* ob-core.el (org-babel-merge-params): Specifying the symbol 'attach` or string "'attach" as the value of the `:dir' header now functions as ":dir (org-attach-dir nil t) :mkdirp t". (org-babel-result-to-file): Optional TYPE argument accepts symbol 'attachment to fixup up paths under `(org-attach-dir)' and use the link type "attachment:" when that is detected. (org-babel-insert-result): Pass symbol `attachment' as TYPE to `org-babel-result-to-file'. * org-attach.el (org-attach-dir): Added autoload header to simplify dependencies necessary to support this feature (called in `org-babel-merge-params'). * test-ob.el (test-ob-core/dir-attach): Added unit test for the new attach feature.
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The Org Manual
- Introduction
- Document Structure
- Tables
- Built-in Table Editor
- Column Width and Alignment
- Column Groups
- The Orgtbl Minor Mode
- The Spreadsheet
- Org Plot
- Hyperlinks
- Items
- Tags
- Properties and Columns
- Dates and Times
- Refiling and Archiving
- Capture and Attachments
- Agenda Views
- Markup for Rich Contents
- Exporting
- The Export Dispatcher
- Export Settings
- Table of Contents
- Include Files
- Macro Replacement
- Comment Lines
- ASCII/Latin-1/UTF-8 export
- Beamer Export
- HTML Export
- HTML export commands
- HTML specific export settings
- HTML doctypes
- HTML preamble and postamble
- Quoting HTML tags
- Headlines in HTML export
- Links in HTML export
- Tables in HTML export
- Images in HTML export
- Math formatting in HTML export
- Text areas in HTML export
- CSS support
- JavaScript supported display of web pages
- LaTeX Export
- LaTeX/PDF export commands
- LaTeX specific export settings
- LaTeX header and sectioning structure
- Quoting LaTeX code
- Tables in LaTeX export
- Images in LaTeX export
- Plain lists in LaTeX export
- Source blocks in LaTeX export
- Example blocks in LaTeX export
- Special blocks in LaTeX export
- Horizontal rules in LaTeX export
- Verse blocks in LaTeX export
- Quote blocks in LaTeX export
- Markdown Export
- OpenDocument Text Export
- Pre-requisites for ODT export
- ODT export commands
- ODT specific export settings
- Extending ODT export
- Applying custom styles
- Links in ODT export
- Tables in ODT export
- Images in ODT export
- Math formatting in ODT export
- Labels and captions in ODT export
- Literal examples in ODT export
- Advanced topics in ODT export
- Org Export
- Texinfo Export
- Texinfo export commands
- Texinfo specific export settings
- Texinfo file header
- Texinfo title and copyright page
- Info directory file
- Headings and sectioning structure
- Indices
- Quoting Texinfo code
- Plain lists in Texinfo export
- Tables in Texinfo export
- Images in Texinfo export
- Quotations in Texinfo export
- Key bindings in Texinfo export
- Special blocks in Texinfo export
- A Texinfo example
- iCalendar Export
- Other Built-in Back-ends
- Advanced Export Configuration
- Export in Foreign Buffers
- Publishing
- Citation handling
- Working with Source Code
- Features Overview
- Structure of Code Blocks
- Using Header Arguments
- Environment of a Code Block
- Evaluating Code Blocks
- Results of Evaluation
- Exporting Code Blocks
- Extracting Source Code
- Languages
- Editing Source Code
- Noweb Reference Syntax
- Library of Babel
- Key bindings and Useful Functions
- Batch Execution
- Miscellaneous
- Completion
- Structure Templates
- Speed Keys
- A Cleaner Outline View
- Execute commands in the active region
- Dynamic Headline Numbering
- The Very Busy Key
- Summary of In-Buffer Settings
- Regular Expressions
- Org Syntax
- Context Dependent Documentation
- Escape Character
- Code Evaluation and Security Issues
- Interaction with Other Packages
- Using Org on a TTY
- Protocols for External Access
- Org Crypt
- Org Mobile
- Hacking
- History and Acknowledgments
- GNU Free Documentation License
- Main Index
- Key Index
- Command and Function Index
- Variable Index
- Copying
- Footnotes
Introduction
Summary
Org Mode is an authoring tool and a TODO lists manager for GNU Emacs.
It relies on a lightweight plain-text markup language used in files
with the .org
extension.
As an authoring tool, Org helps you write structured documents and provides exporting facilities. Org files can also be used for literate programming and reproducible research. As a TODO lists manager, Org helps you organize your tasks in a flexible way, from daily needs to detailed project-planning, allowing logging, multiple views on your tasks, exporting your agendas, etc.
Org mode is implemented on top of Outline mode, which makes it possible to keep the content of large files well structured. Visibility cycling and structure editing help to work with the tree. Tables are easily created with a built-in table editor. Plain text URL-like links connect to websites, emails, Usenet messages, BBDB entries, and any files related to the projects.
Org develops organizational tasks around notes files that contain lists or information about projects as plain text. Project planning and task management make use of metadata which is part of an outline node. Based on this data, specific entries can be extracted in queries and create dynamic agenda views that also integrate the Emacs calendar and diary. Org can be used to implement many different project planning schemes, such as David Allen's GTD system.
Org files can serve as a single source authoring system with export to many different formats such as HTML, LaTeX, Open Document, and Markdown. New export backends can be derived from existing ones, or defined from scratch.
Org files can include source code blocks, which makes Org uniquely suited for authoring technical documents with code examples. Org source code blocks are fully functional; they can be evaluated in place and their results can be captured in the file. This makes it possible to create a single file reproducible research compendium.
Org keeps simple things simple. When first fired up, it should feel like a straightforward, easy to use outliner. Complexity is not imposed, but a large amount of functionality is available when needed. Org is a toolbox. Many users actually run only a—very personal—fraction of Org's capabilities, and know that there is more whenever they need it.
All of this is achieved with strictly plain text files, the most portable and future-proof file format. Org runs in Emacs. Emacs is one of the most widely ported programs, so that Org mode is available on every major platform.
There is a website for Org which provides links to the newest version of Org, as well as additional information, frequently asked questions (FAQ), links to tutorials, etc. This page is located at https://orgmode.org.
An earlier version (7.3) of this manual is available as a paperback book from Network Theory Ltd..
Installation
Org is included in all recent distributions of GNU Emacs, so you probably do not need to install it. Most users will simply activate Org and begin exploring its many features.
If, for one reason or another, you want to install Org on top of this pre-packaged version, you can use the Emacs package system or clone Org's git repository.
We strongly recommend sticking to a single installation method.
Using Emacs packaging system
Recent Emacs distributions include a packaging system which lets you install Elisp libraries. You can install Org from the "package menu", with . See Package Menu.
You need to do this in a session where no
.org
file has been visited, i.e., where no Org built-in function have been loaded. Otherwise autoload Org functions will mess up the installation.
Using Org's git repository
You can clone Org's repository and install Org like this:
$ cd ~/src/ $ git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/emacs/org-mode.git $ cd org-mode/ $ make autoloads
Note that in this case, make autoloads
is mandatory: it defines
Org's version in org-version.el
and Org's autoloads in
org-loaddefs.el
.
Make sure you set the load path correctly in your Emacs init file:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/src/org-mode/lisp")
You can also compile with make
, generate the documentation with
make doc
, create a local configuration with make config
and
install Org with make install
. Please run make help
to get the
list of compilation/installation options.
For more detailed explanations on Org's build system, please check the Org Build System page on Worg.
Installing Org's contributed packages
Org's repository used to contain contrib/
directory for add-ons
contributed by others. As of Org 9.5, the directory has been moved to
the dedicated org-contrib repository, which you can install
separately as a package from NonGNU ELPA.
There are enough valuable packages maintained outside of the Org repository. Worg has a list of org-contrib and external packages, certainly it is not exhaustive.
Activation
Org mode buffers need Font Lock to be turned on: this is the default in Emacs1.
There are compatibility issues between Org mode and some other Elisp packages (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APackages%20that%20conflict%20with%20Org%20mode). Please take the time to check the list.
For a better experience, the three Org commands org-store-link
,
org-capture
and org-agenda
ought to be accessible anywhere in
Emacs, not just in Org buffers. To that effect, you need to bind them
to globally available keys, like the ones reserved for users (see
info:elisp::Key Binding Conventions). Here are suggested bindings,
please modify the keys to your own liking.
(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 the .org
extension use Org mode by default. To turn on
Org mode in a file that does not have the extension .org
, make the
first line of a file look like this:
MY PROJECTS -*- mode: org; -*-
which selects Org mode for this buffer no matter what the file's name
is. See also the variable org-insert-mode-line-in-empty-file
.
Many commands in Org work on the region if the region is active. To make use of this, you need to have Transient Mark mode turned on, which is the default. If you do not like it, you can create an active region by using the mouse to select a region, or pressing twice before moving point.
Feedback
If you find problems with Org, or if you have questions, remarks, or ideas about it, please send an email to the Org mailing list mailto:emacs-orgmode@gnu.org. You can subscribe to the list from this web page. If you are not a member of the mailing list, your mail will be passed to the list after a moderator has approved it2. We ask you to read and respect the GNU Kind Communications Guidelines when sending messages on this mailing list.
For bug reports, please first try to reproduce the bug with the latest version of Org available—if you are running an outdated version, it is quite possible that the bug has been fixed already. If the bug persists, prepare a report and provide as much information as possible, including the version information of Emacs (}}) and Org (), as well as the Org related setup in the Emacs init file. The easiest way to do this is to use the command
M-x org-submit-bug-report <RET>
which puts all this information into an Emacs mail buffer so that you only need to add your description. If you are not sending the Email from within Emacs, please copy and paste the content into your Email program.
Sometimes you might face a problem due to an error in your Emacs or Org mode setup. Before reporting a bug, it is very helpful to start Emacs with minimal customizations and reproduce the problem. Doing so often helps you determine if the problem is with your customization or with Org mode itself. You can start a typical minimal session with a command like the example below.
$ emacs -Q -l /path/to/minimal-org.el
However if you are using Org mode as distributed with Emacs, a minimal
setup is not necessary. In that case it is sufficient to start Emacs
as emacs -Q
. The minimal-org.el
setup file can have contents as
shown below.
;;; Minimal setup to load latest `org-mode'.
;; Activate debugging.
(setq debug-on-error t
debug-on-signal nil
debug-on-quit nil)
;; Add latest Org mode to load path.
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "/path/to/org-mode/lisp"))
If an error occurs, a "backtrace" can be very useful—see below on how to create one. Often a small example file helps, along with clear information about:
- What exactly did you do?
- What did you expect to happen?
- What happened instead?
Thank you for helping to improve this program.
How to create a useful backtrace
If working with Org produces an error with a message you do not understand, you may have hit a bug. The best way to report this is by providing, in addition to what was mentioned above, a backtrace. This is information from the built-in debugger about where and how the error occurred. Here is how to produce a useful backtrace:
-
Reload uncompiled versions of all Org mode Lisp files. The backtrace contains much more information if it is produced with uncompiled code. To do this, use
C-u M-x org-reload <RET>
or, from the menu: Org → Refresh/Reload → Reload Org uncompiled.
-
Then, activate the debugger:
M-x toggle-debug-on-error <RET>
or, from the menu: Options → Enter Debugger on Error.
- Do whatever you have to do to hit the error. Do not forget to document the steps you take.
- When you hit the error, a
*Backtrace*
buffer appears on the screen. Save this buffer to a file—for example using {{{kbd(C-x C-w)}}}—and attach it to your bug report.
Typesetting Conventions Used in this Manual
TODO keywords, tags, properties, etc.
Org uses various syntactical elements: TODO keywords, tags, property names, keywords, blocks, etc. In this manual we use the following conventions:
-
TODO
,WAITING
- TODO keywords are written with all capitals, even if they are user-defined.
-
boss
,ARCHIVE
- Tags are case-sensitive. User-defined tags are usually written in lowercase; built-in tags with special meaning are written as they should appear in the document, usually with all capitals.
-
Release
,PRIORITY
- User-defined properties are capitalized; built-in properties with special meaning are written with all capitals.
-
TITLE
,BEGIN
…END
- Keywords and blocks are written in uppercase to enhance their readability, but you can use lowercase in your Org files.
Key bindings and commands
The manual lists both the keys and the corresponding commands for
accessing a functionality. Org mode often uses the same key for
different functions, depending on context. The command that is bound
to such keys has a generic name, like org-metaright
. In the manual
we will, wherever possible, give the function that is internally
called by the generic command. For example, in the chapter on
document structure, will be listed to call
org-do-demote
, while in the chapter on tables, it will be listed to
call org-table-move-column-right
.
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. Org headlines start on the left margin3 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
The name defined in org-footnote-section
is reserved. Do not use it
as a title for your own headings.
Some people find the many stars too noisy and would prefer an outline that has whitespace followed by a single star as headline starters. This can be achieved using a Org Indent minor mode. See [[*A Cleaner Outline View]] for more information.
Headlines are not numbered. However, you may want to dynamically number some, or all, of them. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Headline%20Numbering.
An empty line after the end of a subtree is considered part of it and
is hidden when the subtree is folded. However, if you leave at least
two empty lines, one empty line remains visible after folding the
subtree, in order to structure the collapsed view. See the variable
org-cycle-separator-lines
to modify this behavior.
Visibility Cycling
Global and local cycling
Outlines make it possible to hide parts of the text in the buffer. Org uses just two commands, bound to and to change the visibility in the buffer.
-
(
org-cycle
) -
Subtree cycling: Rotate current subtree among the states
,-> FOLDED -> CHILDREN -> SUBTREE --. '-----------------------------------'
Point must be on a headline for this to work4.
-
Global cycling: Rotate the entire buffer among the states
,-> OVERVIEW -> CONTENTS -> SHOW ALL --. '--------------------------------------'
When is called with a numeric prefix argument , view contents only up to headlines of level .
Note that inside tables (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tables), jumps to the previous field instead.
You can run global cycling using only if point is at the very beginning of the buffer, but not on a headline, and
org-cycle-global-at-bob
is set to a non-nil
value. -
(
org-set-startup-visibility
) -
Switch back to the startup visibility of the buffer (see [[*Initial visibility]]).
-
(
org-show-all
) -
Show all, including drawers.
-
(
org-reveal
) -
Reveal context around point, showing the current entry, the following heading and the hierarchy above. It is useful for working near a location that has been exposed by a sparse tree command (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASparse%20Trees) or an agenda command (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]). With a prefix argument, show, on each level, all sibling headings. With a double prefix argument, also show the entire subtree of the parent.
-
(
org-show-branches
) -
Expose all the headings of the subtree, but not their bodies.
-
(
org-show-children
) -
Expose all direct children of the subtree. With a numeric prefix argument , expose all children down to level .
-
(
org-tree-to-indirect-buffer
) -
Show the current subtree in an indirect buffer5. With a numeric prefix argument and then take that tree. If is negative then go up that many levels. With a prefix, do not remove the previously used indirect buffer.
-
(
org-copy-visible
) -
Copy the visible text in the region into the kill ring.
Initial visibility
When Emacs first visits an Org file, the global state is set to
showeverything
, i.e., all file content is visible6. This can
be configured through the variable org-startup-folded
, or on
a per-file basis by adding one of the following lines anywhere in the
buffer:
#+STARTUP: overview #+STARTUP: content #+STARTUP: showall #+STARTUP: show2levels #+STARTUP: show3levels #+STARTUP: show4levels #+STARTUP: show5levels #+STARTUP: showeverything
Furthermore, any entries with a VISIBILITY
property (see [[*Properties
and Columns]]) get their visibility adapted accordingly. Allowed values
for this property are folded
, children
, content
, and all
.
-
(
org-set-startup-visibility
) -
Switch back to the startup visibility of the buffer, i.e., whatever is requested by startup options and
VISIBILITY
properties in individual entries.
Catching invisible edits
Sometimes you may inadvertently edit an invisible part of the buffer
and be confused on what has been edited and how to undo the mistake.
Setting org-fold-catch-invisible-edits
to non-nil
helps preventing
this. See the docstring of this option on how Org should catch
invisible edits and process them.
Motion
The following commands jump to other headlines in the buffer.
-
(
org-next-visible-heading
) -
Next heading.
-
(
org-previous-visible-heading
) -
Previous heading.
-
(
org-forward-heading-same-level
) -
Next heading same level.
-
(
org-backward-heading-same-level
) -
Previous heading same level.
-
(
outline-up-heading
) -
Backward to higher level heading.
-
(
org-goto
) -
Jump to a different place without changing the current outline visibility. Shows the document structure in a temporary buffer, where you can use the following keys to find your destination:
Cycle visibility. Next/previous visible headline. Select this location. Do a Sparse-tree search The following keys work if you turn off
org-goto-auto-isearch
Next/previous visible headline. Next/previous headline same level. One level up. Digit argument. Quit. See also the variable
org-goto-interface
.
Structure Editing
-
(
org-meta-return
) -
Insert a new heading, item or row.
If the command is used at the beginning of a line, and if there is a heading or a plain list item (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20Lists) at point, the new heading/item is created before the current line. When used at the beginning of a regular line of text, turn that line into a heading.
When this command is used in the middle of a line, the line is split and the rest of the line becomes the new item or headline. If you do not want the line to be split, customize
org-M-RET-may-split-line
.Calling the command with a prefix unconditionally inserts a new heading at the end of the current subtree, thus preserving its contents. With a double prefix, the new heading is created at the end of the parent subtree instead.
-
(
org-insert-heading-respect-content
) -
Insert a new heading at the end of the current subtree.
-
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) -
Insert new TODO entry with same level as current heading. See also the variable
org-treat-insert-todo-heading-as-state-change
. -
(
org-insert-todo-heading-respect-content
) -
Insert new TODO entry with same level as current heading. Like , the new headline is inserted after the current subtree.
-
(
org-cycle
) -
In a new entry with no text yet, the first demotes the entry to become a child of the previous one. The next makes it a parent, and so on, all the way to top level. Yet another , and you are back to the initial level.
-
(
org-do-demote
) -
Promote or demote current heading by one level.
When there is an active region—i.e., when Transient Mark mode is active—promotion and demotion work on all headlines in the region. To select a region of headlines, it is best to place both point and mark at the beginning of a line, mark at the beginning of the first headline, and point at the line just after the last headline to change.
-
(
org-promote-subtree
) -
Promote the current subtree by one level.
-
(
org-demote-subtree
) -
Demote the current subtree by one level.
-
(
org-move-subtree-up
) -
Move subtree up, i.e., swap with previous subtree of same level.
