately it was too late for me as I already exported my last backup) If it's important I use mint and flatoack version of Joplin if i remember correctly
Hi @douuu , don't worry.
I now understand exactly what happened.
The plugin provides three buttons that can be used to toggle Joplin's default views, such as the folder and note list panels.
If you toggle them, the views remain hidden until you re-enable them.
If you don't want to use the plugin for this, you can go to Joplin's own âViewâ toolbar menu and perform the actions from there.
Restoring the layout is always a good strategy for resizing and showing all views at once.
This update transforms the dashboard into a complete hub for project and knowledge management.
Spotlight: New Wiki View & JSON Templates
I have introduced a native Wiki View directly within the dashboard. You no longer need to navigate between scattered project notes; you can now view multimedia resources and project documentation in one centralized panel.
Multimedia Support: Native rendering for Joplin resources (media), within the dashboard.
Custom Project Structures: Implemented structure generation based on JSON templates with strict validation logic. This allows you to standardize complex project setups with a single click.
I focused heavily on refining the user experience to ensure data safety and workflow fluidity.
Self-Healing Mechanism: The plugin now automatically detects accidental deletion of Task folders and recreates them, preserving your structural context.
Quick Access: Added a toolbar button and a dedicated keyboard shortcut to instantly toggle the dashboard. (Ctrl+Alt+P)
Interface Improvements:
Enhanced GUI responsiveness and contrast for both light and dark themes.
Added horizontal scrollbars for better usability on smaller panels.
Implemented "Hover Titles" on Kanban cards for reading long titles.
Engineering & Performance
Under the hood, I performed a refactor to ensure the plugin remains scalable and maintainable.
API Refactoring: I migrated all dashboard API calls to a dedicated Database Service. This improves performance and removes business logic from the interface.
Bug Fixes
Timeline: Fixed layout issues regarding due dates on short timelines.
Data Integrity: Resolved a critical bug where numeric IDs could cause NaN due dates.
Kanban: Fixed trailing space handling when toggling checkboxes.
UI: Fixed font resizing issues and improved the documentation within the Info view.
The update will be soon available via the Joplin plugin manager.
I love it. Thanks for your efforts on this plugin. Currently, I have set it up for my working tasks, and it is doing great so far.
Could you post somewhere on git wiki template or HowTo to do a custom template?
Are you planning to support this plugin? I think it is great. Hope to see its growing:)
Release v1.2.0: Knowledge Management & Advanced Architecture
Spotlight: New Wiki View & JSON Templates
Feature Demo: Watch how to use the new advanced templates and Wiki view:
UX Improvements
Engineering & Performance
Bug Fixes