This manual is for Org-mode (version 4.64).
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being “A GNU Manual,” and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License.”(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: “You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.”
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
Introduction
Document Structure
Archiving
Tables
The spreadsheet
Hyperlinks
Internal links
Remember
TODO items
Extended use of TODO keywords
Timestamps
Creating timestamps
Progress Logging
Tags
Agenda Views
The built-in agenda views
Presentation and sorting
Custom agenda views
Embedded LaTeX
Exporting
HTML export
Text interpretation by the exporter
Publishing
Configuration
Sample configuration
Miscellaneous
Interaction with other packages
Extensions, Hooks and Hacking
Org-mode is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining ToDo lists, and doing project planning with a fast and effective plain-text system.
Org-mode develops organizational tasks around NOTES files that contain lists or information about projects as plain text. Org-mode is implemented on top of outline-mode, which makes it possible to keep the content of large files well structured. Visibility cycling and structure editing help to work with the tree. Tables are easily created with a built-in table editor. Org-mode supports ToDo items, deadlines, time stamps, and scheduling. It dynamically compiles entries into an agenda that utilizes and smoothly integrates much of the Emacs calendar and diary. Plain text URL-like links connect to websites, emails, Usenet messages, BBDB entries, and any files related to the projects. For printing and sharing of notes, an Org-mode file can be exported as a structured ASCII file, as HTML, or (todo and agenda items only) as an iCalendar file. It can also serve as a publishing tool for a set of linked webpages.
An important design aspect that distinguishes Org-mode from for example Planner/Muse is that it encourages to store every piece of information only once. In Planner, you have project pages, day pages and possibly other files, duplicating some information such as tasks. In Org-mode, you only have notes files. In your notes you mark entries as tasks, label them with tags and timestamps. All necessary lists like a schedule for the day, the agenda for a meeting, tasks lists selected by tags etc are created dynamically when you need them.
Org-mode keeps simple things simple. When first fired up, it should feel like a straightforward, easy to use outliner. Complexity is not imposed, but a large amount of functionality is available when you need it. Org-mode can be used on different levels and in different ways, for example as:
• outline extension with visibility cycling and structure editing • ASCII system and table editor for taking structured notes • ASCII table editor with spreadsheet-like capabilities • TODO list editor • full agenda and planner with deadlines and work scheduling • environment to implement David Allen's GTD system • simple hypertext system, with HTML export • publishing tool to create a set of interlinked webpages
Org-mode's automatic, context sensitive table editor with spreadsheet capabilities can be integrated into any major mode by activating the minor Orgtbl-mode.
There is a website for Org-mode which provides links to the newest version of Org-mode, as well as additional information, frequently asked questions (FAQ), links to tutorials etc. This page is located at http://www.astro.uva.nl/~dominik/Tools/org/.
Important: If Org-mode is part of the Emacs distribution or an XEmacs package, please skip this section and go directly to Activation.
If you have downloaded Org-mode from the Web, you must take the following steps to install it: Go into the Org-mode distribution directory and edit the top section of the file Makefile. You must set the name of the Emacs binary (likely either emacs or xemacs), and the paths to the directories where local Lisp and Info files are kept. If you don't have access to the system-wide directories, create your own two directories for these files, enter them into the Makefile, and make sure Emacs finds the Lisp files by adding the following line to .emacs:
(setq load-path (cons "~/path/to/lispdir" load-path))
XEmacs users now need to install the file noutline.el from the xemacs subdirectory of the Org-mode distribution. Use the command:
make install-noutline
Now byte-compile and install the Lisp files with the shell commands:
make
make install
If you want to install the info documentation, use this command:
make install-info
Then add to .emacs:
;; This line only if org-mode is not part of the X/Emacs distribution.
(require 'org-install)
Add the following lines to your .emacs file. The last two lines define global keys for the commands org-store-link and org-agenda - please choose suitable keys yourself.
;; The following lines are always needed. Choose your own keys.
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.org$" . org-mode))
(define-key global-map "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(define-key global-map "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
Furthermore, you must activate font-lock-mode in org-mode
buffers, because significant functionality depends on font-locking being
active. You can do this with either one of the following two lines
(XEmacs user must use the second option):
(global-font-lock-mode 1) ; for all buffers
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock) ; org-mode buffers only
With this setup, all files with extension `.org' will be put into Org-mode. As an alternative, make the first line of a file look like this:
MY PROJECTS -*- mode: org; -*-
which will select Org-mode for this buffer no matter what
the file's name is. See also the variable
org-insert-mode-line-in-empty-file.
If you find problems with Org-mode, or if you have questions, remarks, or ideas about it, please contact the maintainer Carsten Dominik at dominik at science dot uva dot nl.
For bug reports, please provide as much information as possible, including the version information of Emacs (C-h v emacs-version <RET>) and Org-mode (C-h v org-version <RET>), as well as the Org-mode related setup in .emacs. If an error occurs, a backtrace can be very useful (see below on how to create one). Often a small example file helps, along with clear information about:
If working with Org-mode produces an error with a message you don't understand, you may have hit a bug. The best way to report this is by providing, in addition to what was mentioned above, a Backtrace. This is information from the built-in debugger about where and how the error occurred. Here is how to produce a useful backtrace:
emacs -l /path/to/org.el
Options menu and select Enter Debugger on Error
(XEmacs has this option in the Troubleshooting sub-menu).
Org-mode is based on outline mode and provides flexible commands to edit the structure of the document.
Org-mode is implemented on top of outline-mode. Outlines allow to organize a document in a hierarchical structure, which (at least for me) is the best representation of notes and thoughts. Overview over this structure is achieved by folding (hiding) large parts of the document to show only the general document structure and the parts currently being worked on. Org-mode greatly simplifies the use of outlines by compressing the entire show/hide functionality into a single command org-cycle, which is bound to the <TAB> key.
Headlines define the structure of an outline tree. The headlines in Org-mode start with one or more stars, on the left margin. For example:
* Top level headline
** Second level
*** 3rd level
some text
*** 3rd level
more text
* Another top level headline
Some people find the many stars too noisy and would prefer an outline that has whitespace followed by a single star as headline starters. Clean view describes a setup to realize this.
Outlines make it possible to hide parts of the text in the buffer. Org-mode uses just two commands, bound to <TAB> and S-<TAB> to change the visibility in the buffer.
,-> FOLDED -> CHILDREN -> SUBTREE --.
'-----------------------------------'
The cursor must be on a headline for this to work1. When the cursor is at the beginning of the buffer and the first line is not a headline, then <TAB> actually runs global cycling (see below)2. Also when called with a prefix argument (C-u <TAB>), global cycling is invoked.
,-> OVERVIEW -> CONTENTS -> SHOW ALL --.
'--------------------------------------'
Note that inside tables, S-<TAB> jumps to the previous field.
When Emacs first visits an Org-mode file, the global state is set to
OVERVIEW, i.e. only the top level headlines are visible. This can be
configured through the variable org-startup-folded, or on a
per-file basis by adding one of the following lines anywhere in the
buffer:
#+STARTUP: overview
#+STARTUP: content
#+STARTUP: showall
The following commands jump to other headlines in the buffer.
When there is an active region (transient-mark-mode), promotion and demotion work on all headlines in the region. To select a region of headlines, it is best to place both point and mark at the beginning of a line, mark at the beginning of the first headline, and point at the line just after the last headline to change. Note that when the cursor is inside a table (see Tables), the Meta-Cursor keys have different functionality.
When a project represented by a (sub)tree is finished, you may want to move the tree out of the way and to stop it from contributing to the agenda. Org-mode knows two ways of archiving. You can mark a tree with the ARCHIVE tag, or you can move an entire (sub)tree to a different location.
A headline that is marked with the ARCHIVE tag (see Tags) stays at its location in the outline tree, but behaves in the following way:
org-cycle-open-archived-trees. Also normal outline commands like
show-all will open archived subtrees.
org-sparse-tree-open-archived-trees.
org-agenda-skip-archived-trees.
org-export-with-archived-trees.
The following commands help managing the ARCHIVE tag:
Once an entire project is finished, you may want to move it to a different location, either in the current file, or even in a different file, the archive file.
org-archive-location.
The default archive location is a file in the same directory as the
current file, with the name derived by appending _archive to the
current file name. For information and examples on how to change this,
see the documentation string of the variable
org-archive-location. There is also an in-buffer option for
setting this variable, for example
#+ARCHIVE: %s_done::
You may have several such lines in the buffer, they will then be valid for the entries following the line (the first will also apply to any text before it).
An important feature of Org-mode is the ability to construct sparse trees for selected information in an outline tree. A sparse tree means that the entire document is folded as much as possible, but the selected information is made visible along with the headline structure above it4. Just try it out and you will see immediately how it works.
Org-mode contains several commands creating such trees. The most basic one is org-occur:
org-agenda-custom-commands to define fast
keyboard access to specific sparse trees. These commands will then be
accessible through the agenda dispatcher (see Agenda dispatcher).
For example:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("f" occur-tree "FIXME")))
will define the key C-c a f as a shortcut for creating a sparse tree matching the string `FIXME'.
Other commands use sparse trees as well. For example C-c C-v creates a sparse TODO tree (see TODO basics).
To print a sparse tree, you can use the Emacs command
ps-print-buffer-with-faces which does not print invisible parts
of the document 5.
Or you can use the command C-c C-e v to export only the visible
part of the document and print the resulting file.
Within an entry of the outline tree, hand-formatted lists can provide additional structure. They also provide a way to create lists of checkboxes (see Checkboxes). Org-mode supports editing such lists, and the HTML exporter (see Exporting) does parse and format them.
Org-mode knows ordered and unordered lists. Unordered list items start with `-', `+', or `*'6 as bullets. Ordered list items start with `1.' or `1)'. Items belonging to the same list must have the same indentation on the first line. In particular, if an ordered list reaches number `10.', then the 2–digit numbers must be written left-aligned with the other numbers in the list. Indentation also determines the end of a list item. It ends before the next line that is indented like the bullet/number, or less. For example:
** Lord of the Rings
My favorite scenes are (in this order)
1. The attack of the Rohirrim
2. Eowyns fight with the witch king
+ this was already my favorite scene in the book
+ I really like Miranda Otto.
3. Peter Jackson being shot by Legolas
- on DVD only
He makes a really funny face when it happens.
But in the end, not individual scenes matter but the film as a whole.
Org-mode supports these lists by tuning filling and wrapping commands to deal with them correctly7.
The following commands act on items when the cursor is in the first line of an item (the line with the bullet or number).
org-cycle-include-plain-lists. The level of an item is then
given by the indentation of the bullet/number. Items are always
subordinate to real headlines, however; the hierarchies remain
completely separated.
Org-mode has a very fast and intuitive table editor built-in. Spreadsheet-like calculations are supported in connection with the Emacs calc package.
Org-mode makes it easy to format tables in plain ASCII. Any line with `|' as the first non-white character is considered part of a table. `|' is also the column separator. A table might look like this:
| Name | Phone | Age |
|-------+-------+-----|
| Peter | 1234 | 17 |
| Anna | 4321 | 25 |
A table is re-aligned automatically each time you press <TAB> or <RET> or C-c C-c inside the table. <TAB> also moves to the next field (<RET> to the next row) and creates new table rows at the end of the table or before horizontal lines. The indentation of the table is set by the first line. Any line starting with `|-' is considered as a horizontal separator line and will be expanded on the next re-align to span the whole table width. So, to create the above table, you would only type
|Name|Phone|Age|
|-
and then press <TAB> to align the table and start filling in fields.
When typing text into a field, Org-mode treats <DEL>,
<Backspace>, and all character keys in a special way, so that
inserting and deleting avoids shifting other fields. Also, when
typing immediately after the cursor was moved into a new field
with <TAB>, S-<TAB> or <RET>, the
field is automatically made blank. If this behavior is too
unpredictable for you, configure the variables
org-enable-table-editor and org-table-auto-blank-field.
org-table-copy-increment, integer field values will be
incremented during copy. This key is also used by CUA-mode
(see Cooperation).
If you don't like the automatic table editor because it gets in your way on lines which you would like to start with `|', you can turn it off with
(setq org-enable-table-editor nil)
Then the only table command that still works is C-c C-c to do a manual re-align.
The width of columns is automatically determined by the table editor. Sometimes a single field or a few fields need to carry more text, leading to inconveniently wide columns. To limit8 the width of a column, one field anywhere in the column may contain just the string `<N>' where `N' is an integer specifying the width of the column in characters. The next re-align will then set the width of this column to no more than this value.
|---+------------------------------| |---+--------|
| | | | | <6> |
| 1 | one | | 1 | one |
| 2 | two | ----\ | 2 | two |
| 3 | This is a long chunk of text | ----/ | 3 | This=> |
| 4 | four | | 4 | four |
|---+------------------------------| |---+--------|
Fields that are wider become clipped and end in the string `=>'. Note that the full text is still in the buffer, it is only invisible. To see the full text, hold the mouse over the field - a tooltip window will show the full content. To edit such a field, use the command C-c ` (that is C-c followed by the backquote). This will open a new window with the full field. Edit it and finish with C-c C-c.