-
(
org-move-subtree-down
) -
Move subtree down, i.e., swap with next subtree of same level.
-
(
org-mark-subtree
) -
Mark the subtree at point. Hitting repeatedly marks subsequent subtrees of the same level as the marked subtree.
-
(
org-cut-subtree
) -
Kill subtree, i.e., remove it from buffer but save in kill ring. With a numeric prefix argument N, kill N sequential subtrees.
-
(
org-copy-subtree
) -
Copy subtree to kill ring. With a numeric prefix argument N, copy the N sequential subtrees.
-
(
org-paste-subtree
) -
Yank subtree from kill ring. This does modify the level of the subtree to make sure the tree fits in nicely at the yank position. The yank level can also be specified with a numeric prefix argument, or by yanking after a headline marker like
****
. -
(
org-yank
) -
Depending on the variables
org-yank-adjusted-subtrees
andorg-yank-folded-subtrees
, Org's internalyank
command pastes subtrees folded and in a clever way, using the same command as . With the default settings, no level adjustment takes place, but the yanked tree is folded unless doing so would swallow text previously visible. Any prefix argument to this command forces a normalyank
to be executed, with the prefix passed along. A good way to force a normal yank is {{{kbd(C-u C-y)}}}. If you useyank-pop
after a yank, it yanks previous kill items plainly, without adjustment and folding. -
(
org-clone-subtree-with-time-shift
) -
Clone a subtree by making a number of sibling copies of it. You are prompted for the number of copies to make, and you can also specify if any timestamps in the entry should be shifted. This can be useful, for example, to create a number of tasks related to a series of lectures to prepare. For more details, see the docstring of the command
org-clone-subtree-with-time-shift
. -
(
org-refile
) -
Refile entry or region to a different location. See [[*Refile and Copy]].
-
(
org-sort
) -
Sort same-level entries. When there is an active region, all entries in the region are sorted. Otherwise the children of the current headline are sorted. The command prompts for the sorting method, which can be alphabetically, numerically, by time—first timestamp with active preferred, creation time, scheduled time, deadline time—by priority, by TODO keyword—in the sequence the keywords have been defined in the setup—or by the value of a property. Reverse sorting is possible as well. You can also supply your own function to extract the sorting key. With a prefix, sorting is case-sensitive.
-
(
org-narrow-to-subtree
) -
Narrow buffer to current subtree.
-
(
org-narrow-to-block
) -
Narrow buffer to current block.
-
(
widen
) -
Widen buffer to remove narrowing.
-
(
org-toggle-heading
) -
Turn a normal line or plain list item into a headline—so that it becomes a subheading at its location. Also turn a headline into a normal line by removing the stars. If there is an active region, turn all lines in the region into headlines. If the first line in the region was an item, turn only the item lines into headlines. Finally, if the first line is a headline, remove the stars from all headlines in the region.
Note that when point is inside a table (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tables), the Meta-Cursor keys have different functionality.
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 it7. 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
) -
Prompts for a regexp (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARegular%20Expressions) and shows a sparse tree with all matches. If the match is in a headline, the headline is made visible. If the match is in the body of an entry, headline and body are made visible. In order to provide minimal context, also the full hierarchy of headlines above the match is shown, as well as the headline following the match. Each match is also highlighted; the highlights disappear when the buffer is changed by an editing command, or by pressing 8. When called with a prefix argument, previous highlights are kept, so several calls to this command can be stacked.
-
(
next-error
) -
Jump to the next sparse tree match in this buffer.
-
(
previous-error
) -
Jump to the previous sparse tree match in this buffer.
For frequently used sparse trees of specific search strings, you can
use the variable org-agenda-custom-commands
to define fast keyboard
access to specific sparse trees. These commands will then be
accessible through the agenda dispatcher (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher).
For example:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("f" occur-tree "FIXME")))
defines the key as a shortcut for creating a sparse tree
matching the string FIXME
.
The other sparse tree commands select headings based on TODO keywords, tags, or properties and are discussed later in this manual.
To print a sparse tree, you can use the Emacs command
ps-print-buffer-with-faces
which does not print invisible parts of
the document. Or you can use the command to
export only the visible part of the document and print the resulting
file.
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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes). Org supports editing such lists, and every exporter (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Exporting) can parse and format them.
Org knows ordered lists, unordered lists, and description lists.
- Unordered list items start with
-
,+
, or*
9 as bullets. -
Ordered list items start with a numeral followed by either a period or a right parenthesis10, such as
1.
or1)
11 If you want a list to start with a different value—e.g., 20—start the text of the item with[@20]
12. Those constructs can be used in any item of the list in order to enforce a particular numbering. - Description list items are unordered list items, and contain the
separator
::
to distinguish the description term from the description.
Items belonging to the same list must have the same indentation on the
first line. In particular, if an ordered list reaches number 10.
,
then the 2-digit numbers must be written left-aligned with the other
numbers in the list. An item ends before the next line that is less
or equally indented than its bullet/number.
A list ends whenever every item has ended, which means before any line less or equally indented than items at top level. It also ends before two blank lines. In that case, all items are closed. Here is 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. 3. Peter Jackson being shot by Legolas - on DVD only He makes a really funny face when it happens. But in the end, no individual scenes matter but the film as a whole. Important actors in this film are: - Elijah Wood :: He plays Frodo - Sean Astin :: He plays Sam, Frodo's friend. I still remember him very well from his role as Mikey Walsh in /The Goonies/.
Org supports these lists by tuning filling and wrapping commands to
deal with them correctly, and by exporting them properly (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Exporting). Since indentation is what governs the structure of these
lists, many structural constructs like #+BEGIN_
blocks can be
indented to signal that they belong to a particular item.
If you find that using a different bullet for a sub-list—than that
used for the current list-level—improves readability, customize the
variable org-list-demote-modify-bullet
. To get a greater difference
of indentation between items and theirs sub-items, customize
org-list-indent-offset
.
The following commands act on items when point is in the first line of
an item—the line with the bullet or number. Some of them imply the
application of automatic rules to keep list structure intact. If some
of these actions get in your way, configure org-list-automatic-rules
to disable them individually.
-
(
org-cycle
) -
Items can be folded just like headline levels. Normally this works only if point is on a plain list item. For more details, see the variable
org-cycle-include-plain-lists
. If this variable is set tointegrate
, plain list items are treated like low-level headlines. The level of an item is then given by the indentation of the bullet/number. Items are always subordinate to real headlines, however; the hierarchies remain completely separated. In a new item with no text yet, the first demotes the item to become a child of the previous one. Subsequent s move the item to meaningful levels in the list and eventually get it back to its initial position. -
(
org-insert-heading
) -
Insert new item at current level. With a prefix argument, force a new heading (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Editing). If this command is used in the middle of an item, that item is split in two, and the second part becomes the new item13. If this command is executed before item's body, the new item is created before the current one.
-
Insert a new item with a checkbox (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes).
-
Jump to the previous/next item in the current list, but only if
org-support-shift-select
is off14. If not, you can still use paragraph jumping commands like and to quite similar effect. -
Move the item including subitems up/down15, i.e., swap with previous/next item of same indentation. If the list is ordered, renumbering is automatic.
-
Decrease/increase the indentation of an item, leaving children alone.
-
Decrease/increase the indentation of the item, including subitems. Initially, the item tree is selected based on current indentation. When these commands are executed several times in direct succession, the initially selected region is used, even if the new indentation would imply a different hierarchy. To use the new hierarchy, break the command chain by moving point.
As a special case, using this command on the very first item of a list moves the whole list. This behavior can be disabled by configuring
org-list-automatic-rules
. The global indentation of a list has no influence on the text after the list. -
If there is a checkbox (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes) in the item line, toggle the state of the checkbox. In any case, verify bullets and indentation consistency in the whole list.
-
Cycle the entire list level through the different itemize/enumerate bullets (
-
,+
,*
,1.
,1)
) or a subset of them, depending onorg-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator
, the type of list, and its indentation. With a numeric prefix argument N, select the Nth bullet from this list. If there is an active region when calling this, all lines are converted to list items. With a prefix argument, the selected text is changed into a single item. If the first line already was a list item, any item marker is removed from the list. Finally, even without an active region, a normal line is converted into a list item. -
Turn a plain list item into a headline—so that it becomes a subheading at its location. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Editing, for a detailed explanation.
-
Turn the whole plain list into a subtree of the current heading. Checkboxes (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes) become
TODO
, respectivelyDONE
, keywords when unchecked, respectively checked. -
This command also cycles bullet styles when point is in on the bullet or anywhere in an item line, details depending on
org-support-shift-select
. -
Sort the plain list. Prompt for the sorting method: numerically, alphabetically, by time, or by custom function.
Drawers
Sometimes you want to keep information associated with an entry, but you normally do not want to see it. For this, Org mode has drawers. They can contain anything but a headline and another drawer. Drawers look like this:
** This is a headline Still outside the drawer :DRAWERNAME: This is inside the drawer. :END: After the drawer.
You can interactively insert a drawer at point by calling
org-insert-drawer
, which is bound to . With an
active region, this command puts the region inside the drawer. With
a prefix argument, this command calls org-insert-property-drawer
,
which creates a PROPERTIES
drawer right below the current headline.
Org mode uses this special drawer for storing properties (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns). You cannot use it for anything else.
Completion over drawer keywords is also possible using 16.
Visibility cycling (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AVisibility%20Cycling) on the headline hides and shows the entry, but keep the drawer collapsed to a single line. In order to look inside the drawer, you need to move point to the drawer line and press there.
You can also arrange for state change notes (see [[Tracking TODO state
changes]]) and clock times (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AClocking%20Work%20Time) to be stored in
a LOGBOOK
drawer. If you want to store a quick note there, in
a similar way to state changes, use
-
Add a time-stamped note to the
LOGBOOK
drawer.
Blocks
Org mode uses #+BEGIN
… #+END
blocks for various purposes from
including source code examples (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALiteral%20Examples) to capturing
time logging information (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AClocking%20Work%20Time). These blocks can
be folded and unfolded by pressing in the #+BEGIN
line. You can also get all blocks folded at startup by configuring
the variable org-hide-block-startup
or on a per-file basis by using
#+STARTUP: hideblocks #+STARTUP: nohideblocks
Tables
Org comes with a fast and intuitive table editor. Spreadsheet-like calculations are supported using the Emacs Calc package (see GNU Emacs Calculator Manual).
Built-in Table Editor
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 separator17. Moreover, a line starting
with |-
is a horizontal rule. It separates rows explicitly. Rows
before the first horizontal rule are header lines. 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 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. Horizontal rules are automatically expanded on every 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. If this behavior is too unpredictable for
you, configure the option org-table-auto-blank-field
.
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. You can use a prefix argument to force a specific separator: forces prompts for a regular expression to match the separator, and a numeric argument N indicates that at least N consecutive spaces, or alternatively a will be the separator.
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.
-
Blank the field at point.
-
(
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. At the beginning or end of a line, still inserts a new line, so it can be used to split a table.
-
(
org-table-beginning-of-field
) -
Move to beginning of the current table field, or on to the previous field.
-
(
org-table-end-of-field
) -
Move to end of the current table field, or on to the next field.
Column and row editing
-
(
org-table-move-column-left
) -
Move the current column left.
-
(
org-table-move-column-right
) -
Move the current column right.
-
(
org-table-delete-column
) -
Kill the current column.
-
(
org-table-insert-column
) -
Insert a new column at point position. Move the recent column and all cells to the right of this column to the right.
-
(
org-table-move-row-up
) -
Move the current row up.
-
(
org-table-move-row-down
) -
Move the current row down.
-
(
org-table-kill-row
) -
Kill the current row or horizontal line.
-
(
org-table-move-cell-up
) -
Move cell up by swapping with adjacent cell.
-
(
org-table-move-cell-down
) -
Move cell down by swapping with adjacent cell.
-
(
org-table-move-cell-left
) -
Move cell left by swapping with adjacent cell.
-
(
org-table-move-cell-right
) -
Move cell right by swapping with adjacent cell.
-
(
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 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. If point is before the first column, you are prompted for the sorting column. If there is an active region, the mark specifies the first line and the sorting column, while point should be in the last line to be included into the sorting. The command prompts for the sorting type, alphabetically, numerically, or by time. You can sort in normal or reverse order. You can also supply your own key extraction and comparison functions. When called with a prefix argument, alphabetic sorting is case-sensitive.
Regions
-
(
org-table-copy-region
) -
Copy a rectangular region from a table to a special clipboard. Point and mark determine edge fields of the rectangle. If there is no active region, copy just the current field. The process ignores horizontal separator lines.
-
(
org-table-cut-region
) -
Copy a rectangular region from a table to a special clipboard, and blank all fields in the rectangle. So this is the "cut" operation.
-
(
org-table-paste-rectangle
) -
Paste a rectangular region into a table. The upper left corner ends up in the current field. All involved fields are overwritten. If the rectangle does not fit into the present table, the table is enlarged as needed. The process ignores horizontal separator lines.
-
(
org-table-wrap-region
) -
Split the current field at point position and move the rest to the line below. If there is an active region, and both point and mark are in the same column, the text in the column is wrapped to minimum width for the given number of lines. A numeric prefix argument may be used to change the number of desired lines. If there is no region, but you specify a prefix argument, the current field is made blank, and the content is appended to the field above.
Calculations
-
(
org-table-sum
) -
Sum the numbers in the current column, or in the rectangle defined by the active region. The result is shown in the echo area and can be inserted with .
-
(
org-table-copy-down
) -
When current field is empty, copy from first non-empty field above. When not empty, copy current field down to next row and move point along with it.
Depending on the variable
org-table-copy-increment
, integer and time stamp field values, and fields prefixed or suffixed with a whole number, can be incremented during copy. Also, a0
prefix argument temporarily disables the increment.This key is also used by shift-selection and related modes (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APackages%20that%20conflict%20with%20Org%20mode).
Miscellaneous
-
(
org-table-edit-field
) -
Edit the current field in a separate window. This is useful for fields that are not fully visible (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20Width%20and%20Alignment). When called with a prefix, just make the full field visible, so that it can be edited in place. When called with two prefixes, make the editor window follow point through the table and always show the current field. The follow mode exits automatically when point leaves the table, or when you repeat this command with .
-
Import a file as a table. The table should be TAB or whitespace separated. Use, for example, to import a spreadsheet table or data from a database, because these programs generally can write TAB-separated text files. This command works by inserting the file into the buffer and then converting the region to a table. Any prefix argument is passed on to the converter, which uses it to determine the separator.
-
(
org-table-create-or-convert-from-region
) -
Tables can also be imported by pasting tabular text into the Org buffer, selecting the pasted text with and then using the command (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACreation%20and%20conversion).
-
Export the table, by default as a TAB-separated file. Use for data exchange with, for example, spreadsheet or database programs. The format used to export the file can be configured in the variable
org-table-export-default-format
. You may also use propertiesTABLE_EXPORT_FILE
andTABLE_EXPORT_FORMAT
to specify the file name and the format for table export in a subtree. Org supports quite general formats for exported tables. The exporter format is the same as the format used by Orgtbl radio tables, see [[*Translator functions]], for a detailed description. -
Turn on the display of the first data row of the table at point in the window header line when this first row is not visible anymore in the buffer. You can activate this minor mode by default by setting the option
org-table-header-line-p
tot
. -
Transpose the table at point and eliminate hlines.
Column Width and Alignment
The width of columns is automatically determined by the table editor. The alignment of a column is determined automatically from the fraction of number-like versus non-number fields in the column.
Editing a field may modify alignment of the table. Moving
a contiguous row or column—i.e., using or
—automatically re-aligns it. If you want to disable
this behavior, set org-table-automatic-realign
to nil
. In any
case, you can always align manually a table:
-
(
org-table-align
) -
Align the current table.
Setting the option org-startup-align-all-tables
re-aligns all tables
in a file upon visiting it. You can also set this option on
a per-file basis with:
#+STARTUP: align #+STARTUP: noalign
Sometimes a single field or a few fields need to carry more text, leading to inconveniently wide columns. Maybe you want to hide away several columns or display them with a fixed width, regardless of content, as shown in the following example.
|---+---------------------+--------| |---+-------…+…| | | <6> | | | | <6> …|…| | 1 | one | some | ----\ | 1 | one …|…| | 2 | two | boring | ----/ | 2 | two …|…| | 3 | This is a long text | column | | 3 | This i…|…| |---+---------------------+--------| |---+-------…+…|
To set the width of a column, one field anywhere in the column may
contain just the string <N>
where specifies the width
as a number of characters. You control displayed width of columns
with the following tools:
-
(
org-table-toggle-column-width
) -
Shrink or expand current column.
If a width cookie specifies a width W for the column, shrinking it displays the first W visible characters only. Otherwise, the column is shrunk to a single character.
When called before the first column or after the last one, ask for a list of column ranges to operate on.
-
(
org-table-shrink
) -
Shrink all columns with a column width. Expand the others.
-
(
org-table-expand
) -
Expand all columns.
To see the full text of a shrunk field, hold the mouse over it:
a tool-tip window then shows the full contents of the field.
Alternatively, (display-local-help
) reveals them,
too. For convenience, any change near the shrunk part of a column
expands it.
Setting the option org-startup-shrink-all-tables
shrinks all columns
containing a width cookie in a file the moment it is visited. You can
also set this option on a per-file basis with:
#+STARTUP: shrink
If you would like to overrule the automatic alignment of number-rich
columns to the right and of string-rich columns to the left, you can
use <r>
, <c>
or <l>
in a similar fashion. You may also combine
alignment and field width like this: <r10>
.
Lines which only contain these formatting cookies are removed automatically upon exporting the document.
Column Groups
When Org exports tables, it does so by default without vertical lines
because that is visually more satisfying in general. Occasionally
however, vertical lines can be useful to structure a table into groups
of columns, much like horizontal lines can do for groups of rows. In
order to specify column groups, you can use a special row where the
first field contains only /
. The further fields can either contain
<
to indicate that this column should start a group, >
to indicate
the end of a column, or <>
(no space between <
and >
) to make
a column a group of its own. Upon export, boundaries between column
groups are marked with vertical lines. Here is an 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: $2=$1^2::$3=$1^3::$4=$1^4::$5=sqrt($1)::$6=sqrt(sqrt(($1)))
It is also sufficient to just insert the column group starters after every vertical line you would like to have:
| N | N^2 | N^3 | N^4 | sqrt(n) | sqrt[4](N) | |---+-----+-----+-----+---------+------------| | / | < | | | < | |
The Orgtbl Minor Mode
If you like the intuitive way the Org table editor works, you might also want to use it in other modes like Text mode or Mail mode. The minor mode Orgtbl mode makes this possible. You can always toggle the mode with . To turn it on by default, for example in Message mode, use
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook #'turn-on-orgtbl)
Furthermore, with some special setup, it is possible to maintain tables in arbitrary syntax with Orgtbl mode. For example, it is possible to construct LaTeX tables with the underlying ease and power of Orgtbl mode, including spreadsheet capabilities. For details, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATables%20in%20Arbitrary%20Syntax.
