Building a USEFUL Habit Tracker in Obsidian
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//Timestamps
00:00 - Requirements
00:40 - Meditation Tracker
09:09 - Weight Tracker
11:59 - Work Tracker
13:15 - Word Tracker
14:52 - Mood Tracker
15:54 - Combining 2 in 1
17:32 - Adding Trackers To Dashboard
In today's video, we will be covering how I use the obsidian tracker plugin. This plugin is so powerful you'll likely end up replacing paid apps with it by the end of the video. We're gonna build habit trackers, work trackers, mood trackers and many more.
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I have my daily notes inside folders so my folder is (daily notes/2022/november/2022-11-10) but when I try to add this to tracker folder, it throws up error, is there a solution
Shortform looks really good but it's so expensive...
You produce by far the most useful Obsidian videos I have seen yet. The way you build it real time is so valuable. I have implemented so many useful tools from you. Thank you for creating these!
Wow, thanks a lot! :)
I have not started using daily notes yet, still getting used to Obsidian. This plugin looks so useful and has given me ideas for how I want to use daily notes. Thanks for the great tutorial! I never would have discovered this plugin without this video.
Glad it was helpful! It's a joy making these videos and seeing comments like yours :)
Thanks for the Obsidian videos that are pitched at the exact level and speed for my current Obsidian experience
Thanks so much and sorry for just seeing this! It's much appreciated! Hope you continue to enjoy my content :)
Really great. Yet another thing I can move over to Obsidian. It won't be long before I am using Obsidian to do everything!
Yes, it is more and more transforming into the IDE for my life ...
This is truly a life saver. Exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you very much.
Thank you Sergio! I enjoyed your tutorial a lot! Great value🌟
Thanks Devansh! Glad it was helpful!
Thank you Sergio. Quality content as always!
I appreciate that thank you! :)
Maaaaaaan, I really love the plugin community of Obsidian, and this plugin is so sick, the colorful pretty charts from me of power bi haha. So sick.
Thanks for the video mate, i was unable to figure out how to use this plug-in.
Whenever i search about any thing in obsidian i found, you covered it will thanks ❤
I'm glad :) thank you!
Great introduction to creating trackers! Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
YES! Haha, I was just thinking during the video that it's perfect for the Homepage plugin / Dashboard setup from your previous video which I definitely copied into my system haha, so this video hits the spot again! Very useful, thank you!
I actually was thinking of you when I uploaded! Glad you it lived up to expectations!
@@FromSergio This feels so cool! Thanks man, and I was intrigued to see which cool Obsidian tip you'll have (since our last chat in the comments) and this one is definitely another useful video to learn from. Good job bro 💪
Your video is awesome really practical and well explained
Great vid.
I found that fixedScale only seemed to work for the current month but navigating left or right to another month then reset the month back.
Also for the summary it didn't seem to take into account having a zero value, so it seemed to include a value rather than looking for a 1 or 0.
Hey Sergio,
thank you for your useful quality content around obsidian!
I did not know about the habit tracker plugin so thanks for that new impression, but in most usecases except the calendar view I think it's inferior to the basic charts plugin - maybe you would like to make a video (series) about that also! 😉
keep up the great work!
Are you referring to Philip's?
@@FromSergio Yes I do :)
@@_msnr I haven't gotten around to it since I've been using this one for a few months now I'm pretty used to it at this point. But thanks for mentioning it :)
In the end of the video, you said multiple trackerscan be put in a row. Can you be more specific? I try but did not work. Thank you
Thank you Sergio for this valuable content
Thanks Kenzo :)
You are the best TH-camr talking about Obsidian and productivity. I've already followed your channel. Add oil!
Thanks Adam, that means so much! :)
你是中国人吗？
Thank you for sharing! awesome tracker
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Hey I'm running into some issues with Tracker and this is the only tutorial I've found as helpful so far. I get "Error parsing YAML" when making the first month tracker (~3:30). I'm trying to use the checkbox property function, which I though was boolean and should render like your 0/1 here. There may be something wrong with my formatting for the folder path ("2 Permanent Notes / 3 2023") or the date format (YYY-MM-DD), but I'm not sure. Thanks!
Solid. Thank you!
I subscribed based on this video, which has good content, and is simply explained.
Thanks Peter! I'm glad :) and thanks for the encouragement!
Amazing video! Congrats!
Thanks a lot!
Lol I was literally watching this video to learn how to use habit tracking to track my meditation habit.. and the fact that's the first thing you made was pretty nice 👍🏻
That was lucky :)
Very useful. Now a separate habit tracker can be avoided. Thanks a lot🙏
You are welcome 😊
Hey, great video!
