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Org Mode Compact Guide
- Copying
- Introduction
- Document Structure
- Tables
- Hyperlinks
- Items
- Tags
- Properties
- Dates and Times
- Capture, Refile, Archive
- Agenda Views
- Markup for Rich Contents
- Exporting
- Publishing
- Working with Source Code
- Miscellaneous
- Footnotes
Copying
Copyright © 2004–2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual," and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License." in the full Org manual, which is distributed together with this compact guide.
(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual."
Introduction
Org is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, and doing project planning with a fast and effective plain-text system. It is also an authoring and publishing system, and it supports working with source code for literal programming and reproducible research.
This document is a much compressed derivative of the comprehensive Org mode manual. It contains all basic features and commands, along with important hints for customization. It is intended for beginners who would shy back from a 200 pages manual because of sheer size.
Installation
If you are using a version of Org that is part of the Emacs distribution, please skip this section and go directly to /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Activation.
If you have downloaded Org from the web, either as a distribution
.zip
or .tar
file, or as a Git archive, it is best to run it
directly from the distribution directory. You need to add the lisp/
subdirectories to the Emacs load path. To do this, add the following
line to your Emacs init file:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/path/to/orgdir/lisp")
If you have been using git or a tar ball to get Org, you need to run the following command to generate autoload information.
make autoloads
Activation
Add the following lines to your Emacs init file to define global keys for three commands that are useful in any Emacs buffer, not just Org buffers. Please choose suitable keys yourself.
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c l") #'org-store-link)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c a") #'org-agenda)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c c") #'org-capture)
Files with extension .org
will be put into Org mode automatically.
Feedback
If you find problems with Org, or if you have questions, remarks, or ideas about it, please mail to the Org mailing list mailto:emacs-orgmode@gnu.org. For information on how to submit bug reports, see the main manual.
Document Structure
Org is an outliner. Outlines allow a document to be organized in
a hierarchical structure, which, least for me, is the best
representation of notes and thoughts. An overview of this structure
is achieved by folding, i.e., hiding large parts of the document to
show only the general document structure and the parts currently being
worked on. Org greatly simplifies the use of outlines by compressing
the entire show and hide functionalities into a single command,
org-cycle
, which is bound to the key.
Headlines
Headlines define the structure of an outline tree. The headlines in Org start on the left margin1 with one or more stars followed by a space. For example:
* Top level headline ** Second level *** Third level some text *** Third level more text * Another top level headline
Note that a headline named after org-footnote-section
, which
defaults to Footnotes
, is considered as special. A subtree with
this headline will be silently ignored by exporting functions.
Some people find the many stars too noisy and would prefer an outline that has whitespace followed by a single star as headline starters. See /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Miscellaneous for a setup to realize this.
Visibility Cycling
Outlines make it possible to hide parts of the text in the buffer.
Org uses just two commands, bound to and
(org-cycle
and org-shifttab
) to change the
visibility in the buffer.
-
(
org-cycle
) -
Subtree cycling: Rotate current subtree among the states
,-> FOLDED -> CHILDREN -> SUBTREE --. '-----------------------------------'
When called with a prefix argument (), or with the Shift key, global cycling is invoked.
-
(
org-cycle
) -
Global cycling: Rotate the entire buffer among the states
,-> OVERVIEW -> CONTENTS -> SHOW ALL --. '--------------------------------------'
-
(
org-show-all
) - Show all, including drawers.
When Emacs first visits an Org file, the global state is set to
OVERVIEW, i.e., only the top level headlines are visible. This can be
configured through the variable org-startup-folded
, or on a per-file
basis by adding a STARTUP
keyword to overview
, content
,
showall
, showeverything
or show<n>levels
(n = 2..5) like this:
#+STARTUP: content
Motion
The following commands jump to other headlines in the buffer.
-
(
org-next-visible-heading
) - Next heading.
-
(
org-previous-visible-heading
) - Previous heading.
-
(
org-backward-heading-same-level
) - Next heading same level.
-
(
outline-backward-same-level
) - Previous heading same level.
-
(
outline-up-heading
) - Backward to higher level heading.
Structure Editing
-
(
org-meta-return
) - Insert new heading with same level as current. If point is in a plain list item, a new item is created (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/Plain%20Lists). When this command is used in the middle of a line, the line is split and the rest of the line becomes the new headline2.
-
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) - Insert new TODO entry with same level as current heading.
-
(
org-cycle
) in new, empty entry - In a new entry with no text yet, cycles through reasonable levels.
-
(
org-metaright
) - Promote or demote current heading by one level.
-
(
org-move-subtree-down
) - Move subtree up or down, i.e., swap with previous or next subtree of same level.
-
(
org-refile
) - Refile entry or region to a different location. See [[*Refile and Copy]].
-
(
widen
) - Narrow buffer to current subtree and widen it again.
When there is an active region (Transient Mark mode), promotion and demotion work on all headlines in the region.
Sparse Trees
An important feature of Org mode is the ability to construct sparse trees for selected information in an outline tree, so that the entire document is folded as much as possible, but the selected information is made visible along with the headline structure above it3. Just try it out and you will see immediately how it works.
Org mode contains several commands creating such trees, all these commands can be accessed through a dispatcher:
-
(
org-sparse-tree
) - This prompts for an extra key to select a sparse-tree creating command.
-
(
org-occur
) - Occur. Prompts for a regexp and shows a sparse tree with all matches. Each match is also highlighted; the highlights disappear by pressing . The other sparse tree commands select headings based on TODO keywords, tags, or properties and will be discussed later in this manual.
Plain Lists
Within an entry of the outline tree, hand-formatted lists can provide additional structure. They also provide a way to create lists of checkboxes (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Checkboxes). Org supports editing such lists, and every exporter (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Exporting) can parse and format them.
Org knows ordered lists, unordered lists, and description lists.
- Unordered list items start with
-
,+
, or*
as bullets. - Ordered list items start with
1.
, or1)
. - Description list use
::
to separate the term from the description.
Items belonging to the same list must have the same indentation on the first line. An item ends before the next line that is indented like its bullet/number, or less. A list ends when all items are closed, or before two blank lines. An example:
* Lord of the Rings My favorite scenes are (in this order) 1. The attack of the Rohirrim 2. Eowyn's fight with the witch king + this was already my favorite scene in the book + I really like Miranda Otto. Important actors in this film are: - Elijah Wood :: He plays Frodo - Sean Astin :: He plays Sam, Frodo's friend.
The following commands act on items when point is in the first line of an item (the line with the bullet or number).
-
(
org-cycle
) - Items can be folded just like headline levels.
-
(
org-insert-heading
) - Insert new item at current level. With a prefix argument, force a new heading (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AStructure%20Editing).
-
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) - Insert a new item with a checkbox (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Checkboxes).
-
(
org-move-item-down
) - Move the item including subitems up/down (swap with previous/next item of same indentation). If the list is ordered, renumbering is automatic.
-
(
org-do-demote
) - Decrease/increase the indentation of an item, leaving children alone.
-
(
org-demote-subtree
) - Decrease/increase the indentation of the item, including subitems.
-
(
org-toggle-checkbox
) - If there is a checkbox (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Checkboxes) in the item line, toggle the state of the checkbox. Also verify bullets and indentation consistency in the whole list.
-
(
org-cycle-list-bullet
) -
Cycle the entire list level through the different itemize/enumerate
bullets (
-
,+
,*
,1.
,1)
).
Tables
Org comes with a fast and intuitive table editor. Spreadsheet-like calculations are supported in connection with the Emacs Calc package (see GNU Emacs Calculator Manual).