The Spreadsheet
The table editor makes use of the Emacs Calc package to implement spreadsheet-like capabilities. It can also evaluate Emacs Lisp forms to derive fields from other fields. While fully featured, Org's implementation is not identical to other spreadsheets. For example, Org knows the concept of a column formula that will be applied to all non-header fields in a column without having to copy the formula to each relevant field. There is also a formula debugger, and a formula editor with features for highlighting fields in the table corresponding to the references at point in the formula, moving these references by arrow keys.
References
To compute fields in the table from other fields, formulas must reference other fields or ranges. In Org, fields can be referenced by name, by absolute coordinates, and by relative coordinates. To find out what the coordinates of a field are, press in that field, or press to toggle the display of a grid.
Field references
Formulas can reference the value of another field in two ways. Like
in any other spreadsheet, you may reference fields with
a letter/number combination like B3
, meaning the second field in the
third row. However, Org prefers to use another, more general
representation that looks like this:18
@ROW$COLUMN
Column specifications can be absolute like $1
, $2
, …, $N
, or
relative to the current column, i.e., the column of the field which is
being computed, like $+1
or $-2
. $<
and $>
are immutable
references to the first and last column, respectively, and you can use
$>>>
to indicate the third column from the right.
The row specification only counts data lines and ignores horizontal
separator lines, or "hlines". Like with columns, you can use absolute
row numbers @1
, @2
, …, @N
, and row numbers relative to the
current row like @+3
or @-1
. @<
and @>
are immutable
references the first and last row in the table, respectively. You may
also specify the row relative to one of the hlines: @I
refers to the
first hline, @II
to the second, etc. @-I
refers to the first such
line above the current line, @+I
to the first such line below the
current line. You can also write @III+2
which is the second data
line after the third hline in the table.
@0
and $0
refer to the current row and column, respectively, i.e.,
to the row/column for the field being computed. Also, if you omit
either the column or the row part of the reference, the current
row/column is implied.
Org's references with unsigned numbers are fixed references in the sense that if you use the same reference in the formula for two different fields, the same field is referenced each time. Org's references with signed numbers are floating references because the same reference operator can reference different fields depending on the field being calculated by the formula.
Here are a few examples:
@2$3 |
2nd row, 3rd column (same as C2 ) |
$5 |
column 5 in the current row (same as E& ) |
@2 |
current column, row 2 |
@-1$-3 |
field one row up, three columns to the left |
@-I$2 |
field just under hline above current row, column 2 |
@>$5 |
field in the last row, in column 5 |
Range references
You may reference a rectangular range of fields by specifying two
field references connected by two dots ..
. The ends are included in
the range. If both fields are in the current row, you may simply use
$2..$7
, but if at least one field is in a different row, you need to
use the general @ROW$COLUMN
format at least for the first field,
i.e., the reference must start with @
in order to be interpreted
correctly. Examples:
$1..$3 |
first three fields in the current row |
$P..$Q |
range, using column names (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAdvanced%20features) |
$<<<..$>> |
start in third column, continue to the last but one |
@2$1..@4$3 |
nine fields between these two fields (same as A2..C4 ) |
@-1$-2..@-1 |
3 fields in the row above, starting from 2 columns on the left |
@I..II |
between first and second hline, short for @I..@II |
Range references return a vector of values that can be fed into Calc
vector functions. Empty fields in ranges are normally suppressed, so
that the vector contains only the non-empty fields. For other options
with the mode switches E
, N
and examples, see [[*Formula syntax for
Calc]].
Field coordinates in formulas
One of the very first actions during evaluation of Calc formulas and
Lisp formulas is to substitute @#
and $#
in the formula with the
row or column number of the field where the current result will go to.
The traditional Lisp formula equivalents are org-table-current-dline
and org-table-current-column
. Examples:
-
if(@# % 2, $#, string(""))
- Insert column number on odd rows, set field to empty on even rows.
-
$2 = '(identity remote(FOO, @@#$1))
- Copy text or values of each row of column 1 of the table named into column 2 of the current table.
-
@3 = 2 * remote(FOO, @1$$#)
- Insert the doubled value of each column of row 1 of the table named into row 3 of the current table.
For the second and third examples, table must have at least as many rows or columns as the current table. Note that this is inefficient19 for large number of rows.
Named references
$name
is interpreted as the name of a column, parameter or constant.
Constants are defined globally through the variable
org-table-formula-constants
, and locally—for the file—through
a line like this example:
#+CONSTANTS: c=299792458. pi=3.14 eps=2.4e-6
Also, properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns) can be used as
constants in table formulas: for a property Xyz
use the name
$PROP_Xyz
, and the property will be searched in the current outline
entry and in the hierarchy above it. If you have the constants.el
package, it will also be used to resolve constants, including natural
constants like $h
for Planck's constant, and units like $km
for
kilometers20. Column names and parameters can be specified in
special table lines. These are described below, see [[*Advanced
features]]. All names must start with a letter, and further consist
of letters and numbers.
Remote references
You may also reference constants, fields and ranges from a different table, either in the current file or even in a different file. The syntax is
remote(NAME,REF)
where can be the name of a table in the current file
as set by a #+NAME:
line before the table. It can also be the ID of
an entry, even in a different file, and the reference then refers to
the first table in that entry. is an absolute field or
range reference as described above for example @3$3
or $somename
,
valid in the referenced table.
When has the format @ROW$COLUMN
, it is substituted
with the name or ID found in this field of the current table. For
example remote($1, @@>$2)
⇒ remote(year_2013, @@>$1)
. The format
B3
is not supported because it can not be distinguished from a plain
table name or ID.
Formula syntax for Calc
A formula can be any algebraic expression understood by the Emacs Calc
package. Note that Calc has the non-standard convention that /
has
lower precedence than *
, so that a/b*c
is interpreted as
(a/(b*c))
. Before evaluation by calc-eval
(see Calling Calc from
Your Lisp Programs), variable substitution takes place according to
the rules described above.
The range vectors can be directly fed into the Calc vector functions
like vmean
and vsum
.
A formula can contain an optional mode string after a semicolon. This
string consists of flags to influence Calc and other modes during
execution. By default, Org uses the standard Calc modes (precision
12, angular units degrees, fraction and symbolic modes off). The
display format, however, has been changed to (float 8)
to keep
tables compact. The default settings can be configured using the
variable org-calc-default-modes
.
-
p20
- Set the internal Calc calculation precision to 20 digits.
-
n3
,s3
,e2
,f4
- Normal, scientific, engineering or fixed format of the result of Calc passed back to Org. Calc formatting is unlimited in precision as long as the Calc calculation precision is greater.
-
D
,R
- Degree and radian angle modes of Calc.
-
F
,S
- Fraction and symbolic modes of Calc.
-
u
- Units simplification mode of Calc. Calc is also a symbolic calculator and is capable of working with values having a unit, represented with numerals followed by a unit string in Org table cells. This mode instructs Calc to simplify the units in the computed expression before returning the result.
-
T
,t
,U
- Duration computations in Calc or Lisp, /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADurations%20and%20time%20values.
-
E
-
If and how to consider empty fields. Without
E
empty fields in range references are suppressed so that the Calc vector or Lisp list contains only the non-empty fields. WithE
the empty fields are kept. For empty fields in ranges or empty field references the valuenan
(not a number) is used in Calc formulas and the empty string is used for Lisp formulas. AddN
to use 0 instead for both formula types. For the value of a field the modeN
has higher precedence thanE
. -
N
-
Interpret all fields as numbers, use 0 for non-numbers. See the
next section to see how this is essential for computations with Lisp
formulas. In Calc formulas it is used only occasionally because
there number strings are already interpreted as numbers without
N
. -
L
- Literal, for Lisp formulas only. See the next section.
Unless you use large integer numbers or high-precision calculation and
display for floating point numbers you may alternatively provide
a printf
format specifier to reformat the Calc result after it has
been passed back to Org instead of letting Calc already do the
formatting21. A few examples:
$1+$2 |
Sum of first and second field |
$1+$2;%.2f |
Same, format result to two decimals |
exp($2)+exp($1) |
Math functions can be used |
$0;%.1f |
Reformat current cell to 1 decimal |
($3-32)*5/9 |
Degrees F → C conversion |
$c/$1/$cm |
Hz → cm conversion, using constants.el |
tan($1);Dp3s1 |
Compute in degrees, precision 3, display SCI 1 |
sin($1);Dp3%.1e |
Same, but use printf specifier for display |
vmean($2..$7) |
Compute column range mean, using vector function |
vmean($2..$7);EN |
Same, but treat empty fields as 0 |
taylor($3,x=7,2) |
Taylor series of $3, at x=7, second degree |
Calc also contains a complete set of logical operations (see Logical Operations). For example
-
if($1 < 20, teen, string(""))
-
"teen"
if age$1
is less than 20, else the Org table result field is set to empty with the empty string. -
if("$1" =
"nan" || "$2" == "nan", string(""), $1 + $2); E f-1= -
Sum of the first two columns. When at least one of the input fields
is empty the Org table result field is set to empty.
E
is required to not convert empty fields to 0.f-1
is an optional Calc format string similar to%.1f
but leaves empty results empty. -
if(typeof(vmean($1..$7)) =
12, string(""), vmean($1..$7); E= -
Mean value of a range unless there is any empty field. Every field
in the range that is empty is replaced by
nan
which letsvmean
result innan
. Thentypeof =
12= detects thenan
fromvmean
and the Org table result field is set to empty. Use this when the sample set is expected to never have missing values. -
if("$1..$7" =
"[]", string(""), vmean($1..$7))= - Mean value of a range with empty fields skipped. Every field in the range that is empty is skipped. When all fields in the range are empty the mean value is not defined and the Org table result field is set to empty. Use this when the sample set can have a variable size.
-
vmean($1..$7); EN
- To complete the example before: Mean value of a range with empty fields counting as samples with value 0. Use this only when incomplete sample sets should be padded with 0 to the full size.
You can add your own Calc functions defined in Emacs Lisp with
defmath
and use them in formula syntax for Calc.
Emacs Lisp forms as formulas
It is also possible to write a formula in Emacs Lisp. This can be useful for string manipulation and control structures, if Calc's functionality is not enough.
A formula is evaluated as a Lisp form when it starts with a
single-quote followed by an opening parenthesis. Cell table
references are interpolated into the Lisp form before execution. The
evaluation should return either a string or a number. Evaluation
modes and a printf
format used to render the returned values can be
specified after a semicolon.
By default, references are interpolated as literal Lisp strings: the field content is replaced in the Lisp form stripped of leading and trailing white space and surrounded in double-quotes. For example:
'(concat $1 $2)
concatenates the content of columns 1 and column 2.
When the N
flag is used, all referenced elements are parsed as
numbers and interpolated as Lisp numbers, without quotes. Fields that
cannot be parsed as numbers are interpolated as zeros. For example:
'(+ $1 $2);N
adds columns 1 and 2, equivalent to Calc's $1+$2
. Ranges are
inserted as space-separated fields, so they can be embedded in list or
vector syntax. For example:
'(apply '+ '($1..$4));N
computes the sum of columns 1 to 4, like Calc's vsum($1..$4)
.
When the L
flag is used, all fields are interpolated literally: the
cell content is replaced in the Lisp form stripped of leading and
trailing white space and without quotes. If a reference is intended
to be interpreted as a string by the Lisp form, the reference operator
itself should be enclosed in double-quotes, like "$3"
. The L
flag
is useful when strings and numbers are used in the same Lisp form. For
example:
'(substring "$1" $2 $3);L
extracts the part of the string in column 1 between the character positions specified in the integers in column 2 and 3 and it is easier to read than the equivalent:
'(substring $1 (string-to-number $2) (string-to-number $3))
Durations and time values
If you want to compute time values use the T
, t
, or U
flag,
either in Calc formulas or Elisp formulas:
| Task 1 | Task 2 | Total | |---------+----------+----------| | 2:12 | 1:47 | 03:59:00 | | 2:12 | 1:47 | 03:59 | | 3:02:20 | -2:07:00 | 0.92 | #+TBLFM: @2$3=$1+$2;T::@3$3=$1+$2;U::@4$3=$1+$2;t
Input duration values must be of the form HH:MM[:SS]
, where seconds
are optional. With the T
flag, computed durations are displayed as
HH:MM:SS
(see the first formula above). With the U
flag, seconds
are omitted so that the result is only HH:MM
(see second formula
above). Zero-padding of the hours field depends upon the value of the
variable org-table-duration-hour-zero-padding
.
With the t
flag, computed durations are displayed according to the
value of the option org-table-duration-custom-format
, which defaults
to hours
and displays the result as a fraction of hours (see the
third formula in the example above).
Negative duration values can be manipulated as well, and integers are considered as seconds in addition and subtraction.
Field and range formulas
To assign a formula to a particular field, type it directly into the
field, preceded by :=
, for example vsum(@II..III)
. When you press
with point
still in the field, the formula is stored as the formula for this
field, evaluated, and the current field is replaced with the result.
Formulas are stored in a special TBLFM
keyword located directly
below the table. If you type the equation in the fourth field of the
third data line in the table, the formula looks like @3$4=$1+$2
.
When inserting/deleting/swapping column and rows with the appropriate
commands, absolute references (but not relative ones) in stored
formulas are modified in order to still reference the same field. To
avoid this from happening, in particular in range references, anchor
ranges at the table borders (using @<
, @>
, $<
, $>
), or at
hlines using the @I
notation. Automatic adaptation of field
references does not happen if you edit the table structure with normal
editing commands—you must fix the formulas yourself.
Instead of typing an equation into the field, you may also use the following command
-
(
org-table-eval-formula
) -
Install a new formula for the current field. The command prompts for a formula with default taken from the
TBLFM
keyword, applies it to the current field, and stores it.
The left-hand side of a formula can also be a special expression in
order to assign the formula to a number of different fields. There is
no keyboard shortcut to enter such range formulas. To add them, use
the formula editor (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEditing%20and%20debugging%20formulas) or edit
the TBLFM
keyword directly.
-
$2=
- Column formula, valid for the entire column. This is so common that Org treats these formulas in a special way, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20formulas.
-
@3=
-
Row formula, applies to all fields in the specified row.
@>=
means the last row. -
@1$2..@4$3=
- Range formula, applies to all fields in the given rectangular range. This can also be used to assign a formula to some but not all fields in a row.
-
$NAME=
- Named field, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAdvanced%20features.
Column formulas
When you assign a formula to a simple column reference like $3=
, the
same formula is used in all fields of that column, with the following
very convenient exceptions: (i) If the table contains horizontal
separator hlines with rows above and below, everything before the
first such hline is considered part of the table header and is not
modified by column formulas. Therefore a header is mandatory when you
use column formulas and want to add hlines to group rows, like for
example to separate a total row at the bottom from the summand rows
above. (ii) Fields that already get a value from a field/range
formula are left alone by column formulas. These conditions make
column formulas very easy to use.
To assign a formula to a column, type it directly into any field in
the column, preceded by an equal sign, like =$1+$2
. When you press
with point
still in the field, the formula is stored as the formula for the
current column, evaluated and the current field replaced with the
result. If the field contains only =
, the previously stored formula
for this column is used. For each column, Org only remembers the most
recently used formula. In the TBLFM
keyword, column formulas look
like $4=$1+$2
. The left-hand side of a column formula can not be
the name of column, it must be the numeric column reference or $>
.
Instead of typing an equation into the field, you may also use the following command:
-
(
org-table-eval-formula
) -
Install a new formula for the current column and replace current field with the result of the formula. The command prompts for a formula, with default taken from the
TBLFM
keyword, applies it to the current field and stores it. With a numeric prefix argument, e.g., , the command applies it to that many consecutive fields in the current column.
Lookup functions
Org has three predefined Emacs Lisp functions for lookups in tables.
-
(org-lookup-first VAL S-LIST R-LIST &optional PREDICATE)
-
Searches for the first element in list for which
(PREDICATE VAL S)
is non-
nil
; returns the value from the corresponding position in list isequal
. Note that the parameters are passed to in the same order as the corresponding parameters are in the call toorg-lookup-first
, where . If of is returned. -
(org-lookup-last VAL S-LIST R-LIST &optional PREDICATE)
-
Similar to
org-lookup-first
above, but searches for the last element for which is non-nil
. -
(org-lookup-all VAL S-LIST R-LIST &optional PREDICATE)
-
Similar to
org-lookup-first
, but searches for all elements for which is non-nil
, and returns all corresponding values. This function can not be used by itself in a formula, because it returns a list of values. However, powerful lookups can be built when this function is combined with other Emacs Lisp functions.
If the ranges used in these functions contain empty fields, the E
mode for the formula should usually be specified: otherwise empty
fields are not included in
which can, for example, result in an incorrect mapping from an element
of to the corresponding element of
.
These three functions can be used to implement associative arrays, count matching cells, rank results, group data, etc. For practical examples see this tutorial on Worg.
Editing and debugging formulas
You can edit individual formulas in the minibuffer or directly in the
field. Org can also prepare a special buffer with all active formulas
of a table. When offering a formula for editing, Org converts
references to the standard format (like B3
or D&
) if possible. If
you prefer to only work with the internal format (like @3$2
or
$4
), configure the variable org-table-use-standard-references
.
-
(
org-table-eval-formula
) -
Edit the formula associated with the current column/field in the minibuffer. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20formulas, and /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AField%20and%20range%20formulas.
-
(
org-table-eval-formula
) -
Re-insert the active formula (either a field formula, or a column formula) into the current field, so that you can edit it directly in the field. The advantage over editing in the minibuffer is that you can use the command .
-
(
org-table-field-info
) -
While editing a formula in a table field, highlight the field(s) referenced by the reference at point position in the formula.
-
(
org-table-toggle-coordinate-overlays
) -
Toggle the display of row and column numbers for a table, using overlays. These are updated each time the table is aligned; you can force it with .
-
(
org-table-toggle-formula-debugger
) -
Toggle the formula debugger on and off. See below.
