What are Queries?

Queries let you automatically gather and display content based on defined rules. Think of queries as saved filters or smart views. Instead of manually curating a list, a query does it for you. It updates in real time as your content grows.

You can filter by properties, tags, backlinks, content, or object types. Results update automatically whenever new content matches the defined criteria.

For example:

• Everything tagged #allotment and #garden
• Books with 'Completed On' set to dates in 2026 grouped by rating
• Images linked to this person created in 2026 shown in gallery view

You can use them to:

• Find and reuse specific information (e.g. all meetings with Jane)
• Embed filtered content in other objects (e.g. topics from this semester in your semester planning page)
• Build dashboards or contextual views (see Examples)

How a query works

A new query starts with all notes in your space (everything, until you filter). Click Filter to narrow them (object types, collections, tags or backlinks, search, properties, or the exclude options). Click Filter again until the list is right, then use Sort, Group, Limit, and Show. Leave out anything you don't need. Everything you add narrows the results.

Create a query

You can create a query from several places:

1. Click + New in the top left and choose Query
2. In an object, type /query to create a query and embed it on the page
3. Open the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl + K or Cmd/Ctrl + P), type query, and press Enter
4. On an object type dashboard, filter and sort the list, then choose Save as query
5. On a tag page, a backlinks view, or a collection, use + Query to start from that view

Give the query a title so you can find it later with @ or search.

On a phone or tablet you can create and edit queries too. On a narrow screen the editor fills the page. On a wider screen it sits beside the results.

Choose your filters

A new query starts with all notes in your space (not the daily note, and not one object type’s All list). To narrow the results, click Filter, then choose one option:

• Object types
• Collections
• Tags or backlinks
• Search
• Properties
• Exclude object types
• Exclude tags or backlinks

Click Filter again whenever you want to add another rule. Keep going until the list matches what you want.

Object types

Choose Object types when you only want certain kinds of content, such as Meeting or Book.

Use Exclude object types when you want everything except those types.

Collections

Choose Collections when results should stay inside one or more collections you already curate by hand.

Tags or backlinks

Choose Tags or backlinks to keep content that is tagged with those tags or that links to those objects. Search each item by name.

Use Exclude tags or backlinks to leave matching content out.

When you have more than one tag or backlink in the same filter, use Any of or All of.

Search

Choose Search when you want content that matches specific words. You can add more than one term; a result can match any of them. Search options include modes such as matching the title, an exact term, or related meaning, depending on what you choose in the editor.

Properties

Choose Properties to filter by properties you set up on your types (status labels, people links, finished dates, and so on). Date filters can include dates that have an end (useful for meetings or trips that span a range).

You can also filter where a blocks property is empty or not empty, which helps find notes that still need writing.

Some property-style filters count or check links:

• Linked objects count: notes that link to zero, one, or more objects
• Linked objects includes / does not include: notes that link to specific objects
• Linked objects type: notes that link to an object of a specific type
• Backlinked (context) objects count: notes that are linked from zero, one, or more objects
• Backlinked (context) objects includes / does not include: notes that are linked from specific objects (for example a person or project in Context)
• Backlink (context) object types: notes that are linked from an object of a specific type

Inside one Properties filter you can click + Filter to add another row and join the rows with and (or or).

Display results

After the filters look right, use the controls under the filters:

• Sort: order of results (for example by Created at or a property you defined). Default is No sort.
• Group: split the list by a property (see Group by). Default is No group.
• Limit: cap how many results you see. Default is No limit. With a limit, you can also return a random subset, which is useful for resurfacing ideas or quotes.
• Show: Objects, Blocks, or Objects and blocks. When a query uses tags, matching blocks can appear as well as objects; Objects and blocks is the usual default then. Set Show to Objects if you only want whole objects.

Pin to a dashboard

To add a query to an object type dashboard:

1. Create the query and give it a title (or build it later in step 3).
2. Open the object type from the left sidebar, then open its dashboard.
3. Click the + near the controls on the right.
4. Find your named query in the list and add it.

Or click that same +, choose to create a new query, and build the filters there. The query becomes a dashboard section for that type.

Variable queries

Variable queries adapt to the object they are embedded in. Instead of hardcoding one person or project, you use This object (or related variable options) so the same query works on every page of that type. For examples, all meetings with 'this person', embedded into your people objects.

Variables only work when the query is embedded in an object. Create the query with /query inside the object, or link an existing query and set the view to Embed via the 3 dot menu.

Backlinks with This object

In an embedded query, you can set a backlink filter to This object. That keeps a saved filter of content that links to the page you are on, without renaming the filter on every person or project.

