org-mode/ORGWEBPAGE/Changes.org

Org-mode list of user-visible changes

Version 6.07 (in preparation)

Incompatible changes

Prefix interpretation when storing remember notes

The prefix argument to the `C-c C-c' command that finishes a remember process is now interpreted differently:

:C-c C-c Store the note to predefined file and headline :C-1 C-c C-c Select the storage location interactively :C-0 C-c C-c Re-use the last used location :C-u C-c C-c Like C-c C-c, but immediately visit the note

             in its new location.

This was requested by John Wiegley.

Capturing column view is now on `C-c C-x i'

The reason for this change was that `C-c C-x r' is also used as a tty key replacement.

Details

org-plot.el is now part of Org.

You can run it by simple calling org-plot/gnuplot. Documentation is not yet included with Org, please refer to http://github.com/eschulte/org-plot/tree/master until we have moved the docs into Org or Worg.

Thanks to Eric Schulte for this great contribution.

Tags can be used to select the export part of a document

You may now use tags to select parts of a document for inclusion into the export, and to exclude other parts. This behavior is governed by two new variables: org-export-select-tags and org-export-exclude-tags. These default to ("export") and ("noexport"), but can be changed, even to include a list of several tags.

Org first checks if any of the select tags is present in the buffer. All trees that do not carry one of these tags will be excluded. If a selected tree is a subtree, the heading hierarchy above it will also be selected for export, but not the text below those headings. If none of the select tags is found, the whole buffer will be selected for export. Finally, all subtrees that are marked by any of the exclude tags will be removed from the export buffer.

You may set these tags with inbuffer-options EXPORT_SELECT_TAGS and EXPORT_EXCLUDE_TAGS.

This useful feature was a request by Richard G Rigley.

Yanking inserts folded subtrees

If the kill is a subtree or a sequence of subtrees, yanking them with C-y will leave all the subtrees in a folded state. This basically means, that kill and yank are now much more useful in moving stuff around in your outline. If you do not like this, customize the variable org-yank-folded-subtrees.

Right now, I am only binding C-y to this new function, should I modify all bindings of yank? Do we need to amend yank-pop as well?

This feature was requested by John Wiegley.

Prefix arg 0 to S-RET disables integer increment during copy

This was a request by Chris Randle.

Column view capture tables can have formulas, plotting info

If you attach formulas and plotting instructions to a table capturing column view, these extra lines will now survive an update of the column view capture, and any formulas will be re-applied to the captured table. This works be keeping any continuous block of comments before and after the actual table.

The note buffer for clocking out now mentions the task

This was a request by Peter Frings.

Secondary filtering of agenda views.

You can now easily and interactively filter an existing agenda view with respect to a tag. This command is executed with the / key in the agenda. You will be prompted for a tag selection key, and all entries that do not contain or inherit the corresponding tag will be hidden. With a prefix argument, the opposite filter is applied: entries that do have the tag will be hidden.

This operation only hides lines in the agenda buffer. It does not initiate a new search and therefore is very fast.

If you press TAB at the tag selection prompt, you will be switched to a completion interface to select a tag. This is useful when you want to select a tag that does not have a direct access character.

A double / / will restore the original agenda view by unhiding any hidden lines.

This functionality was John Wiegley's idea. It is a simpler implementation of some of the query-editing features proposed and implemented some time ago by Christopher League (see the file contrib/lisp/org-interactive-query.el).

Editing fixed-width regions with picture or artist mode

The command @<code>C-c '@</code> (that is C-c followed by a single quote) can now also be used to switch to a special editing mode for fixed-width sections. The default mode is artist-mode which allows you to create ASCII drawings.

It works like this: Enter the editing mode with @<code>C-c '@</code>. An indirect buffer will be created and narrowed to the fixed-width region. Edit the drawing, and press @<code>C-c '@</code> again to exit.

Lines in a fixed-width region should be preceded by a colon followed by at least one space. These will be removed during editing, and then added back when you exit the editing mode.

Using the command in an empty line will create a new fixed-width region.

This exciting new feature arose from a discussion involving Scott Otterson, Sebastian Rose and Will Henney.

New interpretation of prefix arguments when exiting remember

The prefix argument to the `C-c C-c' command that finishes a remember process is now interpreted differently:

:C-c C-c Store the note to predefined file and headline :C-1 C-c C-c Select the storage location interactively :C-0 C-c C-c Re-use the last used location :C-u C-c C-c Like C-c C-c, but immediately visit the note

             in its new location.

This was requested by John Wiegley.

Sorting entries now ignores the TODO keyword and the priority

Numerical and alphanumerical sorting now skips any TODO keyword or priority cookie when constructing the comparison string. This was a request by Wanrong Lin.

New face org-scheduled for entries scheduled in the future.

This was a request by Richard G Rigley.

Remember templates for gnus links can now use the :to escape.

Thanks to Tommy Lindgren for a patch to this effect.

The file specification in a remember template may now be a function

Thanks to Gregory Sullivan for a patch to this effect.

It is now possible to define filters for column view

The filter can modify the value that will be displayed in a column, for example it can cut out a part of a time stamp. For more information, look at the variable org-columns-modify-value-for-display-function.

Version 6.06

Overview

• New, more CSS-like setup for HTML style information
• Attributes in hyperlinks, for example alt and title for images
• Simplified way to specify file links
• Modified behavior of time stamps in iCalendar export
• New way to compare times during a property search
• New option `org-open-directory-means-index'
• New parameters :prefix and :prefix1 for include files
• New option :index-style for org-publish
• New structure for the timestamp directory for org-publish.

Incompatible changes

New structure for the timestamp directory for org-publish.

The timestamp directory now uses SHA1 hashed versions of the path to each publishing file. This should be a consistent and system-independent way to handle things. The change means that your next publishing command will publish each and every file again, but just once, until new time stamps are in place.

Details

New setup for HTML style information

In order to create a more CSS-like setup of the HTML style information, the following changes have been made:

• The default style has moved to a constant, org-export-html-style-default and should not be changed anymore.
• The default of the variable org-export-html-style is now just the empty string. This variable should receive settings that are Org-wide. When using org-publish, this variable is associated with the :style property and can be used to establish project-wide settings.
• There is a new variable org-export-html-style-extra that should be used for file-local settings. Org-publish can, if necessary, access this variable with the :style-extra property.

• When a file is published, the values of

  • org-export-html-style-default
  • org-export-html-style
  • org-export-html-style-extra

  are all inserted into the HTML header, in the given sequence.

This follows a proposal by Rustom Mody.

Attributes in hyperlinks

You can now set attributes in hyperlinks that will be used when publishing to HTML. For example, if you want to use the ALT and TITLE attributes of an inlined image, here is who to do this:

[[./img/a.jpg{{alt="This is image A" title="Image with no action"}}]]

Thanks to Charles Chen for this idea.

Simplified way to specify file links

In a link, you can now leave out the "file:" prefix if you write an absolute file name like /Users/dominik/.emacs or ~/.emacs, or if you write a relative file name by using ./ or ../ to start the file path. You cannot write a plain file name, because plain text is interpreted as an internal link.

So for example, a link to an image A.jpg with a thumbnail B.jpg can now be written like

[[./A.jpg][./B.jpg] ]

Changes in iCalendar export

Deadline and scheduling time stamps are now treated differently in iCalendar export. The default behavior is now the following:

• a DEADLINE that appears in an entry that is a TODO item is used as the item's DUE date. Therefore, such a deadline will no longer show up in the calendar.
• a DEADLINE that appears in an item that is not a TODO item is exported as an EVENT and will show up in the calendar.
• a SCHEDULED timestamp in a TODO item will be used as the items DTSTART. Therefore, such a timestamp will not show up in the calendar.
• a SCHEDULED timestamp in an item that is not a TODO has no effect on iCalendar export at all. It will be ignored.

Of course this would not be Emacs if you could not configure exactly what you want. Take a look at the variables org-icalendar-use-deadlines and org-icalendar-use-scheduled if you want to go back to the old behavior or even do something completely different.

Thanks to Karen Cooke for triggering this change.

New way to compare times during a property search

If the comparison value in a property search is a string that is enclosed in angular brackets, a time comparison will be done. For example

+DEADLINE>="<2008-12-24 15:20>"

looks for entries with a deadline on or after that time. Special allowed values are "<now>" (with time) and "<today>" (date only).

This is based on a request by Manish.

New option `org-open-directory-means-index'

When set, a link pointing to a directory will actually open the index.org file in that directory. This is a good setting inside a publishing project. When not set, you get a finder/explorer window for that directory, or dired, depending on system and setup.

This follows a request by Richard Riley.

New parameters :prefix and :prefix1 for include files

These parameters specify prefixes for each line of included text. :prefix1 is only for the first line, :prefix for all other lines.

This follows a proposal by Richard Riley.

New option :index-style for org-publish

This option can be used to switch the style of the index produced by org-publish. Can be `list' (index is just an itemized list of the titles of the files involved) or `tree' (the directory structure of the source files is reflected in the index). The default is `tree'.

Thanks to Manuel Hermenegildo for the patch.

In the Agenda, inclusion of archives can now be toggled

• Pressing v will toggle inclusion of trees with the ARCHIVE tag, this includes obviously the archive sibling.
• Pressing `C-u v' will include trees with ARCHIVE tag, and will also include all archive files that are currently associated with your agenda files.

This was triggered by a proposal by Manuel Hermenegildo.

Version 6.05

If I were to name my releases, this one would be called "Adam". Adam, you definitely owe me a beer :-). And I owe you one, too - thanks for all the great ideas.

Overview

• Use cursor position in agenda for remember, scheduling and deadlines
• New API for mapping a function over all or selected entries
• Remember templates can be filed to beginning/end of a file
• Visiting a filed remember buffer immediately
• BBDB anniversaries are now links
• Column view in the agenda now cleans the ITEM field
• The format of section numbers in exported files is configurable
• Direct, single key access to allowed values in column view
• New hook to hack exported iCalendar files
• Log mode in agenda now shows end time for CLOCK line

Incompatible changes

`C-c C-x C-k' now calls `org-mark-entry-for-agenda-action'

It used to call org-cut-special, but that is also at bound to the key C-c C-x C-w.

Details

Making use of the cursor position in the agenda

The date at the cursor in the agenda (and also in the calendar) can now be used to schedule entries, or to set the date in a remember template correctly. It is also designed to make it easier to move an entry to a date picked in the agenda. Thanks to Thomas Baumann for starting the thread that led to this development.

Calling remember with the cursor date in the agenda

If you want to use the date at the agenda cursor in a remember template, start remember from the agenda with the keys k r. While the template is being filled in, the default date for all time stamps, and also for all interactive escapes like %^t is now the date at the cursor in the agenda. The exact same command can also be used from the calendar if you prefer that.

Picking a date for scheduling/deadline in the agenda

You may now pick the date for scheduling an item or for setting a deadline in the agenda, where you have the best overview over free time slots. This is a two step process.

1. First you pick the entry that should be acted upon. In the agenda, you use the keys k m. In an org-mode file, this is on C-c C-x C-k.
2. Then you find the agenda date you want to apply. When the cursor is anywhere in the block belonging to that date, press k s to schedule, or k d to put a deadline. The agenda is not updated immediately, press r if you want it to show the affected entry in the right place.

New API for mapping a function over all or selected entries

Org has sophisticated mapping capabilities to find all entries satisfying certain criteria. Internally, this functionality is used to produce agenda views, but there is also an API that can be used to execute arbitrary functions for each or selected entries. The main entry point for this API is:

-- Function: org-map-entries func &optional match scope &rest skip
     Call FUNC at each headline selected by MATCH in SCOPE.

     FUNC is a function or a lisp form.  The function will be
     called without arguments, with the cursor positioned at
     the beginning of the headline.  The return values of all
     calls to the function will be collected and returned as
     a list.

     MATCH is a tags/property/todo match as it is used in the
     agenda tags view.  Only headlines that are matched by
     this query will be considered during the iteration.
     When MATCH is nil or t, all headlines will be visited by
     the iteration.

     SCOPE determines the scope of this command, it can
     specify a file, all agenda files, the current tree and
     much more.
 
     The remaining args are treated as settings for the
     skipping facilities of the scanner.

The function given to that mapping routine can really do anything you like. Here is a simple example that will turn all entries in the current file with a tag TOMORROW into TODO entries with the keyword UPCOMING. Entries in comment trees and in archive trees will be ignored.

(org-map-entries
   '(org-todo "UPCOMING")
   "+TOMORROW" 'file 'archive 'comment)

The following example counts the number of entries with TODO keyword WAITING, in all agenda files.

(length (org-map-entries t "/+WAITING" nil 'agenda))

Changes in Remember templates

Remember templates can now use the cursor date in the agenda

Use k r to start remember from the agenda, with enforcing the cursor date as default for any time stamps created by the template.

Filing remember templates to the beginning or end of a file

You may now set the heading part of a remember template definition to `top' or `bottom'. The template will then be filed as a level 1 entry to the beginning or end of the target file, respectively. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

You can jump to the location of a note immediately after filing it

Just include the %& escape anywhere in the template. An interesting combination now is to use %!%&, which will immediately file and visit the note, which is equivalent to generating the note directly in the target location. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

BBDB anniversaries are now links.

If you are using %%(bbdb-anniversaries) to list anniversaries in the agenda, you can now directly access the entry that triggered a listed anniversary from the agenda. Just click the anniversary - it is a link now. Thanks to Thomas Baumann for a patch to this effect.

Column view in the agenda now cleans the ITEM field

See the new variable org-agenda-columns-remove-prefix-from-item. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

The format of section number in exported files is configurable

See the new variable `org-export-section-number-format'. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

Direct access to allowed values in column view

In column view, if you press a key 1-9 or 0, the corresponding values from the list of allowed values for that field at point will be directly selected. Thanks to Levin Du for this proposal and a patch to this effect.

New hook to hack exported iCalendar files

The new hook `org-before-save-iCalendar-file-hook' runs just before the buffer with a created iCalendar export is saved. This is what I settled for after a long discussion with Adam Spiers about doing some special filtering automatically.

Log mode in agenda now shows end time for CLOCK lines

When turning on log mode in the agenda with l, clock lines will now also list the end time, not only the starting time. Thanks to Tian Qiu for bringing this up again.

Fixes and additions for org-publish

• the :include and :index-title properties in org-publish work now as advertized
• the #+TITLE of a page will be used in the index
• new :completion-function property can define a hook to be run after publishing a file.

Thanks to Manuel Hermenegildo for a patch to this effect.

Version 6.04

Overview

• Statistics cookies [/] and [%] for TODO entries
• Editing source code example in the proper mode
• iCalendar now defines proper UIDs for entries
• New properties for customizing subtree export

Incompatible changes

• The default of the variable `org-tags-match-list-sublevels' is now `t'. The main reason for this is that it is easier to explain in the manual and will lead to fewer surprises.
• The former CONTRIB directory is now called "contrib". This was already the case in the git distribution, but the tar and zip archives still did this wrong.

Details

Statistics for TODO entries

The [/] and [%] cookies have already provided statistics for checkboxes. Now they do the same also for TODO entries. If a headline contains either cookie, changing the TODO state of any direct child will trigger an update of this cookie. Children that are neither TODO nor DONE are ignored.

There have already been requests to automatically switch the parent headline to DONE when all children are done. I am not making this a default feature, because one needs to make many decisions about which keyword to use, etc. Instead of a complex customization variable, I am providing a hook that can be used. This hook will be called each time a TODO statistics cookie is updated, with the cursor in the corresponding line. Each function in the hook will receive two arguments, the number of done entries, and the number of not-done entries, and you can use the hook to change the state of the headline. Here is an example implementation:

(defun org-summary-todo (n-done n-not-done)
  "Switch entry to DONE when all sub-entries are done, to TODO otherwise."
  (let (org-log-done org-log-states)   ; turn off logging
    (org-todo (if (= n-not-done 0) "DONE" "TODO"))))

(add-hook 'org-after-todo-statistics-hook 'org-summary-todo)

Editing source code example in the proper mode

If you are writing a document with source code examples, you can include these examples into a #+BEGIN_SRC lang ... #+END_SRC or (with the org-mtags module loaded) a <src... structure. lang stands for the Emacs mode used for editing the language, this could be emacs-lisp for Emacs Lisp mode examples, or org for Org mode examples. You can now use the key "C-c '" (that is C-c followed by the single quote) to edit the example in its native mode. This works by creating an indirect buffer, narrowing it to the example and setting the appropriate mode. You need to exit editing by pressing "C-c '" again. This is important, because lines that have syntactic meaning in Org will be quoted by calling this command.

"C-c '" also edits include files, the setupfile in a #+setufile line, and all those little foreign snippets like:

#+HTML: this code can be edited in html-mode

#+BEGIN_HTML
,Same here
#+BEGIN_HTML

#+LaTeX: this code can be edited in latex-mode

#+BEGIN_LaTeX
,Same here
#+BEGIN_LaTeX

#+BEGIN_SRC fortran
,Here we can edit in fortran-mode
#+END_SRC

iCalendar now defines proper UIDs for entries

This is necessary for synchronization services. The UIDs are created using the the org-id.el module which is now part of the Org core. If you set the variable

(setq org-icalendar-store-UID t)

then all created UIDs will be stored in the entry as an :ID: property. This is off by default because it creates lots of property drawers even if you only play with iCalendar export. But if you plan to use synchronization, you really need to turn this on.

Diary sexp entries do not yet receive proper persistent UIDs, because they are transformed to iCalendar format by icalendar.el which creates fresh UIDs each time, based on the current time.

An interesting aspect of Org is that a single outline node can give rise to multiple iCalendar entries (as a timestamp, a deadline, a scheduled item, and as a TODO item). Therefore, Org adds prefixes "TS-", "DL-" "CS-", and "TD-" to the UID during iCalendar export, depending on what triggered the inclusion of the entry. In this way the UID remains unique, but a synchronization program can still figure out from which entry all the different instances originate.