Org makes it easy to format tables in plain ASCII. Any line with |
as the first non-whitespace character is considered part of a table.
|
is also the column separator. A table might look like this:
| Name | Phone | Age | |-------+-------+-----| | Peter | 1234 | 17 | | Anna | 4321 | 25 |
A table is re-aligned automatically each time you press
or inside the table.
to the
next row) and creates new table rows at the end of the table or before
horizontal lines. The indentation of the table is set by the first
line. Any line starting with |-
is considered as a horizontal
separator line and will be expanded on the next re-align to span the
whole table width. So, to create the above table, you would only type
|Name|Phone|Age| |-
and then press to align the table and start filling in
fields. Even faster would be to type |Name|Phone|Age
followed by
.
When typing text into a field, Org treats , , and all character keys in a special way, so that inserting and deleting avoids shifting other fields. Also, when typing immediately after point was moved into a new field with , the field is automatically made blank.
Creation and conversion
-
(
org-table-create-or-convert-from-region
) - Convert the active region to table. If every line contains at least one character, the function assumes that the material is tab separated. If every line contains a comma, comma-separated values (CSV) are assumed. If not, lines are split at whitespace into fields. If there is no active region, this command creates an empty Org table. But it is easier just to start typing, like {{{kbd(| N a m e | P h o n e | A g e RET | - TAB)}}}.
Re-aligning and field motion
-
(
org-table-align
) - Re-align the table without moving point.
-
(
org-table-next-field
) - Re-align the table, move to the next field. Creates a new row if necessary.
-
(
org-table-previous-field
) - Re-align, move to previous field.
-
(
org-table-next-row
) - Re-align the table and move down to next row. Creates a new row if necessary.
-
(
org-table-move-cell-right
) - Move a cell up, down, left, and right by swapping with adjacent cell.
Column and row editing
-
(
org-table-move-column-right
) - Move the current column left/right.
-
(
org-table-delete-column
) - Kill the current column.
-
(
org-table-insert-column
) - Insert a new column to the left of point position.
-
(
org-table-move-row-down
) - Move the current row up/down.
-
(
org-table-kill-row
) - Kill the current row or horizontal line.
-
(
org-table-insert-row
) - Insert a new row above the current row. With a prefix argument, the line is created below the current one.
-
(
org-table-insert-hline
) - Insert a horizontal line below current row. With a prefix argument, the line is created above the current line.
-
(
org-table-hline-and-move
) - Insert a horizontal line below current row, and move the point into the row below that line.
-
(
org-table-sort-lines
) - Sort the table lines in the region. The position of point indicates the column to be used for sorting, and the range of lines is the range between the nearest horizontal separator lines, or the entire table.
Hyperlinks
Like HTML, Org provides links inside a file, external links to other files, Usenet articles, emails, and much more.
Org recognizes plain URIs, possibly wrapped within angle brackets, and activate them as clickable links. The general link format, however, looks like this:
[[LINK][DESCRIPTION]]
or alternatively
[[LINK]]
Once a link in the buffer is complete, with all brackets present, Org
changes the display so that DESCRIPTION
is displayed instead of
[[LINK][DESCRIPTION]]
and LINK
is displayed instead of [[LINK]]
.
To edit the invisible
with the point on the link.
Internal links
If the link does not look like a URL, it is considered to be internal
in the current file. The most important case is a link like
[[#my-custom-id]]
which links to the entry with the CUSTOM_ID
property
my-custom-id
.
Links such as [[My Target]]
or [[My Target][Find my target]]
lead
to a text search in the current file for the corresponding target,
which looks like <<My Target>>
.
External Links
Org supports links to files, websites, Usenet and email messages, BBDB database entries and links to both IRC conversations and their logs. External links are URL-like locators. They start with a short identifying string followed by a colon. There can be no space after the colon. Here are some examples:
http://www.astro.uva.nl/=dominik |
on the web |
file:/home/dominik/images/jupiter.jpg |
file, absolute path |
/home/dominik/images/jupiter.jpg |
same as above |
file:papers/last.pdf |
file, relative path |
./papers/last.pdf |
same as above |
file:projects.org |
another Org file |
docview:papers/last.pdf::NNN |
open in DocView mode at page |
id:B7423F4D-2E8A-471B-8810-C40F074717E9 |
link to heading by ID |
news:comp.emacs |
Usenet link |
mailto:adent@galaxy.net |
mail link |
mhe:folder#id |
MH-E message link |
rmail:folder#id |
Rmail message link |
gnus:group#id |
Gnus article link |
bbdb:R.*Stallman |
BBDB link (with regexp) |
irc:/irc.com/#emacs/bob |
IRC link |
info:org#Hyperlinks |
Info node link |
File links can contain additional information to make Emacs jump to a particular location in the file when following a link. This can be a line number or a search option after a double colon. Here are a few examples,, together with an explanation:
file:~/code/main.c::255 |
Find line 255 |
file:~/xx.org::My Target |
Find <<My Target>> |
[[file:~/xx.org::#my-custom-id]] |
Find entry with a custom ID |
Handling Links
Org provides methods to create a link in the correct syntax, to insert it into an Org file, and to follow the link.
The main function is org-store-link
, called with {{{kbd(M-x
org-store-link)}}}. Because of its importance, we suggest to bind it
to a widely available key (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Activation). It stores a link to the
current location. The link is stored for later insertion into an Org
buffer—see below.
From an Org buffer, the following commands create, navigate or, more generally, act on links.
-
(
org-insert-link
) - Insert a link. This prompts for a link to be inserted into the buffer. You can just type a link, or use history keys and to access stored links. You will be prompted for the description part of the link. When called with a prefix argument, file name completion is used to link to a file.
-
(with point on existing link) (
org-insert-link
) - When point is on an existing link, allows you to edit the link and description parts of the link.
-
(
open-link-at-point
) - Open link at point.
-
(
org-mark-ring-goto
) - Jump back to a recorded position. A position is recorded by the commands following internal links, and by . Using this command several times in direct succession moves through a ring of previously recorded positions.
TODO Items
Org mode does not require TODO lists to live in separate documents. Instead, TODO items are part of a notes file, because TODO items usually come up while taking notes! With Org mode, simply mark any entry in a tree as being a TODO item. In this way, information is not duplicated, and TODO items remain in the context from which they emerged.
Org mode provides methods to give you an overview of all the things that you have to do, collected from many files.
Basic TODO Functionality
Any headline becomes a TODO item when it starts with the word TODO
,
for example:
*** TODO Write letter to Sam Fortune
The most important commands to work with TODO entries are:
-
(
org-todo
) -
Rotate the TODO state of the current item among
,-> (unmarked) -> TODO -> DONE --. '--------------------------------'
The same rotation can also be done "remotely" from the agenda buffer with the command key (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]).
-
(
org-shiftleft
) - Select the following/preceding TODO state, similar to cycling.
-
(
org-show-todo-tree
) - View TODO items in a sparse tree (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2ASparse%20Trees). Folds the entire buffer, but shows all TODO items—with not-DONE state—and the headings hierarchy above them.
-
(
org-todo-list
) - Show the global TODO list. Collects the TODO items (with not-DONE states) from all agenda files (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) into a single buffer. See /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Global%20TODO%20List, for more information.
-
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) - Insert a new TODO entry below the current one.
Changing a TODO state can also trigger tag changes. See the docstring
of the option org-todo-state-tags-triggers
for details.