Properties

Different types of properties allow you to reference the current object and it's properties as values in their filters. If you select a property, the variable option will pop up.

Variable queries in templates

Add the embedded query to a template for that object type. Every new object from the template opens with the same saved filter, filled from that object’s own properties and links.

AI and queries

You can ask the AI assistant to create or update a query. In the query editor you can also describe what you want in plain language and let Capacities build or adjust the filters for you. You can always edit the result by hand afterward.

Examples

Every example below starts the same way: create a new query (+ New → Query, or /query on a page, or the command palette). A new query shows every note in your space until you add filters. That is what “all notes” means here. It is not the daily note, and it is not an object type’s All view.

Then click Filter, pick one option from the menu, and click Filter again until the list is right. After that, set Sort, Group, Limit, and Show if you need them.

Books finished this year

1. Create a new query (starts with all notes in the space).
2. Click Filter → Object types → Book.
3. Click Filter → Properties → Finished on is within this calendar year (or on or after 1 January).
4. Set Sort to Finished on.
5. Optional: add the query to the Book dashboard.

Books still to read

1. Create a new query (starts with all notes in the space).
2. Click Filter → Object types → Book.
3. Click Filter → Properties → status excludes Done (or Finished on is empty, if that is how you track unfinished books).

Meetings on this project

Embed the query on a Project page (or put it in a project template):

1. Create with /query inside the project (or link a query and set Embed). The query still starts with all notes; filters narrow it.
2. Click Filter → Object types → Meeting.
3. Click Filter → Properties → the project link property equals This object.
4. Set Sort to meeting date, newest first.

Meetings with this person

Same pattern on a Person page:

1. Embed the query on the person (or in a person template).
2. Click Filter → Object types → Meeting.
3. Click Filter → Properties → People (or People Involved) includes This object.
4. Set Sort to meeting date, newest first.

Content with two tags

1. Create a new query (starts with all notes), or open a tag page and choose + Query, which already includes that tag.
2. Click Filter → Tags or backlinks → add #creativity and #learning, then choose All of.
3. Optional: set Show to Objects if you only want whole objects, not matching blocks.

From dashboard recommendations

On an object type dashboard (for example Tags or Tasks), click the + near the section controls and open Recommendations. Capacities suggests ready-made queries for that type. Add one, then edit the filters if you need.

On Tasks, recommendations often include views that use Backlinked (context) objects so open tasks are grouped by project or person. On Tags, recommendations help you start from common tag filters without building the query from scratch.

Dates that have an end

1. Create a new query (starts with all notes in the space).
2. Click Filter → Object types → your event type (or Meeting, if that is where you store ranges).
3. Click Filter → Properties → choose the date property → keep only dates that have an end.

That surfaces multi-day events (trips, conferences, stays) and leaves single-day items out.

Random ideas in the daily note

1. Create a new query (+ New → Query). It starts with all notes in the space.
2. Click Filter → Object types → Quote (or Idea, or whichever type you resurface).
3. Set Limit to a small number (for example 5) and enable random order.
4. Embed the query in your daily note template.

Orphaned notes

1. Create a new query (+ New → Query). It starts with all notes in the space.
2. Click Filter → Properties.
3. Set Backlinked (context) objects count = 0.
4. Click + Filter, leave the joiner on and, and set Linked objects count = 0.

Use this as a review queue: deepen the note, link it somewhere useful, or delete it.

Maintenance gaps

These are companion queries for missing properties your other lists rely on. Each one follows the same click path.

Books done without a finished date

1. Filter → Object types → Book.
2. Filter → Properties → status is Done.
3. Filter → Properties → Finished on is empty.

Meetings with no project

1. Filter → Object types → Meeting.
2. Filter → Properties → project link is empty.

Meetings with no people

1. Filter → Object types → Meeting.
2. Filter → Properties → People is empty.

Sources missing a type tag

1. Filter → Object types → your Media or Source type.
2. Filter → Exclude tags or backlinks → #book, #article, #podcast (or the tags you use for kinds of source).

Embed every maintenance query on one page (@ → Embed) so you can work through gaps in one place.

Planning page

Build each query with Filter as above, then open a Page, link each query with @, and set the view to Embed. The page becomes a dashboard of saved filters without changing the queries themselves.

FAQs

• I cannot see variable options. Why not?
  Embed the query in an object first. Open the object, create or link the query, and set the view to Embed. Then open Edit and look for This object (or other variables) in the filter you are setting.
• Are queries part of Capacities Pro?
  Saving and reusing queries is part of Capacities Pro. You can still filter and sort on object dashboards on every plan; named queries that you save and embed are a Pro feature.