New properties for customizing subtree export.

When exporting a subtree by selecting it before calling the export command, you can now use the properties EXPORT_TITLE, EXPORT_TEXT, and EXPORT_OPTIONS to overrule the global #+TITLE, #+TEXT, and #+OPTIONS settings. You can also set an export file name with EXPORT_FILE_NAME that will overrule the file name derived from the buffer's file name. As far as the options are concerned, the global #+OPTIONS will still be read, and only the options you give in the property will be overwritten. For example:

#+OPTIONS: skip:nil
* Computer Tricks
,  :PROPERTIES:
,  :EXPORT_FILE_NAME: ct.html
,  :EXPORT_TITLE: Steve's collected computer tricks
,  :EXPORT_OPTIONS: h:2 toc:nil
,  :END:

New way to define tags for an entire file.

Tags that are defined in a line like

#+FILETAGS: work urgent

are inherited by all entries in the file.

Thanks to Manuel Hermenegildo for this proposal.

Version 6.03

Overview

• Description lists are now supported natively
• Block quotes for export
• Fontified code examples in HTML export
• Include files for export
• Text before the first headline is now exported by default
• In-buffer options may now be collected in an external file
• The in-buffer settings keywords may now be lower case
• Completion of structure elements
• Startup visibility can now be influenced by properties
• Clock task history, moving entries with the running clock
• BBDB anniversaries much faster
• New contrib files: org-eval.el and org-mtags.el

Incompatible changes

• The text before the first headline is now exported by default Previously, the default was to not include text in an org-mode buffer before the first headline. From now on, the default it to include it. If you like the old default better, customize the variable org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading or set the value on a per-file basis with

#+OPTIONS: skip:t

Details

Description lists are now supported natively

A plain list will be exported as a description list if the first item in the list has a term and the description, separated by " :: ". For example

Emacs software by Carsten Dominik
- RefTeX    :: Support for LaTeX Labels, References, Citations
- CDLaTeX   :: more LaTeX functionality for Emacs
- TeXmathp  :: checking LaTeX buffers for Math mode.
- ORG       :: An Emacs mode for notes and projet planning.
- CONSTANTS :: An Emacs package for inserting the definition of
               natural constants and units into a buffer.
- IDLWAVE   :: The Emacs modes for editing and
               running IDL and WAVE CL files.

will be rendered as

Emacs software by Carsten Dominik

RefTeX

Support for LaTeX Labels, References, Citations

CDLaTeX

more LaTeX functionality for Emacs

TeXmathp

checking LaTeX buffers for Math mode.

ORG

An Emacs mode for notes and projet planning.

CONSTANTS

An Emacs package for inserting the definition of natural constants and units into a buffer.

IDLWAVE

The Emacs modes for editing and running IDL and WAVE CL files.

This works now in the HTML exporter, we still need to supoort it with the LaTeX and ASCII exporters.

Block quotes for export

For quoting an entire paragraph as a citation, use

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Everything should be made as simple as possible,
but not any simpler -- Albert Einstein
#+BEGIN_QUOTE

which will render as

#+BEGIN_QUOTE Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler – Albert Einstein #+BEGIN_QUOTE

Fontified code examples in HTML export

You can now get code examples fontified like they would be fontified in an Emacs Buffer, and export the result to HTML. To do so, wrap the code examples into the following structure:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun org-xor (a b)
  "Exclusive or."
  (if a (not b) b))
#+END_SRC

In the export, this will then look like this (if you are now looking at the ASCII export and do not see anything interesting, go and check out the HTML version at http://orgmode.org/Changes.html).

(defun org-xor (a b)
  "Exclusive or."
  (if a (not b) b))

The string after the BEGIN_SRC is the name of the major emacs mode that should be used to fontify the code example, without the "-mode" at the end of the mode name. For example, if you are writing an Org tutorial with Org examples included, you would use "org" as the language identifier - in fact, I have used just that in the example above.

Currently this works only for HTML export, and requires the htmlize.el package, version 1.34 or later. For other backends, such structures are simply exported as EXAMPLE.

Include files for export

A line like

#+INCLUDE "file" markup lang

will lead to the inclusion of the contents of FILE at the moment of publishing. FILE should be surrounded by double quotes, this is obligatory if it contains space characters. The parameters MARKUP and LANG are optional. MARKUP can be "example", "quote", or "src". If it is "src", LANG should be the name of the Emacs mode to be used for fontifying the code. For example:

Here is my /.emacs/ file:
#+INCLUDE "~/.emacs" src emacs-lisp

The text before the first headline is now exported by default

Previously, the default was to not include text in an org-mode buffer before the first headline. From now on, the default it to include it. If you like the old default better, customize the variable org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading or set the value on a per-file basis with

#+OPTIONS: skip:t

In-buffer options may now be collected in an external file

If you would like to share the Org setup between a number of files, you can now store in-buffer setup in a file and simply point to that file from each file that should read it. If you write in a buffer

#+SETUPFILE: "path/to/setup.org"

then this file will be scanned for in-buffer options like #+STARTUP, #+TITLE, or #+OPTIONS.

The in-buffer settings keywords may now be upper or lower case

From now on, it makes no difference is you write #+STARTUP or #+startup, to make these lines less imposing. Similarly for all other in-buffer keywords.

Completion of structure elements

As a new experimental feature, Org now supports completion of structural elements like #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE in a special way. It work by typing, for example "<e" and then pressing TAB, on an otherwise empty line. "<e" will expand into a complete EXAMPLE template, with the cursor positioned in the middle. Currently supported templates are:

<s   #+begin_src
<e   #+begin_example
<q   #+begin_quote
<v   #+begin_verse
<l   #+begin_latex
<L   #+latex:
<h   #+begin_html
<H   #+html:
<a   #+begin_ascii
<i   #+include

This is an experimental feature, please comment! See also below under org-mtags.el.

Startup visibility can now be influenced by properties

When Emacs opens an Org mode buffer, the outline visibility is set to a startup value that is taken from the variable org-startup-folded, or from a #+STARTUP setting in the buffer. After this has happened, the buffer will now also be scanned for entries with a VISIBILITY property. Wherever such a property is found, the corresponding subtree will get its visibility adjusted. Allowed values for the property are:

Fold the subtree Show the text after the headline, and the headlines of all direct children Show all headlines in the tree, but no text below any headline Show the entire subtree

For example, I am using this for the huge Changes.org file that is the source for the list of visible changes you are reading right now. The top-most entry in this file always describes the changes in my current working version. The start of this section currently looks like this:

* Version 6.03
,  :PROPERTIES:
,    :VISIBILITY: content
,  :END:
** Overview

This was a proposal by Ben Alexander.

The command C-u C-u TAB will switch back to the startup visibility of the buffer.

Clock task history, and moving entries with the running clock

Org now remembers the last 5 tasks that you clocked into, to make it easier to clock back into a task after interrupting it for another task. C-u C-u C-c C-x C-i (or C-u C-u I from the agenda) will clock into that task and mark it as current default task. C-u C-c C-x C-i (or C-u I from the agenda) will offer a list of recently clocked tasks, including the default task, for selection. d selects the default task, i selects the task that was interrupted by the task that is currently being clocked. 1,… selects a recent task. When you select a task, you will be clocked into it. You can use C-u C-c C-x C-j to jump to any of these tasks.

When moving an entry using structure editing commands, archiving commands, or the special subtree cut-and-paste commands C-c C-x C-w and C-c C-x C-y, the running clock marker and all clock history markers will be moved with the subtree. Now you can start a clock in a remember buffer and keep the clock running while filing the note away. See also the variable `org-remember-clock-out-on-exit'.

BBDB anniversaries much faster

bbdb-anniversaries is now much faster, thanks to a new approach using a hash for birthdays. Thanks to Thomas Baumann for a patch to this effect.

New files in the contrib directory

Do people think any of these should become core?

This new module allows to include the result of the evaluation of Lisp code (and other scripting languages) into the buffer, similar to the <lisp> tag of Emacs Wiki and Muse. This new modules allows you to use Muse-like tags for some structure definitions in Org. For example, instead of :#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE :… :#+END_EXAMPLE you can write :<example> :… :</example> In fact, I myself find these easier to type and to look at. Also, it will allow you to more easily move text and files back and forth between Org and Muse. For a list of supported structure elements, see the commentary in the file commentary in the file org-mtags.el.

If you load this module and use the "<i" etc completion described above, the Muse form will automatically be inserted.

Bug fixes

Many bug fixes again. Will this ever stop?

Version 6.02

Overview

Column view (mostly) works now in XEmacs Summaries for columns in the agenda The special property Effort can be used for effort estimates New operators for property searches Search commands can now include archive files. Clock tables can include the archive files Orgtbl radio tables generalized.

Details

Column view works now in XEmacs

I had already given up on this, but Greg Chernev (who implemented noutline.el for XEmacs and in this way kept Org alive on XEmacs) has done it again and provided the patches to make column view work under XEmacs. There are still some problems, but the basics work and we will iron out the remaining issues, hopefully soon.

Summaries for columns in the agenda

If any of the columns has a summary type defined, turning on column view in the agenda will show summaries for these columns. Org will first visit all relevant agenda files and make sure that the computations of this property are up to date. This is also true for the special CLOCKSUM property. Org will then sum the values displayed in the agenda. In the daily/weekly agenda, the sums will cover a single day, in all other views they cover the entire block. It is vital to realize that the agenda may show the same entry multiple times (for example as scheduled and as a deadline), and it may show two entries from the same hierarchy (for example a parent and it's child). In these cases, the summation in the agenda will lead to incorrect results because some values will count double.

The special property Effort can be used for effort estimates

If you want to plan your work in a very detailed way, or if you need to produce offers with quotations of the estimated work effort, you may want to assign effort estimates to entries. If you are also clocking your work, you may later want to compare the planned effort with the actual working time. Effort estimates can now be stored in a special property Effort, displayed side-to-side with clock sums, and also be summed over a day, in order to show the planned work load of a day. See the manual for more details.

New operators for property searches

Property searches can now choose a number of different operators for comparing values. These operators are `=', `<>', `<', `<=', `>', and `>='.

When the search term uses the operator with plain number like +Effort>=2.7, then the property value is converted to a number and a numerical comparison takes place.

When the search term uses a string on the right hand side of the operator, a string comparison is done: +PRIORITY<"C".

Finally, if the right hand side is enclosed in curly braces, a regexp match is done: aaa={regexp}. In this case you should use only the `=' or `<>' operators, meaning "does match" or "does not match", respectively.

This was a triggered with a request by Dan Davison.

Search commands can now include archive files.

If the value of the customization variable org-agenda-text-search-extra-files contains the symbol agenda-archives as the first element in the list, all archive files of all agenda files will be added to the list of files to search. This is relevant for the search view C-c a s, as well as for the agenda files multi-occur command C-c a /.

Clock tables can include the archive files

There are new values for the :scope parameter of a clock table. This can now be file-with-archives and agenda-with-archives, in order to collect information not only from the current file or all agenda files, but also from all archive files that are currently used by these files.

Orgtbl radio tables generalized.

The options available for radio tables using orgtbl-mode have been expanded. You may use several reception points and formats for the same table, you may have special formatting in the last line of the table, and many table parameters may be functions, so that more general transformations are possible. Jason Riedy provided a patch for this, and he will hopefully come up with some examples. Thanks!

Version 6.01

This is a new major release, mostly because of structural changes in Org. However, since this took a while, there is also a long list of small improvements and some new significant features.

Overview

The Org distribution has a new structure New system for selecting modules to load New archiving mechanism: The Archive Sibling Support for Sebastian Rose's JavaScript org-info.js. Internal links work now better in HTML export Export commands can be done in the background Flexible setting of the time block shown by the clock table Clock table can be included in the agenda Support for ISO week dates (ISO 6801) Tag inheritance can be limited to a subset of all tags Entries can be sorted by TODO keyword And some more small fixes and improvements

Incompatible changes

The Org distribution has a new structure

In the distribution files as well as in the GIT repository, the lisp files are now located in a subdirectory "lisp", and the documentation files are located in a subdirectory "doc". If you are running Org directly from the unpacked distribution archive (zip or tar file, or GIT repository), you need to modify your settings for load-path accordingly.

Details

The Org distribution has a new structure

In the distribution files as well as in the GIT repository, the lisp files are now located in a subdirectory "lisp", and the documentation files are located in a subdirectory "doc". If you are running Org directly from the unpacked distribution archive (zip or tar file, or GIT repository), you need to modify your settings for load-path accordingly.

Loading modules

Org-mode has now a system for loading modules by simply configuring an option that lists all the modules you want to use. Customize the variable `org-modules'. That variable lists both modules that are part of the Org-mode core (and in this way part of Emacs), and modules that are contributed packages. Contributed modules will only be available when you have installed them properly (most likely by downloading the distribution and adding /path/to/orgdir/contrib/lisp to your load path).

New archiving mechanism: The Archive Sibling

There is a new method to archive entries in the current file: By moving it to a sibling called the Archive Sibling. That sibling has the heading "Archive" and also carries the ARCHIVE tag. This can be a great way to do archiving inside a project, to get parts of the project out of the way and to wait with true archiving (moving to another file) until the entire project is done. Archiving to a sibling keeps much of the context, for example inherited tags and approximate tree position in tact.

The key binding for the is "C-c C-x A", and from the agenda buffer you can simply use "A".

Thanks to Ilya Shlyakhter for this rather clever idea.

Support for Sebastian Rose's JavaScript org-info.js.

This fascinating program allows a completely new viewing experience for web pages created from Org files. The same document can be viewed in different ways, and switching between the views as well as navigation uses single-key commands.

One of the view types is an Info-like interface where you can jump through the sections of the document with the `n' and `p' keys (and others). There is also a folding interface where you can fold the document much like you can fold it in org-mode in Emacs, and cycle through the visibility both locally and globally.

To set this up, all you need to do is to make sure that org-infojs.el gets loaded (customize the variable org-modules to check). Then add this line to the buffer:

#+INFOJS_OPT: view:info

In that line, you can configure the initial view and other settings. Available views are info for the info-like interface, and overview, content, and showall for the folding interface. See the manual for more details. The JavaScript program is served from http://orgmode.org/org-info.js, and your exported HTML files will automatically get it from there. However, you may want to be independent of the existence and stability of orgmode.org and install a copy locally. Then you need to change the path from which the script is loaded, either by using something like

#+INFOJS_OPT: view:info path:../scripts/org-info.js

or by configuring the variable org-infojs-options.

For details see the documentation provided by Sebastian Rose together with org-info.js.

Export improvements

The export of internal links to HTML now works a lot better. Most internal links that work while editing an Org file inside Emacs will now also work the the corresponding HTML file.

You can run many of the export commands in the background by using `C-c C-u C-c C-e' in order to start the process. RIght now this will only work if "emacs" is the right command to get to your Emacs executable - I hope to make this less system dependent in the future.

Both these are based on requests by Ilya Shlyakhter.

Improvements to clocktable

The clocktable is now much more flexible and user friendly when trying to specify the time block that should be considered when constructing the table.

The :block parameter to the table can now look like any of these:

:block	meaning
2008	The entire year 2008
2008-04	The month April 2008
2008-04-02	The day April 2, 2008
2008-W14	ISO-Week 14 in 2008
today	Today
today-5	The day five days ago
thisweek	The current week
thisweek-2	Two weeks ago
thismonth	The current month
thismonth-12	Same month, last year
lastmonth	Same as thismonth-1

What is more, you can now use the S-left and S-right keys to shift the time block around. The cursor needs to be in the #+BEGIN: clocktable line for this to work. If the current block is today, S-left with switch to yesterday. If the current block is 2008-W14, S-right will switch to the following week.

When the clocktable is collecting from several files, the total time for each file will now also be listed. This was a request from Bernt Hansen.

If you turn on the new clock report mode with the "R" key in the agenda, a clock table will be attached to the agenda, showing the clock report for the file scope and time interval of the agenda view. To turn this on permanently, configure the variable org-agenda-start-with-clock report-mode. To modify the properties of the table, in particular the :maxlevel depth, configure org-agenda-clockreport-parameter-plist.

Support for ISO week dates (ISO 6801)

The agenda now shows the ISO week for the displayed dates, in the form W08 for week 8.

The keys d, w, m, and y in the agenda view now accept prefix arguments. Remember that in the agenda, you can directly type a prefix argument by typing a number, no need to press C-u first. The prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the year, ISO week, month, or year, respectively. For example, 32 d jumps to February 1st, 9 w to ISO week number 9. When setting day, week, or month view, a year may be encoded in the prefix argument as well. For example, 200712 w will jump to week 12 in the year 2007. If such a year specification has only one or two digits, it will be mapped to the interval 1938-2037.

When entering a date at the date prompt, you may now also specify an ISO week. For example

w4              Monday of week 4
fri w4          Friday of week 4
w4-5            Same as above
2012 w4 fri     Friday of week 4 in 2012.
2012-W04-5      Same as above

So far I have not implemented the effect of `org-read-date-prefer-future' on this functionality, because it seemed too magic for me. I'd appreciate comments on this issue: Should `org-read-date-prefer-future' also push dates into the next year if the week you are entering has already passed in the current year? For consistency I guess this should be the case, but I cannot quite wrap my head around it.

I hope but am not entirely convinced that this will behave sanely also during the first/last week of a year. Please test extensively and report back.

This was a request by Thomas Baumann.

Improvements in Search View

Calling search view with a C-u prefix will make it match only in TODO entries.

The single quote is no longer considered a word character during search, so that searching for the word "Nasim" will also match in "Nasim's".

Misc

Inheritance of tags can now be limited to a subset of all tags, using the variable org-use-tag-inheritance. This variable may now be a regular expression or a list to select the inherited tags. Thanks to Michael Ekstrand for this excellent proposal.

The regexp option is also implemented for org-use-property-inheritance, so that you can now select properties for inheritance my name.