Multi-state Workflow
You can use TODO keywords to indicate sequential working progress states:
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO" "FEEDBACK" "VERIFY" "|" "DONE" "DELEGATED")))
The vertical bar separates the TODO
keywords (states that need
action) from the DONE
states (which need no further action). If
you do not provide the separator bar, the last state is used as the
DONE
state. With this setup, the command cycles
an entry from TODO
to FEEDBACK
, then to VERIFY
, and finally to
DONE
and DELEGATED
.
Sometimes you may want to use different sets of TODO keywords in
parallel. For example, you may want to have the basic TODO=/=DONE
,
but also a workflow for bug fixing. Your setup would then look like
this:
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO(t)" "|" "DONE(d)")
(sequence "REPORT(r)" "BUG(b)" "KNOWNCAUSE(k)" "|" "FIXED(f)")))
The keywords should all be different, this helps Org mode to keep track of which subsequence should be used for a given entry. The example also shows how to define keys for fast access of a particular state, by adding a letter in parenthesis after each keyword—you will be prompted for the key after .
To define TODO keywords that are valid only in a single file, use the following text anywhere in the file.
#+TODO: TODO(t) | DONE(d) #+TODO: REPORT(r) BUG(b) KNOWNCAUSE(k) | FIXED(f) #+TODO: | CANCELED(c)
After changing one of these lines, use with the cursor still in the line to make the changes known to Org mode.
Progress Logging
To record a timestamp and a note when changing a TODO state, call the
command org-todo
with a prefix argument.
-
(
org-todo
) - Prompt for a note and record a the time of the TODO state change.
Org mode can also automatically record a timestamp and optionally a note when you mark a TODO item as DONE, or even each time you change the state of a TODO item. This system is highly configurable, settings can be on a per-keyword basis and can be localized to a file or even a subtree. For information on how to clock working time for a task, see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AClocking%20Work%20Time.
Closing items
The most basic logging is to keep track of when a certain TODO item was marked as done. This can be achieved with4
(setq org-log-done 'time)
Then each time you turn an entry from a TODO (not-done) state into any
of the DONE states, a line CLOSED: [timestamp]
is inserted just
after the headline.
If you want to record a note along with the timestamp, use5
(setq org-log-done 'note)
You are then be prompted for a note, and that note is stored below the
entry with a Closing Note
heading.
Tracking TODO state changes
You might want to keep track of TODO state changes. You can either
record just a timestamp, or a time-stamped note for a change. These
records are inserted after the headline as an itemized list. When
taking a lot of notes, you might want to get the notes out of the way
into a drawer. Customize the variable org-log-into-drawer
to get
this behavior.
For state logging, Org mode expects configuration on a per-keyword
basis. This is achieved by adding special markers !
(for
a timestamp) and @
(for a note) in parentheses after each keyword.
For example:
#+TODO: TODO(t) WAIT(w@/!) | DONE(d!) CANCELED(c@)
defines TODO keywords and fast access keys, and also request that
a time is recorded when the entry is set to DONE
, and that a note is
recorded when switching to WAIT
or CANCELED
. The same syntax
works also when setting org-todo-keywords
.
Priorities
If you use Org mode extensively, you may end up with enough TODO items that it starts to make sense to prioritize them. Prioritizing can be done by placing a priority cookie into the headline of a TODO item, like this
*** TODO [#A] Write letter to Sam Fortune
Org mode supports three priorities: A
, B
, and C
. A
is the
highest, B
the default if none is given. Priorities make
a difference only in the agenda.
-
(
org-priority
) - Set the priority of the current headline. Press , to remove the cookie.
-
(
org-priority-down
) - Increase/decrease the priority of the current headline.
Breaking Tasks Down into Subtasks
It is often advisable to break down large tasks into smaller,
manageable subtasks. You can do this by creating an outline tree
below a TODO item, with detailed subtasks on the tree. To keep an
overview of the fraction of subtasks that have already been marked
as done, insert either [/]
or [%]
anywhere in the headline. These
cookies are updated each time the TODO status of a child changes, or
when pressing on the cookie. For example:
* Organize Party [33%] ** TODO Call people [1/2] *** TODO Peter *** DONE Sarah ** TODO Buy food ** DONE Talk to neighbor
Checkboxes
Every item in a plain list (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2APlain%20Lists) can be made into
a checkbox by starting it with the string [ ]
. Checkboxes are not
included into the global TODO list, so they are often great to split
a task into a number of simple steps.
Here is an example of a checkbox list.
* TODO Organize party [2/4] - [-] call people [1/2] - [ ] Peter - [X] Sarah - [X] order food
Checkboxes work hierarchically, so if a checkbox item has children that are checkboxes, toggling one of the children checkboxes makes the parent checkbox reflect if none, some, or all of the children are checked.
The following commands work with checkboxes:
-
(
org-toggle-checkbox
) - Toggle checkbox status or—with prefix argument—checkbox presence at point.
-
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) - Insert a new item with a checkbox. This works only if point is already in a plain list item (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2APlain%20Lists).
Tags
An excellent way to implement labels and contexts for cross-correlating information is to assign tags to headlines. Org mode has extensive support for tags.
Every headline can contain a list of tags; they occur at the end of
the headline. Tags are normal words containing letters, numbers, _
,
and @
. Tags must be preceded and followed by a single colon, e.g.,
:work:
. Several tags can be specified, as in :work:urgent:
. Tags
by default are in bold face with the same color as the headline.
Tag inheritance
Tags make use of the hierarchical structure of outline trees. If a heading has a certain tag, all subheadings inherit the tag as well. For example, in the list
* Meeting with the French group :work: ** Summary by Frank :boss:notes: *** TODO Prepare slides for him :action:
the final heading has the tags work
, boss
, notes
, and action
even though the final heading is not explicitly marked with those
tags.
You can also set tags that all entries in a file should inherit just as if these tags were defined in a hypothetical level zero that surrounds the entire file. Use a line like this6:
#+FILETAGS: :Peter:Boss:Secret:
Setting tags
Tags can simply be typed into the buffer at the end of a headline. After a colon, offers completion on tags. There is also a special command for inserting tags:
-
(
org-set-tags-command
) - Enter new tags for the current headline. Org mode either offers completion or a special single-key interface for setting tags, see below.
-
(
org-set-tags-command
) - When point is in a headline, this does the same as {{{kbd(C-c C-q)}}}.
Org supports tag insertion based on a list of tags. By default this
list is constructed dynamically, containing all tags currently used in
the buffer. You may also globally specify a hard list of tags with
the variable org-tag-alist
. Finally you can set the default tags
for a given file using the TAGS
keyword, like
#+TAGS: @work @home @tennisclub #+TAGS: laptop car pc sailboat
By default Org mode uses the standard minibuffer completion facilities
for entering tags. However, it also implements another, quicker, tag
selection method called fast tag selection. This allows you to
select and deselect tags with just a single key press. For this to
work well you should assign unique letters to most of your commonly
used tags. You can do this globally by configuring the variable
org-tag-alist
in your Emacs init file. For example, you may find
the need to tag many items in different files with @home
. In this
case you can set something like:
(setq org-tag-alist '(("@work" . ?w) ("@home" . ?h) ("laptop" . ?l)))
If the tag is only relevant to the file you are working on, then you
can instead set the TAGS
keyword as:
#+TAGS: @work(w) @home(h) @tennisclub(t) laptop(l) pc(p)
Tag groups
A tag can be defined as a group tag for a set of other tags. The group tag can be seen as the "broader term" for its set of tags.
