All chapters

  1. Getting started

    1. Start here
    2. Install, update & first launch
    3. Bring your notes in
    4. Your vault & the window

  2. Daily work

    1. Writing & the editor
    2. The Note Inspector & history
    3. Capturing ideas
    4. Today & daily notes
    5. Tasks
    6. Minutes: recording meetings

  3. Find and understand

    1. Finding & connecting notes
    2. Setting up AI
    3. Ask Header
    4. AI writing tools: Review, Refactor & the selection assistant
    5. Lenses
    6. Atlas
    7. Mindprint, Review & Retro

  4. Research and publish

    1. Research & the Reading Room
    2. Manuscripts
    3. Boards

  5. Protect your notes

    1. Trust, safety & privacy
    2. Sync & backup

  6. Reference

    1. Header across macOS
    2. Settings
    3. Keyboard shortcuts
    4. Help, feedback & FAQ
Your day

Tasks

A task in Header is a checkbox line in any note: - [ ] Call the plumber. There's no separate task list to keep in sync. Header finds checkboxes across your vault and shows them in Today, in Lenses, in the widget and in Shortcuts, and when you tick one in any of those places it changes the line in the note.

Writing a task

The Markdown Header understands

Start a line with a list marker and a checkbox. In the editor, Format → Lists → Checklist does it for you, and in Rich mode you can click the box to tick it. Header follows the conventions of Obsidian's Tasks and Dataview plugins, so a vault that already uses them works as it is.

You writeHeader reads it as
- [ ] Call the plumberAn open task. *, + or a number (1., 1)) work as the list marker too, and the line can be indented.
- [x] Call the plumberDone (a capital X also counts).
- [-] Call the plumberDropped. Today writes this when you choose Drop, and stops asking about the task.
- [>] Call the plumberMoved on. Today treats it as settled.
📅 2026-10-30, [due:: 2026-10-30] or @due(2026-10-30)A due date, anywhere on the task line. It has to be written as year-month-day.
⏳ 2026-10-28A scheduled date: the day you plan to work on it.
#todayYou want it in Today's Needs you today.
#priority, #urgent, ⏫ or 🔺A flag. With no date, the task waits in Today's Older tasks until you decide about it.

Checkboxes inside a code block aren't tasks, and neither are other markers such as [/] or [?]. Today also skips checkboxes in folders named Templates, Web Clips, Clippings or Archive, so a template's empty boxes never ask for attention. Dates in ordinary words, like “by Friday”, aren't due dates in a note; Header only counts a date you wrote in one of the forms above.

In today's daily note, a checkbox that starts with a time, such as - [ ] 9:30 AM – 10:15 AM Gym, is a time block. It appears in Today's Schedule rather than as a task.

In the editor, Tab and ⇧Tab indent and outdent a task, and ⌥⌘↑ / ⌥⌘↓ move it up and down the list.

▶ Try this In a note called “Kitchen reno”, write - [ ] Get a second quote for the worktop 📅 2026-10-30, using a date a few days from now. It shows up in the All Tasks lens, and in Today's Needs you on the day it's due.

Where your tasks show up

One set of checkboxes, several views
  • Today shows open tasks that are due, scheduled, overdue or tagged #today, plus the list you pick for the day.
  • Lenses (View → Lenses, ⌃⌘1) can show Tasks instead of notes. Start from the All Tasks or Tasks Due This Week template. Lens task rows list open and done tasks, and each has a checkbox you can tick.
  • The Header widget (medium and large sizes) lists a few open tasks. On macOS 15 or later, clicking one marks it done; on earlier versions it opens the note. See Header across macOS.
  • Shortcuts has four task actions. Add Task adds a task to a note you pick, or to today's daily note if you don't, with an optional due date written as 📅. Complete Task and Reopen Task tick and untick a task. Set Task Due Date sets, changes or clears a task's 📅 date.
  • Quick Capture: choose the Task type (or a recipe like Task or Follow-up) and the capture is saved as a checkbox. See Capturing ideas.
Done Lenses 5 of 9 match Unsaved lens • Save Notes Tasks Blocks Captures All Time Today This Week This Month View options Add Filter Filter rows Done Task Due Note Call the plumber 2026-10-20 Kitchen reno Send the revised budget 2026-10-29 Client kickoff Get a second quote for the worktop 2026-10-30 Kitchen reno Book the Kyoto ryokan 2026-11-01 Japan trip Order the replacement tap 2026-10-28 Kitchen reno 5 tasks · 4 open
A lens set to Tasks and This Week, drawn as a table. An open task whose date has passed shows that date in red; a done task is struck through. Ticking a box here changes the line in the note.
Notes Tasks Blocks Captures All Time Today This Week This Month October 2026 Show All Days Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Send the revised budget due 2026-10-29 · Client kickoff 2026-10-29 Print the Kyoto itinerary due 2026-10-29 · Japan trip 2026-10-29
The Calendar shape for Tasks. A dot marks each day with a task due, and clicking a day lists only that day's tasks. Show All Days brings the full list back.

Ticking a task changes the note Careful edits

Only the character between the brackets

When you tick a task in Today, a lens, the widget or a shortcut, Header opens the note, finds the line by its text, and changes only the character between the brackets: [ ] to [x], or back. The rest of the line, its indentation and the note's line endings stay exactly as they were. The change is recorded in the note's Time Travel history, so you can see it and undo it there.

Header won't guess. If the task's text has changed, if the same text appears on more than one checkbox and none is where Header expects, if the note is locked, or if it has unsaved edits open in another tab or window, Header leaves the note alone and tells you why.

Apple Reminders and Calendar

One-way copies, when you ask for them

Two switches in Settings → Calendar, under Tasks in Reminders & Calendar, send copies of dated captures to Apple's apps:

  • Send task reminders to Apple Reminders adds a reminder to your default Reminders list, due at the reminder time you accepted, with a note saying which file it came from.
  • Also add due tasks to Calendar adds a 15-minute event with an alert to your default calendar.

Both are off until you turn them on, and macOS asks for permission the first time. If you refuse, Header turns the switch back off and tells you.

What gets sent. In this beta, copies are made only for a quick capture whose date you accepted (see Dates and reminders). A 📅 date typed into a note appears in Today and Lenses but isn't sent to Reminders or Calendar. The copies are one-way: ticking the reminder in Reminders doesn't tick anything in Header, and undoing the capture in Header doesn't delete the reminder or event.

Going the other way, Today can show your Apple Reminders that are due, read-only, if you turn on Settings → Calendar → Show Apple Reminders on Today. See From Reminders.

Action items from meetings

From Minutes to a checkbox or a reminder

After a meeting in Minutes, the actions you accepted appear under FOLLOW UP, each with Create task and Add reminder. Either one first asks for an optional owner and a due date (a reminder needs the date).

  • Create task adds a checkbox under a ## Follow-up tasks heading in the saved meeting note, for example - [ ] Send the revised budget — Priya @due(2026-10-29). From then on it's an ordinary task, so it turns up in Today and Lenses.
  • Add reminder adds the action to Apple Reminders for the date you choose.

Nothing is added until you click. Once done, the button changes to Task added or Reminder added.