-
(
org-table-edit-formulas
) -
Edit all formulas for the current table in a special buffer, where the formulas are displayed one per line. If the current field has an active formula, point in the formula editor marks it. While inside the special buffer, Org automatically highlights any field or range reference at point position. You may edit, remove and add formulas, and use the following commands:
-
(
org-table-fedit-finish
) -
Exit the formula editor and store the modified formulas. With prefix, also apply the new formulas to the entire table.
-
(
org-table-fedit-abort
) -
Exit the formula editor without installing changes.
-
(
org-table-fedit-toggle-ref-type
) -
Toggle all references in the formula editor between standard (like
B3
) and internal (like@3$2
). -
(
org-table-fedit-lisp-indent
) -
Pretty-print or indent Lisp formula at point. When in a line containing a Lisp formula, format the formula according to Emacs Lisp rules. Another collapses the formula back again. In the open formula, re-indents just like in Emacs Lisp mode.
-
(
lisp-complete-symbol
) -
Complete Lisp symbols, just like in Emacs Lisp mode.
-
Shift the reference at point. For example, if the reference is
B3
and you press , it becomesC3
. This also works for relative references and for hline references. -
(
org-table-fedit-line-up
) -
Move the test line for column formulas up in the Org buffer.
-
(
org-table-fedit-line-down
) -
Move the test line for column formulas down in the Org buffer.
-
(
org-table-fedit-scroll-up
) -
Scroll up the window displaying the table.
-
(
org-table-fedit-scroll-down
) -
Scroll down the window displaying the table.
-
Turn the coordinate grid in the table on and off.
-
(
Making a table field blank does not remove the formula associated with
the field, because that is stored in a different line—the TBLFM
keyword line. During the next recalculation, the field will be filled
again. To remove a formula from a field, you have to give an empty
reply when prompted for the formula, or to edit the TBLFM
keyword.
You may edit the TBLFM
keyword directly and re-apply the changed
equations with in that line or with the normal
recalculation commands in the table.
Using multiple TBLFM
lines
You may apply the formula temporarily. This is useful when you want
to switch the formula applied to the table. Place multiple TBLFM
keywords right after the table, and then press on
the formula to apply. Here is an example:
| x | y | |---+---| | 1 | | | 2 | | #+TBLFM: $2=$1*1 #+TBLFM: $2=$1*2
Pressing in the line of #+TBLFM: $2=$1*2
yields:
| x | y | |---+---| | 1 | 2 | | 2 | 4 | #+TBLFM: $2=$1*1 #+TBLFM: $2=$1*2
If you recalculate this table, with , for example,
you get the following result from applying only the first TBLFM
keyword.
| x | y | |---+---| | 1 | 1 | | 2 | 2 | #+TBLFM: $2=$1*1 #+TBLFM: $2=$1*2
Debugging formulas
When the evaluation of a formula leads to an error, the field content
becomes the string #ERROR
. If you would like to see what is going
on during variable substitution and calculation in order to find
a bug, turn on formula debugging in the Tbl menu and repeat the
calculation, for example by pressing in
a field. Detailed information are displayed.
Updating the table
Recalculation of a table is normally not automatic, but needs to be triggered by a command. To make recalculation at least semi-automatic, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAdvanced%20features.
In order to recalculate a line of a table or the entire table, use the following commands:
-
(
org-table-recalculate
) -
Recalculate the current row by first applying the stored column formulas from left to right, and all field/range formulas in the current row.
-
Recompute the entire table, line by line. Any lines before the first hline are left alone, assuming that these are part of the table header.
-
(
org-table-iterate
) -
Iterate the table by recomputing it until no further changes occur. This may be necessary if some computed fields use the value of other fields that are computed later in the calculation sequence.
-
Recompute all tables in the current buffer.
-
Iterate all tables in the current buffer, in order to converge table-to-table dependencies.
Advanced features
If you want the recalculation of fields to happen automatically, or if you want to be able to assign names22 to fields and columns, you need to reserve the first column of the table for special marking characters.
-
(
org-table-rotate-recalc-marks
) -
Rotate the calculation mark in first column through the states
#
,*
,!
,$
. When there is an active region, change all marks in the region.
Here is an example of a table that collects exam results of students and makes use of these features:
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------| | | Student | Prob 1 | Prob 2 | Prob 3 | Total | Note | |---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------| | ! | | P1 | P2 | P3 | Tot | | | # | Maximum | 10 | 15 | 25 | 50 | 10.0 | | ^ | | m1 | m2 | m3 | mt | | |---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------| | # | Peter | 10 | 8 | 23 | 41 | 8.2 | | # | Sam | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 1.8 | |---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------| | | Average | | | | 25.0 | | | ^ | | | | | at | | | $ | max=50 | | | | | | |---+---------+--------+--------+--------+-------+------| #+TBLFM: $6=vsum($P1..$P3)::$7=10*$Tot/$max;%.1f::$at=vmean(@-II..@-I);%.1f
Please note that for these special tables, recalculating the table with only affects rows that are marked
#
or*
, and fields that have a formula assigned to the field itself. The column formulas are not applied in rows with empty first field.
The marking characters have the following meaning:
-
!
-
The fields in this line define names for the columns, so that you
may refer to a column as
$Tot
instead of$6
. -
^
-
This row defines names for the fields above the row. With such
a definition, any formula in the table may use
$m1
to refer to the value10
. Also, if you assign a formula to a names field, it is stored as$name = ...
. -
_
-
Similar to
^
, but defines names for the fields in the row below. -
$
-
Fields in this row can define parameters for formulas. For
example, if a field in a
$
row containsmax=50
, then formulas in this table can refer to the value 50 using$max
. Parameters work exactly like constants, only that they can be defined on a per-table basis. -
#
- Fields in this row are automatically recalculated when pressing in this row. Also, this row is selected for a global recalculation with . Unmarked lines are left alone by this command.
-
*
- Selects this line for global recalculation with {{{kbd(C-u C-c *)}}}, but not for automatic recalculation. Use this when automatic recalculation slows down editing too much.
-
/
-
Do not export this line. Useful for lines that contain the
narrowing
<N>
markers or column group markers.
Finally, just to whet your appetite for what can be done with the fantastic Calc package, here is a table that computes the Taylor series of degree n at location x for a couple of functions.
|---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------| | | Func | n | x | Result | |---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------| | # | exp(x) | 1 | x | 1 + x | | # | exp(x) | 2 | x | 1 + x + x^2 / 2 | | # | exp(x) | 3 | x | 1 + x + x^2 / 2 + x^3 / 6 | | # | x^2+sqrt(x) | 2 | x=0 | x*(0.5 / 0) + x^2 (2 - 0.25 / 0) / 2 | | # | x^2+sqrt(x) | 2 | x=1 | 2 + 2.5 x - 2.5 + 0.875 (x - 1)^2 | | * | tan(x) | 3 | x | 0.0175 x + 1.77e-6 x^3 | |---+-------------+---+-----+--------------------------------------| #+TBLFM: $5=taylor($2,$4,$3);n3
Org Plot
Org Plot can produce graphs of information stored in Org tables, either graphically or in ASCII art.
Graphical plots using Gnuplot
Org Plot can produce 2D and 3D graphs of information stored in Org tables using Gnuplot and Gnuplot mode. To see this in action, ensure that you have both Gnuplot and Gnuplot mode installed on your system, then call on the following table.
#+PLOT: title:"Citas" ind:1 deps:(3) type:2d with:histograms set:"yrange [0:]" | Sede | Max cites | H-index | |-----------+-----------+---------| | Chile | 257.72 | 21.39 | | Leeds | 165.77 | 19.68 | | Sao Paolo | 71.00 | 11.50 | | Stockholm | 134.19 | 14.33 | | Morelia | 257.56 | 17.67 |
Org Plot supports a range of plot types, and provides the ability to add more. For example, a radar plot can be generated like so:
#+PLOT: title:"An evaluation of plaintext document formats" transpose:yes type:radar min:0 max:4 | Format | Fine-grained-control | Initial Effort | Syntax simplicity | Editor Support | Integrations | Ease-of-referencing | Versatility | |-------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+----------------+--------------+---------------------+-------------| | Word | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | | LaTeX | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | | Org Mode | 4 | 2 | 3.5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | | Markdown | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | | Markdown + Pandoc | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Notice that Org Plot is smart enough to apply the table's headers as
labels. Further control over the labels, type, content, and
appearance of plots can be exercised through the PLOT
keyword
preceding a table. See below for a complete list of Org Plot options.
For more information and examples see the Org Plot tutorial.
Plot options
-
set
- Specify any Gnuplot option to be set when graphing.
-
title
- Specify the title of the plot.
-
ind
-
Specify which column of the table to use as the
x
axis. -
deps
-
Specify the columns to graph as a Lisp style list, surrounded by
parentheses and separated by spaces for example
dep:(3 4)
to graph the third and fourth columns. Defaults to graphing all other columns aside from theind
column. - transpose
-
When
y
,yes
, ort
attempt to transpose the table data before plotting. Also recognises the shorthand optiontrans
. -
type
-
Specify the type of the plot, by default one of
2d
,3d
,radar
, orgrid
. Available types can be customised withorg-plot/preset-plot-types
. -
with
-
Specify a
with
option to be inserted for every column being plotted, e.g.,lines
,points
,boxes
,impulses
. Defaults tolines
. -
file
-
If you want to plot to a file, specify
"path/to/desired/output-file"
. -
labels
-
List of labels to be used for the
deps
. Defaults to the column headers if they exist. -
line
- Specify an entire line to be inserted in the Gnuplot script.
-
map
-
When plotting
3d
orgrid
types, set this tot
to graph a flat mapping rather than a3d
slope. - min
-
Provides a minimum axis value that may be used by a plot type.
Implicitly assumes the
y
axis is being referred to. Can explicitly provide a value for a either thex
ory
axis withxmin
andymin
. - max
-
Provides a maximum axis value that may be used by a plot type.
Implicitly assumes the
y
axis is being referred to. Can explicitly provide a value for a either thex
ory
axis withxmax
andymax
. - ticks
-
Provides a desired number of axis ticks to display, that may be used
by a plot type. If none is given a plot type that requires ticks
will use
org--plot/sensible-tick-num
to try to determine a good value. -
timefmt
-
Specify format of Org mode timestamps as they will be parsed by
Gnuplot. Defaults to
%Y-%m-%d-%H:%M:%S
. -
script
-
If you want total control, you can specify a script file—place the
file name between double-quotes—which will be used to plot.
Before plotting, every instance of
$datafile
in the specified script will be replaced with the path to the generated data file. Note: even if you set this option, you may still want to specify the plot type, as that can impact the content of the data file.
ASCII bar plots
While point is on a column, typing or cii-plot)}}} create a new column containing an ASCII-art bars plot. The plot is implemented through a regular column formula. When the source column changes, the bar plot may be updated by refreshing the table, for example typing .
| Sede | Max cites | | |---------------+-----------+--------------| | Chile | 257.72 | WWWWWWWWWWWW | | Leeds | 165.77 | WWWWWWWh | | Sao Paolo | 71.00 | WWW; | | Stockholm | 134.19 | WWWWWW: | | Morelia | 257.56 | WWWWWWWWWWWH | | Rochefourchat | 0.00 | | #+TBLFM: $3='(orgtbl-ascii-draw $2 0.0 257.72 12)
The formula is an Elisp call.
Draw an ASCII bar in a table.
is the value to plot.
is the value filling all the . Sources values outside
this range are displayed as too small
or too large
.
is the number of characters of the bar plot. It
defaults to 12
.
Hyperlinks
Like HTML, Org provides support for links inside a file, external links to other files, Usenet articles, emails, and much more.
Link Format
Org recognizes plain URIs, possibly wrapped within angle brackets23, and activate them as clickable links.
The general link format, however, looks like this:
[[LINK][DESCRIPTION]]
or alternatively
[[LINK]]
Some \
, [
and ]
characters in the part need to
be "escaped", i.e., preceded by another \
character. More
specifically, the following characters, and only them, must be
escaped:
- all
[
and]
characters, - every
\
character preceding either]
or[
, - every
\
character at the end of the link.
Functions inserting links (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links) properly escape
ambiguous characters. You only need to bother about the rules above
when inserting directly, or yanking, a URI within square brackets.
When in doubt, you may use the function org-link-escape
, which turns
a link string into its escaped form.
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]]
.
Links are highlighted in the org-link
face, which, by default, is an
underlined face.
You can directly edit the visible part of a link. This can be either the part, if there is no description, or the part otherwise. To also edit the invisible with point on the link (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links).
If you place point at the beginning or just behind the end of the displayed text and press , you remove the—invisible—bracket at that location24. This makes the link incomplete and the internals are again displayed as plain text. Inserting the missing bracket hides the link internals again. To show the internal structure of all links, use the menu: Org → Hyperlinks → Literal links.
Internal Links
A link that does not look like a URL—i.e., does not start with a known scheme or a file name—refers to the current document. You can follow it with when point is on the link, or with a mouse click (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links).
Org provides several refinements to internal navigation within
a document. Most notably, a construct like [[#my-custom-id]]
specifically targets the entry with the CUSTOM_ID
property set to
my-custom-id
. Also, an internal link looking like [[*Some
section]]
points to a headline with the name Some section
25.
When the link does not belong to any of the cases above, Org looks for
a dedicated target: the same string in double angular brackets, like
<<My Target>>
.
If no dedicated target exists, the link tries to match the exact name
of an element within the buffer. Naming is done, unsurprisingly, with
the NAME
keyword, which has to be put in the line before the element
it refers to, as in the following example
#+NAME: My Target | a | table | |----+------------| | of | four cells |
Ultimately, if none of the above succeeds, Org searches for a headline
that is exactly the link text but may also include a TODO keyword and
tags, or initiates a plain text search, according to the value of
org-link-search-must-match-exact-headline
.
Note that you must make sure custom IDs, dedicated targets, and names are unique throughout the document. Org provides a linter to assist you in the process, if needed. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AOrg%20Syntax.
During export, internal links are used to mark objects and assign them a number. Marked objects are then referenced by links pointing to them. In particular, links without a description appear as the number assigned to the marked object26. In the following excerpt from an Org buffer
1. one item 2. <<target>>another item Here we refer to item [[target]].
The last sentence will appear as Here we refer to item 2
when
exported.
In non-Org files, the search looks for the words in the link text. In
the above example the search would be for target
.
Following a link pushes a mark onto Org's own mark ring. You can return to the previous position with . Using this command several times in direct succession goes back to positions recorded earlier.
Radio Targets
Org can automatically turn any occurrences of certain target names in
normal text into a link. So without explicitly creating a link, the
text connects to the target radioing its position. Radio targets are
enclosed by triple angular brackets. For example, a target <<<My
Target>>>
causes each occurrence of my target
in normal text to
become activated as a link. The Org file is scanned automatically for
radio targets only when the file is first loaded into Emacs. To
update the target list during editing, press with
point on or at a 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 is the full set of built-in link types:
-
file
-
File links. File name may be remote, absolute, or relative.
Additionally, you can specify a line number, or a text search.
In Org files, you may link to a headline name, a custom ID, or a
code reference instead.
As a special case, "file" prefix may be omitted if the file name
is complete, e.g., it starts with
./
, or/
. -
attachment
- Same as file links but for files and folders attached to the current node (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Attachments). Attachment links are intended to behave exactly as file links but for files relative to the attachment directory.
-
bbdb
- Link to a BBDB record, with possible regexp completion.
-
docview
- Link to a document opened with DocView mode. You may specify a page number.
-
doi
- Link to an electronic resource, through its handle.
-
elisp
- Execute an Elisp command upon activation.
-
gnus
,rmail
,mhe
- Link to messages or folders from a given Emacs' MUA.
-
help
-
Display documentation of a symbol in
*Help*
buffer. -
http
,https
- Web links.
-
id
- Link to a specific headline by its ID property, in an Org file.
-
info
- Link to an Info manual, or to a specific node.
-
irc
- Link to an IRC channel.
-
mailto
- Link to message composition.
-
news
- Usenet links.
-
shell
- Execute a shell command upon activation.
The following table illustrates the link types above, along with their options:
Link Type | Example |
---|---|
http | http://staff.science.uva.nl/c.dominik/ |
https | https://orgmode.org/ |
doi | doi:10.1000/182 |
file | file:/home/dominik/images/jupiter.jpg |
/home/dominik/images/jupiter.jpg (same as above) |
|
file:papers/last.pdf |
|
./papers/last.pdf (same as above) |
|
file:/ssh:me@some.where:papers/last.pdf (remote) |
|
/ssh:me@some.where:papers/last.pdf (same as above) |
|
file:sometextfile::NNN (jump to line number) |
|
file:projects.org |
|
file:projects.org::some words (text search)27 |
|
file:projects.org::*task title (headline search) |
|
file:projects.org::#custom-id (headline search) |
|
attachment | attachment:projects.org |
attachment:projects.org::some words (text search) |
|
docview | docview:papers/last.pdf::NNN |
id | id:B7423F4D-2E8A-471B-8810-C40F074717E9 |
news | news:comp.emacs |
mailto | mailto:adent@galaxy.net |
mhe | mhe:folder (folder link) |
mhe:folder#id (message link) |
|
rmail | rmail:folder (folder link) |
rmail:folder#id (message link) |
|
gnus | gnus:group (group link) |
gnus:group#id (article link) |
|
bbdb | bbdb:R.*Stallman (record with regexp) |
irc | irc:/irc.com/#emacs/bob |
help | help:org-store-link |
info | info:org#External links |
shell | shell:ls *.org |
elisp | elisp:(find-file "Elisp.org") (Elisp form to evaluate) |
elisp:org-agenda (interactive Elisp command) |
On top of these built-in link types, additional ones are available
through the org-contrib
repository (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Installation). For
example, these links to VM or Wanderlust messages are available when
you load the corresponding libraries from the org-contrib
repository:
vm:folder |
VM folder link |
vm:folder#id |
VM message link |
vm://myself@some.where.org/folder#id |
VM on remote machine |
vm-imap:account:folder |
VM IMAP folder link |
vm-imap:account:folder#id |
VM IMAP message link |
wl:folder |
Wanderlust folder link |
wl:folder#id |
Wanderlust message link |
For information on customizing Org to add new link types, see [[*Adding Hyperlink Types]].
A link should be enclosed in double brackets and may contain descriptive text to be displayed instead of the URL (see [[*Link Format]]), for example:
[[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/][GNU Emacs]]
If the description is a file name or URL that points to an image, HTML export (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHTML%20Export) inlines the image as a clickable button. If there is no description at all and the link points to an image, that image is inlined into the exported HTML file.
Org also recognizes external links amid normal text and activates them
as links. If spaces must be part of the link (for example in
bbdb:R.*Stallman
), or if you need to remove ambiguities about the
end of the link, enclose the link in square or angular brackets.