You can set group tags by using brackets and inserting a colon between the group tag and its related tags:
#+TAGS: [ GTD : Control Persp ]
or, if tags in the group should be mutually exclusive:
#+TAGS: { Context : @Home @Work }
When you search for a group tag, it return matches for all members in the group and its subgroups. In an agenda view, filtering by a group tag displays or hide headlines tagged with at least one of the members of the group or any of its subgroups.
If you want to ignore group tags temporarily, toggle group tags
support with org-toggle-tags-groups
, bound to .
Tag searches
-
(
org-match-sparse-tree
) - Create a sparse tree with all headlines matching a tags search. With a prefix argument, ignore headlines that are not a TODO line.
-
(
org-tags-view
) - Create a global list of tag matches from all agenda files. See /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AMatching%20Tags%20and%20Properties.
-
(
org-tags-view
) -
Create a global list of tag matches from all agenda files, but check
only TODO items and force checking subitems (see the option
org-tags-match-list-sublevels
).
These commands all prompt for a match string which allows basic
Boolean logic like +boss+urgent-project1
, to find entries with tags
boss
and urgent
, but not project1
, or Kathy|Sally
to find
entries which are tagged, like Kathy
or Sally
. The full syntax of
the search string is rich and allows also matching against TODO
keywords, entry levels and properties. For a more detailed description
with many examples, see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AMatching%20Tags%20and%20Properties.
Properties
Properties are key-value pairs associated with an entry. They live in
a special drawer with the name PROPERTIES
. Each property is
specified on a single line, with the key (surrounded by colons) first,
and the value after it:
* CD collection ** Classic *** Goldberg Variations :PROPERTIES: :Title: Goldberg Variations :Composer: J.S. Bach :Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon :NDisks: 1 :END:
You may define the allowed values for a particular property Xyz
by
setting a property Xyz_ALL
. This special property is inherited,
so if you set it in a level 1 entry, it applies to the entire tree.
When allowed values are defined, setting the corresponding property
becomes easier and is less prone to typing errors. For the example
with the CD collection, we can pre-define publishers and the number of
disks in a box like this:
* CD collection :PROPERTIES: :NDisks_ALL: 1 2 3 4 :Publisher_ALL: "Deutsche Grammophon" Philips EMI :END:
If you want to set properties that can be inherited by any entry in a file, use a line like:
#+PROPERTY: NDisks_ALL 1 2 3 4
The following commands help to work with properties:
-
(
org-set-property
) - Set a property. This prompts for a property name and a value.
-
(
org-delete-property
) - Remove a property from the current entry.
To create sparse trees and special lists with selection based on properties, the same commands are used as for tag searches (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Tags). The syntax for the search string is described in [[*Matching Tags and Properties]].
Dates and Times
To assist project planning, TODO items can be labeled with a date and/or a time. The specially formatted string carrying the date and time information is called a timestamp in Org mode. This may be a little confusing because timestamp is often used as indicating when something was created or last changed. However, in Org mode this term is used in a much wider sense.
Timestamps can be used to plan appointments, schedule tasks, set deadlines, track time, and more. The following sections describe the timestamp format and tooling that Org mode provides for common use cases dealing with time and time intervals.
Timestamps
A timestamp is a specification of a date—possibly with a time or
a range of times—in a special format, either <2003-09-16 Tue>
or
<2003-09-16 Tue 09:39>
or <2003-09-16 Tue 12:00-12:30>
.
A timestamp can appear anywhere in the headline or body of an Org tree
entry. Its presence causes entries to be shown on specific dates in
the agenda (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Weekly/Daily%20Agenda). We distinguish:
- Plain timestamp; Event; Appointment
-
A simple timestamp just assigns a date/time to an item. This is just like writing down an appointment or event in a paper agenda. There can be multiple timestamps in an item.
* Meet Peter at the movies <2006-11-01 Wed 19:15> * Discussion on climate change <2006-11-02 Thu 20:00-22:00> * My days off <2006-11-03 Fri> <2006-11-06 Mon>
- Timestamp with repeater interval
-
A timestamp may contain a repeater interval, indicating that it applies not only on the given date, but again and again after a certain interval of N hours (h), days (d), weeks (w), months (m), or years (y). The following shows up in the agenda every Wednesday:
* Pick up Sam at school <2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w>
- Diary-style expression entries
-
For more complex date specifications, Org mode supports using the special expression diary entries implemented in the Emacs Calendar package. For example, with optional time:
* 22:00-23:00 The nerd meeting on every 2nd Thursday of the month <%%(diary-float t 4 2)>
- Time range
-
Time range is a timestamp having two time units connected by
-
* Discussion on climate change <2006-11-02 Thu 10:00-12:00>
- Time/Date range
-
Two timestamps connected by
--
denote a range. In the agenda, the headline is shown on the first and last day of the range, and on any dates that are displayed and fall in the range. The first example specifies just the dates of the range while the second example specifies a time range for each date.** Meeting in Amsterdam <2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu> ** This weeks committee meetings <2004-08-23 Mon 10:00-11:00>--<2004-08-26 Thu 10:00-11:00>
- Inactive timestamp
-
Just like a plain timestamp, but with square brackets instead of angular ones. These timestamps are inactive in the sense that they do not trigger an entry to show up in the agenda.
* Gillian comes late for the fifth time [2006-11-01 Wed]
Creating Timestamps
For Org mode to recognize timestamps, they need to be in the specific format. All commands listed below produce timestamps in the correct format.
-
(
org-timestamp
) - Prompt for a date and insert a corresponding timestamp. When point is at an existing timestamp in the buffer, the command is used to modify this timestamp instead of inserting a new one. When this command is used twice in succession, a time range is inserted. With a prefix argument, it also adds the current time.
-
(
org-timestamp-inactive
) - Like , but insert an inactive timestamp that does not cause an agenda entry.
-
(
org-timestamp-up-day
) - Change date at point by one day.
-
(
org-timestamp-down
) -
On the beginning or enclosing bracket of a timestamp, change its
type. Within a timestamp, change the item under point. Point can
be on a year, month, day, hour or minute. When the timestamp
contains a time range like
15:30-16:30
, modifying the first time also shifts the second, shifting the time block with constant length. To change the length, modify the second time.
When Org mode prompts for a date/time, it accepts any string containing some date and/or time information, and intelligently interprets the string, deriving defaults for unspecified information from the current date and time. You can also select a date in the pop-up calendar. See the manual for more information on how exactly the date/time prompt works.
Deadlines and Scheduling
A timestamp may be preceded by special keywords to facilitate planning:
-
(
org-deadline
) -
Insert
DEADLINE
keyword along with a time stamp, in the line following the headline.Meaning: the task—most likely a TODO item, though not necessarily—is supposed to be finished on that date.
On the deadline date, the task is listed in the agenda. In addition, the agenda for today carries a warning about the approaching or missed deadline, starting
org-deadline-warning-days
before the due date, and continuing until the entry is marked as done. An example:*** TODO write article about the Earth for the Guide DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun> The editor in charge is [[bbdb:Ford Prefect]]
-
(
org-schedule
) -
Insert
SCHEDULED
keyword along with a stamp, in the line following the headline.Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date7.
The headline is listed under the given date8. In addition, a reminder that the scheduled date has passed is present in the compilation for today, until the entry is marked as done, i.e., the task is automatically forwarded until completed.
*** TODO Call Trillian for a date on New Years Eve. SCHEDULED: <2004-12-25 Sat>
Some tasks need to be repeated again and again. Org mode helps to
organize such tasks using a so-called repeater in a DEADLINE
,
SCHEDULED
, or plain timestamps. In the following example:
** TODO Pay the rent DEADLINE: <2005-10-01 Sat +1m>
the +1m
is a repeater; the intended interpretation is that the task
has a deadline on <2005-10-01>
and repeats itself every (one) month
starting from that time.
