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Time Budgeting

Time budgeting screenshot

The time budgeting system allows you to allocate and track time across categories with hierarchical tracking from yearly down to daily periods.

Overview​

Time budgets flow down through the hierarchy:

Yearly (10,000 hours)
├── Quarterly (2,500 hours)
│   ├── Monthly (833 hours)
│   │   ├── Weekly (208 hours)
│   │   │   └── Daily (24 hours)

Each level tracks total hours available, allocated hours per category, remaining hours, and parent budget status.

Setup​

Configure base hours: Set your weekly hours in Settings → Time budget. The plugin automatically calculates monthly, quarterly, and yearly hours. Learn more

Categories auto-register: No setup needed! Just start using category names in your time allocations. Categories are automatically created with default colors and appear in settings instantly. Learn more

Allocating Time​

  1. Open any periodic note

  2. Click Edit allocations button

  3. Distribute hours across categories:

    • Use existing categories from the dropdown
    • Create new categories on-the-fly with the "+ Create new category" button
    • New categories get default colors automatically (blue, green, purple, etc.)
    • All changes are reactive - categories appear in settings immediately

  4. Categories are automatically tracked across all your notes

Learn more about the Allocation Editor

Budget Tracking​

Visual indicators:

  • 🟢 Green - Within budget
  • 🟡 Yellow - Approaching limit (80-100%)
  • 🔴 Red - Over budget or exceeds parent allocation

Parent budget tracking: Child periods (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) are tracked against their parent period's budget. Warnings appear when allocations exceed parent limits.

Remaining hours: The allocation editor shows allocated hours, remaining hours, and allocation percentage.

Hierarchical Budget Flow​

Time budgets cascade through the hierarchy:

  1. Yearly → Quarterly: Set yearly budgets, allocate quarterly portions, track remaining
  2. Quarterly → Monthly: Monthly allocations tracked against quarterly limits
  3. Monthly → Weekly: Weekly allocations tracked against monthly limits
  4. Weekly → Daily: Daily allocations tracked against weekly limits

Warnings appear when child allocations exceed parent budgets.

Visual Statistics​

The time budget block displays pie charts and allocation tables showing category distribution, allocated hours, percentages, and parent budget status.

Learn more about Visual Statistics

Advanced Features​

Time Budget Sorting​

Control how categories are displayed in the time budget table.

  • Configure in settings: Settings → Time budget → "Default time budget sorting"
  • Options:
    • Hours (highest first) - Default, shows most time-intensive categories at the top
    • Hours (lowest first) - Shows least allocated categories first
    • Category (A-Z) - Alphabetical sort ascending
    • Category (Z-A) - Alphabetical sort descending

The sorting applies to all time budget tables in your periodic notes and updates when you change the setting.

Hide Unused Categories​

Reduce clutter in the Allocation Editor by hiding categories with no parent budget allocation.

  • Configure default: Settings → Time budget → "Hide unused categories by default" (default: ON)
  • Toggle in editor: Use the "Hide unused" checkbox at the top of the Allocation Editor
  • Smart filtering: Shows categories that have either:
    • Current allocation in the note being edited
    • Budget allocated in the parent period
  • Yearly exception: Yearly notes always show all categories (top-level planning)

This helps focus on relevant categories while editing child periods (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly).

Auto-Inherit Parent Percentages​

Automatically fill child periods based on the parent period's percentage distribution.

  • Enable globally: Settings → Time budget → "Automatically inherit parent percentages"
  • Manual per-note: Click "Fill parent" button in the Allocation Editor

Example: If parent is 50/30/20, child gets the same 50/30/20 split of its own total hours.

Fill from Parent​

Per-category option in the Allocation Editor that calculates percentages based on the parent's category budget instead of the child's total hours. Mix and match: some categories can follow the parent, others can be independent.

Related: Allocation Editor • Visual Statistics • Configuration