The INHERIT flag to the function org-entry-get can be set to the symbol selective. If this is the case, then the value of the property will be retrieved using inheritance if and only if the setting in org-use-property-inheritance selects the property for inheritance.

There are now special faces for the date lines in the agenda/timeline buffers, and another special face for days that fall on a weekend: org-agenda-date and org-agenda-date-weekend. Both these faces are initially similar to the org-agenda-structure face, but you can customize them freely.

When an entry already has a scheduling or deadline time stamp, calling `C-c C-s' or `C-c C-d', respectively, will now use that old date as the default, and you can can use the "++4d" syntax to invoke shifts relative to that default date. Simply pressing RET at the prompt will keep the default date, not switch to today.

This was an omission in the earlier implementation, spotted by Wanrong Lin. Thanks!

File names in remember templates can be relative, if they are, they will be interpreted relative to org-directory.

The handling of the clipboard when inserting into remember templates is now much better, and gives more control on what should be inserted with new %-escapes:

%c - Now always insert the head of the kill ring, never the X clipboard.

%x - Insert the content of the X clipboard. This is the first non-empty value from the PRIMARY, SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD X clipboards.

%^C - This allows the user to choose between any of the clipboard values available, the kill ring head, and the initial region if set.

%^L - Like %^C, but this inserts an org link using the selected value.

Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

Table export to an internal file can now use a format specification, similar to the formats that are used by orgtbl radio tables. The default format is in the variable org-table-export-default-format. You can use properties TABLE_EXPORT_FILE and TABLE_EXPORT_FORMAT to specify the file name to which the export should go, and a local format. For example:

:PROPERTIES:
:TABLE_EXPORT_FILE: ~/xx.txt
:TABLE_EXPORT_FORMAT: orgtbl-to-generic :splice t :sep "\t"
:END:

Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

Entries can be sorted by TODO keyword, and the order is given by the definition sequence of the TODO keywords in the variable org-todo-keywords, or in the #+TODO line. Use the "o" key when sorting with C-c ^.

Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

Version 5.23

Overview

New keyword search agenda view

Many new extensions available in the CONTRIB directory

New remember template option: pre-selection contexts

Modifying list/headline status of a line

Granularity while editing time stamps

New repeaters mechanisms

New parameters for dynamic blocks ad the clock table

Limiting iCalendar export to fewer entries

M-RET splits lines again

New hooks

Incompatible changes

The variable `org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes' is now a list of two values - if you have configured this variable before, please do it again.

Details

New keyword search agenda view

`C-c a s' now invokes a special agenda view that can be used to search notes by keyword and regular expressions. In particular, it does not require a single regular expression or string to search for, but it can search for a number keywords or regexps that can occur in arbitrary sequence in the entry. The search knows the boundaries of an entry, can use simple Boolean logic and is reasonably fast. For example, the search string

+computer +wifi -ethernet -{8\.11[bg]}

will search for note entries that contain the keywords computer and wifi, but not the keyword ethernet, and which are also not matched by the regular expression "8\.11[bg]", meaning to exclude both 8.11b and 8.11g. If the first character of the search string is an asterisk, the search will only look at headlines - otherwise it will look at the headine and the text below it, up to the next (possibly sub-) heading.

The command searches all agenda files, and in addition the files listed in org-agenda-text-search-extra-files.

I find it very useful to define a custom command to do such a search only in a limited number of files (my notes files), like this:

("N" "Search notes" search ""
  ((org-agenda-files '("~/org/notes.org" "~/org/computer.org"))
   (org-agenda-text-search-extra-files nil)))

Many new extensions available in the CONTRIB directory

Phil Jackson's org-irc.el is now part of the Org-mode core, which means it will become part of Emacs soon.

The new development model already starts to pay off, a number of interesting extensions are now part of the distribution. Check the file CONTRIB/README for a list.

There is a new variable `org-default-extensions'. Configuring this variable makes it very easy to load these default extensions - eventually this will be expanded to cover contributed extensions as well.

New remember template option: pre-selection contexts

Remember template definitions now allow six elements. The last element defines the contexts in which the template should be offered. It can be a list of major modes, a function, t or nil. If it is a list of major-mode, the template will be available only when org-remember is called from a buffer in one of these modes. If it is a function, the template will be offered only if the function returns `t' when called in the current buffer. A value of t or nil for this element means select this template in any context.

One possible application for this would be to have several templates all using the same selection letter, and choosing the right one based on context. For example, think of tasks describing a bug in a source code file. With the following configuration we make sure that the bug reports are filed into the appropriate sections of the target file.

(setq org-remember-templates
 '(("Elisp" ?b "* %a\n\n%i%?" "~/bugs.org" "Elisp bugs" (emacs-lisp-mode))
   ("C Bugs" ?b "* %a\n\n%i%?" "~/bugs.org" "C bugs" (cc-mode))))

See (info "(org)Remember templates") for details.

Modifying list/headline status of a line

`C-c -' has now more functions: In a table, add a hline as before In an item list, cycle bullet type as before In a normal line, turn it into an item In a headline, turn it into an item If there is an active region, turn each line into an item. But if the first region line is already an item, remove item markers from all lines.

Based on proposals by Bastien.

`C-c *' has now more functions in a table, recompute, as before in a normal line, convert it to a sub heading. at an item, convert it into a subheading if there is an active region, convert all lines in the region to headlines. However, if the first lie already is a heading, remove the stars from all lines int he region.

Based on proposals by Bastien.

Changes related to time stamps

The value variable org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes is now a list of two values. The first applies when creating a new time stamp. The second applies when modifying a timestamp with S-up/down. The default for this new task is 5 minutes, but 15 may also be a very good value for many people. If S-up/down is used on a time stamp where the minute part is not compatible with this granularity it will be made so. You can bypass this by using a prefix argument to exactly specify the number of minutes to shift.

This was a proposal by Adam Spiers.

New repeaters that shift a date relative to today, or that make sure that the next date is in the future. For example:

:** TODO Call Father

  DEADLINE: <2008-02-10 Sun ++1w>
  Marking this DONE will shift the date by at least one week,
  but also by as many weeks as it takes to get this date into
  the future.  However, it stays on a Sunday, even if you called
  and marked it done on Saturday.

:** TODO Check the batteries in the smoke detectors

  DEADLINE: <2005-11-01 Tue .+1m>
  Marking this DONE will shift the date to one month after
  today.

Proposed by Wanrong Lin and Rainer Stengle.

New parameters for dynamic blocks ad the clock table

There is a new :link parameter for the clocktable. When set, the headlines listed in the table will be links to the original headlines.

There is a new :content parameter that is passed to the writer function of the dynamic block. Use this parameter to pass the previous content of the block to the writer function, in case you want to make the outcome dependent on the previous content.

Limiting iCalendar export to fewer entries

New way to limit iCalendar export to the entries captured in an agenda view. This is done by "writing" the agenda view using `C-x C-w' to a file with extension .ics.

This was a request by Kyle Sexton.

Misc

Due to a popular revolt shortly after the 5.22 release, M-RET can again be used to split a line so that the rest of the line becomes the new heading. However, if you do this in a heading containing tags, the tags will stay in the old line.

Customize the variable org-M-RET-may-split-line if you don't want this command to split a line in the middle. The same variable also influences line splitting in items and in tables.

There are three new hooks:

org-follow-link-hook: runs after following a link org-publish-before-export-hook: runs before export org-publish-after-export-hook: runs after export

Version 5.22

Incompatible changes

The variable `org-log-done' is now less complex. The in-buffer settings for logging have changed. Some options no longer exists, some new ones have been added.

Details

Changes to logging progress

There is now more control over which state changes are being logged in what way. Please read carefully the corresponding sections in the manual. Basically:

The variable `org-log-done' has been simplified, it no longer influences logging state changes and clocking out. There is a new variable for triggering note-taking when clocking out an item: `org-log-note-clock-out'. Logging of state changes now has to be configured on a pre-keyword basis, either in `org-todo-keywords' or in the #+TODO in-buffer setting. These per-keyword settings allow more control. For example

WAIT(w@)    Record a note when entering this state.
WAIT(w!)    Record a timestamp when entering this state.
WAIT(w@/!)  Recore a note when entering and timestamp
            when leaving this state.  This is great for
            getting a record when switching *back* from
             WAIT to TODO.
WAIT(/!)    Record a timestamp when leaving this state.
            Here we not even define a fast access
            character, but just the logging stuff.

This was triggered by requests from Wanrong Lin and Bernt Hansen.

Other

M-RET no longer brakes a line in the middle, it will make a new line after the current or (if cursor is at the beginning of the line) before the current line.

RET, when executed in a headline after the main text and before the tags will leave the tags in the current line and create a new line below the current one.

Version 5.21

Bug fixes, in particular the long-hunted bug about wrong window positions after pressing SPACE in the agenda. Hopefully this is really fixed.

Version 5.20

Overview

Remember/Refile/Goto

The use of prefix arguments for the commands `org-remember' and `org-refile' has been normalized.

The clock can now safely be used in a remember buffer.

The variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive' introduced only in 5.19 is already obsolete. Please use `org-remember-interactive-interface' instead.

It is no longer necessary to update the refiling targets.

Automatic isearch in `org-goto'.

Outline-path-completion as alternative org-goto interface.

Misc

Checkboxes now work hierarchically.

`C-k' can now behave specially in headlines.

Repeater for tasks in plain timestamps.

All clock intervals of an item show in agenda/timeline.

New parameter :step for clocktable, to get daily reports.

Never loose a repeaded scheduled item from the agenda.

Archiving a subtree now stores the outline path in a property.

Links to messages in Apple Mail.

Bug fixes.

Incompatible Changes

The variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive' introduced only in 5.19 is already obsolete. Please use `org-remember-interactive-interface' instead.

Details

Remember/Refile/Goto

The use of prefix arguments for the commands `org-remember' and `org-refile' has been normalized:

when called without prefix argument, the command does its normal job, starting a remember note or refiling a tree.

when called with a single C-u prefix, these commands can be used to select a target location and to jump there. In the case of `org-remember', you will be prompted for a template and then Emacs jumps to the default target location or this template. In the case of `org-refile', you select a location from the refile target list and jump there.

when called with two prefixes (`C-u C-u'), the command jumps to the location last used for storing a note or a moved tree.

When the clock is running inside an remember buffer, storing the remember buffer with `C-c C-c' will automatically clock out. This was inspired by a request by Rainer Stengle.

The variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive' introduced only in 5.19 is already obsolete. Please use `org-remember-interactive-interface' instead. This new variable does select the interface that is used to select the target for a remember note in an interactive way. Possible values are:

`outline': Use an outline of the document to select a location. `outline-path-completion': Use completion of an outline path to select a location. `refile': Offer the `org-refile-targets' as possible targets.

It is no longer necessary to update the refiling targets - they are always current.

In `org-goto', typing characters now automatically starts isearch from the beginning of the buffer. The isearch is special also because it only matches in headline. This goes some way toward saving org-goto from being removed from Org-mode. Thanks to Piotr Zielinski for the code, and sorry that it took me so long to put it in. If you prefer to use single letters n,p,f,b,u,q for navigation as before, configure the variable `org-goto-auto-isearch'.

Outline-path-completion is now available as an alternative interface in the command `org-goto'. Please select the default interface you'd like to use with the new variable `org-goto-interface'. You can then select the alternative interface with a prefix argument to `C-c C-j' (org-goto). I am considering to make outline-path-completion the default interface. Comments?

Misc

Checkboxes now work hierarchically. When a plain-list item with a checkbox has children with checkboxes, the status of the item's checkbox is calculated from the children, each time a checkbox is toggled with C-c C-c. Thanks to Miguel Figueroa-Villanueva for a patch to this effect.

There is a new variable `org-special-ctrl-k'. When set, `C-k' will behave specially in headlines:

When the cursor is at the beginning of a headline, kill the entire line and possible the folded subtree below the line. When in the middle of the headline text, kill the headline up to the tags. When after the headline text, kill the tags.

This is following a proposal by Piotr Zielinski.

You can now also have a plain (as opposed to deadline or scheduled) repeater timestamp in a task. Switching the task to DONE will now also shift a plain time stamp. This was a request by Austin Frank.

If an entry is clocked multiple times, it will now show up several times in the agenda and timeline buffers, when log-mode is on. This was a proposal by Jurgen Defurne.

The clock table accepts a new parameter :step. This parameter can be `day' or `week' and will result in separate tables for each day or week in the requested time interval. This was triggered by a proposal by Sacha Chua in her blog.

A time-stamp with a repeater now no longer refers to the date closest to the current day. Instead, it means either today or the most recent match. This change makes sure that overdue scheduled or deadline items never disappear from the agenda. With the previous convention, an overdue scheduled item would disappear. For example, a weekly item scheduled for Sunday would appear as overdue until Wednesday, and the suddenly disappear until next Sunday. Now the item will show up as "Sched 7x" on Saturday. From Sunday on it will be in the list as "Scheduled", i.e. old sins will be forgiven. This follows a request by Warong, Dennis and Bernt.

Archiving a subtree now creates an additional property, ARCHIVE_OLPATH. This property contains the "path" in the outline tree to the archived entry, as it was in the original file. For example, archiving Fix the door in the following hierarchy

* Tasks
** HOME
*** Garage
**** Fix the door

will file is with the following property

:ARCHIVE_PATH: Task/HOME/Garage

Note that you can configure (i.e. limit) the information that gets stored upon archiving with the variable `org-archive-save-context-info'.

New file `org-mac-message.el' by John Wiegley to create links for messages in Apple Mail, and to follow these links.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.19

Overview

Column view can list the clocked times of a subtree.

Storing remember notes can use the `org-refile' interface.

Storing remember notes no longer produced empty lines.

Moving subtrees now folds all siblings of the subtree.

New variable `org-agenda-todo-keyword-format'.

Hack to allow brackets in link descriptions.

Clocking into an entry can enforce a specific TODO state.

EXPORT_FILE_NAME may be an absolute file name with "~".

Bug fixes, lots of them.

Details

A new special column definition lists the sum of all CLOCK entries in a subtree. For example

#+COLUMNS: %20ITEM %10Time_Estimate{:} %CLOCKSUM

will allow you to compare estimated times (as given in the Time_Estimate property) with the clocked times. This was a request by Bernt Hansen.

Storing remember notes can now use the `org-refile' interface instead of the `org-goto' interface (see the variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive'). Nothing will change if the note is stored immediately after pressing `C-c C-c' in the *Remember* buffer. But if you have chosen (e.g. by pressing `C-u C-c C-c') to interactively select the filing location (file and headline), the refile interface will be used instead. I am excited about this change, because the `org-goto' interface is basically a failure, at least for this application. Note that in any case the refile interface has to be configured first by customizing `org-refile-targets'.

Notes inserted with remember now remove any whitespace before and after the note before being pasted, so that there will be no empty lines inserted together with the note. We could invent special syntax in remember templates to allow creating empty lines before a note - is there anyone who'd want this?

Moving subtrees now folds all siblings of the subtree. This is the only reasonably simple way I could find to avoid the reported inconsistencies in the folding state of the outline tree after moving entries. There are reasons to like this new behavior, because it easily visualizes where the tree is located after the move. Still, not everyone might be happy with this. Massive complaining would be needed to make me fix this.

New variable `org-agenda-todo-keyword-format' to specify the width of the TODO keyword field in the agenda display. Use it to get things to line up better. This was a proposal by Rainer Stengele.

If a link description inserted with `C-c C-l' contains brackets, the brackets will now be converted into curly braces. This looks similar enough. Supporting brackets in link descriptions is, for technical reasons too long to explain here, complex.

The new option `org-clock-in-switch-to-state' can be set to a TODO state that will be enforced when the clock is started on an entry. This follows an idea by Sacha Chua.

The EXPORT_FILE_NAME property may now also be an absolute file name, and it may contain abbreviations like "~" for the users home directory. This was requested by Adam Spiers.

Bug fixes, lots of them.

Version 5.18

Minor fixes.

Version 5.17

Details

Whitespace

When cutting, pasting, or moving subtrees and items, the empty lines before the subtree/item now belong to the part and will be moved with it. There is one exception to this rule: If the first child is moved down (or, equivalently, the second is moved up), the amount of empty lines above the first child to be moved along with it is limited by the number of empty lines below it. This sounds complicated, but it allows to have extra empty space before the first child and still have good behavior of the subtree motion commands.

Plain lists items work the same.

I believe we have finally nailed this one. Thanks to Daniel Pittman for bring this up again and to Eric Schulte for pointing out that it is the empty lines before an entry that really count.

This change was non-trivial, please give it a good test and let me know about any problems.

Remember

The new command `org-remember-goto-last-stored' will jump to the location of the remember note stored most recently. If you have `org-remember' on a key like `C-c r', then you can go to the location with a double prefix arg: `C-u C-u C-c r'. This was a proposal by Rainer Stengele.

Template items that are being prompted for can now specify a default value and a completion table. Furthermore, previous inputs at a specific prompt are captured in a history variable. For example:

%^{Author|Roald Dahl|Thomas Mann|Larry Niven}

will prompt for an author name. Pressing RET without typing anything will select "Roald Dahl". Completion will give you any of the three names. And a history will be kept, so you can use the arrow keys to get to previous input. The history is tied to the prompt. By using the same prompt in different templates, you can build a history across templates. The ideas for this came from proposals by Bastien and Adam.

When a remember template contains the string `%!', the note will be stored immediately after all template parts have been filled in, so you don't even have to press `C-c C-c'. The was a proposal by Adam Spiers.

Refile

`org-refile-targets' has a new parameter to specify a maximum level for target selection. Thanks to Wanrong Lin for this proposal.

When the new option `org-refile-use-outline-path' is set, refile targets will be presented like a file path to the completion interface: "level 1/level 2/level 3". This may be the fastest interface yet to get to a certain outline entry. Do we need to use this interface in other places? Thanks to Jose Ruiz for this proposal.