Clocking Work Time
Org mode allows you to clock the time you spend on specific tasks in a project.
-
(
org-clock-in
) -
Start the clock on the current item (clock-in). This inserts the
CLOCK
keyword together with a timestamp. When called with a prefix argument, select the task from a list of recently clocked tasks. -
(
org-clock-out
) -
Stop the clock (clock-out). This inserts another timestamp at the
same location where the clock was last started. It also directly
computes the resulting time in inserts it after the time range as
=>HH:MM
. -
(
org-clock-modify-effort-estimate
) - Update the effort estimate for the current clock task.
-
(
org-clock-cancel
) - Cancel the current clock. This is useful if a clock was started by mistake, or if you ended up working on something else.
-
(
org-clock-goto
) - Jump to the headline of the currently clocked in task. With a prefix argument, select the target task from a list of recently clocked tasks.
The key may be used in the agenda (see [[*The Weekly/Daily Agenda]]) to show which tasks have been worked on or closed during a day.
Capture, Refile, Archive
An important part of any organization system is the ability to quickly capture new ideas and tasks, and to associate reference material with them. Org does this using a process called capture. It also can store files related to a task (attachments) in a special directory. Once in the system, tasks and projects need to be moved around. Moving completed project trees to an archive file keeps the system compact and fast.
Capture
Capture lets you quickly store notes with little interruption of your work flow. You can define templates for new entries and associate them with different targets for storing notes.
Setting up capture
The following customization sets a default target9 file for notes.
(setq org-default-notes-file (concat org-directory "/notes.org"))
You may also define a global key for capturing new material (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Activation).
Using capture
-
(
org-capture
) - Start a capture process, placing you into a narrowed indirect buffer to edit.
-
(
org-capture-finalize
) - Once you have finished entering information into the capture buffer, returns you to the window configuration before the capture process, so that you can resume your work without further distraction.
-
(
org-capture-refile
) - Finalize the capture process by refiling the note to a different place (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2ARefile%20and%20Copy).
-
(
org-capture-kill
) - Abort the capture process and return to the previous state.
Capture templates
You can use templates for different types of capture items, and for
different target locations. Say you would like to use one template to
create general TODO entries, and you want to put these entries under
the heading Tasks
in your file ~/org/gtd.org
. Also, a date tree
in the file journal.org
should capture journal entries. A possible
configuration would look like:
(setq org-capture-templates
'(("t" "Todo" entry (file+headline "~/org/gtd.org" "Tasks")
"* TODO %?\n %i\n %a")
("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/org/journal.org")
"* %?\nEntered on %U\n %i\n %a")))
If you then press from the capture menu, Org will prepare the template for you like this:
* TODO [[file:LINK TO WHERE YOU INITIATED CAPTURE]]
During expansion of the template, special %-escapes10 allow dynamic insertion of content. Here is a small selection of the possibilities, consult the manual for more.
%a |
annotation, normally the link created with org-store-link |
%i |
initial content, the region when capture is called with |
%t , %T |
timestamp, date only, or date and time |
%u , %U |
like above, but inactive timestamps |
%? |
after completing the template, position point here |
Refile and Copy
When reviewing the captured data, you may want to refile or to copy some of the entries into a different list, for example into a project. Cutting, finding the right location, and then pasting the note is cumbersome. To simplify this process, you can use the following special command:
-
(
org-agenda-refile
) -
Refile the entry or region at point. This command offers possible
locations for refiling the entry and lets you select one with
completion. The item (or all items in the region) is filed below
the target heading as a subitem.
By default, all level 1 headlines in the current buffer are
considered to be targets, but you can have more complex definitions
across a number of files. See the variable
org-refile-targets
for details. -
(
org-agenda-refile
) - Use the refile interface to jump to a heading.
-
(
org-refile-goto-last-stored
) -
Jump to the location where
org-refile
last moved a tree to. -
(
org-refile-copy
) - Copying works like refiling, except that the original note is not deleted.
Archiving
When a project represented by a (sub)tree is finished, you may want to move the tree out of the way and to stop it from contributing to the agenda. Archiving is important to keep your working files compact and global searches like the construction of agenda views fast.
The most common archiving action is to move a project tree to another file, the archive file.
-
(
org-archive-subtree-default
) -
Archive the current entry using the command specified in the
variable
org-archive-default-command
. -
(
org-archive-subtree
) -
Archive the subtree starting at point position to the location given
by
org-archive-location
.
The default archive location is a file in the same directory as the
current file, with the name derived by appending _archive
to the
current file name. You can also choose what heading to file archived
items under, with the possibility to add them to a datetree in a file.
For information and examples on how to specify the file and the
heading, see the documentation string of the variable
org-archive-location
.
There is also an in-buffer option for setting this variable, for example:
#+ARCHIVE: %s_done::
Agenda Views
Due to the way Org works, TODO items, time-stamped items, and tagged headlines can be scattered throughout a file or even a number of files. To get an overview of open action items, or of events that are important for a particular date, this information must be collected, sorted and displayed in an organized way.
The extracted information is displayed in a special agenda buffer. This buffer is read-only, but provides commands to visit the corresponding locations in the original Org files, and even to edit these files remotely. Remote editing from the agenda buffer means, for example, that you can change the dates of deadlines and appointments from the agenda buffer. For commands available in the Agenda buffer, see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2ACommands%20in%20the%20Agenda%20Buffer.
Agenda Files
The information to be shown is normally collected from all agenda
files, the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files
.
-
(
org-agenda-file-to-front
) - Add current file to the list of agenda files. The file is added to the front of the list. If it was already in the list, it is moved to the front. With a prefix argument, file is added/moved to the end.
-
(
org-remove-file
) - Remove current file from the list of agenda files.
-
(
org-cycle-agenda-files
) - Cycle through agenda file list, visiting one file after the other.
The Agenda Dispatcher
The views are created through a dispatcher, accessible with {{{kbd(M-x org-agenda)}}}, or, better, bound to a global key (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Activation). It displays a menu from which an additional letter is required to execute a command. The dispatcher offers the following default commands:
- Create the calendar-like agenda (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Weekly/Daily%20Agenda).
- Create a list of all TODO items (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Global%20TODO%20List).
- Create a list of headlines matching a given expression (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AMatching%20Tags%20and%20Properties).
-
Create a list of entries selected by a boolean expression of keywords and/or regular expressions that must or must not occur in the entry.
The Weekly/Daily Agenda
The purpose of the weekly/daily agenda is to act like a page of a paper agenda, showing all the tasks for the current week or day.
-
(
org-agenda-list
) - Compile an agenda for the current week from a list of Org files. The agenda shows the entries for each day.
Org mode understands the syntax of the diary and allows you to use diary expression entries directly in Org files:
* Holidays :PROPERTIES: :CATEGORY: Holiday :END: %%(org-calendar-holiday) ; special function for holiday names * Birthdays :PROPERTIES: :CATEGORY: Ann :END: %%(org-anniversary 1956 5 14) Arthur Dent is %d years old %%(org-anniversary 1869 10 2) Mahatma Gandhi would be %d years old
Org can interact with Emacs appointments notification facility. To
add the appointments of your agenda files, use the command
org-agenda-to-appt
.