I wanted to make a bar/line chart with a weekly (or even monthly) summary of how many times I completed a habit. Could you point me in the right direction on how to do it?
Great video!Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
Thank you so much!!!
Hey. Thank you.
I turned my Daily folder into Database Folder. For example, I made my book habit checkbox. True replaces 1 when he marks. This spoils the graph. How do I need to change the code to accept True?
Love this! Those graphs look awesome too. Black background graphs =👌
Agreed! Chefs Kiss!
Very helpful thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Super cool!
Thanks
Glad you liked it!
Good job. Thanks.
Glad it helped! :)
I WAS STUCK FOR LIKE 3 HOURS TRYING TO DO IT WITH GITHUB, YOU MEAN IT WAS THAT EASY WITH SYNTCHING!?!?(I solved all my problems in less than 15 minutes, you have offically saved my sanity)
Is there a way to get multiple Targets in 1 Graph? for example if i track 2 habits can they be shown in the same line graph?
I Am Having trouble adding multiple trackers into a single row using Dashboard++ could you maybe create a tutorial on this?
Ditto.
Yes, me too
Hello Sergio ! Is there a way we can add two lines in the same graph? for example in the graph with the weight to count the weigh of my partner as well. Thanks
Thank's for this. it's very helpful and very detailed, your'e great. i have an issue, when i write the annotation, the heading od the month view (datsetName:) disappears, i saw it happend to you as well in this video... any idea hot to keep it there and still include the annotation...?
Thanks for the dashboard and the trackers videos... I'm using both! I can't, however, get my trackers to line up horizontally. Tried using them with and without a list. So far, no luck. Any suggestions?
thanks, great tuto; in my case the date (x axis) is not in the title but in a property (Yaml). is it possible to tell tracker that the date info is in a property?
thxs
Very cool that the plugin also supports the :: syntax that I find much cleaner than yaml... Oh maybe I am allergic to yaml because of my job as a software developer. 😄
Tracker is an essential plugin like dataview, templater, quickadd, tasks, buttons, commander, calendar, periodic notes, kanban, style settings, obsidian git.
Hey Sergio, thanks for the video. I like to have my habits inline on my daily notes instead of frontmatter. Is it possible to achieve the same result with the habits inline as checkboxes? thanks
Amazing Video😍
Thanks again! :)
This is great, Sergio. But what happens now with Properties? I can no longer see the YAML front matter.
You're a king, Sergio! Happy to see your channel bloating. What are your thoughts on the new Projects plugin from Marcus?
Hi Quinton! And thanks! I have indeed and it's on my list for future videos, very excited for that one! :)
Sergio, thanks for the video. Do you know how I cound manage the "habits" or values for different people (my students)?. I'm a teachar and I'm not sure if thats a good solution for this task. My concern is if a "habit" is similar to an event (assignment, note, ...) on my daily work.
Awesome video. Is it possible to add multiple tracker in the calendar view? Such as in addition to meditation also add gym in the same calendar tracker?
Yes, absolutely I covered adding both in the later half of the video :)
How do you get the trackers to line up horizontally on the dashboard? Mine are orienting vitically.
Thank you for this, I am a neophyte to Obsidian and am enjoying the challenge. (I'm also 70 years old) Here's the problem. I did the weight tracker thing and it's giving me numbers. I don't believe they are accurate. I deliberately put a very low weight on a daily for last week, (90LBS which I haven't seen for 60 years), It does not show as a minimum. What do you suppose I'm doing wrong?
Excellent video, thank you. Is there any way to change the date x-axis format? I would like to change it to, say, 10/26/23 (month/day/year)
Like another commented posted, the "Stats" block beneath the calendar doesn't appear to work as expected. The maxStreak() function appears to tell me the number of times 'meditation' appears, but not every time it appears with a value of 1. There seems to be no way to do that, according to the docs. During the last four days I have meditated 0 times, but it is telling me my longest streak is 4.
Hey Dave, Did you find a solution to this? Im pulling my hair out trying to find out why my vault is acting up haha. It picks up every instance of meditation regardless of if it's 0 or 1. But still shows it correctly on the calendar view.
Is it possible to perform calculations in searchTarget? For example to chart not just a variable, but a product of 2 variables?
I created a tracker for 2 items mood and body in a chart but the width of the x-axis is too short so it cannot be displayed clearly if the timeline I choose is too long, it is only easy to watch if it displays from 15 days or less, I wonder if it is possible to extend the X axis length?