Version 5.16

Details

Restriction lock on agenda scope

You can now permanently lock the agenda construction to a certain scope, like a file or a subtree. So instead of pressing "<" for each command in the agenda dispatcher, you only once select a restriction scope. All subsequent agenda commands will than respect this restriction. For example, you can use this at work, to limit agendas to your work file or tree, and at home to limit to the home file or tree. Or you can use it during the day in order to focus in on certain projects.

You select a scope with the command `C-c C-x <', which restricts to the current subtree. When called with a `C-u' prefix, the restriction is to the current file. You can also make restrictions from the speedbar frame, see below.

When making a new restriction and an agenda window is currently visible, it will immediately be updated to reflect the new scope. If you like you can display an agenda view and then watch it change in various scopes.

To get rid of the restriction, use the command "C-c C-x >". Or press ">" in the agenda dispatcher. Also, and use of "<" in the dispatcher will disable the restriction lock and select a new restriction.

Thanks to Rick Moynihan for triggering this development.

Imenu and Speedbar support

Org-mode now supports Imenu. For example, with the setting

(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 
   (lambda () 'imenu-add-to-menubar "Imenu"))

a menu will be created in each Org-mode buffer that provides access to all level 1 and level 2 headings. The depth of the menu can be set with the variable `org-imenu-depth'.

org-mode now supports Speedbar. This means that you can drill into the first and second level headlines of an Org-mode file right from the speedbar frame.

You can set a restriction lock for the Org-mode agenda to a file or a subtree directly from the speedbar frame. Just press "<" with the cursor on an Org-mode file or subtree to set the lock and immediately update the agenda if it is visible. Use ">" to get rid of the lock again.

Version 5.15

Details

There are new special properties TIMESTAMP and TIMESTAMP_IA. These can be used to access the first keyword-less active and inactive timestamp in an entry, respectively.

New variable `org-clock-heading-function'. It can be set to a function that creates the string shown in the mode line when a clock is running. Thanks to Tom Weissmann for this idea.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.14

Overview

Remember and related stuff New command `org-refile' to quickly move a note. Easy way to jump to the target location of remember template. New %-escapes in remember templates: %c %(…) and %[…] `org-remember-insinuate' simplifies remember setup

Emphasis and Font-lock stuff Stacked emphasis is no longer allowed. You may finally emphasize a single character like *a*. Font-lock now can hide the emphasis markers Text in the "=" emphasis is exported verbatim There is a new emphasis marker "~" for verbatim text Constructs treated specially by the exporters can be highlighted

Properties and Column view More control over which properties use inheritance CATEGORY="work" can now be used in a tags/property search the {+} summary type can specify a printf-style output format New currency summary type {$}

The date/time prompt While entering data, watch live the current interpretation. The date prompt now prefers to select the future Easier modification of time in an existing time stamp.

Export You can now export some special strings in HTML, like "…"

Agenda In the agenda, a few keys have changed: `g', `G', and `e'.

Miscellaneous Class-dependent sectioning structures in LaTeX export. Radio-lists modeled after the radio tables. The default for `org-ellipsis' is back to nil Support for pabbrev-mode New variable `org-show-entry-below'.

Incompatible changes

If you have customized the variable `org-emphasis-alist' or org-export-emphasis-alist', you need to do it again by first canceling your customization and then adding it again.

I know that some people have defined their own private helper functions to select a specific remember template, without being prompted, like this:

(defun my-remember-template-n ()
   (interactive)
   (org-remember ?n))

You need to modify this. The character selecting the template must now be the second argument to `org-remember':

(defun my-remember-template-n ()
   (interactive)
   (org-remember nil ?n))

`C-c C-w' now refiles an entry. To get a sparse tree of deadlines, use `C-c / d' instead.

Details

Remember and related stuff

New command `org-refile' to quickly move a note to a different place. It is bound to `C-c C-w'. The foremost application might be to put a note or task captured with `remember' into the proper list or project. The command offers a list of possible refiling targets for completion. These are headings under which the entry will be inserted as a subitem. By default, this will offer all top-level headings in the current buffer, but you can configure the variable `org-refile-targets' to get more complex definitions. For example:

(setq org-refile-targets '((nil . (:level . 2))))

selects all level 2 headlines in the current buffer as targets. And

(setq org-refile-targets
     '((org-agenda-files . (:tag . "refile"))))

searches all agenda files and selects headlines that are explicitly marked with the tag :refile: . Note that the list of targets is built upon first use only, to rebuilt it, call the command `C-c C-w' with a double prefix argument.

This is based on an idea and example implementation by Max Mikhanosha. Many thanks Max.

You can now use a C-u prefix on `org-remember' to jump to the location where a specific templates stores its notes. For example, if you have `org-remember' bound to `C-c r', then `C-u C-c r n' will get you to the file and headline given in the template associated with the letter "n".

This was proposed by someone, but I have lost track who. Sorry, and thanks anyway.

New %-escapes in remember templates:

%c     insert the current clipboard, like C-y would do
%(..)  evaluate Lisp expression and insert the result
%[..]  include file

Thanks to Adam Spiers and Tim O'Callaghan.

New function `org-remember-insinuate' that makes is easier to set Org-mode specific values for remember variables. Thanks to Michael Olson for this proposal. It is equivalent to:

(require 'remember)
(setq remember-annotation-functions '(org-remember-annotation))
(setq remember-handler-functions '(org-remember-handler))
(add-hook 'remember-mode-hook 'org-remember-apply-template))

You might still want to set `org-default-notes-file' to provide a default for templates without a file, and `org-directory' to show where to find other org files.

Emphasis and Font-lock stuff

Stacked emphasis like */bold italic/* is no longer allowed.

You may finally emphasize a single character like *a*.

Font-lock now can hide the emphasis markers, just like Muse does. Configure the variable `org-hide-emphasis-markers' if you want this. Showing the characters continues to be the default in Org-mode.

Text in the "=" emphasis is now exported verbatim, i.e. no further parsing and interpretation of this text takes place. So you can write =quoted *xxx* a_x = b=. This and the following point implement a request by Daniel Clemente.

There is a new emphasis marker "~" which marks text to be exported verbatim, without special formatting. Inside an org-mode file, this text is highlighted with the org-verbatim face. I am not happy with the face yet (currently is is like org-code, but underlined), please suggest a better one.

Whether an emphasis environment is verbatim or not is now an extra flag in the variable `org-emphasis-alist'. If you have configured this variable, do it again by first canceling your customization to revert to the default, and then adding it again.

New variable `org-highlight-latex-fragments-and-specials'. When turned on, Org-mode will highlight all strings that are treated in a special way by the exporters. This is great for export-oriented writing, but maybe a bit noisy for note taking, so this feature is off by default.

Properties and Column view

`org-use-property-inheritance' may now also be a list of property names that should be treated with inheritance during searches.

CATEGORY="work" can now be used in a tags/property search, even if the category is not specified as a property in the entry, but rather is inherited or derived from #+CATEGORY. Thanks to Adam, Tim, and Bastien for an interesting discussion around this issue.

Summary type improvements in column view. The {} summary type can specify a printf-style output format for computed values like this: {;%5.2f} This was triggered by a report by Levin. New currency summary type {$}, which so far is just a shorthand for {+;%.2f}. Do we need to have a currency symbol in front of each value. Scott Jaderholm asked for this, but I am not sure if this is already what he meant.

The date/time prompt

There have been several small but very useful additions to the date prompt.

While entering data at the date prompt, the current interpretation of your input is shown next to your input in the minibuffer. I find this great to understand how the input works. If you find the extra stuff in the minibuffer annoying, turn it off with `org-read-date-display-live'.

The date prompt now prefers to select the future. If you enter a date without a month, and the day number is before today (for example, on the 16th of the month you enter "9"), Org-mode will assume next month. Similarly, if you enter a month and no year, next year will be assumed if the entered month is before the current, for example if you enter "May" in September. Thanks to John Rakestraw for this great suggestion. If you find it confusing, turn it off with `org-read-date-prefer-future'.

When modifying an existing date using `C-c .' at the stamp, the time or time range in the stamp are now offered as default input at the prompt. This goes a long way to simplifying the modification of an existing date. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

Export (all implemented by Bastien…)

You can now export special strings in HTML. Here is the list of newly performed conversions:

Org	Description	HTML
\\-	double backslash followed by minus	­
--	two dashes (minuses)	–
---	three dashes (minuses)	—
...	three dots	…

You can turn this globally on or off with `org-export-with-special-strings' or locally with "-:t" or "-:nil" in the #+OPTIONS line. Thanks to Adam Spiers for starting the discussion, and thanks to Daniel Clemente and William Henney for relevant inputs.

Comma-separated emails in #+EMAIL: are correctly exported. Thanks to Raman for pointing out this omission.

Agenda

In the agenda, a few keys have changed

g  does now the same a "r", refresh current display,
   because "g" is the Emacs standard for "refresh"
G  toggle the time grid, used to be "g"
e  Execute another agenda command, pretty much the same as
   `C-c a', but shorter and keep the same agenda window.

Miscellaneous (much of it from Bastien)

You can now select the sectioning structure of your LaTeX export by setting it either globally (`org-export-latex-default-class') or locally in each Org file (with #+LaTeX_CLASS: myclass). You can also customize the list of available classes and their sectioning structures through the new `org-export-latex-classes' option. Thanks to Daniel for discussions and suggestion on this issue.

You can send and receive radio lists in HTML, LaTeX or TeXInfo, just as you send and receive radio tables. Check the documentation for details and examples.

The default for `org-ellipsis' is back to nil, some people seem to have had problems with the face as a default.

Support for pabbrev-mode, needs pabbrev version 1.1. Thanks to Phillip Lord for adapting his package to make this possible.

New variable `org-show-entry-below' to force context-showing commands to expose the body of a headline that is being shown. Thanks to Harald Weis for pointing out this omission.

Version 5.13i

Details

On the date/time prompt, you can now also answer with something like +2tue to pick the second tuesday from today. This was a proposal by Sacha Chua.

When interpopating into Lisp formulas in the spreadsheet, the values of constants and properties are no longer enclosed into parenthesis. When interpolating for calc, this still happens in order to allow expressions in constants. This problem was reported by Eddward DeVilla.

When a directory is listed in `org-agenda-files', all files with extension matched by the new variable `org-agenda-file-regexp' in that directory will be agenda files.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.13

Overview

Bug fixes and improvements in column view All known bugs fixed. A Column view can be captured into a dynamic block. The ITEM column is formatted core compactly. Also ITEM can be edited with `e'

The agenda dispatcher `<' cycles through restriction states. Multi-character access codes to commands (= sub-keymaps).

Sorting improvements User-defined sorting keys. Sorting by properties. Sorting of plain lists.

HTML <div> structure

Other stuff New variables, several of them. Drawers can be set on a per-file basis. Better control over priority fontification in agenda. M-up and M-down now move the current line up and down. Abort remember template selection with C-g.

Details

Bug fixes and improvements in column view

All the bugs described by Scott Jaderholm have been fixed (at least I hope so…).

You can now capture a column view into a dynamic block, for exporting or printing it. The column view can be

global, i.e. for the entire file local, i.e. for the subtree where the dynamic block is from an entry with a specific :ID: property.

You can identify the entry whose column view you want to capture by assigning an :ID: property, and use that property in the dynamic block definition. For example:

* Planning
  :PROPERTIES:
    :ID: planning-overview
  :END:

[...]

* The column view
#+BEGIN: columnview :hlines 1 :id "planning-overview"

#+END:

Use `C-c C-x r' to insert such a dynamic block, and you will be prompted for the ID.

When the current column format displays TODO keyword, priority or tags, these parts are stripped from the content of the ITEM column, making for more compact and readable entries. When any of these "properties" are not listed in the current column format, they are instead retained in the ITEM column.

You can now also edit the ITEM column with `e'.

The agenda dispatcher

Instead of pressing `1' to restrict an agenda command to the current buffer, or `0' to restrict it to the current subtree or region, you can now also press `<' once or twice, respectively. This frees up `1' and `0' for user commands, a request by Bastien. In fact, "<" cycles through different restriction states. "1" and "0" are still available for backward compatibility, until you bind them to custom commands.

The access code to custom agenda commands can now contain several characters, effectively allowing to bundle several similar commands into a sub-keymap. This follows an excellent proposal by Adam Spiers. For example:

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
  '(("h" . "HOME + Name tag searches") ; describe prefix "h"
    ("hl" tags "+HOME+Lisa")
    ("hp" tags "+HOME+Peter")
    ("hk" tags "+HOME+Kim")))

The user function option in org-agenda-custom-commands may now also be a lambda expression, following a request by Adam Spiers.

Sorting improvements

We are using a new routine for sorting entries, courtesy of John Wiegley. Many thanks to John.

You can define your own function to extract a sorting key and in this way sort entries by anything you like.

Entries can now be sorted according to the value of a property.

Plain lists can be sorted.

HTML <div> structure

There is now a <div>-based structure in exported HTML.

The table of context is wrapped into a div with a class "table-of-contents".

The outline structure is embedded in <div> elements with classes "outline-1", "outline-2" etc.

The postamble, containing the author information and the date is wrapped into a div with class "postamble".

I am not sure if the class names are the best choice, let me know if there are more "canonical" choices.

Thanks to Mike Newman and Cezar for input, and in particular to Mike for his clearly formulated specification.

Other stuff

New variable `org-agenda-window-frame-fractions' to customize the size limits of the agenda window in the case that you display the agenda window by reorganizing the frame.

Drawers can be set on a per-file basis using

#+DRAWERS: HIDDEN STATE PROPERTIES

This will define the drawers :HIDDEN: and :STATE:. The :PROPERTY: drawer should always be part of this list, or your properties will not be folded away. Thanks to Richard G. Riley for this proposal.

`org-agenda-fontify-priorities' may now also be an association list of priorities and faces, to specify the faces of priorities in the agenda individually.

The variable `org-export-with-property-drawer' no longer exists, please use `org-export-with-drawers' instead. Also, the corresponding switch in the #+OPTIONS line has changed from "p" to "d". Thanks to Bastien for pointing out that we needed to handle not only the property drawer.

M-up and M-down now move the current line up and down (if not at a headline, item or table). Among other things you can use this to re-order properties in the drawer. This was a proposal by Bastien.

New variable `org-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date', based on a request by Wanrong Lin.

Aborting remember template selection with C-g now kills the remember buffer and restores the old window configuration. This was a request by Nuutti Kotivuori.

Version 5.12

Overview

Remember templates can now have name. `C-c C-k' will abort taking a note (remember of log) `C-c C-x C-w' and `C-c C-x M-w' now accept a prefix arg. Lines in the agenda can be fontified according to priority. New variable `org-scheduled-past-days'. New variables `org-agenda-deadline-leaders' and `org-agenda-scheduled-leaders'. New sparse tree function `org-sparse-tree'. The variable `org-ellipsis' now defaults to `org-link'. The #+OPTIONS line has a new option "tags". New variable `org-use-property-inheritance'.

Incompatible Changes

`C-c /' now calls `org-sparse-tree'.

Details

Remember templates can now have a template name as the first element. The name will be listed along with the selection character when prompting for a template. It is best to have the name start with the selection character, for example if you use ("Note" "n"), you will be prompted like "[n]ote". Thanks to Matiyam for this proposal.

`C-c C-k' will abort taking a note. You can use this in remember buffers and when taking a logging note (e.g. for a state change). Thanks to Bastien.

`C-c C-x C-w' and `C-c C-x M-w' now accept a prefix arg to cut N sequential subtrees. This was a proposal by John.

Lines in the agenda are now bold if they have priority A and italic if they have priority C. You can turn this off using the variable `org-agenda-fontify-priorities'. Thanks to John Wiegley for the idea and code.

New variable `org-scheduled-past-days' to set the number a scheduled item will be listed after its date has passed. Default is 10000, i.e. indefinitely.

New variables `org-agenda-deadline-leaders' and `org-agenda-scheduled-leaders' to adjust the leading text o scheduled items and deadline in the agenda. Thanks to John Wiegley for a patch.

New sparse tree function `org-sparse-tree'. This is now the default binding for `C-c /'. It requires one additional keypress to select a command, but in return is provides a single interface to all the different sparse tree commands, with full completion support.

The variable `org-ellipsis' now defaults to the face `org-link' because the visibility of the dots is really bad and I have found this change very useful indeed.

The #+OPTIONS line has a new option "tags" which can be used to set `org-export-with-tags'. Thanks to Wanrong Lin for this proposal.

New variable `org-use-property-inheritance'. Configure it to `t' if you want that searching for entries with certain properties always should assume inheritance. This is not well tested yet, please check it out.

Bug fixes

Version 5.11

Overview

SUMMARY, DESCRIPTION, LOCATION properties for iCalendar Command to jump to the running clock Clock entries can now have their own drawer `C-c C-x C-r' only updates a clocktable at point New way to assign a remember template to a single key `C-n' and `C-p' are back to their default binding `C-x C-s' in agenda buffer saves all org-mode buffers Schedule/deadline leaves note in agenda buffer Prefix argument for `C-c C-d/s' will remove date New variable to make block aranda more compact Better tag alignment in agenda

Incompatible changes

If you have customized `org-drawers', you need to add "CLOCK" to the list of drawers.

The variable `org-agenda-align-tags-to-column' has been renamed to `org-agenda-tags-column'. The old name is still an alias, in Emacs 22 and in XEmacs, but not in Emacs 21.

The default value for both `org-tags-column' and `org-agenda-tags-column' is now -80.

The variable `org-insert-labeled-timestamps-before-properties-drawer' is now obsolete.

Details

The LOGGING property allows to modify the settings for progress logging for a single entry. For example:

:PROPERTIES:
  :LOGGING: nologging nologrepeat
:END:

turns off all progress logging for the current entry and its children.

The properties SUMMARY, DESCRIPTION and LOCATION have special meaning during iCalendar export, when they translate to the corresponding VEVENT and VTODO fields. If not given, Org-ode continues to use cleaned-up version of the headline and body as the summary and the description, respectively.

