Project View 🗂️
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If Bases is "a table that collects notes", the project view turns one base into a project command center — under a home header with cover, progress and deadline, it stacks the episode table, character cards, a kanban board and a progress chart.
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What is it? 🤔
The project view is one of the seven Bases view types (table · cards · kanban · bookshelf · chart · project · timeline): a dashboard home that arranges the other views of the same base as "sections". Your data still lives in each note's frontmatter — the .base file is just the assembly manifest, so backup, sync and Obsidian round-trips stay free.
- Web novel project: cover art + synopsis + serial numbers, then [episodes table] [lore table] [timeline] [progress chart]
- Docs project: progress (reviewed n/total), then [chapters table] [chart by tag] [recently edited]
Creating one ➕
Hover New Project ▸ in the explorer's New… menu 📁 (or use the command palette) and pick the scope (whole vault / folder / tag). Choose a project template and it's created instantly — just rename it in the tree. An existing base can also switch via the view menu (⌄ on the tab) → As project.
The template you pick pre-builds views, property scaffolding and the progress rule:
| Template | What you get |
|---|---|
| Standard project | Status kanban for tasks · source & memo cards · status donut |
| Blank project | Home + table view |
| Web novel | A whole work folder — dashboard (episodes · released · buffer · next release) · Story/Episode 1 · eight lore folders · episode template · done = "done" (below ↓) |
| Reading log | Library table (status·rating) · ratings chart · done = "finished" |
| Research | Sources table (status·source) · memo cards · done = "done" |
| Work | Status kanban for tasks (todo/doing/done pinned) · meeting cards · status chart |
| Dev set | Status kanban for features (todo/doing/review/done — one extra column) · bug table (date) · log & docs cards |
| Trip planning | Itinerary table (date·status) · place cards |
| Blog & content | Posts table (status·published) · idea cards · done = "published" |
| Study & exams | Units table (status) · question cards · status chart |
An empty vault is fine — each section's + creates a note pre-filled with that section's conditions (type, tags…), so the board runs from day one.
✍️ Web novel — a whole work folder
Where the other templates make a single base, Web novel sets up the whole drawer for a serial. Scope (whole vault / folder / tag) doesn't matter here — the work folder is the scope.
- Open the New… menu 📁 ▸ New Project ▸ Web novel project at the very bottom (picking 'Web novel' in the template list does the same). It asks for the title first — what you type becomes the folder name, the dashboard file name and the project name all at once. Characters a folder name can't hold, like
:and?, are left out of the folder, while the project name at the top of the dashboard keeps exactly what you typed. - Leave the title empty and confirm, and it's made as
Web novelwith the tree's folder-name box opened for you. The folder goes inside the folder you've selected in the tree, if any; otherwise it appears at the top of the vault. - Make another work with the same title and it lands beside it as
Title 2. Even with an episode open, you won't get a work inside a work. - Existing files are never overwritten (if you've edited the vault-wide
Template/Web novel episode, it stays as is). - You can also set it up in a folder where you've already written episodes — notes marked as episodes, like
type: episode, show up in the episode table even outsideStory/, and in that case no empty Episode 1 is added. - You can ask the AI, too — tell AI chat "set up a web novel project" and it builds the same folder layout, and also tells you which folders episode and setting notes belong in so the dashboard picks them up. → 16 AI Agent
Web novel/
Web novel.base ← your progress dashboard
Story/ ← where episodes go (Episode 1 is already there)
Lore/
Character/ Event/ Faction/ Place/ Item/ World/ System/ Unsorted/
Each of the eight lore folders holds one starter note — a short page of blanks like - Name: and - What they want:. Rename it and it becomes your first character, your first place. ✏️
💡 The folder is the kind. The dashboard's 'Lore' table gathers whatever sits under
Lore/, by folder. There is no property to memorize — put a note inLore/Place/and you're done. 😌When you want a character in the Character Codex, add
type: characterto its properties then. (The starter notes are left bare on purpose — they aren't anybody yet, and empty cards shouldn't fill your codex.)
Give each episode a status: property and the progress bar and donut chart at the top fill themselves in. Episode 1 starts at draft — switch a finished one to done! 📈
Add a release date too. Put a date like 2026-10-02 in an episode's release: field and that episode shows up on the calendar that day (click it to open). The top of the dashboard shows Episodes · Published · Buffer · Next release as numbers — the buffer is the number of episodes written (done) but not yet released, and it changes color when it hits 0. 🗓️
- An episode counts as published once its release date is today or past.
status: publishedworks too. - A draft with only a planned date doesn't count toward the buffer (it's just a plan).
- New episodes made with the + row under the episode table start from the
Template/Web novel episodetemplate, withstatusandreleasealready in place. If you're in the middle of writing episodes, [+ Write Episode N] in the outline's Episodes tab is quicker ('Write next episode' in the command palette does the same) → Backlinks & Outline - The episode table's Characters column (
file.chars) fills in each episode's length by itself, and Total length at the very top of the dashboard is their sum (author's notes left out) — use it to check length for contests and publishing. Jot one line per episode in the episode table's summary column (the AI summary from Ready to continue goes there too) and you can find events in a long serial right from the table. - Not everything in
Story/is an episode — only notes named with an episode number (Episode 3,01_Opening) orPrologue/Epilogue/Side story, plus notes marked as episodes, count. Working notes likeForeshadowing ledgerorSetting memo, and notes with 'notice' or 'hiatus' in the name, stay out of the episode table, the episode count and the buffer (dashboards made earlier are fixed this way when you open them).