When visiting a file containing a table with narrowed columns, the
necessary character hiding has not yet happened, and the table needs to
be aligned before it looks nice. Setting the option
org-startup-align-all-tables will realign all tables in a file
upon visiting, but also slow down startup. You can also set this option
on a per-file basis with:
#+STARTUP: align
#+STARTUP: noalign
If you like the intuitive way the Org-mode table editor works, you might also want to use it in other modes like text-mode or mail-mode. The minor mode Orgtbl-mode makes this possible. You can always toggle the mode with M-x orgtbl-mode. To turn it on by default, for example in mail mode, use
(add-hook 'mail-mode-hook 'turn-on-orgtbl)
The table editor makes use of the Emacs calc package to implement spreadsheet-like capabilities. It can also evaluate Emacs Lisp forms to derive fields from other fields.
To compute fields in the table from other fields, formulas must reference other fields or ranges. In Org-mode, fields can be referenced by name, by absolute coordinates, and by relative coordinates. To find out what the coordinates of a field are, press C-c ? in that field.
Formulas can reference the value of another field with the operator
@row$column
Column references can be absolute like `1', `2',...`N', or relative to the current column like `+1' or `-2'.
The row specification only counts data lines and ignores horizontal separator lines (hlines). You can use absolute row numbers `1'...`N', and row numbers relative to the current row like `+3' or `-1'. Or specify the row relative to one of the hlines: `I' refers to the first hline, `II' to the second etc. `-I' refers to the first such line above the current line, `+I' to the first such line below the current line. You can also write `III+2' which is the second data line after the third hline in the table. Relative row numbers like `-3' will not cross hlines if the current line is too close to the hline. Instead, the value directly at the hline is used.
`0' refers to the current row and column. Also, if you omit either the column or the row part of the reference, the current row/column is implied. Here are a few examples:
@2$3 2nd row, 3rd column $5 column 5 in the current row @2 current column, row 2 @-1$-3 the field one row up, three columns to the left @-I$2 field just under hline above current row, column 2
You may reference a rectangular range of fields by specifying two field
references connected by two dots `..'. If both fields are in the
current row, you may simply use `$2..$7', but if at least one field
is in a different row, you need to use the general @row$column
format at least for the first field (i.e the reference must start with
`@' in order to be interpreted correctly). Examples:
$1..$3 First three fields in the current row. $P..$Q Range, using column names (see under Advanced) @2$1..@4$3 6 fields between these two fields. @-1$-2..@-1 3 numbers from the column to the left, 2 up to current row
Range references return a vector of values that can be fed into Calc vector functions. Empty fields in ranges are normally suppressed, so that the vector contains only the non-empty fields (but see the `E' mode switch below). If there are no non-empty fields, `[0]' is returned to avoid syntax errors in formulas.
`$name' is interpreted as the name of a column, parameter or
constant. Constants are defined globally through the variable
org-table-formula-constants. If you have the
constants.el package, it will also be used to resolve
constants, including natural constants like `$h' for Planck's
constant, and units like `$km' for kilometers. Column names and
parameters can be specified in special table lines. These are
described below, see Advanced features.
A formula can be any algebraic expression understood by the Emacs
Calc package. Note that calc has the slightly
non-standard convention that `/' has lower precedence than
`*', so that `a/b*c' is interpreted as `a/(b*c)'. Before
evaluation by calc-eval (see calc-eval),
variable substitution takes place according to the rules described above.
The range vectors can be directly fed into the calc vector functions
like `vmean' and `vsum'.
A formula can contain an optional mode string after a semicolon. This
string consists of flags to influence Calc and other modes during
execution. By default, Org-mode uses the standard calc modes (precision
12, angular units degrees, fraction and symbolic modes off. The display
format, however, has been changed to (float 5) to keep tables
compact. The default settings can be configured using the variable
org-calc-default-modes.
p20 switch the internal precision to 20 digits n3 s3 e2 f4 normal, scientific, engineering, or fixed display format D R angle modes: degrees, radians F S fraction and symbolic modes N interpret all fields as numbers, use 0 for non-numbers T force text interpretation E keep empty fields in ranges
In addition, you may provide a printf format specifier to
reformat the final result. A few examples:
$1+$2 Sum of first and second field $1+$2;%.2f Same, format result to two decimals exp($2)+exp($1) Math functions can be used $;%.1f Reformat current cell to 1 decimal ($3-32)*5/9 Degrees F -> C conversion $c/$1/$cm Hz -> cm conversion, using constants.el tan($1);Dp3s1 Compute in degrees, precision 3, display SCI 1 sin($1);Dp3%.1e Same, but use printf specifier for display vmean($2..$7) Compute column range mean, using vector function vmean($2..$7);EN Same, but treat empty fields as 0 taylor($3,x=7,2) taylor series of $3, at x=7, second degree
It is also possible to write a formula in Emacs Lisp; this can be useful for string manipulation and control structures. If a formula starts with a single quote followed by an opening parenthesis, then it is evaluated as a lisp form. The evaluation should return either a string or a number. Just as with calc formulas, you can specify modes and a printf format after a semicolon. A reference will be replaced with a string (in double quotes) containing the field. If you provide the `N' mode switch, all referenced elements will be numbers. Ranges are inserted as space-separated fields, so you can embed them in list or vector syntax. A few examples, note how the `N' mode is used when we do computations in lisp.
Swap the first two characters of the content of column 1 '(concat (substring $1 1 2) (substring $1 0 1) (substring $1 2)) Add columns 1 and 2, equivalent to the Calc's$1+$2'(+ $1 $2);N Compute the sum of columns 1-4, like Calc'svsum($1..$4)'(apply '+ '($1..$4));N
To assign a formula to a particular field, type it directly into the field, preceded by `:=', for example `:=$1+$2'. When you press <TAB> or <RET> or C-c C-c with the cursor still in the field, the formula will be stored as the formula for this field, evaluated, and the current field replaced with the result.
Formulas are stored in a special line starting with `#+TBLFM:' directly below the table. If you typed the equation in the 4th field of the 3rd data line in the table, the formula will look like `@3$2=$1+$2'. When inserting/deleting/swapping column and rows with the appropriate commands, absolute references (but not relative ones) in stored formulas are modified in order to still reference the same field. Of cause this is not true if you edit the table structure with normal editing commands - then you must go and fix equations yourself.
Instead of typing an equation into the field, you may also use the following command
Often in a table, the same formula should be used for all fields in a particular column. Instead of having to copy the formula to all fields in that column, org-mode allows to assign a single formula to an entire column.
To assign a formula to a column, type it directly into any field in the column, preceded by an equal sign, like `=$1+$2'. When you press <TAB> or <RET> or C-c C-c with the cursor still in the field, the formula will be stored as the formula for the current column, evaluated and the current field replaced with the result. If the field contains only `=', the previously stored formula for this column is used. For each column, Org-mode will only remember the most recently used formula. In the `TBLFM:' line, column formulas will look like `$4=$1+$2'.
Instead of typing an equation into the field, you may also use the following command:
You can edit individual formulas in the minibuffer or directly in the field. Org-mode can also prepare a special buffer with all active formulas of a table.
Making a table field blank does not remove the formula associated with the field, because that is stored in a different line (the `TBLFM' line) - during the next recalculation the field will be filled again. To remove a formula from a field, you have to give an empty reply when prompted for the formula, or to edit the `#+TBLFM' line.
You may edit the `#+TBLFM' directly and re-apply the changed equations with C-c C-c in that line, or with the normal recalculation commands in the table.
When the evaluation of a formula leads to an error, the field content
becomes the string `#ERROR'. If you would like see what is going
on during variable substitution and calculation in order to find a bug,
turn on formula debugging in the Tbl menu and repeat the
calculation, for example by pressing C-c = <RET> in a field.
Detailed information will be displayed.
Recalculation of a table is normally not automatic, but needs to be triggered by a command. See Advanced features for a way to make recalculation at least semi-automatically.
In order to recalculate a line of a table or the entire table, use the following commands:
If you want the recalculation of fields to happen automatically, or if you want to be able to assign names to fields and columns, you need to reserve the first column of the table for special marking characters.
Here is an example of a table that collects exam results of students and makes use of these features:
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------|
| | Student | Prob 1 | Prob 2 | Prob 3 | Total | Note |
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------|
| ! | | P1 | P2 | P3 | Tot | |
| # | Maximum | 10 | 15 | 25 | 50 | 10.0 |
| ^ | | m1 | m2 | m3 | mt | |
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------|
| # | Peter | 10 | 8 | 23 | 41 | 8.2 |
| # | Sara | 6 | 14 | 19 | 39 | 7.8 |
| # | Sam | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 1.8 |
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------|
| | Average | | | | 29.7 | |
| ^ | | | | | at | |
| $ | max=50 | | | | | |
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------|
#+TBLFM: $6=vsum($P1..$P3)::$7=10*$Tot/$max;%.1f::$at=vmean(@-II..@-I);%.1f
Important: Please note that for these special tables, recalculating the table with C-u C-c * will only affect rows that are marked `#' or `*', and fields that have a formula assigned to the field itself. The column formulas are not applied in rows with empty first field.
The marking characters have the following meaning:
Finally, just to whet your appetite on what can be done with the
fantastic calc package, here is a table that computes the Taylor
series of degree n at location x for a couple of functions
(homework: try that with Excel :-)
|---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------|
| | Func | n | x | Result |
|---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------|
| # | exp(x) | 1 | x | 1 + x |
| # | exp(x) | 2 | x | 1 + x + x^2 / 2 |
| # | exp(x) | 3 | x | 1 + x + x^2 / 2 + x^3 / 6 |
| # | x^2+sqrt(x) | 2 | x=0 | x*(0.5 / 0) + x^2 (2 - 0.25 / 0) / 2 |
| # | x^2+sqrt(x) | 2 | x=1 | 2 + 2.5 x - 2.5 + 0.875 (x - 1)^2 |
| * | tan(x) | 3 | x | 0.0175 x + 1.77e-6 x^3 |
|---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------|
#+TBLFM: $5=taylor($2,$4,$3);n3
Just like HTML, Org-mode provides links inside a file, and external links to other files, Usenet articles, emails, and much more.
Org-mode will recognize plain URL-like links and activate them as clickable links. The general link format, however, looks like this:
[[link][description]] or alternatively [[link]]
Once a link in the buffer is complete (all brackets present), Org-mode
will change the display so that `description' is displayed instead
of `[[link][description]]' and `link' is displayed instead of
`[[link]]'. Links will be highlighted in the face org-link,
which by default is an underlined face. You can directly edit the
visible part of a link. Note that this can be either the `link'
part (if there is no description) or the `description' part. To
edit also the invisible `link' part, use C-c C-l with the
cursor on the link.
If you place the cursor at the beginning or just behind the end of the
displayed text and press <BACKSPACE>, you will remove the
(invisible) bracket at that location. This makes the link incomplete
and the internals are again displayed as plain text. Inserting the
missing bracket hides the link internals again. To show the
internal structure of all links, use the menu entry
Org->Hyperlinks->Literal links.
If the link does not look like a URL, it is considered to be internal in the current file. Links such as `[[My Target]]' or `[[My Target][Find my target]]' lead to a text search in the current file. The link can be followed with C-c C-o when the cursor is on the link, or with a mouse click (see Handling links). The preferred match for such a link is a dedicated target: the same string in double angular brackets. Targets may be located anywhere; often it is convenient to put them into a comment line. For example
# <<My Target>>
In HTML export (see HTML export), such targets will become named anchors for direct access through `http' links9.
If no dedicated target exists, Org-mode will search for the words in the link. In the above example the search would be for `my target'. Links starting with a star like `*My Target' restrict the search to headlines. When searching, Org-mode will first try an exact match, but then move on to more and more lenient searches. For example, the link `[[*My Targets]]' will find any of the following:
** My targets
** TODO my targets are bright
** my 20 targets are
To insert a link targeting a headline, in-buffer completion can be used. Just type a star followed by a few optional letters into the buffer and press M-<TAB>. All headlines in the current buffer will be offered as completions. See Handling links, for more commands creating links.
Following a link pushes a mark onto Org-mode's own mark ring. You can return to the previous position with C-c &. Using this command several times in direct succession goes back to positions recorded earlier.
You can configure Org-mode to link any occurrences of certain target names in normal text. So without explicitly creating a link, the text connects to the target radioing its position. Radio targets are enclosed by triple angular brackets. For example, a target `<<<My Target>>>' causes each occurrence of `my target' in normal text to become activated as a link. The Org-mode file is scanned automatically for radio targets only when the file is first loaded into Emacs. To update the target list during editing, press C-c C-c with the cursor on or at a target.
Org-mode also supports CamelCase words as links. This feature is not
turned on by default because of the inconsistencies this system suffers
from. It is also possible that this feature will disappear entirely in
a future version of Org-mode. To activate CamelCase words as links, you
need to customize the option org-activate-links. A CamelCase
word then leads to a text search such that `CamelCaseLink' is
equivalent to `[[camel case link]]'.