New function to go to the entry with the currently running clock. Bound to `C-c C-x C-j', in agenda also to "J". If you use this often, you might even want to assign a global key. Thanks to Bernt and Bastien.

Clock entries can now have their own drawer, the :CLOCK: drawer. Check out the variable `org-clock-into-drawer' for configuration of this feature. The default is to create a drawer when the second clocking line gets added to an entry. Note that "CLOCK" has been added to the default value of `org-drawers', but if you have configured that variable, you must go back and add "CLOCK" yourself to get this drawer folded away. Thanks to Tom Weissman for pointing out that too many clock entries are visually annoying.

`C-c C-x C-r' no longer tries to find the first clocktable in a buffer and then updates it. Instead, it will update the clocktable at point if there is one (same as C-c C-c will do if the cursor is in the "#+BEGIN" line of the table). If there is none at point, a new one will be inserted. This change was necessary because the new :scope parameter allows to have several clocktables in a buffer. Thanks to Bastien for pointing this out. To update all dynamic blocks in a file, use `C-u C-c C-x C-u'.

The function `org-remember' can now be called with a template selection key as argument. This helps to make key bindings that go directly to a specific template without being prompted for a template, like this:

(global-set-key [f5] (lambda () (interactive) (org-remember "j")))

Thanks to Richard G Riley for bringing this up.

`C-n' and `C-p' are back to their default binding (next/previous line) in the agenda buffer. Enough people, including recently Denis Bueno, have complained about this, and I agree it is not good to break habits like that.

`C-x C-s' in an agenda buffer now saves all org-mode buffers (also `s' does this).

Setting schedule or deadline dates from the agenda now produces a note in the agenda, similarly to what happens with S-left/right.

Using a prefix argument for `C-c C-d' or `C-c C-s' will remove the deadline or scheduling date from an item. Thanks to Wanrong Lin for this proposal.

New variable `org-agenda-compact-blocks'. When set, the space between blocks in a block agenda is reduced as much as possible, to show more items on a single screen.

The variable `org-agenda-tags-column' (renamed from `org-agenda-align-tags-to-column') can now also be negative, to mean alignment to the left. The new default is -80, just like it is now for `org-tags-column'.

Bug fixes

Version 5.10

Overview

Category and the archive location can be properties. The clocktable has a new :scope parameter. CSV support when importing a table. Better defaults when modifying a time stamp. New way to specify the duration of an appointment. More aggressive version of orgstruct-mode improved wrapping. Modifications to priority cycling. Modifications to computations in column view. New command `org-occur-in-agenda-files'. Bug fixes.

Details

Both the category and the archive location in a (sub)tree of the buffer can now be specified using a property, for example:

* Tree with special properties
  :PROPERTIES:
    :CATEGORY: Examples
    :ARCHIVE:  /some/special/file::
  :END:

This is a much cleaner way of dealing with multiple categories and archives in a single file. The preferred use of the #+CATEGORY and #+ARCHIVE lines is now to set a single default for the file which is then locally overruled by properties. This was a proposal from Bastien if I remember correctly. Multiple #+ lines still work and I don't plan to remove this support soon, but I encourage you to stop using them.

The clocktable has a new :scope parameter that determines the range in the file from which clock entries should be taken. This can be anything from the local subtree to the entire buffer to even the full list of agenda files. Legal values are:

value	scope
nil	the current buffer or narrowed region
file	the full current buffer
subtree	the subtree where the clocktable is located
treeN	the surrounding level N tree, for example tree3
tree	the surrounding level 1 tree
agenda	all agenda files

Thanks to Jason F. McBrayer and Bernt Hansen for inspiration. Thanks to cranreuch (what is you full name?) for mentioning, at the right moment, that the clocktable is not so bad - that remark made it seem worthwhile to add features.

The commands to import a table and to convert a region to a table can now handle comma-separated values (CSV). The algorithm does not yet treat quoting correctly, but for basic input it works.

When modifying an existing time stamp, or when entering the second stamp of a range, the date prompt will now consistently default to the date/time in the existing stamp. This was triggered by Nuutti Kotivuori's request.

At the date/time prompt, there is a new way to specify a range of hours, by using "+DURATION" after the time. For example:

 14:00+2  means 14:00-16:00
 2pm+2:30 means 14:00-16:30

Again, Nuutti Kotivuori's request.

When you use the function `turn-on-orgstruct++' to turn on orgstruct-mode, the special org-mode settings for auto-filling, indentation and paragraphs are exported into the buffer, so that typing list items with indentation works better. This was Bastien's idea and request.

New variable `org-priority-start-cycle-with-default'. When t (the default), priority cycling will initially set the default priority and then increase or decrease. When nil, the first priority set by cycling is already 1 different from the default priority. This was mostly driven by Bastien.

In column view: When an entry has a property for a summary column defined, its value is normally overwritten by the sum of all the children's values each time you enter column view. Now there is an exception to this rule: If none of the children has that particular property defined, the parent's value stays. In this way you can still place TODO items under such an entry without getting the property value changed. Thanks to Russel Adams for pointing out that this is a better way of doing things.

In column view, computed values are now bold face, and trying to edit them is an error. I think this works, but testing is appreciated.

New command `org-occur-in-agenda-files', this is basically the quick command John Wiegley proposed the other day, but it also works when the agenda files are not yet in buffers. The key is `C-c C-x /', any better proposals?

Links containing a space will now be handled correctly when calling the browser. Note that you need to enclose such links in square or angular brackets.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.09

Overview

Taking a note upon TODO state changes can be restricted to selected states.

The format in which dates are shown in the daily/weekly agenda can be configured.

The default for `org-remember-store-without-prompt' is now t.

`org-goto' has been made into a general lookup command.

Priority cycling goes back to the nil state.

You can store a remember note to the last used location.

On Emacs 23, the headline faces for org-mode are now inherited from the outline faces.

Incompatible Changes

The default for `org-remember-store-without-prompt' is now t, in order to better match the original intent of remember.el (storing a note with minimum interruption of work flow). I expect that many people will be hit by this incompatible change - nevertheless I believe it is the right thing to do.

Details

You can now select specific states for recording a note when switching to that state. With the setting

#+SEQ_TODO: TODO(t) ORDERED(o@) INVOICE(i@) PAYED(p) | RECEIVED(r)
#+STARTUP: lognotestate

only the states ORDERED and INVOICE will record a timestamp and a note.

You can now set the format of the string for each day in the agenda and timeline buffers. You can use a format string interpreted by `format-time-string', or you can write your own function. Configure the new variable `org-agenda-format-date'. Thanks to Levin for triggering this development with a patch.

The default for `org-remember-store-without-prompt' is now t, in order to better match the original intent of remember.el (storing a note with minimum interruption of work flow). Since we can assign files and headlines to templates, I guess this takes care of selecting a filing location in most cases. For interactive filing, you now need a prefix command when exiting `remember'.

`org-goto' (bound to `C-c C-j') now uses an indirect buffer and has additional commands enabled: Org-occur with `C-c ' or even faster with `', and the commands needed to select and copy a region. This make `org-goto' a more general lookup command instead of only a jumping command. Remember that you can exit with `Q' to go back to the original location. Thanks to William Henney for this idea.

Setting the priority with S-up/down now cycles back to a state where no priority is specified. This was requested by Rick Moynihan.

You can store a remember note to the last used location. So if you select a location interactively once, you can re-use it without having to find it again. For this, exit the remember buffer with `C-u C-u C-c C-c'. The leading comment in the remember buffer will tell exactly where the note goes if you exit with a particular command. Thanks to Maxim Loginov for this idea.

On Emacs 23, the headline faces for org-mode are now inherited from the outline faces. This is just a convenience, so that you only have to configure one set of faces, and that will then be outline-1 .. outline-8. You will actually not see any difference in org-mode, because Stefan Monnier has made the outline faces in Emacs 23 to match the current org-mode faces.

This change does not effect XEmacs, nor Emacs 21 and 22.

Version 5.08

Incompatible changes

The default for `org-deadline-warning-days' is now 14.

Details

There is now a separate interface for fast and directly setting a TODO keyword. This interface kicks in when you have configured keys for TODO keywords like

#+SEQ_TODO: TODO(t) WAITING(w) | DONE(d) CANCELED(c)

C-c C-t still does the cycling thing, you need to use a prefix argument to get to the fast interface. Or configure the variable `org-use-fast-todo-selection' to t, then this will be the default and the prefix argument will make the command fall back to cycling.

The tag selection no longer does include TODO keywords - Leo's arguments have convinced me that this is not a good idea. If you'd like to see the TODO keywords in the tags interface anyway, set the variable `org-fast-tag-selection-include-todo'. Thanks to Leo and others for input on this issue.

New variable `org-edit-timestamp-down-means-later'. When set, `S-down' on a timestamp will change the timestamp to later. Thanks to Raman for this idea.

Property names can now contain non-ascii word characters. This follows a request from Daniel Clemente.

For export, the date that should be given in the exported file can now be set to a specific value with a line like

#+DATE: 15 November 2003

If you want to use the date/time when the file was created, use a format string that will be interpreted by `format-time-string', for example:

#+DATE: %Y/%m/%d %X

The default of `org-deadline-warning-days' has changed to 14 days. 30 was really too much, I suspect most people (me included) have changed this.

When a deadline has an individual lead time, this lead time obviously overrules `org-deadline-warning-days'. However, if you bind `org-deadline-warning-days' to a number <=0, for example during a custom agenda command, then the absolute value of this number will be enforced also when a different lead time has been specified. This is useful to get a list of all deadlines coming up in the next N days.

Version 5.07

Overview

Different faces for different TODO keywords.

Setting TODO states through the TAG setting interface.

Context information is stored when moving a tree to the archive.

Sorting can be done by priority.

`Org-ellipsis' can now also be a face.

Scheduling info is no longer removed entry is marked CLOSED.

Unavailable files in `org-agenda-files' can be skipped.

Incompatible changes

The time of archiving is now stored as a property. ARCHIVED is no longer a special time keyword.

Scheduling info is no longer removed entry is marked CLOSED.

Details

You can now define different faces for different TODO keywords. This request has come up frequently, so here it is: Use the variable `org-todo-keyword-faces'.

A Here is a configuration example:

(setq org-todo-keyword-faces
  '(("TODO"      . org-warning)
    ("DEFERRED"  . shadow)
    ("CANCELED"  . (:foreground "blue" :weight bold
                   :underline t))))

Org-mode continue still use `org-todo' and `org-done' for keywords that have no specific face assigned.

Some People use TODO states more like tags. For them the TODO keywords mark special states and they like to quickly switch between states in arbitrary sequence. The standard TODO interface is not perfect for this, because it assumes that the states are reached in sequence. However, the fast tag setting interface is in fact perfect for this. You can now "misuse" the TAG selection interface to also set TODO states. All you need to do is to assign keys to the TODO states, just like you also do for tags.

#+SEQ_TODO: TODO(t) WAITING(w) | CANCELED(c) DONE(d)
#+TAGS: @HOME(h) @OFFICE(o) @SHOP(s)

Next time you try to set tags with C-c C-c, the todo states will be offered as well, and the corresponding key will switch the entry to that state.

New variable `org-archive-save-context-info' governs if information that would be lost by moving a subtree to the archive file, should be stored as special properties. For example,

(setq org-archive-save-context-info '(itags category))

will store the inherited tags and the category in properties ARCHIVE_ITAGS and ARCHIVE_CATEGORY, respectively. The default setting for this variable is to save everything that could be lost. This was a proposal by John Wiegley.

Sorting (`C-c ^') can use the use the priority to sort. Use the "p" and "P" keys at the prompt. John Wiegley, again.

`Org-ellipsis' can now also be a face to make the folding ellipsis more visible. This is based on a post by Tassilo Horn. Since `org-ellipsis' only works in Org-mode, you might want to use Tassilo Horn's hack directly in order to affect the folding ellipsis globally.

Scheduling info is no longer removed when an entry is marked CLOSED. This was a request by Brian van den Broek. Let me know if this breaks anything for you - then it will become an option.

New option `org-agenda-skip-unavailable-files'. Currently, if a file does not exist, it will be removed from `org-agenda-files' after a query. When this option is set, the file will simply be skipped.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.06

Overview

Details

When exporting only a region and this region is a single (sub)tree (for example selected with `C-c @'), the title for the exported document is taken to be the heading of the subtree. The sublevels become top-level entries in the export. Furthermore, if the head entry of the tree has or inherits an EXPORT_FILE_NAME property, that file name (with appropriately substituted extension) will be used for the exported tree. Thanks to Patrick Drechsler and Jost Burkart for these ideas.

org-special-ctrl-a/e has a third allowed value, `reversed'. When it is set to this value, the first C-a or C-e command behaves normally, i.e. it goes to the true beginning or end of the line. Only when you press C-a or C-e immediately again, the the "special" position will be found. Additional presses of the same key jump between the two positions. I like this a lot better than the `t' setting, because now the keys behave more predictable and still give easy access to the special locations.

New command to set or remove a tag from all headlines in a region.

When Org-mode visits a file, it will initially hide all drawers.

The default of the variable `org-cycle-global-at-bob' is now nil, meaning that TAB no longer does global visibility cycling at the beginning of the buffer.

Bug fixes, in particular the problems with scheduling and deadlines introduced in 5.05. Please check carefully if this works correctly again, and complain if not.

Version 5.05

Overview

LaTeX export, finally, thanks to Bastien.

Extension mechanism for the hyperlink system.

Global access to commands inserting and following links.

Individual lead-times for deadlines.

Option to show only the next instance of repeating timestamp.

Store remember notes with only 2 keys: C-c C-c

Appointment reminders from Org-mode.

Global values for selected properties.

Bug fixes.

Details

Bastien's `org-export-latex.el' is now part of the org-mode distribution. You can export an Org-mode document to a LaTeX file with `C-c C-e l'. For more options, see the manual, and the commentary in the Lisp file. Kudos to Bastien for contributing this frequently requested feature. I am sure this has been tough because of the many different ways I have been allowing LaTeX snippets and environments to be incorporated in lazy free-format ways.

Org-mode has now an extension mechanism for the hyperlink system. This should clear the road for all those mairix and other ideas that have been floating around. Now it is on you to write and share new link types for Org-mode. The interface for adding a new link type is described in the appendix of the manual, section A2. The unsolved problem is currently how to handle the new link types for export/publishing.

New global commands `org-open-at-point-global' and `org-insert-link-global'. You can bind these commands to global keys and use them to insert and follow Org-mode-like links anywhere in Emacs. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this excellent idea.

Each deadline timestamp may now specify its own interval of lead-time display, given in days, weeks, months or years. The syntax is like this

DEADLINE: <2007-08-13 Mon -5d>

When combined with a repeater, the repeater has to come first:

DEADLINE: <2007-08-13 Mon +2w -5d>

You may now also customize the faces that are used in the agenda to indicate the distance of an approaching deadline. See the new option `org-agenda-deadline-faces'.

Thanks to Pavel Chalmoviansky and John Wiegley proposals in this direction.

New option `org-agenda-repeating-timestamp-show-all'. When set to nil, repeating time stamps will only show up once in the agenda, either today or in the near future. Other matches will be ignored. Thanks to John Wiegley for this proposal.

New variable `org-remember-store-without-prompt'. When set, exiting the remember buffer with C-c C-c will store the note without further prompts to the default location, and `C-u C-c C-c' will get the prompts for file and location. So this variable reverses the prefix-argument functionality for storing remember notes. This follows a request from John Wiegley.

A new function `org-agenda-to-appt' activates all appointments for the current day so that Emacs will display reminders. This uses appt.el. Thanks to Bastien for this function.

You can now set default values for properties that can be inherited by all entries in a buffer, or by all entries globally. Global properties are set in the variable `org-global-properties', like this:

(setq org-global-properties '(("NAME" "This is the value")))

Buffer-local values are set like this:

When using org-entry-get to get the value of a property with the `inherit' flag and the hierarchy above the entry does not contain this property, the buffer-local and global lists are checked as well. This is mostly useful (I think) to set the list of allowed values for a property. Thanks to Bernt Hansen and Bastien for these ideas.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.04

Details

New variables `org-export-author-info' and `org-export-time-stamp-file' to turn off inclusion of author and time information into exported files. Thank to Patrick Drechsler for pointing out that this would be useful.

New variable to avoid moving DEADLINE and SCHEDULED info into the property drawer. The default is now to not move this stuff into the drawer. `org-insert-labeled-timestamps-before-properties-drawer'

`org-archive-mark-done' can be a string now, to select a specific keyword that should be used for archived entries.

New command "j" in agenda to jump to an arbitrary date. Thanks to Bernt Hansen for the patch.

Lots of minor fixes.

Version 5.03

Incompatible Changes

The variable `org-special-ctrl-a' has been renamed to `org-special-ctrl-a/e'. The old one is still an alias (but not on Emacs 21 where variable aliases cannot be defined).

Details

When the variable `org-special-ctrl-a/e' is set, C-e in a headline first goes to the end of the headline ignoring the tags. A second C-e then goes to after the tags.

Typing and removing single characters in a headline now keeps the tags in the headline aligned. This could have a little impact on performance while deleting stuff - let me know if we need to make this customizable.

New option `org-n-level-faces' can be used to set the number of different faces that are used for headlines. Default is all 8 faces Org-mode defines for this purpose, level 9 uses again the level-1 face. However, you can use fewer, and then the level-1 face will be reused already for level N+1, etc.

Column View and hidestars now work together.

Bug fixes.

Version 5.02

Overview

The interfaces for properties and column view are finished now and work well.

Properties can be summaries, i.e. the parent nodes can compute their value from the children's values.

Headlines finally require a space ofter the star(s). The conflict with bold text at the beginning of the line is no longer there.

Incompatible Changes

Bad news. It looks like it is going to be really hard to make column view work on XEmacs and on Emacs 21. Emacs 22 is currently the only Emacs where this works. If you are using Emacs 21 or XEmacs, you can still use properties, but not column view.