Do you know how you would make a calendar or table view for a specific habit using this? I would like to see a habit with the days of the week as the columns and then each new week as a row. I like the graphs but the table would make it easier to get a birds eye view of the actual numbers.
Is there a way to track the dates without opening a new not me template for each one of the calendar days? In other words, to have a single note listing all the dates we want to track on the calendar?
Any way to make the binary tracker (like meditation) a checkbox on the daily note instead of having to rely on 0 or 1?
I would love to be able to combine the power of dataviewjs and tracker, but I can't see a way to drive tracker parameters with js variables. Do you know of a workaround for this?
Thanks mate!
Glad you liked it! Have a great one :)
Many thanks for this helpful video !
I have followed this tutorial to build my own trackers (habits, health parameters, etc) and it worked well for a couple of weeks. But now I have a more fundamental question: should I keep logging my data in Obsidian given that all data treatment is way better done in Google Sheet (or Excel or similar) or R ? why should I keep logging my data in Obsidian when Obsidian doesnt give me a way to export these data in a structured way that can be used by data treatment apps ? Note that I am an Obsidian user/abuser, so I am not criticizing Obsidian's value here. I am just wondering whether it is the right platform to track and log quantitative data...
I'd appreciate your thoughts...
PS: In the meanwhile... I moved all my habits and health data logging back to Google Sheet again.
I was wondering the same (also an R user). I think you would have to write a data collector in R, which reads the first few lines of each file and extracts file name (for the date) and the frontmatter variables and their values. Afterwards you would be able to run your own analyses on it. But I was hoping for a type of data collector plug-in in Obsidian as well, which would create a csv containing the specified data, which would be easier, since Obsidian already seems to support the programming capabilities for this.
Tracking my habits within my daily notes still seems more comfortable for me, as I have everything in one place.
Hey Serg, super video this one, thank you. I have many, probably too many, trackers from different privative solutions. Export 'em or integrate 'em into Obsidian could be nice. By the way, congrats for the sponsor!
Are you thinking on record a video about pomodoro technique? I'm already using todoist as main part of my workflow, but I'm struggling to integrate it along with pomodoro, it creates too much friction for me. Maybe I'm doing it wrong 🤷♂️
Best, man. I do appreciate your content :)
I recently found TickTick which has pomodoro timers built in. I'm also liking the habit tracker in TickTick. But...this Obsidian option is definitely interesting.
Hi Fuentes, and thanks! I do actually! It's on my list and should be uploaded next month! It took me a lot of trial and error to find a pomodoro system that works for me with the least amount of friction, and I finally found one this summer that I wanted to test for a few months before making a video on it! I use it conjunction with a simple pomodorot tracker like I did in the video and it's been wonderful can't wait to film it! :)
@@FromSergio hey, that's great!
In part: line graph (combining 2 in 1), how to 1 axis is Mood, 1 axis is a number (for example 3), to check if the mood in that day is below or above 3? Thank you
Hey Sergio - really useful video - I'd played with this plugin but this made it super clear. Just one question - how did you link this to the dashboard ? When I put the code blocks next to the bullet it's a mess - when I put it under the bullet I can't get two trackers side by side - any ideas ?
So after some playing around I made it work using the Multi-Column Markdown plugin. This gives you up to three columns across the 'page' and you can run the queries in those columns
You can also embed them like so: ![[meditation_tracker]].
Steps shown in the video doesn't work I wrote the exact same code with folders directing to Calendar/2023 and I have different lines in frontmatter with meditation within it. And I have been using the number 1 to indicate that I have performed the action but still. It says "Error parsing YAML"
thanks, any idea how I can scale just the x-Axis?
Is there a way to line up the graphs in the dashboard? Nothing I do seem to work.
Hi Sergio, it's a great video. I tried this but not working for weekly notes. Is there a way to input the weekly notes names to the x axis? Thanks in advance
make sure the syntax is correct, what is it you are trying to do?
for some reason my pomodoros and mood tracker chart only shows one line and not both, query is exactly like video, any ideas?
great video, thanks!
is there a way to make the tracking calendars smaller?
type fixedScale as seen on 6:37
in your dashboard video you never went over how to put mulitple habit trackers next to each other. Could you please explain how to do this? I am trying to do this right now but cant figure it out, it just keeps staking them vertically
Does this work if you set it up using your mobile? I tried to follow this, but the calendar won't show.
hi my friend, how can I expand the caption? I added a few more lines to the graph, and the legend ended up being cut
Thanks man! You are helping me so much with Obsidian.