Org-mode supports links to files, websites, Usenet and email messages, and BBDB database entries. External links are URL-like locators. They start with a short identifying string followed by a colon. There can be no space after the colon. The following list shows examples for each link type.
http://www.astro.uva.nl/~dominik on the web file:/home/dominik/images/jupiter.jpg file, absolute path file:papers/last.pdf file, relative path news:comp.emacs Usenet link mailto:adent@galaxy.net Mail link vm:folder VM folder link vm:folder#id VM message link vm://myself@some.where.org/folder#id VM on remote machine wl:folder WANDERLUST folder link wl:folder#id WANDERLUST message link mhe:folder MH-E folder link mhe:folder#id MH-E message link rmail:folder RMAIL folder link rmail:folder#id RMAIL message link gnus:group GNUS group link gnus:group#id GNUS article link bbdb:Richard Stallman BBDB link shell:ls *.org A shell command elisp:(find-file-other-frame "Elisp.org") An elisp form to evaluate
A link should be enclosed in double brackets and may contain a descriptive text to be displayed instead of the url (see Link format), for example:
[[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/][GNU Emacs]]
If the description is a file name or URL that points to an image, HTML export (see HTML export) will inline the image as a clickable button. If there is no description at all and the link points to an image, that image will be inlined into the exported HTML file.
Org-mode also finds external links in the normal text and activates them as links. If spaces must be part of the link (for example in `bbdb:Richard Stallman'), or if you need to remove ambiguities about the end of the link, enclose them in angular brackets.
Org-mode provides methods to create a link in the correct syntax, to insert it into an org-mode file, and to follow the link.
org-file-apps. If
you want to override the default application and visit the file with
Emacs, use a C-u prefix.
(add-hook 'org-load-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key 'org-mode-map "\C-n" 'org-next-link)
(define-key 'org-mode-map "\C-p" 'org-previous-link)))
Long URLs can be cumbersome to type, and often many similar links are needed in a document. For this you can use link abbreviations. An abbreviated link looks like this
[[linkword:tag][description]]
where the tag is optional. Such abbreviations are resolved according to
the information in the variable org-link-abbrev-alist that
relates the linkwords to replacement text. Here is an example:
(setq org-link-abbrev-alist
'(("bugzilla" . "http://10.1.2.9/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=")
("google" . "http://www.google.com/search?q=")
("ads" . "http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/
nph-abs_connect?author=%s&db_key=AST")))
If the replacement text contains the string `%s', it will be replaced with the tag. Otherwise the tag will be appended to the string in order to create the link. You may also specify a function that will be called with the tag as the only argument to create the link.
With the above setting, you could link to a specific bug with
[[bugzilla:129]], search the web for `OrgMode' with
[[google:OrgMode]] and find out what the Org-mode author is
doing besides Emacs hacking with [[ads:Dominik,C]].
If you need special abbreviations just for a single Org-mode buffer, you can define them in the file with
#+LINK: bugzilla http://10.1.2.9/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=
#+LINK: google http://www.google.com/search?q=%s
In-buffer completion see Completion can be used after `[' to complete link abbreviations.
File links can contain additional information to make Emacs jump to a particular location in the file when following a link. This can be a line number or a search option after a double12 colon. For example, when the command C-c l creates a link (see Handling links) to a file, it encodes the words in the current line as a search string that can be used to find this line back later when following the link with C-c C-o.
Here is the syntax of the different ways to attach a search to a file link, together with an explanation:
[[file:~/code/main.c::255]]
[[file:~/xx.org::My Target]]
[[file:~/xx.org::*My Target]]
[[file:~/xx.org::/regexp/]]
255My Target*My Target/regexp/regexp. This uses the Emacs
command occur to list all matches in a separate window. If the
target file is in Org-mode, org-occur is used to create a
sparse tree with the matches.
As a degenerate case, a file link with an empty file name can be used
to search the current file. For example, [[file:::find me]] does
a search for `find me' in the current file, just as
`[[find me]]' would.
The default mechanism for creating search strings and for doing the actual search related to a file link may not work correctly in all cases. For example, BibTeX database files have many entries like `year="1993"' which would not result in good search strings, because the only unique identification for a BibTeX entry is the citation key.
If you come across such a problem, you can write custom functions to set
the right search string for a particular file type, and to do the search
for the string in the file. Using add-hook, these functions need
to be added to the hook variables
org-create-file-search-functions and
org-execute-file-search-functions. See the docstring for these
variables for more information. Org-mode actually uses this mechanism
for BibTeX database files, and you can use the corresponding code as
an implementation example. Search for `BibTeX links' in the source
file.
Another way to create org entries with links to other files is through the remember package by John Wiegley. Remember lets you store quick notes with little interruption of your work flow. See http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/RememberMode for more information. The notes produced by Remember can be stored in different ways, and Org-mode files are a good target. Org-mode significantly expands the possibilities of remember: You may define templates for different note types, and to associate target files and headlines with specific templates. It also allows you to select the location where a note should be stored interactively, on the fly.
The following customization will tell remember to use org files as target, and to create annotations compatible with Org-mode links.
(setq org-directory "~/path/to/my/orgfiles/")
(setq org-default-notes-file "~/.notes")
(setq remember-annotation-functions '(org-remember-annotation))
(setq remember-handler-functions '(org-remember-handler))
(add-hook 'remember-mode-hook 'org-remember-apply-template)
In combination with Org-mode, you can use templates to generate different types of remember notes. For example, if you would like to use one template to create general TODO entries, another one for journal entries, and a third one for collecting random ideas, you could use:
(setq org-remember-templates
'((?t "* TODO %?\n %i\n %a" "~/org/TODO.org")
(?j "* %U %?\n\n %i\n %a" "~/org/JOURNAL.org")
(?i "* %^{Title}\n %i\n %a" "~/org/JOURNAL.org" "New Ideas")))
In these entries, the character specifies how to select the
template. The first string specifies the template. Two more (optional)
strings give the file in which, and the headline under which the new
note should be stored. The file defaults to
org-default-notes-file, the heading to
org-remember-default-headline. Both defaults help to get to the
storing location quickly, but you can change the location interactively
while storing the note.
When you call M-x remember (or M-x org-remember) to remember something, org will prompt for a key to select the template (if you have more than one template) and then prepare the buffer like
* TODO
[[file:link to where you called remember]]
or
* [2006-03-21 Tue 15:37]
[[file:link to where you called remember]]
During expansion of the template, special %-escapes allow dynamic insertion of content:
%^{prompt} prompt the user for a string and replace this sequence with it.
%t time stamp, date only
%T time stamp with date and time
%u, %U like the above, but inactive time stamps
%^t like %t, but prompt for date. Similarly %^T, %^u, %^U
You may define a prompt like %^{Birthday}t
%n user name (taken from user-full-name)
%a annotation, normally the link created with org-store-link
%i initial content, the region when remember is called with C-u.
The entire text will be indented like %i itself.
%:keyword specific information for certain link types, see below
For specific link types, the following keywords will be defined:
Link type | Available keywords
-------------------+----------------------------------------------
bbdb | %:name %:company
vm, wl, mh, rmail | %:type %:subject %:message-id
| %:from %:fromname %:fromaddress
| %:to %:toname %:toaddress
| %:fromto (either "to NAME" or "from NAME")13
gnus | %:group, for messages also all email fields
w3, w3m | %:url
info | %:file %:node
calendar | %:date"
If you would like to have the cursor in a specific position after the template has been expanded:
%? After completing the template, position cursor here.
If you change you mind about which template to use, call
org-remember in the remember buffer. You may then select a new
template that will be filled with the previoous context information.
When you are finished preparing a note with remember, you have to press C-c C-c to file the note away. The handler first prompts for a target file - if you press <RET>, the value specified for the template is used. Then the command offers the headings tree of the selected file, with the cursor position at the default headline (if you had specified one in the template). You can either immediately press <RET> to get the note placed there. Or you can use vertical cursor motion (<up> and <down>) and visibility cycling (<TAB>) to find a better place. Pressing <RET> or <left> or <right> then leads to the following result.
| Cursor position | Key | Note gets inserted
|
| buffer-start | <RET> | as level 2 heading at end of file
|
| on headline | <RET> | as sublevel of the heading at cursor
|
| <left> | as same level, before current heading
| |
| <right> | as same level, after current heading
| |
| not on headline | <RET> | at cursor position, level taken from context.
Or use prefix arg to specify level manually.
|
So a fast way to store the note to its default location is to press C-c C-c <RET> <RET>. Even shorter would be C-u C-c C-c, which does the same without even asking for a file or showing the tree.
Before inserting the text into a tree, the function ensures that the
text has a headline, i.e. a first line that starts with a `*'.
If not, a headline is constructed from the current date and some
additional data. If the variable org-adapt-indentation is
non-nil, the entire text is also indented so that it starts in the
same column as the headline (after the asterisks).
Org-mode does not maintain TODO lists as a separate document. TODO items are an integral part of the notes file, because TODO items usually come up while taking notes! With Org-mode, you simply mark any entry in a tree as being a TODO item. In this way, the information is not duplicated, and the entire context from which the item emerged is always present when you check.
Of course, this technique causes TODO items to be scattered throughout your file. Org-mode provides methods to give you an overview over all things you have to do.
Any headline can become a TODO item by starting it with the word TODO, for example:
*** TODO Write letter to Sam Fortune
The most important commands to work with TODO entries are:
,-> (unmarked) -> TODO -> DONE --.
'--------------------------------'
The same rotation can also be done “remotely” from the timeline and
agenda buffers with the t command key (see Agenda commands).
org-todo-keywords.
agenda-mode, so there are commands to examine and manipulate
the TODO entries directly from that buffer (see Agenda commands).
See Global TODO list, for more information.
The default implementation of TODO entries is just two states: TODO and
DONE. You can, however, use the TODO feature for more complicated
things by configuring the variables org-todo-keywords and
org-todo-interpretation. Using special setup, you can even use
TODO keywords in different ways in different org files.
Note that tags are another way to classify headlines in general and TODO items in particular (see Tags).
You can use TODO keywords to indicate different states in the process of working on an item, for example:
(setq org-todo-keywords '("TODO" "FEEDBACK" "VERIFY" "DONE")
org-todo-interpretation 'sequence)
Changing these variables only becomes effective in a new Emacs session. With this setup, the command C-c C-t will cycle an entry from TODO to FEEDBACK, then to VERIFY, and finally to DONE. You may also use a prefix argument to quickly select a specific state. For example C-3 C-c C-t will change the state immediately to VERIFY. If you define many keywords, you can use in-buffer completion (see Completion) to insert these words into the buffer. Changing a todo state can be logged with a timestamp, see Tracking TODO state changes for more information.
The second possibility is to use TODO keywords to indicate different types of action items. For example, you might want to indicate that items are for “work” or “home”. If you are into David Allen's Getting Things DONE, you might want to use todo types `NEXTACTION', `WAITING', `MAYBE'. Or, when you work with several people on a single project, you might want to assign action items directly to persons, by using their names as TODO keywords. This would be set up like this:
(setq org-todo-keywords '("Fred" "Sara" "Lucy" "Mike" "DONE")
org-todo-interpretation 'type)
In this case, different keywords do not indicate a sequence, but rather different types. So it is normally not useful to change from one type to another. Therefore, in this case the behavior of the command C-c C-t is changed slightly14. When used several times in succession, it will still cycle through all names. But when you return to the item after some time and execute C-c C-t again, it will switch from each name directly to DONE. Use prefix arguments or completion to quickly select a specific name. You can also review the items of a specific TODO type in a sparse tree by using a numeric prefix to C-c C-v. For example, to see all things Lucy has to do, you would use C-3 C-c C-v. To collect Lucy's items from all agenda files into a single buffer, you would use the prefix arg as well when creating the global todo list: C-3 C-c t.
It can be very useful to use different aspects of the TODO mechanism in different files, which is not possible with the global settings described above. For file-local settings, you need to add special lines to the file which set the keywords and interpretation for that file only. For example, to set one of the two examples discussed above, you need one of the following lines, starting in column zero anywhere in the file:
#+SEQ_TODO: TODO FEEDBACK VERIFY DONE
#+TYP_TODO: Fred Sara Lucy Mike DONE
To make sure you are using the correct keyword, type `#+' into the buffer and then use M-<TAB> completion.
Remember that the last keyword must always mean that the item is DONE (although you may use a different word). Also note that in each file, only one of the two aspects of TODO keywords can be used. After changing one of these lines, use C-c C-c with the cursor still in the line to make the changes known to Org-mode15.
If you want to use very many keywords, for example when working with a large group of people, you may split the names over several lines:
#+TYP_TODO: Fred Sara Lucy Mike
#+TYP_TODO: Luis George Jules Jessica
#+TYP_TODO: Kim Arnold Peter
#+TYP_TODO: DONE
If you use Org-mode extensively to organize your work, you may end up with a number of TODO entries so large that you'd like to prioritize them. This can be done by placing a priority cookie into the headline, like this
*** TODO [#A] Write letter to Sam Fortune
With its standard setup, Org-mode supports priorities `A', `B', and `C'. `A' is the highest priority. An entry without a cookie is treated as priority `B'. Priorities make a difference only in the agenda (see Weekly/Daily agenda).
It is often advisable to break down large tasks into smaller, managable subtasks. You can do this by creating an outline tree below a TODO item, with detailed subtasks on the tree16. Another possibility is the use of checkboxes to identify (a hierarchy of) a large number of subtasks (see Checkboxes).
