Hotkey Zen #1 — Toggling WIP, DONE, and PENDING Like a Productivity Monk

How to toggle note states and save 12+ hours—with one satisfying keystroke

I usually don’t share efficiency tricks as they rarely move the big levers. But today I was short on time and needed to write something quick. So here’s a small but genuinely useful PKM tip you might enjoy.

Before we start: do you (or did you ever) use Obsidian as your note-taking tool or even as a Personal Knowledge Companion?

Note Metadata in Obsidian

Obsidian is a markdown-based tool that supports YAML frontmatter for metadata. Here’s what that looks like in one of my effort notes—for my Scale-Smart book writing program:

title: 💥 FPS Book
aliases: [My Book]
tags: []
created on: 2023-11-06
intent: Write and release my first every book.
last modified on: 2025-06-10
status: wip🔥 // <--- The interesting bit for us
isa: ["[[Personal Program (PP)|Personal Program]]"]

You can define these fields however you like. I use a field called status to track a note’s current state:

• wip🔥 — active effort

• done✅ — completed effort

• pending💤 — effort paused or waiting

• blank — undefined (neither wip, nor done, nor pending)

The Problem

Changing the status usually involves editing the front matter manually or navigating through a side panel. That only takes about 5 seconds, but I do it several times a day.

As the classic XKCD “Is It Worth It?” chart shows (scientifically, of course), yes, that adds up. If I can automate this, I should theoretically save 12 hours over 5 years.

The solution

I set up templated hotkeys that instantly toggle note states. No YAML fiddling. No side panels. Just one keystroke.

Setup took me 30 minutes (≤12 hours ✅). With this guide, you could do it in even less.

Step-by-step Setup

1. Define your statuses.

   Mine are wip🔥, done✅, pending💤, or none.

2. Create a template note for each status.

   These act as hotkey triggers. I named mine like: Note Status - Xxxxx and placed them in my templates folder.

   

   FYI: I wanted wip🔥and done✅ to toggle via the same key, so I only made one note.

3. Install the Templater Plugin.

   Under Settings → Templater → Template Hotkeys, assign each of your status notes a hotkey.

   

   I use:

   

   • F8 (⏯️ ) to toggle wip🔥 ↔ done✅

   • F6 (🌙 ) to toggle pending💤

   • F2 (☀️ ) to toggle voide (no status)

4. Add the following scripts to your new status template notes:

For toggling wip🔥 ↔ done✅

<%*
const file = tp.file.find_tfile(tp.file.path(true));
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(file, (frontmatter) => {
    if (frontmatter["status"] === "wip🔥") {
        frontmatter["status"] = "done✅";
    } else {
        frontmatter["status"] = "wip🔥";
    }
});
-%>

For setting to pending💤

<%*
const file = tp.file.find_tfile(tp.file.path(true));
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(file, (frontmatter) => {
    frontmatter["status"] = "pending💤";
});
-%>

For clearing the status (∅)

<%*
const file = tp.file.find_tfile(tp.file.path(true));
await app.fileManager.processFrontMatter(file, (frontmatter) => {
    frontmatter["status"] = "";
});
-%>

---

That’s it!

With one keystroke, I can now update my note’s status in an instant.

Small thing. Big feel-good. Surprisingly useful.

Hope this helps someone out there who lives inside Obsidian all day like I do.

Did you like this kind of quick tip post? Should I do more of them?
Let me know in the comments 👇