I have just one problem with the summary and the longest breaks "{maxBreaks()}" variable.
How do I limit this function so it starts with 0 by today.
If I set
"startDate: 2022-12-29
endDate: 2023-02-29 "
I get following error:
*No valid date as X value found in notes 98 files are out of the date range. 20 files are not in the right format.*
This error does not appear if the start date is November or earlier. But then of course I get an inaccurate maxbreak.
My Vault is around 10 months old so I don't understand the error here at all.
I just tried to reproduce this on my end and its fine so it's something on your end. It's likely that the date format used in the notes is not matching the date format used by obsidian, let me know if that helped!
Is there a way I can count the number of times something comes up? As an example, for a D&D campaign maybe i want a pie chart of what class an NPC is
Hello, thanks for exploring and sharing how to use Tracker plugin xD
I have a problem though... the notes that contain the fields aren't titled by plain date. Instead, it goes "YYYY-MM-DD ddd Note". Can it still work? If so, do you know what is needed? I managed to get it to slightly work by making a new field called Date (with the pure date) but needs xDataset: 0 to actually show the month tracker. Now I can't use datasetName to rename it so it stays "untitled0". Any tips so I don't have to change my note's titles?
Yes, you just need to set the date format accordingly in the plugin settings.
Thank you! Is it possible to create a sleep calculation inside of the YAML to track sleep habits?
Asleep time:
Awake time:
Sleep time: (asleep time minus awake time)?
Also wondering if it is possible to use checkboxes with this tracker
I believe so but only using momentjs. I have a video coming on that topic!
Great video. I wonder how to automate data getting added into the front matter, e.g. by adding completed tasks. Any suggestions?
Hi Stefan, you and me both! Using a fully automated tracker like the word one makes me wanna find a way to automate the others. My priority was to find a way to automate the weight tracker since it takes slightly more time than the others, but since it doesn't have a working API I can't write a script for it. I'm gonna keep investigating, though!
@@FromSergio hmm maybe might be doable with that Button plugin.
I have a python program running in the background (ha-miscale2) that waits to hear from my bluetooth scale. Whenever I step on the scale the python program writes the new data into an Influx database. It could easily add the same data to the front matter of that days journal entry.
obsidian bá đạo ghê anh em
This is a great video. I looked at the way you suggested templates and yaml earlier. I created a template and trying to use the daily note template that I created with the calendar plugin. How do I use the calendar plugin to pick my template? I am able to create the new note based on the template but not with the calendar plugin if that helps clarify.
Never mind. Found it. Needed to update the template location of the DailyNotes Core Plugin to use the template I created.
Thanks for updating it :)
Please,
How to put the trackers next to each other in the DASHBOARD ? Thanks.
Guys how can i change date format in weight tracker? Thanks! Up to video.
A very good explanatory video, as all of yours are. Unfortunately the "summary" does not work if you have a daily entry for a future date (a reminder for example).
Thanks! I suppose we can't have it all! :)
Awesome
hey, great video, but how can I place multiple charts in one row?
Hello Sergio!
Thanks for your video, it helped me a lot!
Hey, i have a trouble with the metitation summary, i put the exact same line that you (template: "Longest streak: {{maxStreak()}} day(s)") and it only show me 32 as a result, even though i dont have that streak. ¿Can you help me?
On the days when I didn't do something I had to have nothing against the item rather than writing "0". So it would be "meditation: " - not sure if this is right, but it was the only way to get the summary reporting correctly.
@@commonopportunist Thank you
Does it work with new properties feature too?
for some reason the streak query calculates how many time the "searchTarget" appeared in Dataview - however, that search target is "meditation" so regardless if one meditated (1) or not (0) it will continue counting the streak - there will be no breaks. Any idea how to fix it?
Still haven't found a way, please let me know if you figure it out
Edit: If you lose a streak instead of writing "0" just leave it blank or write "failed" on that day, this seems to work for me
@@listplaylist Brilliant, thank you, it does work!
Thanks for putting together this series of videos. I've gotten everything working except adding multiple tracker graphs to the dashboard. No matter what, they always show up as a single column, not a row. Could you let me know if you got that working? In the video, you mention it but didn't show it on screen.
You are probably using each tracker on the same sublist which is why they are shown in list form. Make sure to place each tracker at the top of a list. Like so:
# header
- Tracker 1
(no sub lists)
- Tracker 2
etc
If you put them all under the same list it'll render as one big list and not in a horizontal line. Hopefully this helps.