Every item in a plain list (see Plain lists) can be made a checkbox by starting it with the string `[ ]'. This feature is similar to TODO items (see TODO items), but more lightweight. Checkboxes are not included into the global TODO list, so they are often great to split a task into a number of simple steps. Or you can use them in a shopping list. To toggle a checkbox, use C-c C-c, or try Piotr Zielinski's org-mouse.el. Here is an example of a checkbox list.
* TODO Organize party [3/6]
- call people [1/3]
- [ ] Peter
- [X] Sarah
- [ ] Sam
- [X] order food
- [ ] think about what music to play
- [X] talk to the neighbors
The `[3/6]' and `[1/3]' in the first and second line are cookies indicating how many checkboxes are present in this entry, and how many of them have been checked off. This can give you an idea on how many checkboxes remain, even without opening a folded entry. The cookies can be placed into a headline or into (the first line of) a plain list item. Each cookie covers all checkboxes structurally below that headline/item. You have to insert the cookie yourself by typing either `[/]' or `[%]'. In the first case you get an `n out of m' result, in the second case you get information about the percentage of checkboxes checked (in the above example, this would be `[50%]' and `[33%], respectively').
The following commands work with checkboxes:
Items can be labeled with timestamps to make them useful for project planning.
A time stamp is a specification of a date (possibly with time) in a special format, either `<2003-09-16 Tue>' or `<2003-09-16 Tue 09:39>'17. A time stamp can appear anywhere in the headline or body of an org-tree entry. Its presence allows entries to be shown on specific dates in the agenda (see Weekly/Daily agenda). We distinguish:
* Meet Peter at the movies <2006-11-01 Wed 19:15>
* Gillian comes late for the fifth time [2006-11-01 Wed]
** Meeting in Amsterdam
<2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu>
*** TODO Call Trillian for a date on New Years Eve.
SCHEDULED: <2004-12-25 Sat>
org-deadline-warning-days before the due date, and
continuing until the entry is marked DONE. An example:
*** TODO write article about the Earth for the Guide
The editor in charge is [[bbdb:Ford Prefect]]
DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun>
org-log-done is non-nil, Org-mode will automatically insert
a special time stamp each time a TODO entry is marked done
(see Progress logging). This time stamp is enclosed in square
brackets instead of angular brackets.
For Org-mode to recognize time stamps, they need to be in the specific format. All commands listed below produce time stamps in the correct format.
org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes.
org-deadline-warning-days.
With C-u prefix, show all deadlines in the file. With a numeric
prefix, check that many days. For example, C-1 C-c C-w shows
all deadlines due tomorrow.
When Org-mode prompts for a date/time, the prompt suggests to enter an ISO date. But it will in fact accept any string containing some date and/or time information. You can, for example, use C-y to paste a (possibly multi-line) string copied from an email message. Org-mode will find whatever information is in there and will replace anything not specified with the current date and time. For example:
3-2-5 --> 2003-02-05
feb 15 --> currentyear-02-15
sep 12 9 --> 2009-09-12
12:45 --> today 12:45
22 sept 0:34 --> currentyear-09-22 0:34
12 --> currentyear-currentmonth-12
Fri --> nearest Friday (today or later)
+4 --> 4 days from now (if +N is the only thing given)
The function understands English month and weekday abbreviations. If
you want to use unabbreviated names and/or other languages, configure
the variables parse-time-months and parse-time-weekdays.
Parallel to the minibuffer prompt, a calendar is popped up19. You can control the calendar fully from the minibuffer:
Org-mode uses the standard ISO notation for dates and times as it is
defined in ISO 8601. If you cannot get used to this and require another
representation of date and time to keep you happy, you can get it by
customizing the variables org-display-custom-times and
org-time-stamp-custom-formats.
Org-mode needs the default format for scanning, so the custom date/time format does not replace the default format - instead it is put over the default format using text properties. This has the following consequences:
Org-mode integrates with the Emacs calendar and diary to display cyclic appointments, anniversaries and other special entries in the agenda (see Weekly/Daily agenda). However, it can be useful to have certain deadlines and scheduling items to auto-repeat. The advantage of a deadline or scheduled item is that the they produce warnings ahead of time and automatically forward themselves in the agenda until they are done. The abstract difference is therefore between cyclic appointments and cyclic action items. For appointments you should use the diary, for actions you can uses an org-mode deadline or scheduling time stamp together with a REPEAT cookie. For example:
* TODO Replace batteries in smoke detector REPEAT(+18m)
SCHEDULED: <2007-01-01 Mon>
* TODO Get dentist appointment REPEAT(+6m)
SCHEDULED: <2006-12-19 Tue>
* TODO Tax report to IRS REPEAT(+1y)
DEADLINE: <2007-04-01 Sun>
Each time you try to mark one of these entries DONE using C-c C-t, they will automatically switch back to the state TODO, and the deadline/scheduling will be shifted accordingly. The time units recognized by org-mode are year (y), month (m), week (w), and day (d). Org-mode will also prompt you for a note and record the fact that you have closed this item in a note under the headline.
One unusual property of these repeating items is that only one instance of each exist at any given time. So if you look back or ahead in the agenda, you will not find past and future instances, only the current one will show up. Use a cyclic diary entry if you need all past and future instances to be visible in the agenda.
Org-mode can automatically record a time stamp when you mark a TODO item as DONE, or even each time when you change the state of a TODO item. You can also measure precisely the time you spent on specific items in a project by starting and stopping a clock when you start and stop working on an aspect of a project.
If you want to keep track of when a certain TODO item was finished, turn on logging with20
(setq org-log-done t)
Then each time you turn a TODO entry into DONE using either C-c C-t in the Org-mode buffer or t in the agenda buffer, a line `CLOSED: [timestamp]' will be inserted just after the headline. If you turn the entry back into a TODO item through further state cycling, that line will be removed again. In the timeline (see Timeline) and in the agenda (see Weekly/Daily agenda), you can then use the l key to display the TODO items closed on each day, giving you an overview of what has been done on a day. If you want to record a note along with the timestamp, use21
(setq org-log-done '(done))
When TODO keywords are used as workflow states (see Workflow states), you might want to keep track of when a state change occurred, and you may even want to attach notes to that state change. With the setting
(setq org-log-done '(state))
each state change will prompt you for a note that will be attached to the current headline. Very likely you do not want this verbose tracking all the time, so it is probably better to configure this behavior with in-buffer options. For example, if you are tracking purchases, put these into a separate file that starts with:
#+SEQ_TODO: TODO ORDERED INVOICE PAYED RECEIVED SENT
#+STARTUP: lognotestate
Org-mode allows you to clock the time you spent on specific tasks in a project. When you start working on an item, you can start the clock. When you stop working on that task, or when you mark the task done, the clock is stopped and the corresponding time interval is recorded. It also computes the total time spent on each subtree of a project.
org-log-done for the possibility to
record an additional note together with the clock-out time
stamp22.
org-remove-highlights-with-change) or press C-c C-c.
#+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :emphasize nil
#+END: clocktable
If such a block already exists, its content is replaced by the new table. The `BEGIN' line can specify options:
:maxlevels Maximum level depth to which times are listed in the table. :emphasize Whent, emphasize level one and level two items :block The time block to consider. This block is specified relative to the current time and may be any of these keywords:today,yesterday,thisweek,lastweek,thismonth,lastmonth,thisyear, orlastyear. :tstart A time string specifying when to start considering times :tend A time string specifying when to stop considering times
So to get a clock summary for the current day, you could write
#+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :block today
#+END: clocktable
and to use a specific time range you could write23
#+BEGIN: clocktable :tstart "<2006-08-10 Thu 10:00>"
:tend "<2006-08-10 Thu 12:00>"
#+END: clocktable
The l key may be used in the timeline (see Timeline) and in the agenda (see Weekly/Daily agenda) to show which tasks have been worked on or closed during a day.
If you wish to implement a system of labels and contexts for cross-correlating information, an excellent way is to assign tags to headlines. Org-mode has extensive support for using tags.
Every headline can contain a list of tags, at the end of the headline. Tags are normal words containing letters, numbers, `_', and `@'. Tags must be preceded and followed by a single colon; like `:WORK:'. Several tags can be specified like `:WORK:URGENT:'.
Tags make use of the hierarchical structure of outline trees. If a heading has a certain tag, all subheadings will inherit the tag as well. For example, in the list
* Meeting with the French group :WORK:
** Summary by Frank :BOSS:NOTES:
*** TODO Prepare slides for him :ACTION:
the final heading will have the tags `:WORK:', `:BOSS:',
`:NOTES:', and `:ACTION:'. When executing tag searches and
Org-mode finds that a certain headline matches the search criterion, it
will not check any sublevel headline, assuming that these likely also
match, and that the list of matches can become very long. This may
not be what you want, however, and you can influence inheritance and
searching using the variables org-use-tag-inheritance and
org-tags-match-list-sublevels.
Tags can simply be typed into the buffer at the end of a headline. After a colon, M-<TAB> offers completion on tags. There is also a special command for inserting tags:
org-tags-column. When called with a C-u prefix, all
tags in the current buffer will be aligned to that column, just to make
things look nice. TAGS are automatically realigned after promotion,
demotion, and TODO state changes (see TODO basics).
Org will support tag insertion based on a list of tags. By
default this list is constructed dynamically, containing all tags
currently used in the buffer. You may also globally specify a hard list
of tags with the variable org-tag-alist. Finally you can set
the default tags for a given file with lines like
#+TAGS: @WORK @HOME @TENNISCLUB
#+TAGS: Laptop Car PC Sailboat
If you have globally defined your preferred set of tags using the
variable org-tag-alist, but would like to use a dynamic tag list
in a specific file: Just add an empty TAGS option line to that file:
#+TAGS:
The default support method for entering tags is minibuffer completion. However, Org-mode also implements a much better method: fast tag selection. This method allows to select and deselect tags with a single key per tag. To function efficiently, you should assign unique keys to most tags. This can be done globally with
(setq org-tag-alist '(("@WORK" . ?w) ("@HOME" . ?h) ("Laptop" . ?l)))
or on a per-file basis with
#+TAGS: @WORK(w) @HOME(h) @TENNISCLUB(t) Laptop(l) PC(p)
You can also group together tags that are mutually exclusive. With curly braces24
#+TAGS: { @WORK(w) @HOME(h) @TENNISCLUB(t) } Laptop(l) PC(p)
you indicate that at most one of `@WORK', `@HOME', and `@TENNISCLUB' should be selected.
Don't forget to press C-c C-c with the cursor in one of these lines to activate any changes.
If at least one tag has a selection key, pressing C-c C-c will automatically present you with a special interface, listing inherited tags, the tags of the current headline, and a list of all legal tags with corresponding keys25. In this interface, you can use the following keys:
This method lets you assign tags to a headline with very few keys. With the above setup, you could clear the current tags and set `@HOME', `Laptop' and `PC' tags with just the following keys: C-c C-c <SPC> h l p <RET>. Switching from `@HOME' to `@WORK' would be done with C-c C-c w <RET> or alternatively with C-c C-c C-c w. Adding the non-predefined tag `Sarah' could be done with C-c C-c <TAB> S a r a h <RET> <RET>.
If you find that most of the time, you need only a single keypress to
modify your list of tags, set the variable
org-fast-tag-selection-single-key. Then you no longer have to
press <RET> to exit fast tag selection - it will immediately exit
after the first change. If you then occasionally need more keys, press
C-c to turn off auto-exit for the current tag selection process.
Once a tags system has been set up, it can be used to collect related information into special lists.
org-tags-match-list-sublevels).
A tags search string can use Boolean operators `&' for AND and `|' for OR. `&' binds more strongly than `|'. Parenthesis are currently not implemented. A tag may also be preceded by `-', to select against it, and `+' is syntactic sugar for positive selection. The AND operator `&' is optional when `+' or `-' is present. Examples:
If you are using multi-state TODO keywords (see TODO extensions), it can be useful to also match on the TODO keyword. This can be done by adding a condition after a slash to a tags match. The syntax is similar to the tag matches, but should be applied with consideration: For example, a positive selection on several TODO keywords can not meaningfully be combined with boolean AND. However, negative selection combined with AND can be meaningful. To make sure that only lines are checked that actually have any TODO keyword, use C-c a M, or equivalently start the todo part after the slash with `!'. Examples:
Any element of the tag/todo match can be a regular expression - in this case it must be enclosed in curly braces. For example, `WORK+{^BOSS.*}' matches headlines that contain the tag `WORK' and any tag starting with `BOSS'.
You can also require a headline to be of a certain level, by writing instead of any TAG an expression like `LEVEL=3'. For example, a search `+LEVEL=3+BOSS/-DONE' lists all level three headlines that have the tag BOSS and are not marked with the todo keyword DONE.
Due to the way Org-mode works, TODO items, time-stamped items, and tagged headlines can be scattered throughout a file or even a number of files. To get an overview over open action items, or over events that are important for a particular date, this information must be collected, sorted and displayed in an organized way.
Org-mode can select items based on various criteria, and display them in a separate buffer. Six different view types are provided:
The extracted information is displayed in a special agenda buffer. This buffer is read-only, but provides commands to visit the corresponding locations in the original Org-mode files, and even to edit these files remotely.