Details

Improvements for properties:

There are interactive commands to insert and delete properties. Read the manual chapter 7 for details.

You can define allowed values for a property. When these are defined, you can change the value of a property with S-left and S-right. And you may use completion when inserting the property. This goes a long way to prevent typos when entering properties.

Improvements for column view.

In column view, you may use the keys S-left/right (and also the keys `n' and `p') to switch from one allowed value to the next.

You can define summaries for columns. For example, parents can contain the sum of all children values of a property, or the parent node can have a check box property that is automatically checked when all children's boxes are checked.

There are interactive commands to add and remove columns, and to change the attributes of a column like the summary type.

These additions lead to the exciting fact that the example from omni outliner posted by Scott Jaderholm can now be accurately reproduced by Org-mode.

The space after the stars is now required in a headline, in order to remove the conflict with bold words at the beginning of a line. So

   * This is a level 1 headline
   *this is bold text*

S-up and S-down to navigate plain item lists are now also available in orgstruct-mode.

Version 5.01

Overview

A new minor mode, orgstruct-mode, exports the Org-mode structure editing commands into any other mode.

DRAWERS are a new level off folding for special sections that should stay closed during visibility cycling and only open if explicitly asked.

Entries can now have PROPERTIES.

A COLUMN VIEW implementation allows to easily view and edit the properties of a hierarchy of entries (Emacs only, for now).

Formula evaluation in the spreadsheet is more consistent now. Properties and per-file constants can be used during evaluation.

Bug fixes and minor changes.

Incompatible changes

When using LEVEL=N in a tags search, things have changed if you are also using `org-odd-levels-only'. If you are using only odd levels (i.e. 1 or 3 or 5… stars), LEVEL=2 will now refer to 3 stars, LEVEL=3 to 5 stars etc. Many thanks to Leo (or blame on him if you must) who has convinced me that this is the better convention.

Details

Orgstruct minor mode

There is a new minor mode, orgstruct-mode. This modes works in a similar way as Orgtbl-mode. It can be used to export the Org-mode structure-editing commands into arbitrary major modes in Emacs. For example, you can use it in Mail-mode to easily create lists.

The functionality in Orgstruct mode is only active, if the cursor is in a line that looks either like a headline, or like the first line of a plain list item. Then the commands `TAB', `M-cursor', `M-S-cursor', `M-RET', `M-S-RET', `C-c ^', `C-c C-c', and `C-c -' will do structure-related editing just like in Org-mode. If the cursor is not in such a line, all these keys will do whatever the major mode or other active minor modes have assigned to them.

Orgstruct-mode is the result of a proposal by Raman, quite some time ago. It has taken a long time, but here is finally the promised implementation.

Drawers

The new concept of drawers allows to create sections that remain folded during visibility cycling. Drawers need to be configured using the variable `org-drawers'. A drawer starts with a line containing only the name of the drawer bracketed by colons. It ends with :END:. For example, after setting

  (setq org-drawers '("PROPERTIES" "HIDDEN"))

you can then create drawers like this:

  :HIDDEN:
    here is some stuff that remains hidden
    unless TAB is pressed directly in that line
  :END:

The PROPERTIES drawer has special meaning for ORG-mode, it contains properties of an entry (see below).

Properties and Column View

Entries in Org-mode can now have arbitrary properties associated with them. Org-mode handles some default properties like the TODO state, the priority, the local tags, and planning information like DEADLINE and SCHEDULED. In addition, you can assign arbitrary properties by creating a property drawer and inserting a line like

  :PROPNAME: This is the value of the property

Org-mode has an API for properties, if you want to write a program using properties, use the functions `org-entry-properties', `org-entry-get', `org-entry-put', and `org-entry-delete'.

Planning information like DEADLINE can be hidden in the properties drawer.

If the PROPERTIES drawer starts in the first line after a headline, also the DEADLINE, SCHEDULED and CLOCK information will be inserted inside the drawer. If no PROPERTIES drawer is present, or if it does not start in the line right after the headline, this information remains in the lines directly after the headline, outside the drawer.

TAGS searches can now also query properties. For example, the search

  LEVEL=3+BOSS+ASSIGNED="Hans"/WAITING

will find entries that are level 3 have the tag BOSS have an ASSIGNED property with the value "Hans" are TODO status WAITING.

So here is an entry that will match:

  *** WAITING Clean up the factory     :BOSS:
      :PROPERTIES:
      :ASSIGNED: Hans
      :END:

You may also use a regular expression to match against a property value. For example, to find stuff assigned to Hans or Sarah, use

  ASSIGNED={^\(Hans\|Sarah\)$}

Column View is a special way to look at property values in tabular form. Column View can be used in any org-mode file, and also in any agenda buffer. It works by placing an overlay over each headline (or agenda line) that shows a table of selected properties. You can look at and edit properties from this view. Which properties are shown in the table must be set up using the COLUMNS property. You can set up different property columns on different levels of an outline tree. For example:

  * People
    :PROPERTIES:
    :COLUMNS: %25ITEM %Name
    :END:
  ** Family
     :PROPERTIES:
     :COLUMNS: %25ITEM %Name %3Age
     :END:
  *** Sam
      Info about Sam, including a property list with Name and Age.
  *** Sarah
      Info about Sarah, including a property list with Name and Age.
  ** Office
     :PROPERTIES:
     :COLUMNS: %25ITEM %Name %Function %Salary
     :END:
  *** Boss
      Info about the Boss, including a property list with Name,
      Function and Salary (if only we knew....).

Now we have defined three different sets of columns. If you switch to column view in the Family section, you will get a different table than if you do it in the Office section. However, if you switch to column view with the cursor on the People section, the table will cover all entries, but contain only the Name.

Column view does, for the time being, only work on Emacs. The XEmacs implementation needs a bit of work.

Properties can be used in table formulas. To access the value of the property :XYZ:, use $PROP_XYZ. The property needs to be defined in the hierarchy above the table, not necessarily in the same entry as the table. This was a request by Eddward. File-wide constants can be defined with #+CONSTANTS, see below.

Things that still need to be sorted out about drawers, properties and column view - comments and suggestions welcome!

How to deal with drawers and properties in HTML and ASCII export? What key could be used to insert an empty property drawer into an entry? Right now column view is invoked through the command C-c C-x C-c. It is too easy to type C-x C-c by mistake, and that causes Emacs to quit. Suggestions for a different key? Fontification of drawers and properties is not good yet. Any suggestions for better defaults? Mouse support for editing properties in column view would be nice - maybe Piotr is interested to add this to org-mouse.el?

Spreadsheet

In the spreadsheet, the evaluation of formulas has changed. Previously, first the column formulas would be evaluated everywhere, and then the field formulas would kick in, and in some cases overwrite the results of column formulas in the appropriate fields. This had the side effect that some formulas might always use the wrong, intermediate content of a field that is computed both by a column and a field formula.

From now on, column formulas will no longer temporarily overwrite field formulas. This gives much more consistent results. For example you can now finally have a column of increasing numbers by setting the first field to a fixed number, and let the rest follow from a column formula.

Here is an example

  | 1 |
  | 2 |
  | 3 |
  #+TBLFM: $1=@-1+1::@1$1=1

Constants for formulas in spreadsheets are globally defined with the variable `org-table-formula-constants'. File-local constants can now be set with a line like:

  #+CONSTANTS: c=299792458.  pi=3.14  eps=2.4e-6

Minor changes

When entries are archived, a timestamp for the moment of archiving is added to the line with planning information. It looks like this:

ARCHIVED: [2007-07-02 Mon 11:34]

Thanks to J. David Boyd for constructive comments.

Bug fixes

Many bugs are fixed, as usually all the ones where I replied "fixed" on emacs-orgmode. If you reported one of these bugs, please check if it really has disappeared in the new version, and complain if not. Thanks!

Version 4.79

Details

We are back to a single file org.el that works both on Emacs and on XEmacs. Merging comes at a speed penalty for you as an XEmacs user, but only if you do not compile org.el. Compilation completely removes the penalty.

New L flag for literal interpolation in Lisp formulas. See manual section 3.5.3.

New options for turning off footnotes. This was a request from Ignotus. See the option `org-export-with-footnotes'.

Default length for Agenda entries, but this is off by default. This was a request from Micheal. See the option `org-agenda-default-appointment-duration'.

Bug fixes:

org-agenda-date-later (Juraj Kubelka) letters off margin in orgcard.ps (Charles Cave) TODO export problems on XEmacs (ignotus@freemail.hu) args-out-of-range with table formulas (Cecil Westerhof) problem with org-file without a heading (Tim O'Callaghan)

Version 4.78

Overview

Time stamps with a time range included, like

<2007-06-18 Mon 17:33-18:23>

Clock times without clocking in/out: CLOCK: => 2:00

Language-specific characters allowed in TAGS (Emacs only).

Promotion and demotion of items gets the indentation right.

Indenting lines with TAB is more intelligent.

Incompatible changes

There is now a special version of `org.el' for XEmacs. Before installation, as an XEmacs user you must rename the file org_xemacs.el to org.el, i.e. you must overwrite org.el with the xemacs version. For example:

mv org_xemacs.el org.el

This is necessary so that I can make use of some features that would be cumbersome to support in a single file. The XEmacs version is derived from the Emacs version with a program, so no reason to fear that I might be dropping XEmacs support any time soon. Sorry for the trouble.

Details

A time stamp may now contain a range of times. So you no longer need to use two separate stamps to indicate a time interval on a single day. For example

<2007-06-18 Mon 17:30-18:20>

This is now fully supported, including changing the time with S-up/down while the cursor is on the end time. Also, da the date/time prompt, you can simply write your time like 12:00-14:00 and the range will be inserted.

This was proposed by Leo some time ago, and recently by Michael.

You may specify clocking times by hand (i.e. without clocking in and out) using this syntax.

CLOCK: => 2:00

Thanks to Scott Jaderholm for this proposal.

TAGS may now contain language-specific word characters, as long as they are matched by the "[:alnum:]" regexp syntax. This is for Emacs only, the XEmacs version continues to use the character class "a-zA-Z0-9_@" for tag names. Thanks to David Smith for a patch to this effect (a modified version of that patch was applied). I am considering to make the same change for TODO keywords, but not yet. Note that files using localization features may not work correctly in the Emacs configuration of another user, so if you are sharing org-mode files with other users, it might still be best to stick to the ASCII characters.

Promotion and demotion of plain list items (commands M-left, M-right) no longer changes the indentation by just one space. Instead, it uses intelligence gathered from the surrounding list structure to do the right thing. Thanks to William Henney for starting the discussion about this.

TAB does now a better job of indenting lines.

After tables and code segments (lines starting with ":"), indentation goes back to what it was before (thanks to William Henney for suggesting this behavior).

When plain lists items are involved, we had a long discussion on emacs-orgmode where I tried to show that a too-sophisticated implementation will still be easily fooled. Here is what I have implemented now - lets see if we can agree on this:

Indentation will flatten lists with the same bullet type, but indent another bullet type further. The time when this fails is in a nested list, when you want to get back out to a previous level. For example

- item 1
- item 2
+ item 2a
+ item 2b
- item 3

When using TAB on every line in this list, the structure will change to

- item 1
- item 2
  + item 2a
  + item 2b
    - item 3

So you need to change the level of the last line by hand, using promotion and demotion functions.

Version 4.77

Overview

Vertical lines in exported tables. New default for `org-show-following-heading'.

Incompatible changes

The default for `org-show-following-heading' is now nil.

Details

You can now specify column groups in tables, to the effect that the groups will be separated by vertical lines in HTML and ASCII output. Column groups are specified by the characters "<" and ">" in a special table row. "<" starts a group, ">" ends a group (in each case including the the column where the character is specified). You may also use "<>" to make a group a single column wide. For example:

|   |  N | N^2 | N^3 | N^4 | sqrt(n) | sqrt[4](N) |
|---+----+-----+-----+-----+---------+------------|
| / | <> |   < |     |   > |       < |          > |
| # |  1 |   1 |   1 |   1 |       1 |          1 |
| # |  2 |   4 |   8 |  16 |  1.4142 |     1.1892 |
| # |  3 |   9 |  27 |  81 |  1.7321 |     1.3161 |
#+TBLFM: $3=$2^2::$4=$2^3::$5=$2^4::$6=sqrt($2)::$7=sqrt(sqrt(($2))

A table row with with nothing but "/" in the first field is never exported, but can be used to place column group information into the table. In this table, we create a group for column 2, one for columns 3-5 and one for columns 6-7. HTML export will render a vertical line between these groups.

Because HTML does not require closing <colgroup> tags with </colgroup>), you can also simply start a new column wherever you want a vertical line:

| N | N^2 | N^3 | N^4 | sqrt(n) | sqrt[4](N0 |
|---+-----+-----+-----+---------+------------|
| / | <   | <   |     | <       |            |

Vertical lines are now also omitted in ASCII export, unless grouping explicitly requests these lines.

The default for `org-show-following-heading' is now nil, meaning that sparse trees will be more compact. This has become possible due to in important remark by Jason Dunsmore who pointed out that TAB should behave differently in the inconsistent trees produced by the sparse tree commands. TAB does now make sure that the heading after a freshly unfolded tree is made visible at all, removing the confusing behavior we had before.

Several bugs fixed. In particular:

Strings produced by agenda batch processing with `org-batch-agenda' and `org-batch-agenda-csv' are now properly encoded, so that you should be able to use special characters in other languages as along as your post-processing program handles them correctly. At least for Emacs this should work now, but have not yet figured out how to do this in XEmacs.

Version 4.76

Overview

Exporting Footnotes to HTML

Details

Footnotes like[1] are now exported to HTML

[1]This is a footnote

Thanks to Scott Jaderholm for this proposal and a detailed HTML example on how the exported text should look like.

Special version of the reference card, for letter paper.

Switching to OVERVIEW with S-TAB no loner moves the cursor, so after three `S-TAB' commands, you will be back where you started.

Bug fixes, lots of them again.

Version 4.75

Overview

Cyclic time stamps that repeat after an interval. Special timestamps for appointments like "every 2nd Thursday in a month". Completion of link abbreviation prefixes inside `C-c C-l'. Replacing a region of org-mode syntax with HTML. iCalendar export now honors ARCHIVE etc. New command to add/change emphasis markers.

Incompatible Changes

The REPEAT(…) cookie is no longer supported, the repeater interval now goes directly into the time stamp.

Details

Time stamps can contain a repeater code, like +1w for once every week, +2d for every two days, etc. For example,

<2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w>

will apply to every Wednesday, starting from the date given. I believe this syntax was actually suggested by someone on the mailing list, but I cannot find the email back. To collect your credit, let me know!

You can use an sexp diary entry (with the syntax used by the Emacs calendar/diary) in a time stamp, like this:

* The nerd club meets on 2nd Thursday of every month <%%(diary-float t 4 2)>

You can put diary-style sexp entries directly into an org-mode file, where they will be interpreted just like they would in the diary. For example

Birthdays and similar stuff

%%(org-calendar-holiday) ; special function for holiday names

%%(diary-anniversary 14 5 1956) Artur Dent %d is years old %%(diary-anniversary 2 10 1869) Mahatma Gandhi

These entries must start at column 0 to be evaluated.

It turns out that evaluating the entries in an org-mode file is actually faster than in the diary itself, because using the diary has some overhead (creating fancy diary display, then reading and re-interpreting the entries). I have moved all the sexp entries from my diary into an org-mode file, put in a few categories, and then turned off `org-agenda-include-diary'. This has led to a noticeably faster agenda display.

New command `org-replace-region-by-html' that converts the current region from org-mode syntax into HTML. For example, you might write an itemized list in plain text in an HTML buffer, and then invoke this command to convert it. Thanks to Raman for this idea.

When inserting a link with `C-c C-l', completion will now fill in all valid link prefixes, like http or ftp, but also link abbreviation prefixes. This is based on an idea by Bastien.

Highest, lowest, and default priority can be set on a per-file basis with #+PRIORITIES: H L D For example, to use priorities from 1 to 9, you could use

Thanks to Dmitri Minaev for a patch to this effect.

iCalendar export now honors (i.e. skips) subtrees marked as ARCHIVE, COMMENT, or QUOTE.

There is a new command to add or change the emphasis (like bold or italic) of a piece of text. For lack of better available keys the command is at `C-c C-x C-f', but you may well want to choose a more convenient key like `C-c f' in your private setup:

(add-hook 'org-load-hook (lambda () (define-key org-mode-map "\C-cf" 'org-emphasize)))

The command will prompt for an emphasis type, and you may reply either with the marker that triggers the emphasis, or with the first letter of the corresponding HTML tag. For example, to select italic, press either "/" or "i".

If there is an active region, the emphasis of this region will be set or changed. If there is no region, only the emphasis markers will be inserted and the cursor positioned between them. Thanks to Bastien for proposing this feature.

Bug fixes, everything where I have replied "fixed" on the mailing list. Thanks to all of you for keeping these reports coming.

Version 4.74

Overview

This release is about exporting agenda views, to HTML, to postscript for printing, and to a special format (CSV) for further processing in scripts.

Incompatible Changes

The variable `org-agenda-remove-tags-when-in-prefix' has been renamed to `org-agenda-remove-tags'.

Details

Agenda views can be exported as plain text, as HTML, and as Postscript(R). This can simply be done from the agenda buffer with `C-x C-w' and then specifying a filename like `myagenda.html' or `myagenda.ps'. See section 8.6.4 of the manual.

Each custom agenda view can specify a list of associated files names. The command `C-c a e' then creates all views that have associated file names and exports the views to these files. This is great for producing paper versions of your views, to take with you when you don't have your computer. The manual has an example on how to do this, and in particular on how to customize the format of the printed version. See section 8.6.4 of the manual.

You can produce a CSV format of agenda information with an Emacs batch command. This is greate for further processing in scipts. Thanks to Jason F. McBrayer for this idea. See section 8.6.5 of the manual.

