Org Mode 7 Reference Manual Organize your life with GNU Emacs Release 7.3 by Carsten Dominik with contributions by David O’Toole, Bastien Guerry, Philip Rooke, Dan Davison, Eric Schulte, and Thomas Dye. Edited for publication by Brian Gough and Barry Gidden Published by Network Theory Ltd A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. First Printing, November 2010 Published by Network Theory Limited. Email: [email protected] ISBN 978-1-906966-08-9 Further information about this book is available from http://www.network-theory.co.uk/orgmode/ This book has an unconditional guarantee. If you are not fully satisfied with your purchase for any reason, please contact the publisher at the address above. This manual is for Org version 7.3. Copyright c 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Minor modifications for publication c 2010 Network Theory Ltd Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 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 the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in developing GNU and promoting software freedom.” Network Theory Ltd’s Back-Cover Text is: “For each copy of this manual sold by Network Theory Ltd, $1 is donated to the Org Project.” i Table of Contents Publisher’s Preface................................. 1 1 Introduction..................................... 3 1.1 Summary......................................... .............. 3 1.2 Installation.................................... .................. 4 1.3 Activation...................................... ................. 5 1.4 Feedback........................................ ................ 5 1.5 Typesetting conventions used in this manual . ........... 6 2 Document structure............................. 9 2.1 Outlines........................................ ................ 9 2.2 Headlines....................................... ................ 9 2.3 Visibility cycling............................... ................ 10 2.4 Motion.......................................... ............... 11 2.5 Structure editing................................ ............... 12 2.6 Sparse trees..................................... ............... 14 2.7 Plain lists...................................... ................ 15 2.8 Drawers......................................... ............... 19 2.9 Blocks.......................................... ............... 19 2.10 Footnotes...................................... ............... 20 2.11 The Orgstruct minor mode.......................... .......... 22 3 Tables.......................................... 23 3.1 The built-in table editor.......................... .............. 23 3.2 Column width and alignment......................... .......... 27 3.3 Column groups.................................... ............. 28 3.4 The Orgtbl minor mode.............................. .......... 28 3.5 The spreadsheet.................................. .............. 29 4 Hyperlinks..................................... 31 4.1 Link format...................................... .............. 31 4.2 Internal links................................... ................ 31 4.2.1 Radio targets.................................. ......... 32 4.3 External links................................... ............... 32 4.4 Handling links................................... .............. 34 4.5 Using links outside Org ............................ ............ 37 4.6 Link abbreviations............................... .............. 38 4.7 Search options in file links......................... ............. 38 4.8 Custom Searches.................................. ............. 39 ii The Org Manual 5 TODO items................................... 41 5.1 Basic TODO functionality.......................... ............ 41 5.2 Extended use of TODO keywords ....................... ....... 42 5.2.1 TODO keywords as workflow states . 42 5.2.2 TODO keywords as types........................... 43 5.2.3 Multiple keyword sets in one file. ...... 43 5.2.4 Fast access to TODO states........................ ..... 44 5.2.5 Setting up keywords for individual files . ...... 44 5.2.6 Faces for TODO keywords.......................... ..... 45 5.2.7 TODO dependencies.............................. ...... 45 5.3 Progress logging................................. ............... 47 5.3.1 Closing items.................................. ......... 47 5.3.2 Tracking TODO state changes...................... ..... 47 5.3.3 Tracking your habits............................ ........ 49 5.4 Priorities...................................... ................. 51 5.5 Breaking tasks down into subtasks................... ........... 52 5.6 Checkboxes...................................... .............. 53 6 Tags............................................ 55 6.1 Tag inheritance.................................. .............. 55 6.2 Setting tags..................................... ............... 56 6.3 Tag searches..................................... .............. 58 7 Properties and columns........................ 59 7.1 Property syntax.................................. .............. 59 7.2 Special properties............................... ............... 61 7.3 Property searches................................ .............. 61 7.4 Property Inheritance............................. .............. 62 7.5 Column view...................................... ............. 63 7.5.1 Defining columns................................ ........ 63 7.5.1.1 Scope of column definitions..................... 63 7.5.1.2 Column attributes ............................ 63 7.5.2 Using column view............................... ....... 65 7.5.3 Capturing column view........................... ....... 66 7.6 The Property API.................................. ............ 68 iii 8 Dates and times................................ 69 8.1 Timestamps, deadlines, and scheduling . ........... 69 8.2 Creating timestamps.............................. ............. 70 8.2.1 The date/time prompt............................ ...... 71 8.2.2 Custom time format.............................. ....... 72 8.3 Deadlines and scheduling.......................... ............. 73 8.3.1 Inserting deadlines or schedules. ......... 74 8.3.2 Repeated tasks................................. ......... 75 8.4 Clocking work time ................................ ............ 76 8.5 Resolving idle time............................... .............. 80 8.6 Effort estimates.................................. .............. 81 8.7 Taking notes with a relative timer . ........... 82 8.8 Countdown timer.................................. ............ 83 9 Capture - Refile - Archive..................... 85 9.1 Capture......................................... ............... 85 9.1.1 Setting up capture.............................. ........ 85 9.1.2 Using capture.................................. ......... 85 9.1.3 Capture templates .............................. ........ 86 9.1.3.1 Template elements............................ 87 9.1.3.2 Template expansion........................... 89 9.2 Attachments..................................... .............. 90 9.3 RSS feeds........................................ .............. 92 9.4 Protocols for external access. .............. 92 9.5 Refiling notes.................................... .............. 93 9.6 Archiving....................................... ............... 93 9.6.1 Moving a tree to the archive file.................... ..... 94 9.6.2 Internal archiving............................. .......... 94 10 Agenda views................................. 97 10.1 Agenda files..................................... .............. 97 10.2 The agenda dispatcher............................ ............ 99 10.3 The built-in agenda views......................... ........... 100 10.3.1 The weekly/daily agenda. 100 10.3.2 The global TODO list............................ 102 10.3.3 Matching tags and properties . 103 10.3.4 Timeline for a single file. ....... 105 10.3.5 Search view................................... ........ 105 10.3.6 Stuck projects................................ ........ 106 10.4 Presentation and sorting . ............ 106 10.4.1 Categories................................... ......... 107 10.4.2 Time-of-day specifications. ........ 107 10.4.3 Sorting of agenda items......................... 108 10.5 Commands in the agenda buffer....................... ....... 108 10.6 Custom agenda views.............................. .......... 116 10.6.1 Storing searches.............................. ......... 117 iv The Org Manual 10.6.2 Block agenda.................................. ....... 118 10.6.3 Setting options for custom commands . 118 10.7 Exporting Agenda Views........................... .......... 119 10.8 Using column view in the agenda..................... ........ 121 11 Markup for rich export...................... 123 11.1 Structural markup elements....................... ........... 123 11.2 Images and Tables................................ ........... 125 11.3 Literal examples................................ ............. 126 11.4 Include