Two variables control how the agenda buffer is displayed and whether the
window configuration is restored when the agenda exits:
org-agenda-window-setup and
org-agenda-restore-windows-after-quit.
The information to be shown is collected from all agenda files,
the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files26. Thus even
if you only work with a single Org-mode file, this file should be put
into that list27. You can customize org-agenda-files, but
the easiest way to maintain it is through the following commands
The Org menu contains the current list of files and can be used to visit any of them.
The views are created through a dispatcher that should be bound to a global key, for example C-c a (see Installation). In the following we will assume that C-c a is indeed how the dispatcher is accessed and list keyboard access to commands accordingly. After pressing C-c a, an additional letter is required to execute a command. The dispatcher offers the following default commands:
You can also define custom commands that will be accessible through the dispatcher, just like the default commands. This includes the possibility to create extended agenda buffers that contain several blocks together, for example the weekly agenda, the global TODO list and a number of special tags matches. See Custom agenda views.
In this section we describe the built-in views.
The purpose of the weekly/daily agenda is to act like a page of a paper agenda, showing all the tasks for the current week or day.
org-agenda-include-all-todo is t), all
unfinished TODO items (including those without a date) are also listed at
the beginning of the buffer, before the first date.Remote editing from the agenda buffer means, for example, that you can change the dates of deadlines and appointments from the agenda buffer. The commands available in the Agenda buffer are listed in Agenda commands.
Emacs contains the calendar and diary by Edward M. Reingold. The calendar displays a three-month calendar with holidays from different countries and cultures. The diary allows you to keep track of anniversaries, lunar phases, sunrise/set, recurrent appointments (weekly, monthly) and more. In this way, it is quite complementary to Org-mode. It can be very useful to combine output from Org-mode with the diary.
In order to include entries from the Emacs diary into Org-mode's agenda, you only need to customize the variable
(setq org-agenda-include-diary t)
After that, everything will happen automatically. All diary entries including holidays, anniversaries etc will be included in the agenda buffer created by Org-mode. <SPC>, <TAB>, and <RET> can be used from the agenda buffer to jump to the diary file in order to edit existing diary entries. The i command to insert new entries for the current date works in the agenda buffer, as well as the commands S, M, and C to display Sunrise/Sunset times, show lunar phases and to convert to other calendars, respectively. c can be used to switch back and forth between calendar and agenda.
The global TODO list contains all unfinished TODO items, formatted and collected into a single place.
agenda-mode, so there are commands to examine and manipulate
the TODO entries directly from that buffer (see Agenda commands).
org-todo-keywords is selected.
The r key in the agenda buffer regenerates it, and you can give
a prefix argument to this command to change the selected TODO keyword,
for example 3 r. If you often need a search for a specific
keyword, define a custom command for it (see Agenda dispatcher).Remote editing of TODO items means that you can change the state of a TODO entry with a single key press. The commands available in the TODO list are described in Agenda commands.
Normally the global todo list simply shows all headlines with TODO keywords. This list can become very long. There are two ways to keep it more compact:
org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled to exclude scheduled
items from the global TODO list.
org-agenda-todo-list-sublevels to get this behavior.
If headlines in the agenda files are marked with tags (see Tags), you can select headlines based on the tags that apply to them and collect them into an agenda buffer.
org-tags-match-list-sublevels). Matching specific todo keywords
together with a tags match is also possible, see Tag searches.
The commands available in the tags list are described in Agenda commands.
The timeline summarizes all time-stamped items from a single Org-mode file in a time-sorted view. The main purpose of this command is to give an overview over events in a project.
The commands available in the timeline buffer are listed in Agenda commands.
If you are following a system like David Allen's GTD to organize your work, one of the “duties” you have is a regular review to make sure that all projects move along. A stuck project is a project that has no defined next actions, so it will never show up in the TODO lists Org-mode produces. During the review, you need to identify such projects and define next actions for them.
org-stuck-projects to define what a stuck
project is and how to find it.
You almost certainly will have to configure this view before it will work for you. The built-in default assumes that all your projects are level-2 headlines, and that a project is not stuck if it has at least one entry marked with a todo keyword TODO or NEXT or NEXTACTION.
Lets assume that you, in your own way of using Org-mode, identify projects with a tag PROJECT, and that you use a todo keyword MAYBE to indicate a project that should not be considered yet. Lets further assume that the todo keyword DONE marks finished projects, and that NEXT and TODO indicate next actions. Finally, the tag @SHOP indicates shopping and is a next action even without the NEXT tag. In this case you would start by identifying eligible projects with a tags/todo match `+PROJECT/-MAYBE-DONE', and then check for TODO, NEXT and @SHOP in the subtree to identify projects that are not stuck. The correct customization for this is
(setq org-stuck-projects
("+PROJECT/-MAYBE-DONE" ("NEXT" "TODO") ("@SHOP")))
Before displaying items in an agenda view, Org-mode visually prepares
the items and sorts them. Each item occupies a single line. The line
starts with a prefix that contains the category
(see Categories) of the item and other important information. You can
customize the prefix using the option org-agenda-prefix-format.
The prefix is followed by a cleaned-up version of the outline headline
associated with the item.
The category is a broad label assigned to each agenda item. By default, the category is simply derived from the file name, but you can also specify it with a special line in the buffer, like this:
#+CATEGORY: Thesis
If there are several such lines in a file, each specifies the category for the text below it (but the first category also applies to any text before the first CATEGORY line). The display in the agenda buffer looks best if the category is not longer than 10 characters.
Org-mode checks each agenda item for a time-of-day specification. The time can be part of the time stamp that triggered inclusion into the agenda, for example as in `<2005-05-10 Tue 19:00>'. Time ranges can be specified with two time stamps, like `<2005-05-10 Tue 20:30>--<2005-05-10 Tue 22:15>'.
In the headline of the entry itself, a time(range) may also appear as plain text (like `12:45' or a `8:30-1pm'. If the agenda integrates the Emacs diary (see Weekly/Daily agenda), time specifications in diary entries are recognized as well.
For agenda display, Org-mode extracts the time and displays it in a standard 24 hour format as part of the prefix. The example times in the previous paragraphs would end up in the agenda like this:
8:30-13:00 Arthur Dent lies in front of the bulldozer
12:45...... Ford Prefect arrives and takes Arthur to the pub
19:00...... The Vogon reads his poem
20:30-22:15 Marwin escorts the Hitchhikers to the bridge
If the agenda is in single-day mode, or for the display of today, the timed entries are embedded in a time grid, like
8:00...... ------------------
8:30-13:00 Arthur Dent lies in front of the bulldozer
10:00...... ------------------
12:00...... ------------------
12:45...... Ford Prefect arrives and takes Arthur to the pub
14:00...... ------------------
16:00...... ------------------
18:00...... ------------------
19:00...... The Vogon reads his poem
20:00...... ------------------
20:30-22:15 Marwin escorts the Hitchhikers to the bridge
The time grid can be turned on and off with the variable
org-agenda-use-time-grid, and can be configured with
org-agenda-time-grid.
Before being inserted into a view, the items are sorted. How this is done depends on the type of view.
org-agenda-files.
Within each category, items are sorted by priority (see Priorities),
which is composed of the base priority (2000 for priority `A', 1000
for `B', and 0 for `C'), plus additional increments for
overdue scheduled or deadline items.
Sorting can be customized using the variable
org-agenda-sorting-strategy.
Entries in the agenda buffer are linked back to the org file or diary file where they originate. You are not allowed to edit the agenda buffer itself, but commands are provided to show and jump to the original entry location, and to edit the org-files “remotely” from the agenda buffer. In this way, all information is stored only once, removing the risk that your agenda and note files may diverge.
Some commands can be executed with mouse clicks on agenda lines. For the other commands, the cursor needs to be in the desired line.
org-agenda-start-with-follow-mode.
org-log-done) are shown in the agenda,
as are entries that have been clocked on that day.
org-agenda-use-time-grid and org-agenda-time-grid.
org-agenda-ndays days. For example, if
the display covers a week, switch to the following week. With prefix
arg, go forward that many times org-agenda-ndays days.
org-agenda-confirm-kill.
Custom agenda commands serve two purposes: to store and quickly access frequently used TODO and tags searches, and to create special composite agenda buffers. Custom agenda commands will be accessible through the dispatcher (see Agenda dispatcher), just like the default commands.
The first application of custom searches is the definition of keyboard
shortcuts for frequently used searches, either creating an agenda
buffer, or a sparse tree (the latter covering of course only the current
buffer).
Custom commands are configured in the variable
org-agenda-custom-commands. You can customize this variable, for
example by pressing C-c a C. You can also directly set it with
Emacs Lisp in .emacs. The following example contains all valid
search types:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("w" todo "WAITING")
("W" todo-tree "WAITING")
("u" tags "+BOSS-URGENT")
("v" tags-todo "+BOSS-URGENT")
("U" tags-tree "+BOSS-URGENT")
("f" occur-tree "\\<FIXME\\>")))
The initial single-character string in each entry defines the character you have to press after the dispatcher command C-c a in order to access the command. The second parameter is the search type, followed by the string or regular expression to be used for the matching. The example above will therefore define:
Another possibility is the construction of agenda views that comprise
the results of several commands, each of which creates a block in
the agenda buffer. The available commands include agenda for the
daily or weekly agenda (as created with C-c a a), alltodo
for the global todo list (as constructed with C-c a t), and the
matching commands discussed above: todo, tags, and
tags-todo. Here are two examples:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("h" "Agenda and Home-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "HOME")
(tags "GARDEN")))
("o" "Agenda and Office-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "WORK")
(tags "OFFICE")))))
This will define C-c a h to create a multi-block view for stuff you need to attend to at home. The resulting agenda buffer will contain your agenda for the current week, all TODO items that carry the tag `HOME', and also all lines tagged with `GARDEN'. Finally the command C-c a o provides a similar view for office tasks.
Org-mode contains a number of variables regulating agenda construction
and display. The global variables define the behavior for all agenda
commands, including the custom commands. However, if you want to change
some settings just for a single custom view, you can do so. Setting
options requires inserting a list of variable names and values at the
right spot in org-agenda-custom-commands. For example:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("w" todo "WAITING"
((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down))
(org-agenda-prefix-format " Mixed: ")))
("U" tags-tree "+BOSS-URGENT"
((org-show-following-heading nil)
(org-show-hierarchy-above nil)))))
Now the C-c a w command will sort the collected entries only by priority, and the prefix format is modified to just say ` Mixed:' instead of giving the category of the entry. The sparse tags tree of C-c a U will now turn out ultra-compact, because neither the headline hierarchy above the match, nor the headline following the match will be shown.
For command sets creating a block agenda,
org-agenda-custom-commands has two separate spots for setting
options. You can add options that should be valid for just a single
command in the set, and options that should be valid for all commands in
the set. The former are just added to the command entry, the latter
must come after the list of command entries. Going back to the block
agenda example (see Block agenda), let's change the sorting strategy
for the C-c a h commands to priority-down, but let's sort
the results for GARDEN tags query in the opposite order,
priority-up. This would look like this:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("h" "Agenda and Home-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "HOME")
(tags "GARDEN" ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-up)))))
((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down))))
("o" "Agenda and Office-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "WORK")
(tags "OFFICE")))))
As you see, the values and parenthesis setting is a little complex. When in doubt, use the customize interface to set this variable - it fully supports its structure. Just one caveat: When setting options in this interface, the values are just lisp expressions. So if the value is a string, you need to add the double quotes around the value yourself.
If you want to print or otherwise reprocess agenda views, it can be
useful to create an agenda from the command line. This is the purpose
of the function org-batch-agenda. It takes as a parameter one of
the strings that are the keys in org-agenda-custom-commands. For
example, to directly print the current TODO list, you could use
emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -eval '(org-batch-agenda "t")' | lpr
You may also modify parameters on the fly like this:
emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs \
-eval '(org-batch-agenda "a" \
org-agenda-ndays 300 \
org-agenda-include-diary nil \
org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/project.org")))' \
| lpr
which will produce a 300 day agenda, fully restricted to the Org file ~/org/projects.org, not even including the diary.
Plain ASCII is normally sufficient for almost all note taking. One exception, however, are scientific notes which need to be able to contain mathematical symbols and the occasional formula. LaTeX28 is widely used to typeset scientific documents. Org-mode supports embedding LaTeX code into its files, because many academics are used to read LaTeX source code, and because it can be readily processed into images for HTML production.
It is not necessary to mark LaTeX macros and code in any special way. If you observe a few conventions, Org-mode knows how to find it and what to do with it.
You can use LaTeX macros to insert special symbols like `\alpha' to indicate the Greek letter, or `\to' to indicate an arrow. Completion for these macros is available, just type `\' and maybe a few letters, and press M-<TAB> to see possible completions. Unlike LaTeX code, Org-mode allows these macros to be present without surrounding math delimiters, for example:
Angles are written as Greek letters \alpha, \beta and \gamma.
During HTML export (see HTML export), these symbols are translated into the proper syntax for HTML, for the above examples this is `α' and `→', respectively.