@@FromSergio I do have each in the "column header" spot of each list. I finally figured out the only way for it work for me was removing the closing code block tags from each tracker. Seems sloppy, but nothing appears negatively affected by it and the trackers are in a row as expected now. Thanks for the follow up!
@@PeterBeckleyArt @FromSergio I tried doing both of these methods and neither worked. Peter, could you specify a bit more what you mean by "removing the closing code block tags from each tracker?" I interpret it as basically having only the opening ``` at the very top and then only 1 closing ``` at the very bottom, but that didn't work
@@brian_akhtar Sorry, Brian, I've actually changed how I do it altogether. I've ended up using the Obsidian Columns community plugin to house each tracker. It works much better and is cleaner code to look at so it's also easier to go back and modify if needed.
@@brian_akhtar I do not know if this is the issue (or if you are still having a problem), but for me, you literally have to make the list. Beside the line with Tracker, you put the dash as you are making a list. Then I remove the bottom ``` to get it to work. I was using the month view, and I have them rendered beside each other, but they do not look very clean as the two months I have are very close to each other. In addition, if I click on one it changes size and does not look very good either. They never render in the current month for me, but the date I have my view set for.
super useful! Thank you for sharing. Does anyone know how to set different hex colors for different lines? like in 16:45.
did you find the solution?
I can't even get 2 lines in one graph. Some error shows
:/ On my device, it doesn´t show the lines, just the dots.... in the line chart... :/
great video with a lot oof useful tips thanks a lot (i want to put month tracker like the mediation's one side by side tracker in home page how can i do that is there a parameter fot that ?)
You are probably using each tracker on the same sublist which is why they are shown in list form. Make sure to place each tracker at the top of a list. Like so:
# header
- Tracker 1
(no sub lists)
- Tracker 2
etc
If you put them all under the same list it'll render as one big list and not in a horizontal line. Hopefully this helps.
I found the only way it worked for me was to remove the closing ``` and each tracker worked like they were supposed to.
Awesome video. Thank you for this! I do have a question though. When I attempt to add my trackers to the top of my home page/dashboard, I get an error message regarding YAML formatting. I think it has something to do with bottom 3 tick marks at the end of the code block. When I add the second tracker, it fixes the first but then the coding for the rest of my dashboard is incorrect because it thinks it is all code. How were you able to get around this?
Hi there! You can simply use a header before the actual tracker. If you want to have the trackers displayed at the very top without headers, you could embed them from different notes. For i.e., you could have a note named "meditationtracker" where your tracker lives. Then come to dashboard and embed them by doing ![[meditationtracker]]. Let me know if that helped!
@@FromSergio I have the same problem. Both embedding and interposing a header break the dashboard structure. But it's probably just my inexperience, I'll try to do some research when I have time. And thanks for your work, Sergio.
You are probably using each tracker on the same sublist which is why they are shown in list form. Make sure to place each tracker at the top of a list. Like so:
# header
- Tracker 1
(no sub lists)
- Tracker 2
etc
If you put them all under the same list it'll render as one big list and not in a horizontal line. Hopefully this helps.
@@FromSergio Thank you! I'll try like you say! :)
Why am I unable to see the preview of the calendar?
Hey !
newbie question over here 🙌
Does it must contains inside the metadata? or can I draw data from the note itself
Thanks !
It doesn't have to be from metadata, it's simply what I believe to be the easiest way. :) There are a few other options, you can find them in the documentation, but neither is as straightforward as the front matter one.
I'm wondering if Obisidan's update with Properties is messing with this plugin. I get "no valid Y value" for all of my trackers where I use checkboxes in Properties. Any ideas of how to fix this?
Same for me 😅
Unfortunately the "Streak" thing doesn't count streaks like: days in a row you meditated. Rather it shows the streak of days you actually wrote down if you did it or not, so if you have let's say: 1 1 0 1, that counts as a 4 day streak even though you skipped once
Yup found this out unfortunately find a way around it besides leaving uncompleted days as empty
Hi, I have a quick question regarding the online weight chart. I would like to be able to display 1 weight / week. However, when I create weekly notes, the chart adds the dates between each note even though there are no daily notes. In fact, I have a lot of space between each point. Likewise, the dots are not connected.
A solution ?
Thanks.
Also having same problem here. How to use weekly notes (named YYYY-WW) for weight tracking?
Can you make a video about queries and how to make/write them? Are the parameters you're using in java? Or is it proprietary to obsidian? Haha can you tell I'm a beginner
pie chart doesnt work for me, i dont understand it at all, can you make a tutorial specifically for the pie function. Much appreciated