New variable `org-agenda-skip-deadline-if-done'. When set, a deadline associated with a DONE item will not be shown in the agenda. This is based upon a report by Denis Bueno.

Quite a few bug fixes.

Version 4.73

Minor bug fixes.

Version 4.72

Overview

Control over blank lines between trees in collapsed view.

Info about the running clock is shown in the modeline.

C-a can behave specially in headlines.

Better color and scaling defaults for LaTeX fragments.

Customizable list of keys in org-mode to be replaced.

Stuck project descriptions have been extended.

Emphasis code has been modified to fix some issues.

Bug fixes.

Incompatible changes

The option `org-format-latex-options' has changed. If you have customized it, please revert to default and then redo your customization.

`org-CUA-compatible' no longer modifies S-RET by default, because newer versions of CUA don't use this key anymore. If you need this replacement, customize the variable `org-disputed-keys'.

The variable `org-CUA-compatible' is obsolete, please use `org-replace-disputed-keys' instead. `org-CUA-compatible' is still an alias for this new variable, though.

Details

Better control over blank lines between trees in collapsed view. This has come up several times in the past and most recently by Scott Jaderholm. There is now a new variable `org-cycle-separator-lines' with default value 2. It says how many empty lines there need to be after the end of a subtree to get an empty line in collapsed view. So with the default, if you leave only one empty line it will disappear in collapsed view. If you leave two, one empty line will remain so that you can use double empty lines to structure the collapsed views of a file. I love it, so many thanks to Scott fro bringing this up again.

One property of the new setup is that you will never get more than one blank line in collapsed view. We could do something special to allow several empty lines in collapsed view, but I think this is counter-productive.

In Emacs 22, if you want to make full use of this, make sure that you have not set `outline-blank-line'.

When the clock is running, Org-mode will put info about it into the modeline. The info consists of the elapsed time and the heading of the clocked item. This was a proposal from Bastien who got the idea from Muse.

C-a can behave specially in headlines when you set the variable `org-special-ctrl-a'. It will bring the cursor first back only to the beginning of the headline text, i.e. after the stars and the TODO keyword, if any. A second C-a will then move the cursor to the beginning of the line. If the cursor is already at the beginning of the line, C-a will spring forward to the headline text. This was a proposal from Leo, based on a request from Scott Jaderholm.

I have not turned this turned this on by default, should I?

When LaTeX fragments are processed into images, there is now more control and (hopefully) betters defaults for colors and scaling. Special values can be set for HTML export, so that these values can differ from what is used for display in an emacs buffer. The default foreground and background colors for images embedded in emacs are now taken from the default emacs face. Thanks to Xiao-Yong Jin for proposing these changes.

There is now a much better mechanism to change some keys in org-mode if these keys clash with other modes you use. Turn this on by setting `org-replace-disputed-keys' (aliased to `org-CUA-compatible'). The list of keys to replace is now fully customizable, see the option `org-disputed-keys'. Many thanks to Meciej Katafiasz for a patch implementing this.

Stuck project descriptions have been extended. You can now use "" as a TODO keyword or tag to say that *any TODO keyword or TAG marks a project as non-stuck. You also can give an arbitrary regular expression that, if it matches, indicates a non-stuck project.

The code for emphasis like bold, italic etc has been modified - I might have broken something in the process, please let me know if you find problems.

A number of bugs have been fixed - those where I have replied "Fixed" on the mailing list.

Version 4.71

Overview

Incompatible changes

Details

New variables to customize the header and data tags in exported HTML. These are the variables `org-export-table-header-tags' and `org-export-table-data-tags'. This follows a request from Scott Otterson.

New option `org-format-latex-header' for customizing the header of the LaTeX file used to convert embedded LaTeX to images. Thanks to `Matthieu Lemerre' for the suggestion.

The prefix version of `org-todo-list' works again. This means that `C-1 C-c a t' produces the list of TODO entries for the first TODO keyword. If you use different TODO setups in different agenda files, be careful: This number now refers to the list of all todo keywords used in files that are scanned for the agenda.

Many bug fixes.

Version 4.70

Overview

Dust settles after revamp of TODO keyword system. The export title can be taken from the first text line. TTY replacement keys have changed.

Incompatible changes

Some TTY replacement keys are changed, see below.

Details

Further development concerning TODO keywords.

You can now have several DONE states in a sequence, like

The difference to the proposal discussed on the mailing list (and which is also works!)

is that in the first case, the extra DONE states will be reached with `C-c C-t' (or with `t' from the agenda), while in the second case you need S-<right> to get to the special states. I guess both ideas can be useful - I am leaning toward using the latter.

Setting up TODO keywords in Lisp previously used two separate variables: `org-todo-keywords' and `org-todo-interpretation'. The preferred way is now to use only `org-todo-keywords', with a new structure:

(setq org-todo-keywords '((sequence "TODO" "|" "DONE") (sequence "BUG" "KNOWNCAUSE" "|" "FIXED" "IGNORED") (type "Fred" "Lisa" "Peter" "|" "DONE") (sequence "CANCELED") ; for things we decide to not do. ))

If your setting has this new structure, `org-todo-interpretation' will be ignored. This change does not break backward compatibility. The old way of using a flat list in `org-todo-keywords' and taking the interpretation from the other variable still works.

When listing specific TODO entries via a sparse tree (`C-u C-c C-v') or via the agenda (`C-c a T' or `C-u C-c a t'), you can now specify several keywords to be selected, like "TODO|VERIFY|WAITING". This also works for custom agenda commands. Thanks to Jason F. McBrayer for pointing out this omission.

If you have configured Org-mode to export also the text before the first headline (this is done by setting the variable `org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading' to nil), then the first normal text line in the buffer becomes the title of the exported document. A title set with #+TITLE overules this default, and the first line then belongs to the normal text. Thanks to David House for this proposal.

TTY replacement keys. Some of the key bindings used by Org-mode do not work on a tty, so replacement key sequences are provided on ttys. In version 4.70, there are some changes in the tty replacements. Thanks to Jason F. McBrayer for coming up with the idea to use C-c <cursor> keys.

Command		Old TTY	New TTY
org-…..	Main Key	Replacement	Replacement
shiftleft	S-left	C-c C-x left	C-c left
shiftright	S-right	C-c C-x right	C-c right
shiftup	S-up	C-c C-x up	C-c up
shiftdown	S-down	C-c C-x down	C-c down
shiftcontrolleft	C-S-left		C-c C-x left
shiftcontrolright	C-s-right		C-c C-x right

Version 4.69

Overview

This time the changes affect the following areas:

TODO keywords: Multiple sequences in a single file. Export: More control over text before the first heading. Export: More control over sub/superscript interpretation. Plain lists: Option to let empty lines terminate lists. Tables: New command to insert hline and move into line below. REPEATing items: Turn of note taking. Bug fixes.

Incompatible changes

It used to be possible to spread the list of TODO keywords over several lines, like

This is no longer possible. Each such line now specifies an independent set of TODO keywords, with its own DONE state. See below for details.

The #+TEXT construct has been used to insert unchanged HTML into an exported file. This is no longer possible, the TEXT lines will be processed like any other lines. However, there are now much better ways of getting quoted HTML into the exported file.

Details

You can now use multiple sets of TODO keywords in the same buffer. For example, you may put the following three lines into a file:

Each sub-sequence has its own DONE state. It is best to use different keywords in all sequences, to make sure Org-mode does not loose track in which specific sequence it is working. You could use the same word for all DONE states, but then cycling through to a TODO state might not bring you where you want to be.

After initially setting a keyword, `C-c C-t' cycles through a sublist, i.e. is cycles from TODO to DONE or from KNOWNCAUSE to RESOLVED and further to (nothing) and back to REPORT.

S-right and S-left allow to select any keyword, so they move from DONE to REPORT and from RESOLVED to Fred.

C-S-right and C-S-left jump from one sub-sequence to the next, for example from TODO or DONE to REPORT to Fred.

Thanks to Rick Moynihan for triggering this development.

Text before the first headline can now be exported if you configure Org-mode accordingly. Either set the variable `org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading' to nil, or use the new in-buffer option

Export content specified via the #+TEXT construct is now fully processed, i.e. links, emphasis etc. are all interpreted. #+TEXT lines may include #+BEGIN_HTML…#+END_HTML sections to embed literal HTML.

During HTML export, you can request to have a_b interpreted as a subscript, but to leave a_b as it is. This can be done by setting the variable org-export-sub-superscript to the symbol `{}' with

(setq org-export-sub-superscript '{})

or by using

Thanks to Eddward DeVilla for this idea.

New variable `org-empty-line-terminates-plain-lists'. Default is nil, meaning that empty lines are part of the previous list item, and that you can have several paragraphs in one such item. Set this to t if you want an empty line terminate all levels of plain list items.

Thanks to Mike Newman for triggering this development.

C-c RET does insert a horizontal separator line and move the cursor into the table line below it. Thanks to Bastien for this proposal.

Org-mode always offers you to record a note when a TODO item automatically repeats, even if you are not logging state changes. The new variable `org-log-repeat' allows to turn this off, so that notes are really only been taken if you are logging all state changes.

Various Bug fixes, thanks to everyone who reported.

Version 4.68

Overview

Priority handling in the tags view Date/time prompt follows the popup calender, and accepts AM/PM times. Standard references like B4 in the spreadsheet. Improvements to the formula editor. C-j does better indentation. Bug fixes

Details

Priority handling in the tags view

Agenda lists selected by tag are now sorted by priority. Thanks to Andrew Korty for reporting this omission.

Improvements to the date/time prompt.

When you move (using S-cursor keys) the cursor in the pop-up calendar window while responding to a date/time prompt, the prompt is updated with the new default date (Emacs only).

You can now enter AM/PM times at this prompt.

Changes in the spreadsheet

You can now also write B4 instead of @4$2 as a reference in formulas. The column references without specified row can be written as C& instead of $3. Such references make formulas easier to read and are now the default way how references are shown when you edit existing formulas. To get the old behavior back (i.e. only @row$col references), set the variable `org-table-use-standard-references' to nil.

Relative references like @-3$-2 or @II..III continue to use the internal format.

Changes in the formula editor (the one you get with "C-c '")

The formulas are organized in a more logical way.

There is now a menu with commands.

When starting the formula editor with "C-c '", the cursor immediately moves to the formula for the current field.

With the cursor on a reference in the formula, you can use S-cursor keys to change the field being referenced.

C-j indents the following line correctly whe used in a headline or in aplain list item. Thanks to Leo for this suggestion.

Bug fixes

Flyspell now knows about special org-mode commands. Thanks to Vinod Valsalam for reporting this problem, and to Andrew Korty for showing how to fix it.

Most other bugs discussed recently on emacs-orgmode@gnu.org should be fixed, except the problem with non-ASCII characters in tags….

Version 4.67

Expert mode for fast tag selection. When org-fast-tag-selection-single-key is `expert', not even the selection window is shown, only the prompt. One more C-c gets you the window, another one goes to multiple selection mode.

Synchronized with Emacs once more: Emacs CVS has now org-mode 4.67. At least until it causes a problem, then the Emacs people will switch back to 4.56. Lets hope there will be no problem.

Code cleanup

Bug fixes

Version 4.66

Overview

Sorting of top-level entries works now if the region contains top-level entries, or if the cursor is before the first headline. Thanks to "redblue" for reporting this bug.

When entering date and time at the prompt, you can now mix entering text and selecting something in the calendar. For example, enter 22:15 at the prompt without pressing RET, and then click on a date in the calendar. Both pieces of information will be included in the resulting time stamp. You can also use S-curser to move the cursor in the calendar to the desired date and then enter 22:15 and press RET at the prompt.

When setting a deadline or a schedule, entering a time now automatically selects the time stamp format that includes the time. Bug report (by means of a question) from Bastre.

C-c C-l can be used to convert a plain link into a bracket link.

Internal links now match inside (the visible part of) other links. Thanks to Scott Otterson for reporting this bug.

iCalendar export of TODO items fixed, see also the variable `org-icalendar-include-todo'. Thanks to Philipp Raschdorf.

The number of levels in the table of contents of an exported document can now be set independently of the number of headline levels. For example:

The command `C-c }' toggles the display of row and column numbers the the current table, to aid constructing formulas. To try it, move the cursor to a table and press `C-c }', or use the menu entry.

Orgtbl translation functions (introduced in 4.65) have been simplified using a generic function `orgtbl-to-generic' that can be used for very general languanges. Writing your own translator should be very easy now. More info in the manual.

CONTENTS visibility can be limited to a certain level. The command `C-3 S-TAB' will switch to CONTENTS view and show the first 3 levels.

Bug fixes.

Version 4.65

Overview

Orgtbl can be used to maintain tables in LaTeX, and in any other mode Editing Lisp formulas for tables improved. Better structure for HTML exported tables. New "calculation" marker "/" to mark lines that should not be exported.

Detailed description of changes

You can use orgtbl mode to maintain a LaTeX table, or pretty much any table in any mode.

This does not work by making Orgtbl aware of LaTeX syntax. That would be a box of Pandora I am not willing to open. Instead, you use a normal Orgtbl-mode table, and a converter program to automatically place a LaTeX version of the table into the correct spot in the LaTeX file. The orgtbl-mode table can be maintained inside the same file, in a block comment.

I am providing translators for LaTeX, HTML, and TeXInfo. For other applications, you need to write one yourself - but that is not hard if you start from the LaTeX version and just modify it. Thanks to Thomas Baumann for triggering this development through a request for a table-to-LaTeX converter.

In the special buffer to edit the formulas of a table (created with "C-c '"), there is now better support for editing Lisp formulas. TAB and M-TAB work like in an Emacs Lisp buffer, indenting lines and completing lisp symbols. With the cursor on a line defining a complex Lisp formula, a first press on TAB will convert the formula into a pretty-printed version with proper linebreaks and indentation. A second TAB folds the line back to the compact form.

Tables in HTML export have now additional structure elements defined. The header (before the first hline) is wrapped into <thead>..</thead>, and each part of the body (as separated in org-mode by hlines) is wrapped into <tbody>..</tbody> tags. I have also changed the CSS style for <td> fields and the value of `org-export-html-table-tag' to get cleaner tables. Basically, tables now have horizontal lines only where needed, and no vertical lines at all, as generally recommended for tables in printed text. I like the new look, but I am not sure if this change will find general approval, please throw in your view if you like. Thanks to Scott for driving this, and to goud-H for pointing me to the row grouping in tables.

In a table with calculation markers in the first column, you can now also put "/" into the first column. It indicates that this line should not be exported. The foremost application for this are lines containing only "<N>" markers for narrowing columns.

Version 4.64

Overview

Email links get better, configurable descriptions When inserting a link, selected text becomes the description Easier access to the list of stored links. Horizontal lines in HTML export. Remember templates and storing of notes improved.

Detailed description of changes

The descriptive part of links to email messages can be configured using the variable `org-email-link-description-format'. The new default is "Email %c: %.30s" and leads to

Email from NAME: SUBJECT

If you configure the variable `org-from-is-user-regexp' correctly, then for email you sent this will actually change to

Email to NAME: SUBJECT

The subject is limited to 30 characters. If you have become attached to the previous default (look twice, the new one is better), use "%f on: %s" as your format.

Selecting text before entering a new link with C-c C-l now really works, the selected text becomes the description part of the link. Requested by Scott, buggy 4.62 implementation is now fixed.

Stored links are part of the history list for C-c C-l, so to reach them, you can use up/down rather than completion. Thanks to Raman for this excellent idea.

A line consisting only of "-", and at least 5 of them, is exported into HTML as <hr/>, as proposed by Giovanni Ridolfi.

Several changes to org <-> remember integration

You can use `org-remember' as your default command to start remember. It will automatically detect if there is an active region and use it as initial content (we will probably make remember.el work like this as well). Also, when calling `org-remember' in a remember buffer that was created with a template, you will again be asked to select a template. The buffer is then re-created with the new template, but the old context information. This is useful if you change your mind about the template to use (Leo's idea).

Besides specifying a default target file for a note, you can also give a default heading of which the note should become a subitem. In many cases this avoids or speeds up navigating to the right location. Both file and heading can be different for each template. Both are non-binding, you can change them while storing the note. However, when you exit remember with C-u C-c C-c, these defaults will be used without interaction.

Templates can specify interactive fields. During expansion of the template, you will be prompted for the information in that field. For example %^t will pop up a calendar and ask you to select a date. This new feature follows a proposal from Leo, who in the mean time has said he does not need it anymore. But I liked it, so here it is :-)

Templates can access information specific to the link type created, for example the author and subject of an email. Syntax is %:fromname, %:fromaddress, %:subject etc, details in the manual. Proposed by Peder O. Klingenberg.

I have been considering to move, at some stage, the template functionality into remember.el itself - which would of course require consent of the remember.el maintainers. I am not sure how well this would work though, since some things like the interactive time stamps are org.el specific, so treating them would require special hooks. Comments?

Version 4.63

Bug fixes

Version 4.62

Many changes to the spreadsheet functions in the table editor. For details, please re-read the manual section 3.4. New Features It is much easier to assign formulas to individual fields. References to arbitrary fields and ranges. Absolute references are modified in row-editing commands. Formula editor that highlights referenced fields. Incompatible changes Empty fields are excluded in range references, see "E" mode flag. &… ranges no longer supported, use new @… ranges. Variable insertion into Lisp formulas work differently. Selected text becomes the default description for C-c C-l links.(Scott) The date format in the agenda/timeline views is now customizable. See the new option `org-agenda-date-format'. (request by Victor) Link abbreviations no longer need a double colon, single colon is fine. Bug fixes.

Version 4.61

Avoiding keybinding clashes with flyspell Archiving is now also on `C-C C-x C-s' (was just `C-c $') Cycling through agenda files is now also on "C-'" (was just "C-,") Colon is considered part of number, to align times in clock tables. Fixed bug for list of stuck projects. Fixed several bugs/problems concerning linking to gnus. Block agendas can contain the list of stuck projects. #+ARCHIVE may now appear several times in the buffer. More bug fixes.