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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Activation). It stores a link to the
current location. The link is stored for later insertion into an Org
buffer—see below. The kind of link that is created depends on the
current buffer:
- Org mode buffers
-
For Org files, if there is a
<<target>>
at point, the link points to the target. Otherwise it points to the current headline, which is also the description28.If the headline has a
CUSTOM_ID
property, store a link to this custom ID. In addition or alternatively, depending on the value oforg-id-link-to-org-use-id
, create and/or use a globally uniqueID
property for the link29. So using this command in Org buffers potentially creates two links: a human-readable link from the custom ID, and one that is globally unique and works even if the entry is moved from file to file. TheID
property can be either a UUID (default) or a timestamp, depending onorg-id-method
. Later, when inserting the link, you need to decide which one to use. - Email/News clients: VM, Rmail, Wanderlust, MH-E, Gnus
-
Pretty much all Emacs mail clients are supported. The link points to the current article, or, in some Gnus buffers, to the group. The description is constructed according to the variable
org-link-email-description-format
. By default, it refers to the addressee and the subject. - Web browsers: W3, W3M and EWW
- Here the link is the current URL, with the page title as the description.
- Contacts: BBDB
- Links created in a BBDB buffer point to the current entry.
- Chat: IRC
-
For IRC links, if the variable
org-irc-link-to-logs
is non-nil
, create afile
style link to the relevant point in the logs for the current conversation. Otherwise store anirc
style link to the user/channel/server under the point. - Other files
- For any other file, the link points to the file, with a search string (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASearch%20Options%20in%20File%20Links) pointing to the contents of the current line. If there is an active region, the selected words form the basis of the search string. You can write custom Lisp functions to select the search string and perform the search for particular file types (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACustom%20Searches). You can also define dedicated links to other files. See [[*Adding Hyperlink Types]].
- Agenda view
- When point is in an agenda view, the created link points to the entry referenced by the current line.
From an Org buffer, the following commands create, navigate or, more generally, act on links.
-
(
org-insert-link
) -
Insert a link30. This prompts for a link to be inserted into the buffer. You can just type a link, using text for an internal link, or one of the link type prefixes mentioned in the examples above. The link is inserted into the buffer, along with a descriptive text31. If some text was selected at this time, it becomes the default description.
- Inserting stored links
- All links stored during the current session are part of the history for this prompt, so you can access them with and ).
- Completion support
-
Completion with helps you to insert valid link
prefixes like
http
orftp
, including the prefixes defined through link abbreviations (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALink%20Abbreviations). If you press after inserting only the prefix, Org offers specific completion support for some link types32. For example, if you type —alternative access: , see below—Org offers file name completion, and after you can complete contact names.
-
When prefix argument, insert a link to a file. You may use file name completion to select the name of the file. The path to the file is inserted relative to the directory of the current Org file, if the linked file is in the current directory or in a sub-directory of it, or if the path is written relative to the current directory using
../
. Otherwise an absolute path is used, if possible with~/
for your home directory. You can force an absolute path with two prefixes. - (with point on existing link)
-
When point is on an existing link, allows you to edit the link and description parts of the link.
-
(
org-open-at-point
) -
Open link at point. This launches a web browser for URL (using
browse-url-at-point
), run VM/MH-E/Wanderlust/Rmail/Gnus/BBDB for the corresponding links, and execute the command in a shell link. When point is on an internal link, this command runs the corresponding search. When point is on the tags part of a headline, it creates the corresponding tags view (see [[*Matching tags and properties]]). If point is on a timestamp, it compiles the agenda for that date. Furthermore, it visits text and remote files infile
links with Emacs and select a suitable application for local non-text files. Classification of files is based on file extension only. See optionorg-file-apps
. If you want to override the default application and visit the file with Emacs, use a prefix. If you want to avoid opening in Emacs, use a prefix.If point is on a headline, but not on a link, offer all links in the headline and entry text. If you want to setup the frame configuration for following links, customize
org-link-frame-setup
. -
When
org-return-follows-link
is set, also follows the link at point. -
On links, opens the link just as does.
-
Like , but force file links to be opened with Emacs, and internal links to be displayed in another window33.
-
(
org-mark-ring-push
) -
Push the current position onto the Org mark ring, to be able to return easily. Commands following an internal link do this automatically.
-
(
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.
-
(
org-previous-link
) -
Move forward/backward to the next link in the buffer. At the limit of the buffer, the search fails once, and then wraps around. The key bindings for this are really too long; you might want to bind this also to .
(with-eval-after-load 'org (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "M-n") #'org-next-link) (define-key org-mode-map (kbd "M-p") #'org-previous-link))
Using Links Outside Org
You can insert and follow links that have Org syntax not only in Org,
but in any Emacs buffer. For this, Org provides two functions:
org-insert-link-global
and org-open-at-point-global
.
You might want to bind them to globally available keys. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Activation for some advice.
Link Abbreviations
Long URL can be cumbersome to type, and often many similar links are needed in a document. For this you can use link abbreviations. An abbreviated link looks like this
[[linkword:tag][description]]
where the tag is optional. The linkword must be a word, starting
with a letter, followed by letters, numbers, -
, and _
.
Abbreviations are resolved according to the information in the
variable org-link-abbrev-alist
that relates the linkwords to
replacement text. Here is an example:
(setq org-link-abbrev-alist
'(("bugzilla" . "http://10.1.2.9/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=")
("Nu Html Checker" . "https://validator.w3.org/nu/?doc=%h")
("duckduckgo" . "https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s")
("omap" . "http://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=%s&polygon=1")
("ads" . "https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=%20author%3A\"%s\"")))
If the replacement text contains the string %s
, it is replaced with
the tag. Using %h
instead of %s
percent-encodes the tag (see the
example above, where we need to encode the URL parameter). Using
%(my-function)
passes the tag to a custom Lisp function, and replace
it by the resulting string.
If the replacement text do not contain any specifier, it is simply appended to the string in order to create the link.
Instead of a string, you may also specify a Lisp function to create the link. Such a function will be called with the tag as the only argument.
With the above setting, you could link to a specific bug with
[[bugzilla:129]]
, search the web for OrgMode
with [[duckduckgo:OrgMode]]
,
show the map location of the Free Software Foundation [[gmap:51
Franklin Street, Boston]]
or of Carsten office [[omap:Science Park 904,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands]]
and find out what the Org author is doing
besides Emacs hacking with [[ads:Dominik,C]]
.
If you need special abbreviations just for a single Org buffer, you can define them in the file with
#+LINK: bugzilla http://10.1.2.9/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id= #+LINK: duckduckgo https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s
In-buffer completion (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Completion) can be used after [
to
complete link abbreviations. You may also define a Lisp function that
implements special (e.g., completion) support for inserting such a
link with . Such a function should not accept any
arguments, and should return the full link with a prefix. You can set
the link completion function like this:
(org-link-set-parameter "type" :complete #'some-completion-function)
Search Options in File Links
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 colon34. For
example, when the command org-store-link
creates a link (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links) to a file, it encodes the words in the current line
as a search string that can be used to find this line back later when
following the link with .
Note that all search options apply for Attachment links in the same way that they apply for File links.
Here is the syntax of the different ways to attach a search to a file link, together with explanations for each:
[[file:~/code/main.c::255]] [[file:~/xx.org::My Target]] [[file:~/xx.org::*My Target]] [[file:~/xx.org::#my-custom-id]] [[file:~/xx.org::/regexp/]] [[attachment:main.c::255]]
-
255
- Jump to line 255.
-
My Target
-
Search for a link target
<<My Target>>
, or do a text search formy target
, similar to the search in internal links, see [[*Internal Links]]. In HTML export (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHTML%20Export), such a file link becomes a HTML reference to the corresponding named anchor in the linked file. -
*My Target
- In an Org file, restrict search to headlines.
-
#my-custom-id
-
Link to a heading with a
CUSTOM_ID
property -
/REGEXP/
-
Do a regular expression search for (see [[*Regular
Expressions]]). This uses the Emacs command
occur
to list all matches in a separate window. If the target file is in Org mode,org-occur
is used to create a sparse tree with the matches.
As a degenerate case, a file link with an empty file name can be used
to search the current file. For example, [[file:::find me]]
does
a search for find me
in the current file, just as [[find me]]
would.
Custom Searches
The default mechanism for creating search strings and for doing the
actual search related to a file link may not work correctly in all
cases. For example, BibTeX database files have many entries like
year="1993"
which would not result in good search strings, because
the only unique identification for a BibTeX entry is the citation key.
If you come across such a problem, you can write custom functions to
set the right search string for a particular file type, and to do the
search for the string in the file. Using add-hook
, these functions
need to be added to the hook variables
org-create-file-search-functions
and
org-execute-file-search-functions
. See the docstring for these
variables for more information. Org actually uses this mechanism for
BibTeX database files, and you can use the corresponding code as an
implementation example. See the file ol-bibtex.el
.
TODO Items
Org mode does not maintain TODO lists as separate documents35. Instead, TODO items are an integral part of the 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 the entire context from which the TODO item emerged is always present.
Of course, this technique for managing TODO items scatters them throughout your notes file. Org mode compensates for this by providing methods to give you an overview of all the things that you have to do.
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 --. '--------------------------------'
If TODO keywords have fast access keys (see [[*Fast access to TODO states]]), prompt for a TODO keyword through the fast selection interface; this is the default behavior when
org-use-fast-todo-selection
is non-nil
.The same state changing can also be done "remotely" from the agenda buffer with the command key (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]).
-
Select the following/preceding TODO state, similar to cycling. Useful mostly if more than two TODO states are possible (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExtended%20Use%20of%20TODO%20Keywords). See also [[*Packages that conflict with Org mode]], for a discussion of the interaction with shift-selection. See also the variable
org-treat-S-cursor-todo-selection-as-state-change
. -
(
org-show-todo-tree
) -
View TODO items in a sparse tree (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASparse%20Trees). Folds the entire buffer, but shows all TODO items—with not-DONE state—and the headings hierarchy above them. With a prefix argument, or by using , search for a specific TODO. You are prompted for the keyword, and you can also give a list of keywords like
KWD1|KWD2|...
to list entries that match any one of these keywords. With a numeric prefix argument N, show the tree for the Nth keyword in the variableorg-todo-keywords
. With two prefix arguments, find all TODO states, both un-done and done. -
(
org-todo-list
) -
Show the global TODO list. Collects the TODO items (with not-DONE states) from all agenda files (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) into a single buffer. The new buffer is in Org Agenda mode, which provides commands to examine and manipulate the TODO entries from the new buffer (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACommands%20in%20the%20Agenda%20Buffer). See [[*The global TODO list]], 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.
Extended Use of TODO Keywords
By default, marked TODO entries have one of only two states: TODO and
DONE. Org mode allows you to classify TODO items in more complex ways
with TODO keywords (stored in org-todo-keywords
). With special
setup, the TODO keyword system can work differently in different
files.
Note that tags are another way to classify headlines in general and TODO items in particular (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags).
TODO keywords as workflow states
You can use TODO keywords to indicate different, possibly sequential states in the process of working on an item, for example36:
(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
. You may also use a numeric prefix argument to quickly
select a specific state. For example changes
the state immediately to VERIFY
. Or you can use
and to go forward and backward through the states.
If you define many keywords, you can use in-buffer completion (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Completion) or a special one-key selection scheme (see [[*Fast
access to TODO states]]) to insert these words into the buffer.
Changing a TODO state can be logged with a timestamp, see [[*Tracking
TODO state changes]], for more information.
TODO keywords as types
The second possibility is to use TODO keywords to indicate different types of action items. For example, you might want to indicate that items are for "work" or "home". Or, when you work with several people on a single project, you might want to assign action items directly to persons, by using their names as TODO keywords. This type of functionality is actually much better served by using tags (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags), so the TODO implementation is kept just for backward compatibility.
Using TODO types, it would be set up like this:
(setq org-todo-keywords '((type "Fred" "Sara" "Lucy" "|" "DONE")))
In this case, different keywords do not indicate states, but
rather different types. So the normal work flow would be to assign
a task to a person, and later to mark it DONE. Org mode supports this
style by adapting the workings of the command 37. When used several times in succession, it still
cycles through all names, in order to first select the right type for
a task. But when you return to the item after some time and execute
again, it will switch from any name directly to
DONE
. Use prefix arguments or completion to quickly select
a specific name. You can also review the items of a specific TODO
type in a sparse tree by using a numeric prefix to .
For example, to see all things Lucy has to do, you would use
. To collect Lucy's items from all agenda files
into a single buffer, you would use the numeric prefix argument as
well when creating the global TODO list: {{{kbd(C-3 M-x org-agenda
t)}}}.
Multiple keyword sets in one file
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, and a separate state indicating that an item has been canceled—so it is not DONE, but also does not require action. Your setup would then look like this:
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO" "|" "DONE")
(sequence "REPORT" "BUG" "KNOWNCAUSE" "|" "FIXED")
(sequence "|" "CANCELED")))
The keywords should all be different, this helps Org mode keep track
of which subsequence should be used for a given entry. In this setup,
only operates within a sub-sequence, so it switches
from DONE
to (nothing) to TODO
, and from FIXED
to (nothing) to
REPORT
. Therefore you need a mechanism to initially select the
correct sequence. In addition to typing a keyword or using completion
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Completion), you may also apply the following commands:
-
These keys jump from one TODO sub-sequence to the next. In the above example, would jump from
TODO
orDONE
toREPORT
, and any of the words in the second row toCANCELED
. Note that the key binding conflict with shift-selection (see [[*Packages that conflict with Org mode]]). -
walk through all keywords from all sub-sequences, so for example would switch from
DONE
toREPORT
in the example above. For a discussion of the interaction with shift-selection, see [[*Packages that conflict with Org mode]].
Fast access to TODO states
If you would like to quickly change an entry to an arbitrary TODO state instead of cycling through the states, you can set up keys for single-letter access to the states. This is done by adding the selection character after each keyword, in parentheses38. For example:
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO(t)" "|" "DONE(d)")
(sequence "REPORT(r)" "BUG(b)" "KNOWNCAUSE(k)" "|" "FIXED(f)")
(sequence "|" "CANCELED(c)")))
If you then press followed by the selection key, the entry is switched to this state. can be used to remove any TODO keyword from an entry39.
Setting up keywords for individual files
It can be very useful to use different aspects of the TODO mechanism in different files. For file-local settings, you need to add special lines to the file which set the keywords and interpretation for that file only. For example, to set one of the two examples discussed above, you need one of the following lines, starting in column zero anywhere in the file:
#+TODO: TODO FEEDBACK VERIFY | DONE CANCELED
You may also write #+SEQ_TODO
to be explicit about the
interpretation, but it means the same as #+TODO
, or
#+TYP_TODO: Fred Sara Lucy Mike | DONE
A setup for using several sets in parallel would be:
#+TODO: TODO(t) | DONE(d) #+TODO: REPORT(r) BUG(b) KNOWNCAUSE(k) | FIXED(f) #+TODO: | CANCELED(c)
To make sure you are using the correct keyword, type #+
into the
buffer and then use to complete it (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Completion).
Remember that the keywords after the vertical bar—or the last keyword if no bar is there—must always mean that the item is DONE, although you may use a different word. After changing one of these lines, use with point still in the line to make the changes known to Org mode40.
Faces for TODO keywords
Org mode highlights TODO keywords with special faces: org-todo
for
keywords indicating that an item still has to be acted upon, and
org-done
for keywords indicating that an item is finished. If you
are using more than two different states, you might want to use
special faces for some of them. This can be done using the variable
org-todo-keyword-faces
. For example:
(setq org-todo-keyword-faces
'(("TODO" . org-warning) ("STARTED" . "yellow")
("CANCELED" . (:foreground "blue" :weight bold))))
While using a list with face properties as shown for CANCELED
should work, this does not always seem to be the case. If
necessary, define a special face and use that. A string is
interpreted as a color. The variable org-faces-easy-properties
determines if that color is interpreted as a foreground or
a background color.
TODO dependencies
The structure of Org files—hierarchy and lists—makes it easy to
define TODO dependencies. Usually, a parent TODO task should not be
marked as done until all TODO subtasks, or children tasks, are marked
as done. Sometimes there is a logical sequence to (sub)tasks, so that
one subtask cannot be acted upon before all siblings above it have
been marked as done. If you customize the variable
org-enforce-todo-dependencies
, Org blocks entries from changing
state to DONE while they have TODO children that are not DONE.
Furthermore, if an entry has a property ORDERED
, each of its TODO
children is blocked until all earlier siblings are marked as done.
Here is an example:
* TODO Blocked until (two) is done ** DONE one ** TODO two * Parent :PROPERTIES: :ORDERED: t :END: ** TODO a ** TODO b, needs to wait for (a) ** TODO c, needs to wait for (a) and (b)
You can ensure an entry is never blocked by using the NOBLOCKING
property (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns):
* This entry is never blocked :PROPERTIES: :NOBLOCKING: t :END:
-
(
org-toggle-ordered-property
) -
Toggle the
ORDERED
property of the current entry. A property is used for this behavior because this should be local to the current entry, not inherited from entries above like a tag (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags). However, if you would like to track the value of this property with a tag for better visibility, customize the variableorg-track-ordered-property-with-tag
. -
Change TODO state, regardless of any state blocking.
If you set the variable org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks
, TODO entries
that cannot be marked as done because of unmarked children are shown
in a dimmed font or even made invisible in agenda views (see [[*Agenda
Views]]).
You can also block changes of TODO states by using checkboxes (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes). If you set the variable
org-enforce-todo-checkbox-dependencies
, an entry that has unchecked
checkboxes is blocked from switching to DONE.
If you need more complex dependency structures, for example
dependencies between entries in different trees or files, check out
the module org-depend.el
in the org-contrib
repository.
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. The note is inserted as a list item below the headline, but can also be placed into a drawer, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATracking%20TODO%20state%20changes.
If you want to be more systematic, Org mode can 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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AClocking%20Work%20Time.
Closing items
The most basic automatic logging is to keep track of when a certain TODO item was marked as done. This can be achieved with41
(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 turn the entry back into a TODO item
through further state cycling, that line is removed again. If you
turn the entry back to a non-TODO state (by pressing {{{kbd(C-c C-t
SPC)}}} for example), that line is also removed, unless you set
org-closed-keep-when-no-todo
to non-nil
. If you want to record
a note along with the timestamp, use42
(setq org-log-done 'note)
You are then 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 automatically keep track of when a state change
occurred and maybe take a note about this change. You can either
record just a timestamp, or a time-stamped note. These records are
inserted after the headline as an itemized list, newest first43.