Just like in LaTeX, `^' and `_' are used to indicate super- and subscripts. Again, these can be used without embedding them in math-mode delimiters. To increase the readability of ASCII text, it is not necessary (but OK) to surround multi-character sub- and superscripts with curly braces. For example
The mass if the sun is M_sun = 1.989 x 10^30 kg. The radius of
the sun is R_{sun} = 6.96 x 10^8 m.
To avoid interpretation as raised or lowered text, you can quote `^' and `_' with a backslash: `\_' and `\^'.
During HTML export (see HTML export), subscript and superscripts
are surrounded with <sub> and <sup> tags, respectively.
With symbols, sub- and superscripts, HTML is pretty much at its end when it comes to representing mathematical formulas29. More complex expressions need a dedicated formula processor. To this end, Org-mode can contain arbitrary LaTeX fragments. It provides commands to preview the typeset result of these fragments, and upon export to HTML, all fragments will be converted to images and inlined into the HTML document. For this to work you need to be on a system with a working LaTeX installation. You also need the dvipng program, available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvipng/.
LaTeX fragments don't need any special marking at all. The following snippets will be identified as LaTeX source code:
\begin statement appears on a new line, preceded by only
whitespace.
For example:
\begin{equation} % arbitrary environments,
x=\sqrt{b} % even tables, figures
\end{equation} % etc
If $a^2=b$ and \( b=2 \), then the solution must be
either $$ a=+\sqrt{2} $$ or \[ a=-\sqrt{2} \].
If you need any of the delimiter ASCII sequences for other purposes, you
can configure the option org-format-latex-options to deselect the
ones you do not wish to have interpreted by the LaTeX converter.
LaTeX fragments can be processed to produce a preview images of the typeset expressions:
During HTML export (see HTML export), all LaTeX fragments are converted into images and inlined into the document if the following setting is active:
(setq org-export-with-LaTeX-fragments t)
CDLaTeX-mode is a minor mode that is normally used in combination with a
major LaTeX mode like AUCTeX in order to speed-up insertion of
environments and math templates. Inside Org-mode, you can make use of
some of the features of cdlatex-mode. You need to install
cdlatex.el and texmathp.el (the latter comes also with
AUCTeX) from http://www.astro.uva.nl/~dominik/Tools/cdlatex.
Don't turn cdlatex-mode itself under Org-mode, but use the light
version org-cdlatex-mode that comes as part of Org-mode. Turn it
on for the current buffer with M-x org-cdlatex-mode, or for all
Org-mode files with
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'turn-on-org-cdlatex)
When this mode is enabled, the following features are present (for more details see the documentation of cdlatex-mode):
fr to \frac{}{} and position the cursor
correctly inside the first brace. Another <TAB> will get you into
the second brace. Even outside fragments, <TAB> will expand
environment abbreviations at the beginning of a line. For example, if
you write `equ' at the beginning of a line and press <TAB>,
this abbreviation will be expanded to an equation environment.
To get a list of all abbreviations, type M-x cdlatex-command-help.
cdlatex-simplify-sub-super-scripts).
Org-mode documents can be exported into a variety of other formats. For printing and sharing of notes, ASCII export produces a readable and simple version of an Org-mode file. HTML export allows you to publish a notes file on the web, while the XOXO format provides a solid base for exchange with a broad range of other applications. To incorporate entries with associated times like deadlines or appointments into a desktop calendar program like iCal, Org-mode can also produce extracts in the iCalendar format. Currently Org-mode only supports export, not import of these different formats.
When exporting, Org-mode uses special conventions to enrich the output produced. See Text interpretation, for more details.
ASCII export produces a simple and very readable version of an Org-mode file.
In the exported version, the first 3 outline levels will become headlines, defining a general document structure. Additional levels will be exported as itemized lists. If you want that transition to occur at a different level, specify it with a prefix argument. For example,
C-1 C-c C-e a
creates only top level headlines and does the rest as items. When headlines are converted to items, the indentation of the text following the headline is changed to fit nicely under the item. This is done with the assumption that the first bodyline indicates the base indentation of the body text. Any indentation larger than this is adjusted to preserve the layout relative to the first line. Should there be lines with less indentation than the first, these are left alone.
Org-mode contains an HTML (XHTML 1.0 strict) exporter with extensive HTML formatting, in ways similar to John Grubers markdown language, but with additional support for tables.
In the exported version, the first 3 outline levels will become headlines, defining a general document structure. Additional levels will be exported as itemized lists. If you want that transition to occur at a different level, specify it with a prefix argument. For example,
C-2 C-c C-e b
creates two levels of headings and does the rest as items.
If you want to include HTML tags which should be interpreted as such, mark them with `@' as in `@<b>bold text@</b>'. Note that this wirks only for simple tags, but not for complex ones like a `<span>' that contains, for example a link. Plain `<' and `>' are always transformed to `<' and `>' in HTML export.
Internal links (see Internal links) will continue to work in HTML files only if they match a dedicated `<<target>>'. Automatic links created by radio targets (see Radio targets) will also work in the HTML file. Links to external files will still work if the HTML file is in the same directory as the Org-mode file. Links to other .org files will be translated into HTML links under the assumption that an HTML version also exists of the linked file. For information related to linking files while publishing them to a publishing directory see Publishing links.
HTML export can inline images given as links in the Org-mode file, and
it can make an image the clickable part of a link. By
default31, images are inlined if a link does
not have a description. So `[[file:myimg.jpg]]' will be inlined,
while `[[file:myimg.jpg][the image]]' will just produce a link
`the image' that points to the image. If the description part
itself is a file: link or a http: URL pointing to an
image, this image will be inlined and activated so that clicking on the
image will activate the link. For example, to include a thumbnail that
will link to a high resolution version of the image, you could use:
[[file:highres.jpg][file:thumb.jpg]]
and you could use http addresses just as well.
You can also give style information for the exported file. The HTML exporter assigns the following CSS classes to appropriate parts of the document - your style specifications may change these:
.todo TODO keywords .done the DONE keyword .timestamp time stamp .timestamp-kwd keyword associated with a time stamp, like SCHEDULED .tag tag in a headline .target target for links
The default style specification can be configured through the option
org-export-html-style. If you want to use a file-local style,
you may use file variables, best wrapped into a COMMENT section at the
end of the outline tree. For example32:
* COMMENT html style specifications
# Local Variables:
# org-export-html-style: " <style type=\"text/css\">
# p {font-weight: normal; color: gray; }
# h1 {color: black; }
# </style>"
# End:
Remember to execute M-x normal-mode after changing this to make the new style visible to Emacs. This command restarts org-mode for the current buffer and forces Emacs to re-evaluate the local variables section in the buffer.
Org-mode contains an exporter that produces XOXO-style output. Currently, this exporter only handles the general outline structure and does not interpret any additional Org-mode features.
Some people like to use Org-mode for keeping track of projects, but still prefer a standard calendar application for anniversaries and appointments. In this case it can be useful to have deadlines and other time-stamped items in Org-mode files show up in the calendar application. Org-mode can export calendar information in the standard iCalendar format.
org-agenda-files. For each of these files, a separate iCalendar
file will be written.
org-agenda-files and write it to the file given by
org-combined-agenda-icalendar-file.
How this calendar is best read and updated, depends on the application you are using. The FAQ covers this issue.
The exporter backends interpret additional structure in the Org-mode file in order to produce better output.
Lines starting with `#' in column zero are treated as comments and will never be exported. Also entire subtrees starting with the word `COMMENT' will never be exported. Finally, any text before the first headline will not be exported either.
Some of the export backends of Org-mode allow for sophisticated text formatting, this is true in particular for the HTML backend. Org-mode has a number of typing conventions that allow to produce a richly formatted output.
=code=, and `+strikethrough+'.
If these conversions conflict with your habits of typing ASCII text,
they can all be turned off with corresponding variables (see the
customization group org-export-general, and the following section
which explains how to set export options with special lines in a
buffer.
The exporter recognizes special lines in the buffer which provide additional information. These lines may be put anywhere in the file. The whole set of lines can be inserted into the buffer with C-c C-e t. For individual lines, a good way to make sure the keyword is correct is to type `#+' and then use M-<TAB> completion (see Completion).
#+TITLE: the title to be shown (default is the buffer name)
#+AUTHOR: the author (default taken from user-full-name)
#+EMAIL: his/her email address (default from user-mail-address)
#+LANGUAGE: language for HTML, e.g. `en' (org-export-default-language)
#+TEXT: Some descriptive text to be inserted at the beginning.
#+TEXT: Several lines may be given.
#+OPTIONS: H:2 num:t toc:t \n:nil @:t ::t |:t ^:t *:nil TeX:t LaTeX:t
The OPTIONS line is a compact form to specify export settings. Here you can:
H: set the number of headline levels for export num: turn on/off section-numbers toc: turn on/off table of contents \n: turn on/off linebreak-preservation @: turn on/off quoted HTML tags :: turn on/off fixed-width sections |: turn on/off tables ^: turn on/off TeX-like syntax for sub- and superscripts. *: turn on/off emphasized text (bold, italic, underlined) TeX: turn on/off simple TeX macros in plain text LaTeX: turn on/off LaTeX fragments
Org-mode includes33 a publishing management system that allows you to configure automatic HTML conversion of projects composed of interlinked org files. This system is called org-publish. You can also configure org-publish to automatically upload your exported HTML pages and related attachments, such as images and source code files, to a web server. Org-publish turns org-mode into a web-site authoring tool.
Org-publish has been contributed to Org-mode by David O'Toole.
Publishing needs significant configuration to specify files, destination and many other properties of a project.
org-publish-project-alist
Org-publish is configured almost entirely through setting the value of
one variable, called org-publish-project-alist.
Each element of the list configures one project, and may be in one of
the two following forms:
("project-name" :property value :property value ...)
or
("project-name" :components ("project-name" "project-name" ...))
In both cases, projects are configured by specifying property values. A project defines the set of files that will be published, as well as the publishing configuration to use when publishing those files. When a project takes the second form listed above, the individual members of the “components” property are taken to be components of the project, which group together files requiring different publishing options. When you publish such a “meta-project” all the components will also publish.
Most properties are optional, but some should always be set. In particular, org-publish needs to know where to look for source files, and where to put published files.
:base-directory
| Directory containing publishing source files
|
:publishing-directory
| Directory (possibly remote) where output files will be published.
|
:preparation-function
| Function called before starting publishing process, for example to
run make for updating files to be published.
|
By default, all files with extension .org in the base directory are considered part of the project. This can be modified by setting the properties
:base-extension
| Extension (without the dot!) of source files. This actually is a
regular expression.
|
:exclude
| Regular expression to match file names that should not be
published, even though they have been selected on the basis of their
extension.
|
:include
| List of files to be included regardless of :base-extension
and :exclude.
|
Publishing means that a file is copied to the destination directory and
possibly transformed in the process. The default transformation is to
export Org-mode files as HTML files, and this is done by the function
org-publish-org-to-html which calls the HTML exporter
(see HTML export). Other files like images only need to be copied
to the publishing destination. For non-Org-mode files, you need to
specify the publishing function.
:publishing-function
| Function executing the publication of a file. This may also be a
list of functions, which will all be called in turn.
|
The function must accept two arguments: a property list containing at
least a :publishing-directory property, and the name of the file
to be published. It should take the specified file, make the necessary
transformation (if any) and place the result into the destination folder.
You can write your own publishing function, but org-publish
provides one for attachments (files that only need to be copied):
org-publish-attachment.
The property list can be used to set many export options for the HTML exporter. In most cases, these properties correspond to user variables in Org-mode. The table below lists these properties along with the variable they belong to. See the documentation string for the respective variable for details.
:language | org-export-default-language
|
:headline-levels | org-export-headline-levels
|
:section-numbers | org-export-with-section-numbers
|
:table-of-contents | org-export-with-toc
|
:archived-trees | org-export-with-archived-trees
|
:emphasize | org-export-with-emphasize
|
:sub-superscript | org-export-with-sub-superscripts
|
:TeX-macros | org-export-with-TeX-macros
|
:LaTeX-fragments | org-export-with-LaTeX-fragments
|
:fixed-width | org-export-with-fixed-width
|
:timestamps . | org-export-with-timestamps
|
:tags . | org-export-with-tags
|
:tables | org-export-with-tables
|
:table-auto-headline | org-export-highlight-first-table-line
|
:style | org-export-html-style
|
:convert-org-links | org-export-html-link-org-files-as-html
|
:inline-images | org-export-html-inline-images
|
:expand-quoted-html | org-export-html-expand
|
:timestamp | org-export-html-with-timestamp
|
:publishing-directory | org-export-publishing-directory
|
:preamble | org-export-html-preamble
|
:postamble | org-export-html-postamble
|
:auto-preamble | org-export-html-auto-preamble
|
:auto-postamble | org-export-html-auto-postamble
|
:author | user-full-name
|
:email | user-mail-address
|
When a property is given a value in org-publish-project-alist, its setting overrides the value of the corresponding user variable (if any) during publishing. options set within a file (see Export options), however, override everything.
To create a link from one Org-mode file to another, you would use something like `[[file:foo.org][The foo]]' or simply `file:foo.org.' (see Hyperlinks). Upon publishing this link becomes a link to foo.html. In this way, you can interlink the pages of your "org web" project and the links will work as expected when you publish them to HTML.
