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Draft Bench

I want to view my project in a Bases table

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Table of Contents

You have a Draft Bench project with several scenes (and maybe chapters and drafts) and you want to browse the structure as a queryable table instead of file-tree only. Draft Bench ships three starter Bases that surface common views over your project’s notes. By the end of this you’ll have the starter Bases installed, opened a Scenes view, switched between its built-in views, and embedded a Base inside a project note so it auto-filters to that project.

What you’ll need
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  • Obsidian’s Bases core plugin enabled (Settings -> Core plugins -> Bases).
  • A Draft Bench project with at least 5 scenes - the table is more useful when there’s content to browse. (Empty projects show empty tables; the views still work, just with nothing to show.)

Steps
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1. Install the starter Bases
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From the command palette, run Draft Bench: Install starter Bases views. Three .base files land in your Bases folder (default Draft Bench/Bases/):

  • Projects.base - one row per project. Default view shows all projects; an “In progress” view filters to projects whose status indicates active work.
  • Scenes.base - the most-used file. Multiple views, listed in step 2.
  • Drafts.base - all drafts in the vault, plus a “history for current scene” view that filters when embedded in a scene note.

The command writes only the files that don’t already exist. Re-running won’t overwrite your edits to a Base you’ve already customized.

2. Open Scenes.base and switch through the views
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Open Draft Bench/Bases/Scenes.base in your vault. The Base displays as a table by default. The view picker in the Base’s header (top-right) lets you switch between built-in views:

  • Manuscript outline - scenes ordered by their position in the manuscript. The most reference-oriented view; shows project, chapter, scene title, status, word count.
  • By status - scenes grouped by their dbench-status value. Useful for spotting how much of the manuscript is in each revision state.
  • Revision queue - filtered to scenes whose status indicates they need attention. The “what should I work on next” view.
  • Corkboard - card-shaped layout. More visual, less tabular; good for spatial readers.
  • In current project - blank by default, populated when the Base is embedded inside a project note (see step 4).

Click each view in turn to see how the same data reshapes.

3. Verify scenes show up
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If the table is empty even with scenes in your vault, two likely causes:

  • The scenes don’t have dbench-type: scene in frontmatter. Draft Bench stamps this on scene creation; if you imported notes from outside Draft Bench, the type may be missing. Use Draft Bench: Set as scene (right-click context menu) to retrofit.
  • The scene’s dbench-project link is missing or pointing at the wrong project. Check the scene’s frontmatter properties panel.

The Manuscript outline view doesn’t filter by project; if you have multiple projects, you’ll see all scenes from all projects together. The In current project view (step 4) is where per-project filtering happens.

4. Embed Scenes.base in a project note
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Open one of your project notes. At the bottom of the note’s body, insert:

![[Scenes.base#In current project]]

(Adjust the path if your Bases folder differs from the default; Obsidian’s wikilink resolution finds the file by name.)

The embed renders the In current project view, automatically filtered to scenes whose dbench-project matches the project note you’re viewing. Now the project note becomes a structured dashboard - you can keep the file open while writing and glance at the scene-state breakdown on the same page.

The same embed pattern works for ![[Drafts.base#History for current scene]] inside a scene note.

Variations
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  • If you want to edit a view’s columns: open the .base file, click the view in the picker, and use the column editor in the Base’s UI. Save under a new view name to keep the original starter view intact, or override the starter (re-running the install command won’t restore overrides).

  • If you want a custom Base for a specific cross-cut: copy one of the starter .base files as a template, edit its filters and columns, and save under a new name in the Bases folder. The dbench-* property surface (wiki frontmatter reference) lists every queryable field.

  • If your project has chapters and you want a chapter-grouped view: edit the Manuscript outline view, add a dbench-chapter group-by, and save as a new view. Useful for novel-length projects where the flat scene list feels long.

Related guides#

Reference
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  • Wiki: Frontmatter reference - every dbench-* property the starter Bases query.
  • Obsidian docs: Bases - the core feature’s reference (filter syntax, formula language, view configuration).

Found something wrong or unclear? Suggest an edit - opens a pre-filled issue with the guides label.