When taking a lot of notes, you might want to get the notes out of the
way into a drawer (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Drawers). Customize the variable
org-log-into-drawer
to get this behavior—the recommended drawer
for this is called LOGBOOK
44. You can also overrule the
setting of this variable for a subtree by setting a LOG_INTO_DRAWER
property.
Since it is normally too much to record a note for every state, Org
mode expects configuration on a per-keyword basis for this. This is
achieved by adding special markers !
(for a timestamp) or @
(for
a note with timestamp) in parentheses after each keyword. For
example, with the setting
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO(t)" "WAIT(w@/!)" "|" "DONE(d!)" "CANCELED(c@)")))
You not only define global TODO keywords and fast access keys, but
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
45. The setting for WAIT
is even more special: the
!
after the slash means that in addition to the note taken when
entering the state, a timestamp should be recorded when leaving the
WAIT
state, if and only if the target state does not configure
logging for entering it. So it has no effect when switching from
WAIT
to DONE
, because DONE
is configured to record a timestamp
only. But when switching from WAIT
back to TODO
, the /!
in the
WAIT
setting now triggers a timestamp even though TODO
has no
logging configured.
You can use the exact same syntax for setting logging preferences local to a buffer:
#+TODO: TODO(t) WAIT(w@/!) | DONE(d!) CANCELED(c@)
To record a timestamp without a note for TODO keywords configured with
@
, just type to enter a blank note when prompted.
In order to define logging settings that are local to a subtree or
a single item, define a LOGGING
property in this entry. Any
non-empty LOGGING
property resets all logging settings to nil
.
You may then turn on logging for this specific tree using STARTUP
keywords like lognotedone
or logrepeat
, as well as adding state
specific settings like TODO(!)
. For example:
* TODO Log each state with only a time :PROPERTIES: :LOGGING: TODO(!) WAIT(!) DONE(!) CANCELED(!) :END: * TODO Only log when switching to WAIT, and when repeating :PROPERTIES: :LOGGING: WAIT(@) logrepeat :END: * TODO No logging at all :PROPERTIES: :LOGGING: nil :END:
Tracking your habits
Org has the ability to track the consistency of a special category of
TODO, called "habits." To use habits, you have to enable the habit
module by customizing the variable org-modules
.
A habit has the following properties:
- The habit is a TODO item, with a TODO keyword representing an open state.
- The property
STYLE
is set to the valuehabit
(see [[*Properties and Columns]]). - The TODO has a scheduled date, usually with a
.+
style repeat interval. A++
style may be appropriate for habits with time constraints, e.g., must be done on weekends, or a+
style for an unusual habit that can have a backlog, e.g., weekly reports. - The TODO may also have minimum and maximum ranges specified by
using the syntax
.+2d/3d
, which says that you want to do the task at least every three days, but at most every two days. - State logging for the DONE state is enabled (see [[*Tracking TODO state changes]]), in order for historical data to be represented in the consistency graph. If it is not enabled it is not an error, but the consistency graphs are largely meaningless.
To give you an idea of what the above rules look like in action, here's an actual habit with some history:
** TODO Shave SCHEDULED: <2009-10-17 Sat .+2d/4d> :PROPERTIES: :STYLE: habit :LAST_REPEAT: [2009-10-19 Mon 00:36] :END: - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-10-15 Thu] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-10-12 Mon] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-10-10 Sat] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-10-04 Sun] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-10-02 Fri] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-09-29 Tue] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-09-25 Fri] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-09-19 Sat] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-09-16 Wed] - State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-09-12 Sat]
What this habit says is: I want to shave at most every 2 days—given
by the SCHEDULED
date and repeat interval—and at least every
4 days. If today is the 15th, then the habit first appears in the
agenda (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) on Oct 17, after the minimum of 2 days has
elapsed, and will appear overdue on Oct 19, after four days have
elapsed.
What's really useful about habits is that they are displayed along with a consistency graph, to show how consistent you've been at getting that task done in the past. This graph shows every day that the task was done over the past three weeks, with colors for each day. The colors used are:
- Blue
- If the task was not to be done yet on that day.
- Green
- If the task could have been done on that day.
- Yellow
- If the task was going to be overdue the next day.
- Red
- If the task was overdue on that day.
In addition to coloring each day, the day is also marked with an asterisk if the task was actually done that day, and an exclamation mark to show where the current day falls in the graph.
There are several configuration variables that can be used to change the way habits are displayed in the agenda.
-
org-habit-graph-column
-
The buffer column at which the consistency graph should be drawn. This overwrites any text in that column, so it is a good idea to keep your habits' titles brief and to the point.
-
org-habit-preceding-days
-
The amount of history, in days before today, to appear in consistency graphs.
-
org-habit-following-days
-
The number of days after today that appear in consistency graphs.
-
org-habit-show-habits-only-for-today
-
If non-
nil
, only show habits in today's agenda view. The default value ist
. Pressing in the agenda toggles this variable.
Lastly, pressing in the agenda buffer causes habits to temporarily be disabled and do not appear at all. Press again to bring them back. They are also subject to tag filtering, if you have habits which should only be done in certain contexts, for example.
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 right after the TODO keyword, like this:
*** TODO [#A] Write letter to Sam Fortune
By default, Org mode supports three priorities: A
, B
, and C
.
A
is the highest priority. An entry without a cookie is treated as
equivalent if it had priority B
. Priorities make a difference only
for sorting in the agenda (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/daily%20agenda). Outside the
agenda, they have no inherent meaning to Org mode. The cookies are
displayed with the face defined by the variable org-priority-faces
,
which can be customized.
You can also use numeric values for priorities, such as
*** TODO [#1] Write letter to Sam Fortune
When using numeric priorities, you need to set org-priority-highest
,
org-priority-lowest
and org-priority-default
to integers, which
must all be strictly inferior to 65.
Priorities can be attached to any outline node; they do not need to be TODO items.
-
(
org-priority
) -
Set the priority of the current headline. The command prompts for a priority character
A
,B
orC
. When you press instead, the priority cookie, if one is set, is removed from the headline. The priorities can also be changed "remotely" from the agenda buffer with the command (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]). -
(
org-priority-down
) -
Increase/decrease the priority of the current headline46. Note that these keys are also used to modify timestamps (see [[*Creating Timestamps]]). See also /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APackages%20that%20conflict%20with%20Org%20mode, for a discussion of the interaction with shift-selection.
You can change the range of allowed priorities by setting the
variables org-priority-highest
, org-priority-lowest
, and
org-priority-default
. For an individual buffer, you may set these
values (highest, lowest, default) like this (please make sure that the
highest priority is earlier in the alphabet than the lowest priority):
#+PRIORITIES: A C B
Or, using numeric values:
#+PRIORITIES: 1 10 5
Breaking Down Tasks 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 tree47. 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
If a heading has both checkboxes and TODO children below it, the
meaning of the statistics cookie become ambiguous. Set the property
COOKIE_DATA
to either checkbox
or todo
to resolve this issue.
If you would like to have the statistics cookie count any TODO entries
in the subtree (not just direct children), configure the variable
org-hierarchical-todo-statistics
. To do this for a single subtree,
include the word recursive
into the value of the COOKIE_DATA
property.
* Parent capturing statistics [2/20] :PROPERTIES: :COOKIE_DATA: todo recursive :END:
If you would like a TODO entry to automatically change to DONE when all children are done, you can use the following setup:
(defun org-summary-todo (n-done n-not-done)
"Switch entry to DONE when all subentries 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)
Another possibility is the use of checkboxes to identify (a hierarchy of) a large number of subtasks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Checkboxes).
Checkboxes
Every item in a plain list48 (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20Lists) can be made into
a checkbox by starting it with the string [ ]
. This feature is
similar to TODO items (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATODO%20Items), but is more lightweight.
Checkboxes are not included into the global TODO list, so they are
often great to split a task into a number of simple steps. Or you can
use them in a shopping list.
Here is an example of a checkbox list.
* TODO Organize party [2/4] - [-] call people [1/3] - [ ] Peter - [X] Sarah - [ ] Sam - [X] order food - [ ] think about what music to play - [X] talk to the neighbors
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 [2/4]
and [1/3]
in the first and second line are cookies
indicating how many checkboxes present in this entry have been checked
off, and the total number of checkboxes present. This can give you an
idea on how many checkboxes remain, even without opening a folded
entry. The cookies can be placed into a headline or into (the first
line of) a plain list item. Each cookie covers checkboxes of direct
children structurally below the headline/item on which the cookie
appears49. You have to insert the cookie yourself by typing
either [/]
or [%]
. With [/]
you get an n out of m
result, as
in the examples above. With [%]
you get information about the
percentage of checkboxes checked (in the above example, this would be
[50%]
and [33%]
, respectively). In a headline, a cookie can count
either checkboxes below the heading or TODO states of children, and it
displays whatever was changed last. Set the property COOKIE_DATA
to
either checkbox
or todo
to resolve this issue.
If the current outline node has an ORDERED
property, checkboxes must
be checked off in sequence, and an error is thrown if you try to check
off a box while there are unchecked boxes above it.
The following commands work with checkboxes:
-
(
org-toggle-checkbox
) -
Toggle checkbox status or—with prefix argument—checkbox presence at point. With a single prefix argument, add an empty checkbox or remove the current one50. With a double prefix argument, set it to
[-]
, which is considered to be an intermediate state. -
(
org-toggle-checkbox
) -
Toggle checkbox status or—with prefix argument—checkbox presence at point. With double prefix argument, set it to
[-]
, which is considered to be an intermediate state.- If there is an active region, toggle the first checkbox in the region and set all remaining boxes to the same status as the first. With a prefix argument, add or remove the checkbox for all items in the region.
- If point is in a headline, toggle checkboxes in the region between this headline and the next—so not the entire subtree.
- If there is no active region, just toggle the checkbox at point.
-
(
org-toggle-radio-button
) -
Toggle checkbox status by using the checkbox of the item at point as a radio button: when the checkbox is turned on, all other checkboxes on the same level will be turned off. With a universal prefix argument, toggle the presence of the checkbox. With a double prefix argument, set it to
[-]
.can be told to consider checkboxes as radio buttons by setting
#+ATTR_ORG: :radio t
right before the list or by calling to activate this minor mode. -
(
org-insert-todo-heading
) -
Insert a new item with a checkbox. This works only if point is already in a plain list item (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20Lists).
-
(
org-toggle-ordered-property
) -
Toggle the
ORDERED
property of the entry, to toggle if checkboxes must be checked off in sequence. A property is used for this behavior because this should be local to the current entry, not inherited like a tag. However, if you would like to track the value of this property with a tag for better visibility, customizeorg-track-ordered-property-with-tag
. -
(
org-update-statistics-cookies
) -
Update the statistics cookie in the current outline entry. When called with a prefix, update the entire file. Checkbox statistic cookies are updated automatically if you toggle checkboxes with and make new ones with . TODO statistics cookies update when changing TODO states. If you delete boxes/entries or add/change them by hand, use this command to get things back into sync.
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. You
may specify special faces for specific tags using the variable
org-tag-faces
, in much the same way as you can for TODO keywords
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AFaces%20for%20TODO%20keywords).
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 this51
#+FILETAGS: :Peter:Boss:Secret:
To limit tag inheritance to specific tags, or to turn it off entirely,
use the variables org-use-tag-inheritance
and
org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance
.
When a headline matches during a tags search while tag inheritance is
turned on, all the sublevels in the same tree—for a simple match
form—match as well52. The list of matches may then become
very long. If you only want to see the first tags match in a subtree,
configure the variable org-tags-match-list-sublevels
(not
recommended).
Tag inheritance is relevant when the agenda search tries to match
a tag, either in the tags
or tags-todo
agenda types. In other
agenda types, org-use-tag-inheritance
has no effect. Still, you may
want to have your tags correctly set in the agenda, so that tag
filtering works fine, with inherited tags. Set
org-agenda-use-tag-inheritance
to control this: the default value
includes all agenda types, but setting this to nil
can really speed
up agenda generation.
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. After pressing , the tags are inserted and aligned to
org-tags-column
. When called with a prefix, all tags in the current buffer are aligned to that column, just to make things look nice. Tags are automatically realigned after promotion, demotion, and TODO state changes (see [[*Basic TODO Functionality]]). -
(
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 buffer53. 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
If you have globally defined your preferred set of tags using the
variable org-tag-alist
, but would like to use a dynamic tag list in
a specific file, add an empty TAGS
keyword to that file:
#+TAGS:
If you have a preferred set of tags that you would like to use in
every file, in addition to those defined on a per-file basis by TAGS
keyword, then you may specify a list of tags with the variable
org-tag-persistent-alist
. You may turn this off on a per-file basis
by adding a STARTUP
keyword to that file:
#+STARTUP: noptag
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)
The tags interface shows the available tags in a splash window. If
you want to start a new line after a specific tag, insert \n
into
the tag list
#+TAGS: @work(w) @home(h) @tennisclub(t) \n laptop(l) pc(p)
or write them in two lines:
#+TAGS: @work(w) @home(h) @tennisclub(t) #+TAGS: laptop(l) pc(p)
You can also group together tags that are mutually exclusive by using braces, as in:
#+TAGS: { @work(w) @home(h) @tennisclub(t) } laptop(l) pc(p)
you indicate that at most one of @work
, @home
, and @tennisclub
should be selected. Multiple such groups are allowed.
Do not forget to press with point in one of these lines to activate any changes.
To set these mutually exclusive groups in the variable
org-tags-alist
, you must use the dummy tags :startgroup
and
:endgroup
instead of the braces. Similarly, you can use :newline
to indicate a line break. The previous example would be set globally
by the following configuration:
(setq org-tag-alist '((:startgroup . nil)
("@work" . ?w) ("@home" . ?h)
("@tennisclub" . ?t)
(:endgroup . nil)
("laptop" . ?l) ("pc" . ?p)))
If at least one tag has a selection key then pressing {{{kbd(C-c C-c)}}} automatically presents you with a special interface, listing inherited tags, the tags of the current headline, and a list of all valid tags with corresponding keys54.
Pressing keys assigned to tags adds or removes them from the list of tags in the current line. Selecting a tag in a group of mutually exclusive tags turns off any other tag from that group.
In this interface, you can also use the following special keys:
-
Enter a tag in the minibuffer, even if the tag is not in the predefined list. You can complete on all tags present in the buffer and globally pre-defined tags from
org-tag-alist
andorg-tag-persistent-alist
. You can also add several tags: just separate them with a comma. -
Clear all tags for this line.
-
Accept the modified set.
-
Abort without installing changes.
-
If is not assigned to a tag, it aborts like .
-
Turn off groups of mutually exclusive tags. Use this to (as an exception) assign several tags from such a group.
-
Toggle auto-exit after the next change (see below). If you are using expert mode, the first displays the selection window.
This method lets you assign tags to a headline with very few keys.
With the above setup, you could clear the current tags and set
@home
, laptop
and pc
tags with just the following keys:
. Switching from @home
to @work
would be done with or alternatively with
. Adding the non-predefined tag sarah
could
be done with .
If you find that most of the time you need only a single key press to
modify your list of tags, set the variable
org-fast-tag-selection-single-key
. Then you no longer have to press
to exit fast tag selection—it exits after the first
change. If you then occasionally need more keys, press
to turn off auto-exit for the current tag selection process (in
effect: start selection with instead of
). If you set the variable to the value expert
,
the special window is not even shown for single-key tag selection, it
comes up only when you press an extra .
Tag Hierarchy
Tags can be defined in hierarchies. 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. Defining multiple group tags and nesting them creates a tag hierarchy.
One use-case is to create a taxonomy of terms (tags) that can be used to classify nodes in a document or set of documents.
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. This makes tag searches and filters even more flexible.
You can set group tags by using brackets and inserting a colon between the group tag and its related tags—beware that all whitespaces are mandatory so that Org can parse this line correctly:
#+TAGS: [ GTD : Control Persp ]
In this example, GTD
is the group tag and it is related to two other
tags: Control
, Persp
. Defining Control
and Persp
as group
tags creates a hierarchy of tags:
#+TAGS: [ Control : Context Task ] #+TAGS: [ Persp : Vision Goal AOF Project ]
That can conceptually be seen as a hierarchy of tags:
-
GTD
-
Persp
Vision
Goal
AOF
Project
-
Control
Context
Task
-
You can use the :startgrouptag
, :grouptags
and :endgrouptag
keyword directly when setting org-tag-alist
directly:
(setq org-tag-alist '((:startgrouptag)
("GTD")
(:grouptags)
("Control")
("Persp")
(:endgrouptag)
(:startgrouptag)
("Control")
(:grouptags)
("Context")
("Task")
(:endgrouptag)))
The tags in a group can be mutually exclusive if using the same group syntax as is used for grouping mutually exclusive tags together; using curly brackets.
#+TAGS: { Context : @Home @Work @Call }
When setting org-tag-alist
you can use :startgroup
and :endgroup
instead of :startgrouptag
and :endgrouptag
to make the tags
mutually exclusive.
Furthermore, the members of a group tag can also be regular expressions, creating the possibility of a more dynamic and rule-based tag structure (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARegular%20Expressions). The regular expressions in the group must be specified within curly brackets. Here is an expanded example:
#+TAGS: [ Vision : {V@.+} ] #+TAGS: [ Goal : {G@.+} ] #+TAGS: [ AOF : {AOF@.+} ] #+TAGS: [ Project : {P@.+} ]
Searching for the tag Project
now lists all tags also including
regular expression matches for P@.+
, and similarly for tag searches
on Vision
, Goal
and AOF
. For example, this would work well for
a project tagged with a common project-identifier, e.g.,
P@2014_OrgTags
.
If you want to ignore group tags temporarily, toggle group tags
support with org-toggle-tags-groups
, bound to .
If you want to disable tag groups completely, set org-group-tags
to
nil
.
Tag Searches
Once a system of tags has been set up, it can be used to collect related information into special lists.
-
(
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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/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 complete description
with many examples, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AMatching%20tags%20and%20properties.
Properties and Columns
A property is a key-value pair associated with an entry. Properties can be set so they are associated with a single entry, with every entry in a tree, or with the whole buffer.
There are two main applications for properties in Org mode. First,
properties are like tags, but with a value. Imagine maintaining
a file where you document bugs and plan releases for a piece of
software. Instead of using tags like release_1
, release_2
, you
can use a property, say Release
, that in different subtrees has
different values, such as 1.0
or 2.0
. Second, you can use
properties to implement (very basic) database capabilities in an Org
buffer. Imagine keeping track of your music CDs, where properties
could be things such as the album, artist, date of release, number of
tracks, and so on.