You may also link to related files, such as images. Provided you are careful with relative pathnames, and provided you have also configured org-publish to upload the related files, these links will work too. Complex example for an example of this usage.
Sometime an Org-mode file to be published may contain links that are only valid in your production environment, but not in the publishing location. In this case, use the property
:link-validation-function
| Function to validate links
|
to define a function for checking link validity. This function must
accept two arguments, the file name and a directory relative to which
the file name is interpreted in the production environment. If this
function returns nil, then the HTML generator will only insert a
description into the HTML file, but no link. One option for this
function is org-publish-validate-link which checks if the given
file is part of any project in org-publish-project-alist.
The following properties may be used to control publishing of an index of files or summary page for a given project.
:auto-index
| When non-nil, publish an index during org-publish-current-project or
org-publish-all.
|
:index-filename
| Filename for output of index. Defaults to index.org (which
becomes index.html).
|
:index-title
| Title of index page. Defaults to name of file.
|
:index-function
| Plugin function to use for generation of index.
Defaults to org-publish-org-index, which generates a plain list
of links to all files in the project.
|
Below we provide two example configurations. The first one is a simple project publishing only a set of Org-mode files. The second example is more complex, with a multi-component project.
This example publishes a set of Org-mode files to the public_html directory on the local machine.
(setq org-publish-project-alist
'(("org"
:base-directory "~/org/"
:publishing-directory "~/public_html"
:section-numbers nil
:table-of-contents nil
:style "<link rel=stylesheet
href=\"../other/mystyle.css\"
type=\"text/css\">")))
This more complicated example publishes an entire website, including org files converted to HTML, image files, emacs lisp source code, and stylesheets. The publishing-directory is remote and private files are excluded.
To ensure that links are preserved, care should be taken to replicate your directory structure on the web server, and to use relative file paths. For example, if your org files are kept in ~/org and your publishable images in ~/images, you'd link to an image with
file:../images/myimage.png
On the web server, the relative path to the image should be the same. You can accomplish this by setting up an "images" folder in the right place on the webserver, and publishing images to it.
(setq org-publish-project-alist
'(("orgfiles"
:base-directory "~/org/"
:base-extension "org"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/notebook/"
:publishing-function org-publish-org-to-html
:exclude "PrivatePage.org" ;; regexp
:headline-levels 3
:section-numbers nil
:table-of-contents nil
:style "<link rel=stylesheet
href=\"../other/mystyle.css\" type=\"text/css\">"
:auto-preamble t
:auto-postamble nil)
("images"
:base-directory "~/images/"
:base-extension "jpg\\|gif\\|png"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/images/"
:publishing-function org-publish-attachment)
("other"
:base-directory "~/other/"
:base-extension "css\\|el"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/other/"
:publishing-function org-publish-attachment)
("website" :components ("orgfiles" "images" "other"))))
Once org-publish is properly configured, you can publish with the following functions:
Org uses timestamps to track when a file has changed. The above functions normally only publish changed files. You can override this and force publishing of all files by giving a prefix argument.
Org-mode supports in-buffer completion. This type of completion does not make use of the minibuffer. You simply type a few letters into the buffer and use the key to complete text right there.
org-tag-alist (possibly set through the `#+TAGS'
in-buffer option, see Setting tags), or it is created dynamically
from all tags used in the current buffer.
There are more than 180 variables that can be used to customize
Org-mode. For the sake of compactness of the manual, I am not
describing the variables here. A structured overview of customization
variables is available with M-x org-customize. Or select
Browse Org Group from the Org->Customization menu. Many
settings can also be activated on a per-file basis, by putting special
lines into the buffer (see In-buffer settings).
Org-mode uses special lines in the buffer to define settings on a per-file basis. These lines start with a `#+' followed by a keyword, a colon, and then individual words defining a setting. Several setting words can be in the same line, but you can also have multiple lines for the keyword. While these settings are described throughout the manual, here is a summary. After changing any of those lines in the buffer, press C-c C-c with the cursor still in the line to activate the changes immediately. Otherwise they become effective only when the file is visited again in a new Emacs session.
org-startup-folded, with a default
value t, which means overview.
overview top-level headlines only content all headlines showall no folding at all, show everything
Then there are options for aligning tables upon visiting a file. This
is useful in files containing narrowed table columns. The corresponding
variable is org-startup-align-all-tables, with a default value
nil.
align align all tables noalign don't align tables on startup
Logging TODO state changes and clock intervals (variable
org-log-done) can be configured using these options.
logging record a timestamp when an item is marked DONE nologging don't record when items are marked DONE lognotedone record timestamp and a note when DONE lognotestate record timestamp, note when TODO state changes lognoteclock-out record timestamp and a note when clocking out
Here are the options for hiding leading stars in outline headings. The
corresponding variables are org-hide-leading-stars and
org-odd-levels-only, both with a default setting nil
(meaning showstars and oddeven).
hidestars make all but one of the stars starting a headline invisible. showstars show all stars starting a headline odd allow only odd outline levels (1,3,...) oddeven allow all outline levels
To turn on custom format overlays over time stamps (variables
org-put-time-stamp-overlays and
org-time-stamp-overlay-formats), use
customtime overlay custom time format
org-todo-keywords
and org-todo-interpretation.
org-tag-alist.
org-link-abbrev-alist.
org-archive-location.
The key C-c C-c has many purposes in org-mode, which are all mentioned scattered throughout this manual. One specific function of this key is to add tags to a headline (see Tags). In many other circumstances it means something like Hey Org-mode, look here and update according to what you see here. Here is a summary of what this means in different contexts.
#+KEYWORD lines, this
triggers scanning the buffer for these lines and updating the
information.
#+TBLFM line, re-apply the formulas to
the entire table.
<<<target>>>, update radio targets and
corresponding links in this buffer.
Some people find it noisy and distracting that the Org-mode headlines are starting with a potentially large number of stars. For example the tree from Headlines:
* Top level headline
** Second level
*** 3rd level
some text
*** 3rd level
more text
* Another top level headline
Unfortunately this is deeply ingrained into the code of Org-mode and
cannot be easily changed. You can, however, modify the display in such
a way that all leading stars become invisible and the outline more easy
to read. To do this, customize the variable
org-hide-leading-stars like this:
(setq org-hide-leading-stars t)
or change this on a per-file basis with one of the lines (anywhere in the buffer)
#+STARTUP: showstars
#+STARTUP: hidestars
Press C-c C-c with the cursor in a `STARTUP' line to activate the modifications.
With stars hidden, the tree becomes:
* Top level headline
* Second level
* 3rd level
some text
* 3rd level
more text
* Another top level headline
Note that the leading stars are not truly replaced by whitespace, they
are only fontified with the face org-hide that uses the
background color as font color. If you are not using either white or
black background, you may have to customize this face to get the wanted
effect. Another possibility is to set this font such that the extra
stars are almost invisible, for example using the color
grey90 on a white background.
Things become cleaner still if you skip all the even levels and use only odd levels 1, 3, 5..., effectively adding two stars to go from one outline level to the next:
* Top level headline
* Second level
* 3rd level
some text
* 3rd level
more text
* Another top level headline
In order to make the structure editing and export commands handle this convention correctly, use
(setq org-odd-levels-only t)
or set this on a per-file basis with one of the following lines (don't forget to press C-c C-c with the cursor in the startup line to activate changes immediately).
#+STARTUP: odd
#+STARTUP: oddeven
You can convert an Org-mode file from single-star-per-level to the double-star-per-level convention with M-x org-convert-to-odd-levels RET in that file. The reverse operation is M-x org-convert-to-oddeven-levels.
Org-mode uses a number of keys that are not accessible on a tty. This applies to most special keys like cursor keys, <TAB> and <RET>, when these are combined with modifier keys like <Meta> and/or <Shift>. Org-mode uses these bindings because it needs to provide keys for a large number of commands, and because these keys appeared particularly easy to remember. In order to still be able to access the core functionality of Org-mode on a tty, alternative bindings are provided. Here is a complete list of these bindings, which are obviously more cumbersome to use. Note that sometimes a work-around can be better. For example changing a time stamp is really only fun with S-<cursor> keys. On a tty you would rather use C-c . to re-insert the timestamp.
| Default | Alternative 1 | Alternative 2
|
| S-<TAB> | C-u <TAB> |
|
| M-<left> | C-c C-x l | <Esc> <left>
|
| M-S-<left> | C-c C-x L |
|
| M-<right> | C-c C-x r | <Esc> <right>
|
| M-S-<right> | C-c C-x R |
|
| M-<up> | C-c C-x u | <Esc> <up>
|
| M-S-<up> | C-c C-x U |
|
| M-<down> | C-c C-x d | <Esc> <down>
|
| M-S-<down> | C-c C-x D |
|
| S-<RET> | C-c C-x c |
|
| M-<RET> | C-c C-x m | <Esc> <RET>
|
| M-S-<RET> | C-c C-x M |
|
| S-<left> | C-c C-x <left> |
|
| S-<right> | C-c C-x <right> |
|
| S-<up> | C-c C-x <up> |
|
| S-<down> | C-c C-x <down> |
|
Org-mode lives in the world of GNU Emacs and interacts in various ways with other code out there.
calc-eval which should be autoloaded in your setup if calc has
been installed properly. As of Emacs 22, calc is part of the Emacs
distribution. Another possibility for interaction between the two
packages is using calc for embedded calculations. See Embedded Mode.
org-table-formula-constants, install
the constants package which defines a large number of constants
and units, and lets you use unit prefixes like `M' for
`Mega' etc. You will need version 2.0 of this package, available
at http://www.astro.uva.nl/~dominik/Tools. Org-mode checks for
the function constants-get, which has to be autoloaded in your
setup. See the installation instructions in the file
constants.el.
org-convert-table for the restrictions under which this is
possible.
(wrong-type-argument keymapp nil) when there is an outdated
version allout.el on the load path, for example the version
distributed with Emacs 21.x. Upgrade to Emacs 22 and this problem will
disappear. If for some reason you cannot do this, make sure that org.el
is loaded before allout.el, for example by putting
(require 'org) early enough into your .emacs file.
org-CUA-compatible. When set, Org-mode will move the following
keybindings in org-mode files, and in the agenda buffer (but not
during date selection).
S-UP -> M-p S-DOWN -> M-n
S-LEFT -> M-- S-RIGHT -> M-+
S-RET -> C-S-RET
Yes, these are unfortunately more difficult to remember. If you want
to have other replacement keys, look at the variable
org-disputed-keys.
Here is a list of things that should work differently, but which I have found too hard to fix.
format function does not transport text properties.
org-table-iterate (C-u C-c *) to
recalculate until convergence.
This appendix lists extensions for Org-mode written by other authors. It also covers some aspects where users can extend the functionality of Org-mode.
The following extensions for Org-mode have been written by other people:
Org-mode documents can contain dynamic blocks. These are specially marked regions that are updated by some user-written function. A good example for such a block is the clock table inserted by the command C-c C-x C-r (see Clocking work time).
Dynamic block are enclosed by a BEGIN-END structure that assigns a name to the block and can also specify parameters for the function producing the content of the block.
#+BEGIN: myblock :parameter1 value1 :parameter2 value2 ...
#+END:
Dynamic blocks are updated with the following commands
Updating a dynamic block means to remove all the text between BEGIN and
END, parse the BEGIN line for parameters and then call the specific
writer function for this block to insert the new content. For a block
with name myblock, the writer function is
org-dblock-write:myblock with as only parameter a property list
with the parameters given in the begin line. Here is a trivial example
of a block that keeps track of when the block update function was last
run:
#+BEGIN: block-update-time :format "on %m/%d/%Y at %H:%M"
#+END:
The corresponding block writer function could look like this:
(defun org-dblock-write:block-update-time (params)
(let ((fmt (or (plist-get params :format) "%d. %m. %Y")))
(insert "Last block update at: "
(format-time-string fmt (current-time)))))
If you want to make sure that all dynamic blocks are always up-to-date,
you could add the function org-update-all-dblocks to a hook, for
example before-save-hook. org-update-all-dblocks is
written in a way that is does nothing in buffers that are not in Org-mode.
Org-mode provides a special hook that can be used to narrow down the selection made by any of the agenda views. You may specify a function that is used at each match to verify if the match should indeed be part of the agenda view, and if not, how much should be skipped.
Let's say you want to produce a list of projects that contain a WAITING tag anywhere in the project tree. Let's further assume that you have marked all tree headings that define a project with the todo keyword PROJECT. In this case you would run a todo search for the keyword PROJECT, but skip the match unless there is a WAITING tag anywhere in the subtree belonging to the project line.
To achieve this, you must write a function that searches the subtree for
the tag. If the tag is found, the function must return nil to
indicate that this match should not be skipped. If there is no such
tag, return the location of the end of the subtree, to indicate that
search should continue from there.
(defun my-skip-unless-waiting ()
"Skip trees that are not waiting"
(let ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
(if (re-search-forward ":WAITING:" subtree-end t)
nil ; tag found, do not skip
subtree-end))) ; tag not found, continue after end of subtree
Furthermore you must write a command that uses let to temporarily
put this function into the variable org-agenda-skip-function,
sets the header string for the agenda buffer, and calls the todo-list
generator while asking for the specific TODO keyword PROJECT. The
function must also accept one argument MATCH, but it can choose to
ignore it34 (as we do in the example below). Here is the example:
(defun my-org-waiting-projects (&optional match)
"Produce a list of projects that contain a WAITING tag.