The Global TODO List
The global TODO list contains all unfinished TODO items formatted and collected into a single place. Remote editing of TODO items lets you can change the state of a TODO entry with a single key press. For commands available in the TODO list, see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]].
-
(
org-todo-list
) - Show the global TODO list. This collects the TODO items from all agenda files (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) into a single buffer.
-
(
org-todo-list
) - Like the above, but allows selection of a specific TODO keyword.
Matching Tags and Properties
If headlines in the agenda files are marked with tags (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Tags), or have properties (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Properties), you can select headlines based on this metadata and collect them into an agenda buffer. The match syntax described here also applies when creating sparse trees with .
-
(
org-tags-view
) -
Produce a list of all headlines that match a given set of tags. The
command prompts for a selection criterion, which is a boolean logic
expression with tags, like
+work+urgent-withboss
orwork|home
(see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Tags). If you often need a specific search, define a custom command for it (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher). -
(
org-tags-view
) - Like , but only select headlines that are also TODO items.
A search string can use Boolean operators &
for AND and |
for OR.
&
binds more strongly than |
. Parentheses are currently not
implemented. Each element in the search is either a tag, a regular
expression matching tags, or an expression like PROPERTY OPERATOR
VALUE
with a comparison operator, accessing a property value. Each
element may be preceded by -
to select against it, and +
is
syntactic sugar for positive selection. The AND operator &
is
optional when +
or -
is present. Here are some examples, using
only tags.
-
+work-boss
-
Select headlines tagged
work
, but discard those also taggedboss
. -
work|laptop
-
Selects lines tagged
work
orlaptop
. -
work|laptop+night
-
Like before, but require the
laptop
lines to be tagged alsonight
.
You may also test for properties at the same time as matching tags, see the manual for more information.
Search View
This agenda view is a general text search facility for Org mode entries. It is particularly useful to find notes.
-
(
org-search-view
) -
This is a special search that lets you select entries by matching a substring or specific words using a boolean logic.
For example, the search string computer equipment
matches entries
that contain computer equipment
as a substring.
Search view can also search for specific keywords in the entry, using
Boolean logic. The search string +computer
+wifi -ethernet -{8\.11[bg]}
matches 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
.
Note that in addition to the agenda files, this command also searches
the files listed in org-agenda-text-search-extra-files
.
Commands in the Agenda Buffer
Entries in the agenda buffer are linked back to the Org file or diary file where they originate. You are not allowed to edit the agenda buffer itself, but commands are provided to show and jump to the original entry location, and to edit the Org files "remotely" from the agenda buffer. This is just a selection of the many commands, explore the agenda menu and the manual for a complete list.
Motion
-
(
org-agenda-next-line
) - Next line (same as ).
-
(
org-agenda-previous-line
) - Previous line (same as ).
View/Go to Org file
-
(
org-agenda-show-and-scroll-up
) - Display the original location of the item in another window. With a prefix argument, make sure that drawers stay folded.
-
(
org-agenda-goto
) - Go to the original location of the item in another window.
-
(
org-agenda-switch-to
) - Go to the original location of the item and delete other windows.
Change display
-
(
delete-other-windows
) - Delete other windows.
-
(
org-agenda-day-view
) - Switch to day view.
-
(
org-agenda-week-view
) - Switch to week view.
-
(
org-agenda-later
) - Go forward in time to display the span following the current one. For example, if the display covers a week, switch to the following week.
-
(
org-agenda-earlier
) - Go backward in time to display earlier dates.
-
(
org-agenda-goto-today
) - Go to today.
-
(
org-agenda-goto-date
) - Prompt for a date and go there.
-
(
org-agenda-log-mode
) -
Toggle Logbook mode. In Logbook mode, entries that were marked as
done while logging was on (see the variable
org-log-done
) are shown in the agenda, as are entries that have been clocked on that day. When called with a prefix argument, show all possible logbook entries, including state changes. -
(
org-agenda-redo
) - Recreate the agenda buffer, for example to reflect the changes after modification of the timestamps of items.
-
(
org-save-all-org-buffers
) -
Save all Org buffers in the current Emacs session, and also the locations of IDs.
Remote editing
- Digit argument.
-
(
org-agenda-todo
) - Change the TODO state of the item, both in the agenda and in the original Org file.
-
(
org-agenda-kill
) - Delete the current agenda item along with the entire subtree belonging to it in the original Org file.
-
(
org-agenda-refile
) - Refile the entry at point.
-
(
org-agenda-archive-default-with-confirmation
) -
Archive the subtree corresponding to the entry at point using the
default archiving command set in
org-archive-default-command
. -
(
org-agenda-archive
) - Archive the subtree corresponding to the current headline.
-
(
org-agenda-schedule
) - Schedule this item. With a prefix argument, remove the scheduling timestamp
-
(
org-agenda-deadline
) - Set a deadline for this item. With a prefix argument, remove the deadline.
-
(
org-agenda-do-date-later
) - Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day into the future.
-
(
org-agenda-do-date-earlier
) - Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day into the past.
-
(
org-agenda-clock-in
) - Start the clock on the current item.
-
(
org-agenda-clock-out
) - Stop the previously started clock.
-
(
org-agenda-clock-cancel
) - Cancel the currently running clock.
-
(
org-agenda-clock-goto
) - Jump to the running clock in another window.
Quit and exit
-
(
org-agenda-quit
) - Quit agenda, remove the agenda buffer.
-
(
org-agenda-exit
) - Exit agenda, remove the agenda buffer and all buffers loaded by Emacs for the compilation of the agenda.
Custom Agenda Views
The first application of custom searches is the definition of keyboard shortcuts for frequently used searches, either creating an agenda buffer, or a sparse tree (the latter covering of course only the current buffer).
Custom commands are configured in the variable
org-agenda-custom-commands
. You can customize this variable, for
example by pressing from the agenda dispatcher (see [[*The
Agenda Dispatcher]]). You can also directly set it with Emacs Lisp in
the Emacs init file. The following example contains all valid agenda
views:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("w" todo "WAITING")
("u" tags "+boss-urgent")
("v" tags-todo "+boss-urgent")))
The initial string in each entry defines the keys you have to press after the dispatcher command in order to access the command. Usually this is just a single character. The second parameter is the search type, followed by the string or regular expression to be used for the matching. The example above will therefore define:
-
as a global search for TODO entries with
WAITING
as the TODO keyword. -
as a global tags search for headlines tagged
boss
but noturgent
. - The same search, but limiting it to headlines that are also TODO items.
Markup for Rich Contents
Org is primarily about organizing and searching through your plain-text notes. However, it also provides a lightweight yet robust markup language for rich text formatting and more. Used in conjunction with the export framework (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Exporting), you can author beautiful documents in Org.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs are separated by at least one empty line. If you need to
enforce a line break within a paragraph, use \\
at the end of
a line.
To preserve the line breaks, indentation and blank lines in a region, but otherwise use normal formatting, you can use this construct, which can also be used to format poetry.
#+BEGIN_VERSE Great clouds overhead Tiny black birds rise and fall Snow covers Emacs ---AlexSchroeder #+END_VERSE
When quoting a passage from another document, it is customary to format this as a paragraph that is indented on both the left and the right margin. You can include quotations in Org documents like this:
#+BEGIN_QUOTE Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler ---Albert Einstein #+END_QUOTE
If you would like to center some text, do it like this:
#+BEGIN_CENTER Everything should be made as simple as possible, \\ but not any simpler #+END_CENTER
Emphasis and Monospace
You can make words *bold*
, /italic/
, _underlined_
, =verbatim=
and ~code~
, and, if you must, +strike-through+
. Text in the code
and verbatim string is not processed for Org specific syntax; it is
exported verbatim.