Properties can be conveniently edited and viewed in column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View).
Property Syntax
Properties are key–value pairs. When they are associated with
a single entry or with a tree they need to be inserted into a special
drawer (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Drawers) with the name PROPERTIES
, which has to be
located right below a headline, and its planning line (see [[*Deadlines
and Scheduling]]) when applicable. Each property is specified on
a single line, with the key—surrounded by colons—first, and the
value after it. Keys are case-insensitive. Here is an example:
* CD collection ** Classic *** Goldberg Variations :PROPERTIES: :Title: Goldberg Variations :Composer: J.S. Bach :Artist: Glenn Gould :Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon :NDisks: 1 :END:
Depending on the value of org-use-property-inheritance
, a property
set this way is associated either with a single entry, or with the
sub-tree defined by the entry, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperty%20Inheritance.
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:
Properties can be inserted on buffer level. That means they apply before the first headline and can be inherited by all entries in a file. Property blocks defined before first headline needs to be located at the top of the buffer, allowing only comments above.
Properties can also be defined using lines like:
#+PROPERTY: NDisks_ALL 1 2 3 4
If you want to add to the value of an existing property, append a +
to the property name. The following results in the property var
having the value foo=1 bar=2
.
#+PROPERTY: var foo=1 #+PROPERTY: var+ bar=2
It is also possible to add to the values of inherited properties. The
following results in the Genres
property having the value Classic
Baroque
under the Goldberg Variations
subtree.
* CD collection ** Classic :PROPERTIES: :Genres: Classic :END: *** Goldberg Variations :PROPERTIES: :Title: Goldberg Variations :Composer: J.S. Bach :Artist: Glenn Gould :Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon :NDisks: 1 :Genres+: Baroque :END:
Note that a property can only have one entry per drawer.
Property values set with the global variable org-global-properties
can be inherited by all entries in all Org files.
The following commands help to work with properties:
-
(
pcomplete
) -
After an initial colon in a line, complete property keys. All keys used in the current file are offered as possible completions.
-
(
org-set-property
) -
Set a property. This prompts for a property name and a value. If necessary, the property drawer is created as well.
-
Insert a property drawer into the current entry. The drawer is inserted early in the entry, but after the lines with planning information like deadlines. If before first headline the drawer is inserted at the top of the drawer after any potential comments.
-
(
org-property-action
) -
With point in a property drawer, this executes property commands.
-
(
org-set-property
) -
Set a property in the current entry. Both the property and the value can be inserted using completion.
-
(
org-property-previous-allowed-value
) -
Switch property at point to the next/previous allowed value.
-
(
org-delete-property
) -
Remove a property from the current entry.
-
(
org-delete-property-globally
) -
Globally remove a property, from all entries in the current file.
-
(
org-compute-property-at-point
) -
Compute the property at point, using the operator and scope from the nearest column format definition.
Special Properties
Special properties provide an alternative access method to Org mode features, like the TODO state or the priority of an entry, discussed in the previous chapters. This interface exists so that you can include these states in a column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View), or to use them in queries. The following property names are special and should not be used as keys in the properties drawer:
ALLTAGS |
All tags, including inherited ones. |
BLOCKED |
t if task is currently blocked by children or siblings. |
CATEGORY |
The category of an entry. |
CLOCKSUM |
The sum of CLOCK intervals in the subtree. org-clock-sum |
must be run first to compute the values in the current buffer. | |
CLOCKSUM_T |
The sum of CLOCK intervals in the subtree for today. |
org-clock-sum-today must be run first to compute the |
|
values in the current buffer. | |
CLOSED |
When was this entry closed? |
DEADLINE |
The deadline timestamp. |
FILE |
The filename the entry is located in. |
ITEM |
The headline of the entry. |
PRIORITY |
The priority of the entry, a string with a single letter. |
SCHEDULED |
The scheduling timestamp. |
TAGS |
The tags defined directly in the headline. |
TIMESTAMP |
The first keyword-less timestamp in the entry. |
TIMESTAMP_IA |
The first inactive timestamp in the entry. |
TODO |
The TODO keyword of the entry. |
Property Searches
To create sparse trees and special lists with selection based on properties, the same commands are used as for tag searches (see [[*Tag Searches]]).
-
(
org-match-sparse-tree
) -
Create a sparse tree with all matching entries. With a prefix argument, ignore headlines that are not a TODO line.
-
(
org-tags-view
) -
Create a global list of tag/property matches from all agenda files.
-
(
org-tags-view
) -
Create a global list of tag matches from all agenda files, but check only TODO items and force checking of subitems (see the option
org-tags-match-list-sublevels
).
The syntax for the search string is described in [[*Matching tags and properties]].
There is also a special command for creating sparse trees based on a single property:
-
Create a sparse tree based on the value of a property. This first prompts for the name of a property, and then for a value. A sparse tree is created with all entries that define this property with the given value. If you enclose the value in curly braces, it is interpreted as a regular expression and matched against the property values (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARegular%20Expressions).
Property Inheritance
The outline structure of Org documents lends itself to an inheritance
model of properties: if the parent in a tree has a certain property,
the children can inherit this property. Org mode does not turn this
on by default, because it can slow down property searches
significantly and is often not needed. However, if you find
inheritance useful, you can turn it on by setting the variable
org-use-property-inheritance
. It may be set to t
to make all
properties inherited from the parent, to a list of properties that
should be inherited, or to a regular expression that matches inherited
properties. If a property has the value nil
, this is interpreted as
an explicit un-define of the property, so that inheritance search
stops at this value and returns nil
.
Org mode has a few properties for which inheritance is hard-coded, at least for the special applications for which they are used:
-
COLUMNS
-
The
COLUMNS
property defines the format of column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View). It is inherited in the sense that the level where aCOLUMNS
property is defined is used as the starting point for a column view table, independently of the location in the subtree from where columns view is turned on. -
CATEGORY
-
For agenda view, a category set through a
CATEGORY
property applies to the entire subtree. -
ARCHIVE
-
For archiving, the
ARCHIVE
property may define the archive location for the entire subtree (see [[*Moving a tree to an archive file]]). -
LOGGING
-
The
LOGGING
property may define logging settings for an entry or a subtree (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATracking%20TODO%20state%20changes).
Column View
A great way to view and edit properties in an outline tree is column view. In column view, each outline node is turned into a table row. Columns in this table provide access to properties of the entries. Org mode implements columns by overlaying a tabular structure over the headline of each item. While the headlines have been turned into a table row, you can still change the visibility of the outline tree. For example, you get a compact table by switching to "contents" view— while column view is active—but you can still open, read, and edit the entry below each headline. Or, you can switch to column view after executing a sparse tree command and in this way get a table only for the selected items. Column view also works in agenda buffers (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) where queries have collected selected items, possibly from a number of files.
Defining columns
Setting up a column view first requires defining the columns. This is done by defining a column format line.
Scope of column definitions
To specify a format that only applies to a specific tree, add
a COLUMNS
property to the top node of that tree, for example:
** Top node for columns view :PROPERTIES: :COLUMNS: %25ITEM %TAGS %PRIORITY %TODO :END:
A COLUMNS
property within a property drawer before first headline
will apply to the entire file. As an addition to property drawers,
keywords can also be defined for an entire file using a line like:
#+COLUMNS: %25ITEM %TAGS %PRIORITY %TODO
If a COLUMNS
property is present in an entry, it defines columns for
the entry itself, and for the entire subtree below it. Since the
column definition is part of the hierarchical structure of the
document, you can define columns on level 1 that are general enough
for all sublevels, and more specific columns further down, when you
edit a deeper part of the tree.
Column attributes
A column definition sets the attributes of a column. The general definition looks like this:
%[WIDTH]PROPERTY[(TITLE)][{SUMMARY-TYPE}]
Except for the percent sign and the property name, all items are optional. The individual parts have the following meaning:
- An integer specifying the width of the column in characters. If omitted, the width is determined automatically.
- The property that should be edited in this column. Special properties representing meta data are allowed here as well (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASpecial%20Properties).
- The header text for the column. If omitted, the property name is used.
-
The summary type. If specified, the column values for parent nodes are computed from the children55.
Supported summary types are:
+
Sum numbers in this column. +;%.1f
Like +
, but format result with%.1f
.$
Currency, short for +;%.2f
.min
Smallest number in column. max
Largest number. mean
Arithmetic mean of numbers. X
Checkbox status, [X]
if all children are[X]
.X/
Checkbox status, [n/m]
.X%
Checkbox status, [n%]
.:
Sum times, HH:MM, plain numbers are minutes. :min
Smallest time value in column. :max
Largest time value. :mean
Arithmetic mean of time values. @min
Minimum age56 (in days/hours/mins/seconds). @max
Maximum age (in days/hours/mins/seconds). @mean
Arithmetic mean of ages (in days/hours/mins/seconds). est+
Add low-high estimates. You can also define custom summary types by setting
org-columns-summary-types
.
The est+
summary type requires further explanation. It is used for
combining estimates, expressed as low-high ranges. For example,
instead of estimating a particular task will take 5 days, you might
estimate it as 5–6 days if you're fairly confident you know how much
work is required, or 1–10 days if you do not really know what needs
to be done. Both ranges average at 5.5 days, but the first represents
a more predictable delivery.
When combining a set of such estimates, simply adding the lows and
highs produces an unrealistically wide result. Instead, est+
adds
the statistical mean and variance of the subtasks, generating a final
estimate from the sum. For example, suppose you had ten tasks, each
of which was estimated at 0.5 to 2 days of work. Straight addition
produces an estimate of 5 to 20 days, representing what to expect if
everything goes either extremely well or extremely poorly. In
contrast, est+
estimates the full job more realistically, at 10–15
days.
Here is an example for a complete columns definition, along with allowed values57.
:COLUMNS: %25ITEM %9Approved(Approved?){X} %Owner %11Status \ %10Time_Estimate{:} %CLOCKSUM %CLOCKSUM_T :Owner_ALL: Tammy Mark Karl Lisa Don :Status_ALL: "In progress" "Not started yet" "Finished" "" :Approved_ALL: "[ ]" "[X]"
The first column, %25ITEM
, means the first 25 characters of the item
itself, i.e., of the headline. You probably always should start the
column definition with the ITEM
specifier. The other specifiers
create columns Owner
with a list of names as allowed values, for
Status
with four different possible values, and for a checkbox field
Approved
. When no width is given after the %
character, the
column is exactly as wide as it needs to be in order to fully display
all values. The Approved
column does have a modified title
(Approved?
, with a question mark). Summaries are created for the
Time_Estimate
column by adding time duration expressions like HH:MM,
and for the Approved
column, by providing an [X]
status if all
children have been checked. The CLOCKSUM
and CLOCKSUM_T
columns
are special, they lists the sums of CLOCK intervals in the subtree,
either for all clocks or just for today.
Using column view
Turning column view on or off
-
(
org-columns
) -
Turn on column view. If point is before the first headline in the file, column view is turned on for the entire file, using the
#+COLUMNS
definition. If point is somewhere inside the outline, this command searches the hierarchy, up from point, for aCOLUMNS
property that defines a format. When one is found, the column view table is established for the tree starting at the entry that contains theCOLUMNS
property. If no such property is found, the format is taken from the#+COLUMNS
line or from the variableorg-columns-default-format
, and column view is established for the current entry and its subtree. -
on a columns view line (
org-columns-redo
) -
Recreate the column view, to include recent changes made in the buffer.
-
on a columns view line (
org-columns-quit
) -
Exit column view.
Editing values
- Move through the column view from field to field.
-
Directly select the Nth allowed value, selects the 10th value.
-
(
org-columns-previous-allowed-value
) -
Switch to the next/previous allowed value of the field. For this, you have to have specified allowed values for a property.
-
(
org-columns-edit-value
) -
Edit the property at point. For the special properties, this invokes the same interface that you normally use to change that property. For example, the tag completion or fast selection interface pops up when editing a
TAGS
property. -
(
org-columns-toggle-or-columns-quit
) -
When there is a checkbox at point, toggle it. Else exit column view.
-
(
org-columns-show-value
) -
View the full value of this property. This is useful if the width of the column is smaller than that of the value.
-
(
org-columns-edit-allowed
) -
Edit the list of allowed values for this property. If the list is found in the hierarchy, the modified values is stored there. If no list is found, the new value is stored in the first entry that is part of the current column view.
Modifying column view on-the-fly
-
(
org-columns-widen
) -
Make the column narrower/wider by one character.
-
(
org-columns-new
) -
Insert a new column, to the left of the current column.
-
(
org-columns-delete
) -
Delete the current column.
Capturing column view
Since column view is just an overlay over a buffer, it cannot be
exported or printed directly. If you want to capture a column view,
use a columnview
dynamic block (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Blocks). The frame of
this block looks like this:
* The column view #+BEGIN: columnview :hlines 1 :id "label" #+END:
This dynamic block has the following parameters:
-
:id
-
This is the most important parameter. Column view is a feature that is often localized to a certain (sub)tree, and the capture block might be at a different location in the file. To identify the tree whose view to capture, you can use four values:
-
local
- Use the tree in which the capture block is located.
-
global
- Make a global view, including all headings in the file.
-
file:FILENAME
- Run column view at the top of the file.
-
LABEL
-
Call column view in the tree that has an
ID
property with the value to create a globally unique ID for the current entry and copy it to the kill-ring.
-
-
:match
-
When set to a string, use this as a tags/property match filter to
select only a subset of the headlines in the scope set by the
:id
parameter.
-
:hlines
-
When
t
, insert an hline after every line. When a number N, insert an hline before each headline with level<= N
. -
:vlines
-
When non-
nil
, force column groups to get vertical lines. -
:maxlevel
- When set to a number, do not capture entries below this level.
-
:skip-empty-rows
-
When non-
nil
, skip rows where the only non-empty specifier of the column view isITEM
. -
:exclude-tags
- List of tags to exclude from column view table: entries with these tags will be excluded from the column view.
-
:indent
-
When non-
nil
, indent eachITEM
field according to its level. -
:format
- Specify a column attribute (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20attributes) for the dynamic block.
The following commands insert or update the dynamic block:
-
org-columns-insert-dblock
-
Insert a dynamic block capturing a column view. Prompt for the scope or ID of the view.
This command can be invoked by calling
org-dynamic-block-insert-dblock
() and selecting "columnview" (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Blocks). -
(
org-dblock-update
) -
Update dynamic block at point. point needs to be in the
#+BEGIN
line of the dynamic block. -
(
org-update-all-dblocks
) -
Update all dynamic blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Blocks). This is useful if you have several clock table blocks, column-capturing blocks or other dynamic blocks in a buffer.
You can add formulas to the column view table and you may add plotting
instructions in front of the table—these survive an update of the
block. If there is a TBLFM
keyword after the table, the table is
recalculated automatically after an update.
An alternative way to capture and process property values into a table
is provided by Eric Schulte's org-collector.el
, which is a package
in org-contrib
58. It provides a general API to collect
properties from entries in a certain scope, and arbitrary Lisp
expressions to process these values before inserting them into a table
or a dynamic block.
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
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>
59.
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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/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. In the agenda display, the headline of an entry associated with a plain timestamp is shown exactly on that date.
* Meet Peter at the movies <2006-11-01 Wed 19:15> * Discussion on climate change <2006-11-02 Thu 20:00-22:00>
- 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 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 package60. 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/Date range
-
Two timestamps connected by
--
denote a range. 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. Here is an example:** Meeting in Amsterdam <2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu>
- 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-time-stamp
) -
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.
When called with a prefix argument, use the alternative format which contains date and time. The default time can be rounded to multiples of 5 minutes. See the option
org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes
.With two prefix arguments, insert an active timestamp with the current time without prompting.
-
(
org-time-stamp-inactive
) -
Like , but insert an inactive timestamp that does not cause an agenda entry.
-
Normalize timestamp, insert or fix day name if missing or wrong.
-
(
org-date-from-calendar
) -
Insert a timestamp corresponding to point date in the calendar.
-
(
org-goto-calendar
) -
Access the Emacs calendar for the current date. If there is a timestamp in the current line, go to the corresponding date instead.
-
(
org-open-at-point
) -
Access the agenda for the date given by the timestamp or -range at point (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/daily%20agenda).
-
(
org-timestamp-up-day
) -
Change date at point by one day. These key bindings conflict with shift-selection and related modes (see [[*Packages that conflict with Org mode]]).
-
(
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. Note that if point is in a headline and not at a timestamp, these same keys modify the priority of an item (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Priorities). The key bindings also conflict with shift-selection and related modes (see [[*Packages that conflict with Org mode]]). -
(
org-evaluate-time-range
) -
Evaluate a time range by computing the difference between start and end. With a prefix argument, insert result after the time range (in a table: into the following column).
The date/time prompt
When Org mode prompts for a date/time, the default is shown in default
date/time format, and the prompt therefore seems to ask for a specific
format. But it in fact accepts date/time information in a variety of
formats. Generally, the information should start at the beginning of
the string. Org mode finds whatever information is in there and
derives anything you have not specified from the default date and
time. The default is usually the current date and time, but when
modifying an existing timestamp, or when entering the second stamp of
a range, it is taken from the stamp in the buffer. When filling in
information, Org mode assumes that most of the time you want to enter
a date in the future: if you omit the month/year and the given
day/month is before today, it assumes that you mean a future
date61. If the date has been automatically shifted into the
future, the time prompt shows this with (=>F)
.
For example, let's assume that today is June 13, 2006. Here is how various inputs are interpreted, the items filled in by Org mode are in bold.
3-2-5 |
⇒ 2003-02-05 |
2/5/3 |
⇒ 2003-02-05 |
14 |
⇒ 2006-06-14 |
12 |
⇒ 2006-07-12 |
2/5 |
⇒ 2007-02-05 |
Fri |
⇒ nearest Friday (default date or later) |
sep 15 |
⇒ 2006-09-15 |
feb 15 |
⇒ 2007-02-15 |
sep 12 9 |
⇒ 2009-09-12 |
12:45 |
⇒ 2006-06-13 12:45 |
22 sept 0:34 |
⇒ 2006-09-22 0:34 |
w4 |
⇒ ISO week for of the current year 2006 |
2012 w4 fri |
⇒ Friday of ISO week 4 in 2012 |
2012-w04-5 |
⇒ Same as above |
Furthermore you can specify a relative date by giving, as the first
thing in the input: a plus/minus sign, a number and a letter—h
,
d
, w
, m
or y
—to indicate a change in hours, days, weeks,
months, or years. With h
the date is relative to the current time,
with the other letters and a single plus or minus, the date is
relative to today at 00:00. With a double plus or minus, it is
relative to the default date. If instead of a single letter, you use
the abbreviation of day name, the date is the Nth such day, e.g.:
+0 |
⇒ today |
. |
⇒ today |
+2h |
⇒ two hours from now |
+4d |
⇒ four days from today |
+4 |
⇒ same as +4d |
+2w |
⇒ two weeks from today |
++5 |
⇒ five days from default date |
+2tue |
⇒ second Tuesday from now |
The function understands English month and weekday abbreviations. If
you want to use un-abbreviated names and/or other languages, configure
the variables parse-time-months
and parse-time-weekdays
.