MATCH is being ignored."
(interactive)
(let ((org-agenda-skip-function 'my-skip-unless-waiting)
(org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects waiting for something: "))
;; make the list
(org-todo-list "PROJECT")))
Org-mode was borne in 2003, out of frustration over the user interface of the Emacs outline-mode. All I initially wanted was to make working with an outline tree possible without having to remember more than 10 commands just for hiding and unhiding parts of the outline tree, and to allow to restructure a tree easily. Visibility cycling and structure editing were originally implemented in the package outline-magic.el, but quickly moved to the more general org.el. TODO entries, basic time stamps, and table support were added next, and highlight the two main goals that Org-mode still has today: To create a new, outline-based, plain text mode with innovative and intuitive editing features, and to incorporate project planning functionality directly into a notes file.
Since the first release, hundreds of emails to me or on
emacs-orgmode@gnu.org have provided a constant stream of bug
reports, feedback, new ideas, and sometimes patches and add-on code.
Many thanks to everyone who has helped to improve this package. I am
trying to keep here a list of the people who had significant influence
in shaping one or more aspects of Org-mode. The list may not be
complete, if I have forgotten someone, please accept my apologies and
let me know.
keymapp nil bug, a
conflict with allout.el.
align, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingscontent, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingscustomtime, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingseven, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingshidestars, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingslogdone, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingslognoteclock-out, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingslognotedone, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingslognotestate, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsnoalign, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsnologging, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsodd, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsoverview, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsshowall, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settingsshowstars, STARTUP keyword: In-buffer settings$: Agenda commands': CDLaTeX mode+: Agenda commands,: Agenda commands-: Agenda commands.: Agenda commands:: Agenda commands<: The date/time prompt<left>: Agenda commands<RET>: Setting tags<RET>: Built-in table editor<RET>: Agenda commands<RET>: The date/time prompt<right>: Agenda commands<SPC>: Setting tags<SPC>: Agenda commands<TAB>: Agenda commands<TAB>: CDLaTeX mode<TAB>: Setting tags<TAB>: Plain lists<TAB>: Built-in table editor<TAB>: Visibility cycling>: Agenda commands>: The date/time prompt^: CDLaTeX mode_: CDLaTeX mode`: CDLaTeX modea: Agenda commandsb: Agenda commandsC: Agenda commandsc: Agenda commandsC-#: Advanced featuresC-': Agenda filesC-,: Agenda filesC-_: Agenda commandsC-a a L: TimelineC-c !: Creating timestampsC-c #: CheckboxesC-c %: Handling linksC-c &: Handling linksC-c ': Editing and debugging formulasC-c *: Updating the tableC-c +: Built-in table editorC-c -: Built-in table editorC-c .: Creating timestampsC-c /: Sparse treesC-c :: Enhancing textC-c ;: Comment linesC-c <: Creating timestampsC-c <TAB>: Built-in table editorC-c =: Column formulasC-c =: Editing and debugging formulasC-c >: Creating timestampsC-c ?: Editing and debugging formulasC-c [: Agenda filesC-c \: Tag searchesC-c ]: Agenda filesC-c ^: Built-in table editorC-c ^: Structure editingC-c `: Built-in table editorC-c a !: Stuck projectsC-c a #: Stuck projectsC-c a a: Weekly/Daily agendaC-c a C: Storing searchesC-c a M: Tag searchesC-c a M: Matching headline tagsC-c a m: Tag searchesC-c a m: Matching headline tagsC-c a T: Global TODO listC-c a t: Global TODO listC-c a t: TODO basicsC-c C-a: Visibility cyclingC-c C-b: MotionC-c C-c: CheckboxesC-c C-c: Editing and debugging formulasC-c C-c: The very busy C-c C-c keyC-c C-c: Setting tagsC-c C-c: Processing LaTeX fragmentsC-c C-c: Plain listsC-c C-c: Built-in table editorC-c C-c: CooperationC-c C-d: Creating timestampsC-c C-d: Agenda commandsC-c C-e: ExportingC-c C-e a: ASCII exportC-c C-e b: Export commandsC-c C-e c: iCalendar exportC-c C-e h: Export commandsC-c C-e i: iCalendar exportC-c C-e I: iCalendar exportC-c C-e t: Export optionsC-c C-e v: XOXO exportC-c C-e v: Sparse treesC-c C-e v a: ASCII exportC-c C-e v b: Export commandsC-c C-e v h: Export commandsC-c C-e x: XOXO exportC-c C-f: MotionC-c C-j: MotionC-c C-l: Handling linksC-c C-n: MotionC-c C-o: Handling linksC-c C-o: Creating timestampsC-c C-p: MotionC-c C-q: Built-in table editorC-c C-q: Editing and debugging formulasC-c C-r: Visibility cyclingC-c C-s: Creating timestampsC-c C-s: Agenda commandsC-c C-t: Clocking work timeC-c C-t: TODO basicsC-c C-u: MotionC-c C-v: TODO basicsC-c C-w: Creating timestampsC-c C-x b: Visibility cyclingC-c C-x C-a: ARCHIVE tagC-c C-x C-b: CheckboxesC-c C-x C-c: Agenda commandsC-c C-x C-d: Clocking work timeC-c C-x C-i: Clocking work timeC-c C-x C-k: Structure editingC-c C-x C-l: Processing LaTeX fragmentsC-c C-x C-n: Handling linksC-c C-x C-o: Clocking work timeC-c C-x C-p: Handling linksC-c C-x C-r: Clocking work timeC-c C-x C-s: Moving subtreesC-c C-x C-t: Custom time formatC-c C-x C-u: Dynamic blocksC-c C-x C-w: Structure editingC-c C-x C-w: Built-in table editorC-c C-x C-x: Clocking work timeC-c C-x C-y: Structure editingC-c C-x C-y: Built-in table editorC-c C-x M-w: Structure editingC-c C-x M-w: Built-in table editorC-c C-y: Clocking work timeC-c C-y: Creating timestampsC-c l: Handling linksC-c {: CDLaTeX modeC-c |: Built-in table editorC-c ~: CooperationC-k: Agenda commandsC-TAB: ARCHIVE tagC-u C-c *: Updating the tableC-u C-c .: Creating timestampsC-u C-c =: Field formulasC-u C-c =: Editing and debugging formulasC-u C-c C-c: Updating the tableC-u C-c C-l: Handling linksC-u C-c C-x C-a: ARCHIVE tagC-u C-c C-x C-s: Moving subtreesC-u C-c C-x C-u: Dynamic blocksC-u C-c C-x C-u: Clocking work timeC-u C-u C-c *: Updating the tableC-u C-u C-c =: Editing and debugging formulasd: Agenda commandsD: Agenda commandsf: Agenda commandsg: Agenda commandsH: Agenda commandsI: Agenda commandsi: Agenda commandsl: Agenda commandsL: Agenda commandsM: Agenda commandsM-<down>: Built-in table editorM-<down>: Editing and debugging formulasM-<left>: Structure editingM-<left>: Built-in table editorM-<RET>: Structure editingM-<RET>: Plain listsM-<right>: Structure editingM-<right>: Built-in table editorM-<TAB>: Per file keywordsM-<TAB>: CompletionM-<TAB>: Setting tagsM-<up>: Editing and debugging formulasM-<up>: Built-in table editorM-S-<down>: Structure editingM-S-<down>: Plain listsM-S-<down>: Built-in table editorM-S-<left>: Structure editingM-S-<left>: Plain listsM-S-<left>: Built-in table editorM-S-<left>: The date/time promptM-S-<RET>: Plain listsM-S-<RET>: CheckboxesM-S-<RET>: Structure editingM-S-<right>: Structure editingM-S-<right>: Plain listsM-S-<right>: Built-in table editorM-S-<right>: The date/time promptM-S-<up>: Built-in table editorM-S-<up>: Structure editingM-S-<up>: Plain listsmouse-1: Handling linksmouse-1: Agenda commandsmouse-1: The date/time promptmouse-2: Handling linksmouse-2: Agenda commandsmouse-3: Handling linksmouse-3: Agenda commandsn: Agenda commandsO: Agenda commandso: Agenda commandsp: Agenda commandsP: Agenda commandsq: Agenda commandsr: Agenda commandsr: Global TODO lists: Agenda commandsS: Agenda commandsS-<down>: Editing and debugging formulasS-<down>: The date/time promptS-<down>: PrioritiesS-<down>: Agenda commandsS-<down>: Plain listsS-<down>: Creating timestampsS-<left>: Agenda commandsS-<left>: The date/time promptS-<left>: Creating timestampsS-<left>: TODO basicsS-<RET>: Built-in table editorS-<right>: Agenda commandsS-<right>: TODO basicsS-<right>: The date/time promptS-<right>: Creating timestampsS-<TAB>: Visibility cyclingS-<TAB>: Built-in table editorS-<up>: Creating timestampsS-<up>: PrioritiesS-<up>: Editing and debugging formulasS-<up>: Agenda commandsS-<up>: The date/time promptS-<up>: Plain listsT: Agenda commandst: Agenda commandsw: Agenda commandsX: Agenda commandsx: Agenda commands[1] see, however,
the option org-cycle-emulate-tab.
[2] see the
option org-cycle-global-at-bob.
[3] The indirect buffer (see Indirect Buffers) will contain the entire buffer, but will be narrowed to the current tree. Editing the indirect buffer will also change the original buffer, but without affecting visibility in that buffer.
[4] See also the variables
org-show-hierarchy-above, org-show-following-heading, and
org-show-siblings for detailed control on how much context is
shown around each match.
[5] This does not work under XEmacs, because XEmacs uses selective display for outlining, not text properties.
[6] When using `*' as a bullet, lines must be indented or they will be seen as top-level headlines. Also, when you are hiding leading stars to get a clean outline view, plain list items starting with a star are visually indistinguishable from true headlines. In short: even though `*' is supported, it may be better not to use it for plain list items
[7] Org-mode only changes the filling settings for Emacs. For XEmacs, you should use Kyle E. Jones' filladapt.el. To turn this on, put into .emacs:
(require 'filladapt)
[8] This feature does not work on XEmacs.
[9] Note that text before the first headline will never be exported, so the first such target must be after the first headline.
[10] After insertion of a stored link, the link will be
removed from the list of stored links. To keep it in the list later
use, use a triple C-u prefix to C-c C-l, or configure the
option org-keep-stored-link-after-insertion.
[11] See the
variable org-display-internal-link-with-indirect-buffer
[12] For backward compatibility, line numbers can also follow a single colon.
[13] This will always be the other, not the user. See the variable org-from-is-user-regexp.
[14] This is also true for the t command in the timeline and agenda buffers.
[15] Org-mode parses these lines only when Org-mode is activated after visiting a file. C-c C-c with the cursor in a line starting with `#+' is simply restarting Org-mode for the current buffer.
[16] To keep subtasks out
of the global TODO list, see the
org-agenda-todo-list-sublevels.
[17] This is the standard ISO date/time format. If you cannot get used to these, see Custom time format
[18] It will still be
listed on that date after it has been marked DONE. If you don't like
this, set the variable org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done.
[19] If
you don't need/want the calendar, configure the variable
org-popup-calendar-for-date-prompt.
[20] The corresponding in-buffer
setting is: #+STARTUP: logdone
[21] The corresponding in-buffer
setting is: #+STARTUP: lognotedone
[22] The corresponding in-buffer setting is: #+STARTUP:
lognoteclock-out
[23] Note that all parameters must be specified in a single line - the line is broken here only to fit it onto the manual.
[24] In org-mode-alist use
'(:startgroup) and '(:endgroup), respectively. Several
groups are allowed.
[25] Keys will automatically be assigned to tags which have no configured keys.
[26] If the value of that variable is not a list, but a single file name, then the list of agenda files will be maintained in that external file.
[27] When using the dispatcher, pressing 1
before selecting a command will actually limit the command to the
current file, and ignore org-agenda-files until the next
dispatcher command.
[28] LaTeX is a macro system based on Donald E. Knuth's TeX system. Many of the features described here as “LaTeX” are really from TeX, but for simplicity I am blurring this distinction.
[29] Yes, there is MathML, but that is not yet fully supported by many browsers, and there is no decent converter for turning LaTeX of ASCII representations of formulas into MathML. So for the time being, converting formulas into images seems the way to go.
[30] Org-mode has a method to test if the cursor is
inside such a fragment, see the documentation of the function
org-inside-LaTeX-fragment-p.
[31] but see the variable
org-export-html-inline-images
[32] Under Emacs 21, the continuation lines for a variable value should have no `#' at the start of the line.
[33] org-publish.el is not yet part of Emacs, so if you are using org.el as it comes with Emacs, you need to download this file separately. Also make sure org.el is at least version 4.27.
[34] MATCH must be present in case you want to define a custom command for producing this special list. Custom commands always supply the MATCH argument, but it can be empty if you do not specify it while defining the command(see Custom agenda views).