Embedded LaTeX
For scientific notes which need to be able to contain mathematical symbols and the occasional formula, Org mode supports embedding LaTeX code into its files. You can directly use TeX-like syntax for special symbols, enter formulas and entire LaTeX environments.
The radius of the sun is R_sun = 6.96 x 10^8 m. On the other hand, the radius of Alpha Centauri is R_{Alpha Centauri} = 1.28 x R_{sun}. \begin{equation} % arbitrary environments, x=\sqrt{b} % even tables, figures \end{equation} % etc If $a^2=b$ and \( b=2 \), then the solution must be either $$ a=+\sqrt{2} $$ or \[ a=-\sqrt{2} \].
Literal examples
You can include literal examples that should not be subjected to markup. Such examples are typeset in monospace, so this is well suited for source code and similar examples.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE Some example from a text file. #+END_EXAMPLE
For simplicity when using small examples, you can also start the example lines with a colon followed by a space. There may also be additional whitespace before the colon:
Here is an example : Some example from a text file.
If the example is source code from a programming language, or any other text that can be marked up by Font Lock in Emacs, you can ask for the example to look like the fontified Emacs buffer.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun org-xor (a b) "Exclusive or." (if a (not b) b)) #+END_SRC
To edit the example in a special buffer supporting this language, use to both enter and leave the editing buffer.
Images
An image is a link to an image file that does not have a description part, for example
./img/cat.jpg
If you wish to define a caption for the image and maybe a label for
internal cross references (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Hyperlinks), make sure that the
link is on a line by itself and precede it with CAPTION
and NAME
keywords as follows:
#+CAPTION: This is the caption for the next figure link (or table) #+NAME: fig:SED-HR4049 [[./img/a.jpg]]
Creating Footnotes
A footnote is defined in a paragraph that is started by a footnote marker in square brackets in column 0, no indentation allowed. The footnote reference is simply the marker in square brackets, inside text. For example:
The Org website[fn:1] now looks a lot better than it used to. ... [fn:1] The link is: https://orgmode.org
The following commands handle footnotes:
-
(
org-footnote-action
) - The footnote action command. When point is on a footnote reference, jump to the definition. When it is at a definition, jump to the (first) reference. Otherwise, create a new footnote. When this command is called with a prefix argument, a menu of additional options including renumbering is offered.
-
(
org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c
) - Jump between definition and reference.
Exporting
Org can convert and export documents to a variety of other formats while retaining as much structure (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2ADocument%20Structure) and markup (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AMarkup%20for%20Rich%20Contents) as possible.
The Export Dispatcher
The export dispatcher is the main interface for Org's exports. A hierarchical menu presents the currently configured export formats. Options are shown as easy toggle switches on the same screen.
-
(
org-export-dispatch
) - Invokes the export dispatcher interface.
Org exports the entire buffer by default. If the Org buffer has an active region, then Org exports just that region.
Export Settings
The exporter recognizes special lines in the buffer which provide additional information. These lines may be put anywhere in the file:
#+TITLE: I'm in the Mood for Org
Most proeminent export options include:
TITLE |
the title to be shown |
AUTHOR |
the author (default taken from user-full-name ) |
DATE |
a date, fixed, or an Org timestamp |
EMAIL |
email address (default from user-mail-address ) |
LANGUAGE |
language code, e.g., en |
Option keyword sets can be inserted from the export dispatcher (see
/ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AThe%20Export%20Dispatcher) using the Insert template
command by
pressing .
Table of Contents
The table of contents includes all headlines in the document. Its
depth is therefore the same as the headline levels in the file. If
you need to use a different depth, or turn it off entirely, set the
org-export-with-toc
variable accordingly. You can achieve the same
on a per file basis, using the following toc
item in OPTIONS
keyword:
#+OPTIONS: toc:2 (only include two levels in TOC) #+OPTIONS: toc:nil (no default TOC at all)
Org normally inserts the table of contents directly before the first headline of the file.
Include Files
During export, you can include the content of another file. For
example, to include your .emacs
file, you could use:
#+INCLUDE: "~/.emacs" src emacs-lisp
The first parameter is the file name to include. The optional second
parameter specifies the block type: example
, export
or src
. The
optional third parameter specifies the source code language to use for
formatting the contents. This is relevant to both export
and src
block types.
You can visit the included file with .
Comment Lines
Lines starting with zero or more whitespace characters followed by one
#
and a whitespace are treated as comments and, as such, are not
exported.
Likewise, regions surrounded by #+BEGIN_COMMENT
… #+END_COMMENT
are not exported.
Finally, a COMMENT
keyword at the beginning of an entry, but after
any other keyword or priority cookie, comments out the entire subtree.
The command below helps changing the comment status of a headline.
-
(
org-toggle-comment
) -
Toggle the
COMMENT
keyword at the beginning of an entry.
ASCII/UTF-8 Export
ASCII export produces an output file containing only plain ASCII characters. This is the simplest and most direct text output. It does not contain any Org markup. UTF-8 export uses additional characters and symbols available in this encoding standards.
-
(
org-ascii-export-to-ascii
) -
Export as an ASCII file with a
.txt
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.txt
, overwriting without warning. Formyfile.txt
, Org exports tomyfile.txt.txt
in order to prevent data loss.
HTML Export
Org mode contains an HTML exporter with extensive HTML formatting compatible with XHTML 1.0 strict standard.
-
(
org-html-export-to-html
) -
Export as HTML file with a
.html
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.html
, overwriting without warning. {{{kbd(C-c C-e h o)}}} exports to HTML and opens it in a web browser.
The HTML export backend transforms <
and >
to <
and >
.
To include raw HTML code in the Org file so the HTML export backend
can insert that HTML code in the output, use this inline syntax:
@@html:...@@
. For example:
@@html:<b>@@bold text@@html:</b>@@
For larger raw HTML code blocks, use these HTML export code blocks:
#+HTML: Literal HTML code for export #+BEGIN_EXPORT html All lines between these markers are exported literally #+END_EXPORT
LaTeX Export
The LaTeX export backend can handle complex documents, incorporate standard or custom LaTeX document classes, generate documents using alternate LaTeX engines, and produce fully linked PDF files with indexes, bibliographies, and tables of contents, destined for interactive online viewing or high-quality print publication.
By default, the LaTeX output uses the article class. You can change
this by adding an option like #+LATEX_CLASS: myclass
in your file.
The class must be listed in org-latex-classes
.
-
(
org-latex-export-to-latex
) -
Export to a LaTeX file with a
.tex
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.tex
, overwriting without warning. -
(
org-latex-export-to-pdf
) - Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF file.
-
(
<no corresponding named command>
) - Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF, then open the PDF using the default viewer.
The LaTeX export backend can insert any arbitrary LaTeX code, see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2AEmbedded%20LaTeX. There are three ways to embed such code in the Org file and they all use different quoting syntax.
Inserting in-line quoted with @ symbols:
Code embedded in-line @@latex:any arbitrary LaTeX code@@ in a paragraph.
Inserting as one or more keyword lines in the Org file:
#+LATEX: any arbitrary LaTeX code
Inserting as an export block in the Org file, where the backend exports any code between begin and end markers:
#+BEGIN_EXPORT latex any arbitrary LaTeX code #+END_EXPORT
iCalendar Export
A large part of Org mode's interoperability success is its ability to easily export to or import from external applications. The iCalendar export backend takes calendar data from Org files and exports to the standard iCalendar format.