Set your update days and you'll see the buffer as a date. Pick Update days (Mon–Sun chips) and a Hiatus in the ✎ at the top of the dashboard, and the day your buffer lasts until appears under the 'Buffer' number, like "until Mon, 10/12". You can change the same days in the outline's Episodes tab too, and when buffer episodes have no date it first shows how it would fill in their release dates from your update days — nothing is written until you press the button (days in a hiatus are skipped).
📥 Splitting an existing manuscript into episodes
Been writing episode after episode in a single Hangul (HWP), Word or Notepad file? You can split that manuscript into episode files. For an HWP or Word manuscript, first turn it into a note with right-click in the file tree ▸ 'Convert to Markdown (.md)' → Search & Navigation
- Right-click the manuscript note in the file tree ▸ Split into episodes… (or 'Split manuscript into episodes' in the command palette)
- It finds episode marker lines like
Episode 1,Ep. 2,Chapter 3,## Episode 12 Black Rain,PrologueorSide story 2and shows them as a list. Lines shaped differently from most of the manuscript, or whose numbers don't follow on (like a strayChapter 3 of my lifeamongEpisodemarkers), are faded and left unchecked — tick them if they're right. - Choose where the files go: Into a new web novel project (with a title — dashboard and lore folders included) · Into this work's story folder · Into a new folder next to the manuscript. Each marker line becomes a file name, and the text before the first marker (a series blurb, say) can go into a separate 'Preface' note if you like.
- The original stays as it is. The files it makes are recorded as one entry in Change history, so you can undo them all at once.
Need a skeleton for a character or a world? The Structure tab in Writing Helper drops a full sheet into the note you're in. Forms for the Series listing you post on a serial platform and a Contest and submission kit (why this story, synopsis, requirements checklist, submission log) are there too.
The home screen 🏠
Top to bottom: header → info note → stat cards → sections.
- Header: cover image · project name (file name fallback) · status chip · D-day chip (red when ≤3 days or overdue) · progress bar · free key-values. Progress = "notes matching the done value ÷ total".
- Info note: a long note (plot, plan) embeds collapsibly (▾/▸, and the collapsed state is remembered). Click the title to open it; wiki links inside jump to notes, http links open in the external browser.
- Stat cards: one total-count card by default; add more in source via
stats:withlabel/agg(count·sum·avg)/prop/where. - Sections: previews (8 rows by default) of the base's other views — table, cards, chart and kanban all work.
Editing project info ✎
The ✎ button opens a form — name, description, status, due date (date picker), info note (typing shows the vault note list, jamo search included), cover path, and progress property + done value, all at once. Status is a choice dropdown — pick from Planning · In progress · On hold · Done · Dropped, and if you need something else use 'Custom…' to enter any name (your existing free-text values are preserved too). For the cover you can skip the form: click the cover box, pick an image, and it's saved into the vault's assets/.
For a web novel project (a base made from the Web novel template), the form gets three extra fields — Genre (free text) · Rating (ALL / 15 / 19) · POV (first person (protagonist) · first person (observer) · third person (limited) · omniscient narrator · mixed 1st + 3rd person). The rating shows as a badge next to the title, and genre and POV appear in the header's info line.
Working with sections 🧩
- + Section: attach another view of this base (already-added and project views are excluded).
- View all: jumps to that view's tab for full editing, sorting and filtering.
- Section +: creates a new note pre-filled with that section's conditions.
- ⋮: turn the section into a kanban (pick group property, manage columns). To group by a property no note has yet, use '+ Group by new property' — type a name like
statusinto the autocomplete dropdown (then use column management to build columns, and dragging a card records that property onto the note). ✕ removes the section (the view itself stays). - Renaming a view updates section references automatically.
Kanban board 🧮
Kanban works both as a project section and as a dedicated view (As kanban in the view menu) — usage matches chapter 12. Drag cards to change status (press-hold on phone/iPad), + in a column header creates a note in that status, Columns manages order and empty columns, and right-clicking a card edits properties in place. The work template starts with a 3-column board on Home; the dev set adds a fourth, review.
✨ AI status briefing
The ✨ button gathers counts, progress, per-section numbers and recent items, and asks AI for a 3–5 sentence briefing plus 1–2 next actions, shown above the home. The briefing is saved, so it stays put even after you edit the project or restart the app, until you re-brief with ✨ (the creation time is shown too). Like the info note, you can fold it away with ▾/▸, and the collapsed state is remembered. Needs a chat API key or the desktop agent login.
Overview on the Dashboard 📊
On the Dashboard, add a board → 🗂️ Projects overview: every project in the vault in one card with name · status chip · D-day · progress bar. Click a row to open it. Due dates also appear on the Calendar panel and the dashboard calendars as 🗂️ entries (orange dot), right next to your tasks.
Curious about the source? — View menu ▸ Source 🧑💻
Open the raw YAML with 👁 View menu ▸ Source (⌘⇧O) at the top — the same way in as in chapter 12. Project info lives in a top-level project: block (an ObsiKO extension):
filters:
and:
- file.inFolder("novel/snow")
project:
name: Snow
description: Romance fantasy, twice a week
status: ongoing
due: 2026-12-31
info: novel/plan.md
progress:
prop: status
done: done
views:
- type: project
name: Home
stats:
- label: Done
agg: count
where: status == "done"
sections:
- view: Episodes
limit: 5
- view: Characters
- type: table
name: Episodes
Good to know 💡
- The
project:block and the project/kanban view types are ObsiKO extensions — opened in Obsidian, table/cards still work and unknown keys are preserved. - Note embeds (
![[project.base]]) and canvas cards show a snapshot of the first regular view instead of the home. - Use a single-value property (like status) as the progress rule — list properties may not compare cleanly.
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