Version 4.60

HTML export: inlining images, clickable images (manual 10.2.4). Incremental search now shows proper context when exiting. Tables calculation and Calc package. Calc is no longer needed when using only elisp formulas. Proper error messages when calc is needed and not available. Tracking TODO state changes with time stamps and notes. Empty entries go full circle. Links in iCalendar export cleaned up. Bug fixes.

Version 4.59

Cleanup code, bug fixes.

Version 4.58

Full undo support in the agenda buffer. Listing stuck GTD projects (projects without any NEXT ACTIONS). Configure `org-stuck-projects' before using it. C-c C-x b shows the current subtree in an indirect buffer, in another, dedicated frame. Custom agenda commands take precedence over builtin commands. auto-fill for comments works on the Emacs side, XEmacs not yet.

Version 4.57

Sorting of outline items on same level. Sorting tables automatically selects line range between hlines. Changes in Agenda buffer `C-c C-o' follows a link in the current line. `C-c $' archives the subtree corresponding to the line. Changing dates with S-left and S-right show new date in agenda, but still do not move the entry to the new date. new option `org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done'. Agenda and sparse tree construction using tag matches can now use regular expressions. When prompted for a date/time, entering "+7" indicates a date 7 days from now - but only this is the only thing you give. Custom time formats also apply to exported html and ascii. Bug fixes.

Version 4.56

`C-k' in agenda kills current line and corresponding subtree in file. XEmacs compatibility issues fixed, in particular tag alignment. M-left/right now in/outdents plain list items, no Shift needed. Bug fixes.

Version 4.55

Bug fixes.

Version 4.54

Improvements to fast tag selection show status also in target line. option to auto-exit after first change to tags list (see manual). Tags sparse trees now also respect the settings in `org-show-hierarchy-above' and `org-show-following-heading'. Bug fixes.

Version 4.53

Custom time formats can be overlayed over time stamps. New option `org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines'. Work-around for flyspell bug (CVS Emacs has this fixed in flyspell.el). Work-around for session.el problem with circular data structures. Bug fixes.

Version 4.52

TAG matches can also specify conditions on TODO keywords. The fast tag interface allows setting tags that are not in the predefined list. Bug fixes.

Version 4.51

Link abbreviations (manual section 4.5). More control over how agenda is displayed. See the new variables `org-agenda-window-setup', `org-agenda-restore-windows-after-quit'. Bug fixes.

Version 4.50

Closing a TODO item can record an additional note. See variables `org-log-done' and `org-log-note-headings'. Inserting headlines and bullets can leave an extra blank line. See variable `org-blank-before-new-entry'. (Ed Hirgelt patch) /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/951a80987bbdb00f66412b77e103d3986d5ca5c7/ORGWEBPAGE/bracket%20links in the agenda are active just as in org-mode buffers. C-c C-o on a date range displays the agenda for exactly this range. The default for `org-cycle-include-plain-lists' is back to nil. Calls to `org-occur' can be stacked by using a prefix argument. The options `org-show-hierarchy-above' and `org-show-following-heading' now always default to `t', but can be customized differently for different types of sparse trees or jump commands. Bug fixes.

Version 4.49

Agenda views can be made in batch mode from the command line. `org-store-link' does the right thing in dired-mode. File links can contain environment variables. Full Emacs 21 compatibility has been restored. Bug fixes.

Version 4.47

Custom commands may produce an agenda which contains several blocks, each block created by a different agenda command. Agenda commands can be restricted to the current file, region, subtree. The timeline command must now be called through the agenda dispatcher (C-c a L). `C-c C-r' no longer works. Agenda items can be sorted by tag. The last tag is used for this. The prefix and the sorting strategy for agenda items can depend upon the agenda type. The handling of `mailto:' links can be customized, see the new variable `org-link-mailto-program'. `mailto' links can specify a subject after a double colon, like mailto:carsten@orgmode.org::Org-mode is buggy. In the #+STARTUP line, M-TAB completes valid keywords. In the #+TAGS: line, M-TAB after ":" inserts all currently used tags. Again full Emacs 21 support: Checkboxes and publishing are fixed. More minor bug fixes.

Version 4.45

Checkbox lists can show statistics about checked items. C-TAB will cycle the visibility of archived subtrees. Documentation about checkboxes has been moved to chapter 5. Bux fixes.

Version 4.44

Clock table can be done for a limited time interval. Obsolete support for the old outline mode has been removed. Bug fixes and code cleaning.

Version 4.43

Bug fixes `s' key in the agenda saves all org-mode buffers.

Version 4.41

Shift-curser keys can modify inactive time stamps (inactive time stamps are the ones in […] brackets. Toggle all checkboxes in a region/below a headline. Bug fixes.

Version 4.40

Bug fixes.

Version 4.39

Special tag ARCHIVE keeps a subtree closed and away from agenda lists. LaTeX code in Org-mode files can be converted to images for HTML. Bug fixes. CDLaTeX-mode features can be used in Org-mode to help inserting LaTeX environment and math.

Version 4.38

noutline.el is now required (important for XEmacs users only). Dynamic blocks. Archiving of all level 1 trees without open TODO items. Clock reports can be inserted into the file in a special section. FAQ removed from the manual, now only on the web. Bug fixes.

Version 4.37

Clock-feature for measuring time spent on specific items. Improved emphasizing allows configuration and stacking.

Version 4.36

Improved indentation of ASCII export, when headlines become items. Handling of 12am and 12pm fixed. Times beyond 24:00 can be used and will not lead to conflicts. Support for mutually exclusive TAGS with the fast tags interface. Bug fixes.

Version 4.35

HTML export is now valid XHTML. Timeline can also show dates without entries. See new option `org-timeline-show-empty-dates'. The bullets created by the ASCII exporter can now be configured. See the new option `org-export-ascii-bullets'. New face `org-upcoming-deadline' (was `org-scheduled-previously'). New function `org-context' to allow testing for local context.

Version 4.34

Bug fixes.

Version 4.33

New commands to move through plain lists: S-up and S-down. Bug fixes and documentation update.

Version 4.32

Fast (single-key-per-tag) interface for setting TAGS. The list of legal tags can be configured globally and locally. Elisp and Info links (thanks to Todd Neal). `org-export-publishing-directory' can be an alist, with different directories for different export types. All context-sensitive commands use `call-interactively' to dispatch. `org-confirm-shell-links' renamed to `org-confirm-shell-link-function'. Bug fixes.

Version 4.31

Bug fixes.

Version 4.30

Modified installation: Autoloads have been collected in org-install.el. Logging (org-log-done) is now a #+STARTUP option. Checkboxes in plain list items, following up on Frank Ruell's idea. File links inserted with C-c C-l will use relative paths if the linked file is in the current directory or a subdirectory of it. New variable `org-link-file-path-type' to specify preference for relative and absolute paths. New CSS classes for tags, timestamps, timestamp keywords. Bug and typo fixes.

Version 4.29

Inlining images in HTML export now depends on wheather the link contains a description or not. TODO items can be scheduled from the global TODO list using C-c C-s. TODO items already scheduled can be made to disappear from the global todo list, see `org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled'. In Tables, formulas may also be Lisp forms. Exporting the visible part of an outline with `C-c C-x v' works now for all available exporters. Bug fixes, lots of them :-(

Version 4.28

Bug fixes.

Version 4.27

HTML exporter generalized to receive external options. As part of the process, author, email and date have been moved to the end of the HTML file. Support for customizable file search in file links. BibTeX database links as first application of the above. New option `org-agenda-todo-list-sublevels' to turn off listing TODO entries that are sublevels of another TODO entry.

Version 4.26

Bug fixes.

Version 4.25

Revision of the font-lock faces section, with better tty support. TODO keywords in Agenda buffer are fontified. Export converts links between .org files to links between .html files. Better support for bold/italic/underline emphasis.

Version 4.24

Bug fixes.

Version 4.23

Bug fixes.

Version 4.22

Bug fixes. In agenda buffer, mouse-1 no longer follows link. See `org-agenda-mouse-1-follows-link' and `org-mouse-1-follows-link'.

Version 4.20

Links use now the description format by default. When inserting links, the user is prompted for a description. If a link has a description, only the description is displayed the link part is hidden. Use C-c C-l to edit the link part. TAGS are now bold, but in the same color as the headline. The width of a table column can be limited by using a field "<N>". New structure for the customization tree. Bug fixes.

Version 4.13

The list of agenda files can be maintainted in an external file. Bug fixes.

Version 4.12

Templates for remember buffer. Note that the remember setup changes. To set up templates, see `org-remember-templates'. The time in new time stamps can be rounded, see new option `org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes'. Bug fixes (there are always more bugs).

[…]

Version 4.00 Headlines can contain TAGS, and Org-mode can produced a list of matching headlines based on a TAG search expression. `org-agenda' has now become a dispatcher that will produce the agenda and other views on org-mode data with an additional keypress.

Version 3.24

Switching and item to DONE records a time stamp when the variable `org-log-done' is turned on. Default is off.

Version 3.23

M-RET makes new items as well as new headings. Various small bug fixes

Version 3.22

CamelCase words link to other locations in the same file. File links accept search options, to link to specific locations. Plain list items can be folded with `org-cycle'. See new option `org-cycle-include-plain-lists'. Sparse trees for specific TODO keywords through numeric prefix argument to `C-c C-v'. Global TODO list, also for specific keywords. Matches in sparse trees are highlighted (highlights disappear with next buffer change due to editing).

Version 3.21

Improved CSS support for the HTML export. Thanks to Christian Egli. Editing support for hand-formatted lists M-S-cursor keys handle plain list items C-c C-c renumbers ordered plain lists

Version 3.20

There is finally an option to make TAB jump over horizontal lines in tables instead of creating a new line before that line. The option is `org-table-tab-jumps-over-hlines', default nil. New command for sorting tables, on `C-c ^'. Changes to the HTML exporter hand-formatted lists are exported correctly, similar to markdown lists. Nested lists are possible. See the docstring of the variable `org-export-plain-list-max-depth'. cleaned up to produce valid HTML 4.0 (transitional). support for cascading style sheets. New command to cycle through all agenda files, on C-, C-c [ can now also be used to change the sequence of agenda files.

Version 3.19

Bug fixes

Version 3.18

Export of calendar information in the standard iCalendar format. Some bug fixes.

Version 3.17

HTML export specifies character set depending on coding-system.

Version 3.16

In tables, directly after the field motion commands like TAB and RET, typing a character will blank the field. Can be turned off with variable `org-table-auto-blank-field'. Inactive timestamps with `C-c !'. These do not trigger the agenda and are not linked to the calendar. Additional key bindings to allow Org-mode to function on a tty emacs. `C-c C-h' prefix key replaced by `C-c C-x', and `C-c C-x C-h' replaced by `C-c C-x b' (b=Browser). This was necessary to recover the standard meaning of C-h after a prefix key (show prefix bindings).

Version 3.15

QUOTE keyword at the beginning of an entry causes fixed-width export of unmodified entry text. `C-c :' toggles this keyword. New face `org-special-keyword' which is used for COMMENT, QUOTE, DEADLINE and SCHEDULED, and priority cookies. Default is only a weak color, to reduce the amount of aggressive color in the buffer.

Version 3.14

Formulas for individual fields in table. Automatic recalculation in calculating tables. Named fields and columns in tables. Fixed bug with calling `org-archive' several times in a row.

Version 3.13

Efficiency improvements: Fewer table re-alignments needed. New special lines in tables, for defining names for individual cells.

Version 3.12

Tables can store formulas (one per column) and compute fields. Not quite like a full spreadsheet, but very powerful. table.el keybinding is now `C-c ~'. Numeric argument to org-cycle does `show-subtree' above on level ARG. Small changes to keys in agenda buffer. Affected keys: [w] weekly view; [d] daily view; [D] toggle diary inclusion. Bug fixes.

Version 3.11

Links inserted with C-c C-l are now by default enclosed in angle brackets. See the new variable `org-link-format'. ">" terminates a link, this is a way to have several links in a line. Both "<" and ">" are no longer allowed as characters in a link. Archiving of finished tasks. C-<up>/<down> bindings removed, to allow access to paragraph commands. Compatibility with CUA-mode (see variable `org-CUA-compatible'). Compatibility problems with viper-mode fixed. Improved html export of tables. Various clean-up changes.

Version 3.10

Using `define-derived-mode' to derive `org-mode' from `outline-mode'.

Version 3.09

Time-of-day specifications in agenda are extracted and placed into the prefix. Timed entries can be placed into a time grid for day.

Version 3.08

"|" no longer allowed as part of a link, to allow links in tables. The prefix of items in the agenda buffer can be configured. Cleanup.

Version 3.07

Some folding inconsistencies removed. BBDB links to company-only entries. Bug fixes and global cleanup.

Version 3.06

M-S-RET inserts a new TODO heading. New startup option `content'. Better visual response when TODO items in agenda change status. Window positioning after visibility state changes optimized and made configurable. See `org-cycle-hook' and `org-occur-hook'.

Version 3.05

Agenda entries from the diary are linked to the diary file, so adding and editing diary entries can be done directly from the agenda. Many calendar/diary commands available directly from agenda. Field copying in tables with S-RET does increment. C-c C-x C-v extracts the visible part of the buffer for printing. Moving subtrees up and down preserves the whitespace at the tree end.

Version 3.04

Table editor optimized to need fewer realignments, and to keep table shape when typing in fields. A new minor mode, orgtbl-mode, introduces the Org-mode table editor into arbitrary major modes. Fixed bug with realignment in XEmacs. Startup options can be set with special #+STARTUP line. Heading following a match in org-occur can be suppressed.

Version 3.03

Copyright transfer to the FSF. Effect of C-u and C-u C-u in org-timeline swapped. Timeline now always contains today, and `.' jumps to it. Table editor: cut and paste of rectangular regions in tables command to convert org-mode table to table.el table and back command to treat several cells like a paragraph and fill it command to convert a buffer region to a table import/export tables as tab-separated files (exchange with Excel) Agenda: Sorting mechanism for agenda items rewritten from scratch. Sorting fully configurable. Entries specifying a time are sorted together. Completion also covers option keywords after `#-'. Bug fixes.

Version 3.01

New reference card, thanks to Philip Rooke for creating it. Single file agenda renamed to "Timeline". It no longer shows warnings about upcoming deadlines/overdue scheduled items. That functionality is now limited to the (multifile) agenda. When reading a date, the calendar can be manipulated with keys. Link support for RMAIL and Wanderlust (from planner.el, untested). Minor bug fixes and documentation improvements.

Version 3.00

Multifile Agenda shows current entries from many different files. TeXInfo documentation (thanks to Christian Egli for the conversion). Additional applications for TODO keywords, see documentation. Different files may have different TODO keywords etc. Priorities for TODO items. The browser mode used by `org-remember-handler' is improved. Images get inlined in HTML export (thanks to Carsten Wimmer). File links can contain line numbers, like file:/usr/etc/config:255 Minor bug fixes.

Version 2.10

TODO entries can have additional states besides TODO and DONE. See new variable `org-todo-keywords'. TODO keywords can be interpreted as categories. See variable `org-todo-interpretation'. M-TAB completion on TODO keywords, TeX symbols, and normal words. All keywords (like TODO, DEADLINE etc) are configurable. Cursor positioning optimized after pro/demotion and TODO cycling. Emphasizing in HTML works now for bold, italic and underline. New commands to kill, copy and yank entire subtrees. Yanking modifies the level of the tree before insertion. New command `org-goto' (C-c C-j) to quickly move to other locations in the buffer without affecting outline visibility. Hooks for John Wiegley's remember.el. `org-read-date' pops up calendar for date selection with the mouse. See variable `org-popup-calendar-for-date-prompt'.

Version 2.6

TODO items can be SCHEDULED to a certain date. Expired DEADLINEs are ignored if in an entry marked DONE. From the diary or time-sorted view (C-c C-r), C-c C-t can be used to change the TODO state of an item remotely. Horizontal computations in table editor. See `org-table-eval-formula'. Fixed bug with summing tables (command `org-table-sum', `C-c +'). Calendar window follows the timestamp when a timestamp is changed. New variable `org-calendar-follow-timestamp-change'. Time-sorted view (`org-diary-view', C-c C-r) now uses the prefix argument to force inclusion of unscheduled TODO items. New variable `org-confirm-shell-links' to turn of safety query. New variable `org-open-non-existing-files'.

Version 2.4

A time-sorted view on all time stamps can be created with C-c C-r. Timestamps and Deadlines can be shown in the Emacs diary. Date ranges introduced. Time-string formats are no longer configurable. Vertical lines in tables can be made invisible with `C-c |'. New "link" type to execute shell commands, like "shell:ls *.org" Upon export, "myfile.org" becomes "myfile.html" or "myfile.txt", instead of "myfile.org.html" or "myfile.org.txt". When the cursor is in the white space at the beginning of a line, TAB removes the whitespace before indenting again.

Version 2.0

Windows (NT/2000) support. Works with both Emacs and XEmacs. Fully automatic table editor. New link types into Gnus, VM and BBDB. Other link system changes Time stamps are treated as links to the calendar. Easy creation of links with global command `org-store-link'. Insertion of links with `C-c C-l' works differently now. Space characters allowed as part of a link. Options in `org-file-apps' extended. The command may now be symbol 'emacs', or a lisp form. Please re-read the manual section about links. Timestamp changes `org-deadline' now prompts for a date. A line can now contain several timestamps. Updating of a timestamp only happens if the cursor is at the timestamp. Changed the time-stamp-format to ISO, to make sure it will always work (non-English month names had caused problems with `parse-time-string'.). Changing the time stamp format is not recommended. Picture mode enhancements have been removed from org.el

Version 1.4

Some option name changes, not backward compatible. ASCII exporter upgrade: Table of contents. HTML exporter upgrade: fixed-width regions, better sub/superscripts, many TeX symbols supported. Calendar support.

Version 1.3

HTML exporter upgrade, in particular table of contents