-
(
org-icalendar-export-to-ics
) -
Create iCalendar entries from the current Org buffer and store them
in the same directory, using a file extension
.ics
. -
(
org-icalendar-combine-agenda-files
) -
Create a combined iCalendar file from Org files in
org-agenda-files
and write it toorg-icalendar-combined-agenda-file
file name.
Publishing
Org includes a publishing management system that allows you to configure automatic HTML conversion of projects composed of interlinked Org files. You can also configure Org to automatically upload your exported HTML pages and related attachments, such as images and source code files, to a web server.
You can also use Org to convert files into PDF, or even combine HTML and PDF conversion so that files are available in both formats on the server.
For detailed instructions about setup, see the manual. Here is an example:
(setq org-publish-project-alist
'(("org"
:base-directory "~/org/"
:publishing-function org-html-publish-to-html
:publishing-directory "~/public_html"
:section-numbers nil
:with-toc nil
:html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\"
href=\"../other/mystyle.css\"
type=\"text/css\"/>")))
-
(
org-publish
) - Prompt for a specific project and publish all files that belong to it.
-
(
org-publish-current-project
) - Publish the project containing the current file.
-
(
org-publish-current-file
) - Publish only the current file.
-
(
org-publish-all
) - Publish every project.
Org uses timestamps to track when a file has changed. The above functions normally only publish changed files. You can override this and force publishing of all files by giving a prefix argument to any of the commands above.
Working with Source Code
Org mode provides a number of features for working with source code, including editing of code blocks in their native major mode, evaluation of code blocks, tangling of code blocks, and exporting code blocks and their results in several formats.
A source code block conforms to this structure:
#+NAME: <name> #+BEGIN_SRC <language> <switches> <header arguments> <body> #+END_SRC
where:
<name>
is a string used to uniquely name the code block,<language>
specifies the language of the code block, e.g.,emacs-lisp
,shell
,R
,python
, etc.,<switches>
can be used to control export of the code block,<header arguments>
can be used to control many aspects of code block behavior as demonstrated below,<body>
contains the actual source code.
Use to edit the current code block. It opens a new major mode edit buffer containing the body of the source code block, ready for any edits. Use again to close the buffer and return to the Org buffer.
Using header arguments
A header argument is specified with an initial colon followed by the argument's name in lowercase.
Header arguments can be set in several ways; Org prioritizes them in case of overlaps or conflicts by giving local settings a higher priority.
- System-wide header arguments
-
Those are specified by customizing
org-babel-default-header-args
variable, or, for a specific languageorg-babel-default-header-args:LANG
. - Header arguments in properties
-
You can set them using
header-args
property (see /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/*Properties)—orheader-args:LANG
for language . Header arguments set through properties drawers apply at the sub-tree level on down. - Header arguments in code blocks
-
Header arguments are most commonly set at the source code block level, on the
BEGIN_SRC
line:#+NAME: factorial #+BEGIN_SRC haskell :results silent :exports code :var n=0 fac 0 = 1 fac n = n * fac (n-1) #+END_SRC
Code block header arguments can span multiple lines using
HEADER
keyword on each line.
Evaluating code blocks
Use to evaluate the current code block and insert
its results in the Org document. By default, evaluation is only
turned on for emacs-lisp
code blocks, however support exists for
evaluating blocks in many languages. For a complete list of supported
languages see the manual. The following shows a code block and its
results.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (+ 1 2 3 4) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: : 10
The following syntax is used to pass arguments to code blocks using
the var
header argument.
:var NAME=ASSIGN
is the name of the variable bound in the code block body. is a literal value, such as a string, a number, a reference to a table, a list, a literal example, another code block—with or without arguments—or the results of evaluating a code block.
Results of evaluation
How Org handles results of a code block execution depends on many
header arguments working together. The primary determinant, however,
is the results
header argument. It controls the collection,
type, format, and handling of code block results.
- Collection
-
How the results should be collected from the code block. You may
choose either
output
orvalue
(the default). - Type
-
What result types to expect from the execution of the code block.
You may choose among
table
,list
,scalar
, andfile
. Org tries to guess it if you do not provide it. - Format
-
How Org processes results. Some possible values are
code
,drawer
,html
,latex
,link
, andraw
. - Handling
-
How to insert the results once properly formatted. Allowed values
are
silent
,replace
(the default),append
, orprepend
.
Code blocks which output results to files—e.g.: graphs, diagrams and
figures—can accept a :file FILENAME
header argument, in which case
the results are saved to the named file, and a link to the file is
inserted into the buffer.
Exporting code blocks
It is possible to export the code of code blocks, the results of code block evaluation, both the code and the results of code block evaluation, or none. Org defaults to exporting code for most languages.
The exports
header argument is to specify if that part of the Org
file is exported to, say, HTML or LaTeX formats. It can be set to
either code
, results
, both
or none
.
Extracting source code
Use to create pure source code files by
extracting code from source blocks in the current buffer. This is
referred to as "tangling"—a term adopted from the literate
programming community. During tangling of code blocks their bodies
are expanded using org-babel-expand-src-block
, which can expand both
variable and "Noweb" style references. In order to tangle a code
block it must have a tangle
header argument, see the manual for
details.
Miscellaneous
Completion
Org has in-buffer completions with . No minibuffer is involved. Type one or more letters and invoke the hot key to complete the text in-place.
For example, this command will complete TeX symbols after \
, TODO
keywords at the beginning of a headline, and tags after :
in
a headline.
Structure Templates
To quickly insert empty structural blocks, such as #+BEGIN_SRC
… #+END_SRC
, or to wrap existing text in such a block, use
-
(
org-insert-structure-template
) - Prompt for a type of block structure, and insert the block at point. If the region is active, it is wrapped in the block.
Clean view
Org's default outline with stars and no indents can become too cluttered for short documents. For book-like long documents, the effect is not as noticeable. Org provides an alternate stars and indentation scheme, as shown on the right in the following table. It uses only one star and indents text to line with the heading:
* Top level headline | * Top level headline ** Second level | * Second level *** Third level | * Third level some text | some text *** Third level | * Third level more text | more text * Another top level headline | * Another top level headline
This kind of view can be achieved dynamically at display time using
Org Indent mode (), which prepends
intangible space to each line. You can turn on Org Indent mode for
all files by customizing the variable org-startup-indented
, or you
can turn it on for individual files using
#+STARTUP: indent
If you want the indentation to be hard space characters so that the plain text file looks as similar as possible to the Emacs display, Org supports you by helping to indent (with ) text below each headline, by hiding leading stars, and by only using levels 1, 3, etc to get two characters indentation for each level. To get this support in a file, use
#+STARTUP: hidestars odd
Footnotes
See the variable org-special-ctrl-a/e
to configure special
behavior of in headlines.
If you do not want the line to be split, customize the variable
org-M-RET-may-split-line
.
See also the variable org-show-context-detail
to decide how
much context is shown around each match.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is #+STARTUP: logdone
.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is #+STARTUP:
logenotedone
.
As with all these in-buffer settings, pressing {{{kbd(C-c C-c)}}} activates any changes in the line.
This is quite different from what is normally understood by scheduling a meeting, which is done in Org by just inserting a time stamp without keyword.
It will still be listed on that date after it has been marked
as done. If you do not like this, set the variable
org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done
.
Using capture templates, you get finer control over capture locations. See /ndwarshuis/org-mode/src/commit/dfeff03c5ab0be64b8bf7baeea46a617b7dd004a/doc/%2ACapture%20templates.
If you need one of these sequences literally, escape the %
with a backslash.