Not all dates can be represented in a given Emacs implementation. By
default Org mode forces dates into the compatibility range 1970–2037
which works on all Emacs implementations. If you want to use dates
outside of this range, read the docstring of the variable
org-read-date-force-compatible-dates
.
You can specify a time range by giving start and end times or by
giving a start time and a duration (in HH:MM format). Use one or two
dash(es) as the separator in the former case and use +
as the
separator in the latter case, e.g.:
11am-1:15pm |
⇒ 11:00-13:15 |
11h-13h15 |
⇒ same as above |
11am--1:15pm |
⇒ same as above |
11am+2:15 |
⇒ same as above |
Parallel to the minibuffer prompt, a calendar is popped up62. When you exit the date prompt, either by clicking on a date in the calendar, or by pressing , the date selected in the calendar is combined with the information entered at the prompt. You can control the calendar fully from the minibuffer:
Choose date at point in calendar. | |
Select date by clicking on it. | |
One day forward. | |
One day backward. | |
One week forward. | |
One week backward. | |
One month forward. | |
One month backward. | |
Scroll calendar forward by one month. | |
Scroll calendar backward by one month. | |
Scroll calendar forward by 3 months. | |
Scroll calendar backward by 3 months. | |
Select today's date63 |
The actions of the date/time prompt may seem complex, but I assure you they will grow on you, and you will start getting annoyed by pretty much any other way of entering a date/time out there. To help you understand what is going on, the current interpretation of your input is displayed live in the minibuffer64.
Custom time format
Org mode uses the standard ISO notation for dates and times as it is
defined in ISO 8601. If you cannot get used to this and require
another representation of date and time to keep you happy, you can get
it by customizing the variables org-display-custom-times
and
org-time-stamp-custom-formats
.
-
(
org-toggle-time-stamp-overlays
) -
Toggle the display of custom formats for dates and times.
Org mode needs the default format for scanning, so the custom date/time format does not replace the default format. Instead, it is put over the default format using text properties. This has the following consequences:
- You cannot place point onto a timestamp anymore, only before or after.
- The keys can no longer be used to adjust each component of a timestamp. If point is at the beginning of the stamp, change the stamp by one day, just like . At the end of the stamp, change the time by one minute.
- If the timestamp contains a range of clock times or a repeater, these are not overlaid, but remain in the buffer as they were.
- When you delete a timestamp character-by-character, it only disappears from the buffer after all (invisible) characters belonging to the ISO timestamp have been removed.
- If the custom timestamp format is longer than the default and you are using dates in tables, table alignment will be messed up. If the custom format is shorter, things do work as expected.
Deadlines and Scheduling
A timestamp may be preceded by special keywords to facilitate planning. Both the timestamp and the keyword have to be positioned immediately after the task they refer to.
-
DEADLINE
-
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]]
You can specify a different lead time for warnings for a specific deadlines using the following syntax. Here is an example with a warning period of 5 days
DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun -5d>
. This warning is deactivated if the task gets scheduled and you setorg-agenda-skip-deadline-prewarning-if-scheduled
tot
. -
SCHEDULED
-
Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date.
The headline is listed under the given date65. 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>
If you want to delay the display of this task in the agenda, use
SCHEDULED: <2004-12-25 Sat -2d>
: the task is still scheduled on the 25th but will appear two days later. In case the task contains a repeater, the delay is considered to affect all occurrences; if you want the delay to only affect the first scheduled occurrence of the task, use--2d
instead. Seeorg-scheduled-delay-days
andorg-agenda-skip-scheduled-delay-if-deadline
for details on how to control this globally or per agenda.Scheduling an item in Org mode should not be understood in the same way that we understand scheduling a meeting. Setting a date for a meeting is just a simple appointment, you should mark this entry with a simple plain timestamp, to get this item shown on the date where it applies. This is a frequent misunderstanding by Org users. In Org mode, scheduling means setting a date when you want to start working on an action item.
You may use timestamps with repeaters in scheduling and deadline entries. Org mode issues early and late warnings based on the assumption that the timestamp represents the nearest instance of the repeater. However, the use of diary expression entries like
<%%(diary-float t 42)>
in scheduling and deadline timestamps is limited. Org mode does not know enough about the internals of each function to issue early and late warnings. However, it shows the item on each day where the expression entry matches.
Inserting deadlines or schedules
The following commands allow you to quickly insert a deadline or to schedule an item:66
-
(
org-deadline
) -
Insert
DEADLINE
keyword along with a stamp. The insertion happens in the line directly following the headline. Remove anyCLOSED
timestamp . When called with a prefix argument, also remove any existing deadline from the entry. Depending on the variableorg-log-redeadline
, take a note when changing an existing deadline67. -
(
org-schedule
) -
Insert
SCHEDULED
keyword along with a stamp. The insertion happens in the line directly following the headline. Remove anyCLOSED
timestamp. When called with a prefix argument, also remove the scheduling date from the entry. Depending on the variableorg-log-reschedule
, take a note when changing an existing scheduling time68. -
(
org-check-deadlines
) -
Create a sparse tree with all deadlines that are either past-due, or which will become due within
org-deadline-warning-days
. With prefix, show all deadlines in the file. With a numeric prefix, check that many days. For example, {{{kbd(C-1 C-c / d)}}} shows all deadlines due tomorrow. -
(
org-check-before-date
) -
Sparse tree for deadlines and scheduled items before a given date.
-
(
org-check-after-date
) -
Sparse tree for deadlines and scheduled items after a given date.
Note that org-schedule
and org-deadline
supports setting the date
by indicating a relative time e.g., +1d
sets the date to the next
day after today, and --1w
sets the date to the previous week before
any current timestamp.
Repeated tasks
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 timestamps69. 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. You can use yearly, monthly, weekly, daily
and hourly repeat cookies by using the y
, m
, w
, d
and h
letters. If you need both a repeater and a special warning period in
a deadline entry, the repeater should come first and the warning
period last
DEADLINE: <2005-10-01 Sat +1m -3d>
Deadlines and scheduled items produce entries in the agenda when they
are over-due, so it is important to be able to mark such an entry as
done once you have done so. When you mark a DEADLINE
or
a SCHEDULED
with the TODO keyword DONE
, it no longer produces
entries in the agenda. The problem with this is, however, is that
then also the next instance of the repeated entry will not be
active. Org mode deals with this in the following way: when you try
to mark such an entry as done, using , it shifts the
base date of the repeating timestamp by the repeater interval, and
immediately sets the entry state back to TODO70. In the example
above, setting the state to DONE
would actually switch the date like
this:
** TODO Pay the rent DEADLINE: <2005-11-01 Tue +1m>
To mark a task with a repeater as DONE, use ,
i.e., org-todo
with a numeric prefix argument of -1
.
A timestamp71 is added under the deadline, to keep a record that you actually acted on the previous instance of this deadline.
As a consequence of shifting the base date, this entry is no longer visible in the agenda when checking past dates, but all future instances will be visible.
With the +1m
cookie, the date shift is always exactly one month. So
if you have not paid the rent for three months, marking this entry
DONE still keeps it as an overdue deadline. Depending on the task,
this may not be the best way to handle it. For example, if you forgot
to call your father for 3 weeks, it does not make sense to call him
3 times in a single day to make up for it. Finally, there are tasks,
like changing batteries, which should always repeat a certain time
after the last time you did it. For these tasks, Org mode has
special repeaters ++
and .+
. For example:
** TODO Call Father DEADLINE: <2008-02-10 Sun ++1w> Marking this DONE shifts 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 Empty kitchen trash DEADLINE: <2008-02-08 Fri 20:00 ++1d> Marking this DONE shifts the date by at least one day, and also by as many days as it takes to get the timestamp into the future. Since there is a time in the timestamp, the next deadline in the future will be on today's date if you complete the task before 20:00. ** TODO Check the batteries in the smoke detectors DEADLINE: <2005-11-01 Tue .+1m> Marking this DONE shifts the date to one month after today. ** TODO Wash my hands DEADLINE: <2019-04-05 08:00 Fri .+1h> Marking this DONE shifts the date to exactly one hour from now.
You may have both scheduling and deadline information for a specific
task. If the repeater is set for the scheduling information only, you
probably want the repeater to be ignored after the deadline. If so,
set the variable org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-deadline-is-shown
to
repeated-after-deadline
. However, any scheduling information
without a repeater is no longer relevant once the task is done, and
thus, removed upon repeating the task. If you want both scheduling
and deadline information to repeat after the same interval, set the
same repeater for both timestamps.
An alternative to using a repeater is to create a number of copies of a task subtree, with dates shifted in each copy. The command was created for this purpose; it is described in /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Editing.
Clocking Work Time
Org mode allows you to clock the time you spend on specific tasks in a project. When you start working on an item, you can start the clock. When you stop working on that task, or when you mark the task done, the clock is stopped and the corresponding time interval is recorded. It also computes the total time spent on each subtree72 of a project. And it remembers a history or tasks recently clocked, so that you can jump quickly between a number of tasks absorbing your time.
To save the clock history across Emacs sessions, use:
(setq org-clock-persist 'history)
(org-clock-persistence-insinuate)
When you clock into a new task after resuming Emacs, the incomplete clock73 is retrieved (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AResolving%20idle%20time) and you are prompted about what to do with it.
Clocking commands
-
(
org-clock-in
) -
Start the clock on the current item (clock-in). This inserts the
CLOCK
keyword together with a timestamp. If this is not the first clocking of this item, the multipleCLOCK
lines are wrapped into aLOGBOOK
drawer (see also the variableorg-clock-into-drawer
). You can also overrule the setting of this variable for a subtree by setting aCLOCK_INTO_DRAWER
orLOG_INTO_DRAWER
property. When called with a prefix argument, select the task from a list of recently clocked tasks. With two prefixes, clock into the task at point and mark it as the default task; the default task is always be available with letter when selecting a clocking task. With three {{{kbd(C-u C-u C-u)}}} prefixes, force continuous clocking by starting the clock when the last clock stopped.While the clock is running, Org shows the current clocking time in the mode line, along with the title of the task. The clock time shown is all time ever clocked for this task and its children. If the task has an effort estimate (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEffort%20Estimates), the mode line displays the current clocking time against it74. If the task is a repeating one (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARepeated%20tasks), show only the time since the last reset of the task75. You can exercise more control over show time with the
CLOCK_MODELINE_TOTAL
property. It may have the valuescurrent
to show only the current clocking instance,today
to show all time clocked on this tasks today—see also the variableorg-extend-today-until
,all
to include all time, orauto
which is the default76. Clicking with onto the mode line entry pops up a menu with clocking options. -
(
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
. See the variableorg-log-note-clock-out
for the possibility to record an additional note together with the clock-out timestamp77. -
(
org-clock-in-last
) -
Re-clock the last clocked task. With one prefix argument, select the task from the clock history. With two prefixes, force continuous clocking by starting the clock when the last clock stopped.
-
(
org-clock-modify-effort-estimate
) -
Update the effort estimate for the current clock task.
-
(
org-evaluate-time-range
) -
Recompute the time interval after changing one of the timestamps. This is only necessary if you edit the timestamps directly. If you change them with keys, the update is automatic.
-
(
org-clock-timestamps-down
) -
On CLOCK log lines, increase/decrease both timestamps so that the clock duration keeps the same value.
-
(
org-timestamp-down
) -
On
CLOCK
log lines, increase/decrease the timestamp at point and the one of the previous, or the next, clock timestamp by the same duration. For example, if you hit to increase a clocked-out timestamp by five minutes, then the clocked-in timestamp of the next clock is increased by five minutes. -
(
org-todo
) -
Changing the TODO state of an item to DONE automatically stops the clock if it is running in this same item.
-
(
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.
-
(
org-clock-display
) -
Display time summaries for each subtree in the current buffer. This puts overlays at the end of each headline, showing the total time recorded under that heading, including the time of any subheadings. You can use visibility cycling to study the tree, but the overlays disappear when you change the buffer (see variable
org-remove-highlights-with-change
) or press .
The key may be used in the agenda (see [[*Weekly/daily agenda]]) to show which tasks have been worked on or closed during a day.
Important: note that both org-clock-out
and org-clock-in-last
can have a global keybinding and do not modify the window disposition.
The clock table
Org mode can produce quite complex reports based on the time clocking information. Such a report is called a clock table, because it is formatted as one or several Org tables.
-
org-clock-report
-
Insert or update a clock table. When called with a prefix argument, jump to the first clock table in the current document and update it. The clock table includes archived trees.
This command can be invoked by calling
org-dynamic-block-insert-dblock
() and selecting "clocktable" (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Blocks). -
(
org-dblock-update
) -
Update dynamic block at point. Point needs to be in the
BEGIN
line of the dynamic block. -
Update all dynamic blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADynamic%20Blocks). This is useful if you have several clock table blocks in a buffer.
-
(
org-clocktable-try-shift
) -
Shift the current
:block
interval and update the table. Point needs to be in the#+BEGIN: clocktable
line for this command. If:block
istoday
, it is shifted totoday-1
, etc.
Here is an example of the frame for a clock table as it is inserted
into the buffer by org-clock-report
:
#+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :emphasize nil :scope file #+END:
The #+BEGIN
line contains options to define the scope, structure,
and formatting of the report. Defaults for all these options can be
configured in the variable org-clocktable-defaults
.
First there are options that determine which clock entries are to be selected:
-
:maxlevel
- Maximum level depth to which times are listed in the table. Clocks at deeper levels are summed into the upper level.
-
:scope
-
The scope to consider. This can be any of the following:
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 ("file" ...)
scan these files FUNCTION
scan files returned by calling with no argument file-with-archives
current file and its archives agenda-with-archives
all agenda files, including archives -
:block
-
The time block to consider. This block is specified either absolutely, or relative to the current time and may be any of these formats:
2007-12-31
New year eve 2007 2007-12
December 2007 2007-W50
ISO-week 50 in 2007 2007-Q2
2nd quarter in 2007 2007
the year 2007 today
,yesterday
,today-N
a relative day thisweek
,lastweek
,thisweek-N
a relative week thismonth
,lastmonth
,thismonth-N
a relative month thisyear
,lastyear
,thisyear-N
a relative year untilnow
78all clocked time ever When this option is not set, Org falls back to the value in
org-clock-display-default-range
, which defaults to the current year.Use to shift the time interval.
-
:tstart
-
A time string specifying when to start considering times. Relative
times like
"<-2w>"
can also be used. See [[*Matching tags and properties]] for relative time syntax. -
:tend
-
A time string specifying when to stop considering times. Relative
times like
"<now>"
can also be used. See [[*Matching tags and properties]] for relative time syntax. -
:wstart
- The starting day of the week. The default is 1 for Monday.
-
:mstart
- The starting day of the month. The default is 1 for the first.
-
:step
-
Set to
day
,week
,semimonth
,month
, oryear
to split the table into chunks. To use this, either:block
, or:tstart
and:tend
are required. -
:stepskip0
-
When non-
nil
, do not show steps that have zero time. -
:fileskip0
-
When non-
nil
, do not show table sections from files which did not contribute. -
:match
- A tags match to select entries that should contribute. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AMatching%20tags%20and%20properties for the match syntax.
Then there are options that determine the formatting of the table.
There options are interpreted by the function
org-clocktable-write-default
, but you can specify your own function
using the :formatter
parameter.
-
:emphasize
-
When non-
nil
, emphasize level one and level two items. -
:lang
- Language79 to use for descriptive cells like "Task".
-
:link
- Link the item headlines in the table to their origins.
-
:narrow
-
An integer to limit the width of the headline column in the Org
table. If you write it like
50!
, then the headline is also shortened in export. -
:indent
- Indent each headline field according to its level.
-
:hidefiles
- Hide the file column when multiple files are used to produce the table.
-
:tcolumns
-
Number of columns to be used for times. If this is smaller than
:maxlevel
, lower levels are lumped into one column. -
:level
- Should a level number column be included?
-
:sort
-
A cons cell containing the column to sort and a sorting type. E.g.,
:sort (1 . ?a)
sorts the first column alphabetically. -
:compact
-
Abbreviation for
:level nil :indent t :narrow 40! :tcolumns 1
. All are overwritten except if there is an explicit:narrow
. -
:timestamp
-
A timestamp for the entry, when available. Look for
SCHEDULED
,DEADLINE
,TIMESTAMP
andTIMESTAMP_IA
special properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASpecial%20Properties), in this order. -
:tags
-
When this flag is non-
nil
, show the headline's tags. -
:properties
- List of properties shown in the table. Each property gets its own column.
-
:inherit-props
-
When this flag is non-
nil
, the values for:properties
are inherited. -
:formula
-
Content of a
TBLFM
keyword to be added and evaluated. As a special case,:formula %
adds a column with % time. If you do not specify a formula here, any existing formula below the clock table survives updates and is evaluated. -
:formatter
- A function to format clock data and insert it into the buffer.
To get a clock summary of the current level 1 tree, for the current day, you could write:
#+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :block today :scope tree1 :link t #+END:
To use a specific time range you could write80
#+BEGIN: clocktable :tstart "<2006-08-10 Thu 10:00>" :tend "<2006-08-10 Thu 12:00>" #+END:
A range starting a week ago and ending right now could be written as
#+BEGIN: clocktable :tstart "<-1w>" :tend "<now>" #+END:
A summary of the current subtree with % times would be
#+BEGIN: clocktable :scope subtree :link t :formula % #+END:
A horizontally compact representation of everything clocked during last week would be
#+BEGIN: clocktable :scope agenda :block lastweek :compact t #+END:
Resolving idle time and continuous clocking
Resolving idle time
If you clock in on a work item, and then walk away from your computer—perhaps to take a phone call—you often need to "resolve" the time you were away by either subtracting it from the current clock, or applying it to another one.
By customizing the variable org-clock-idle-time
to some integer,
such as 10 or 15, Emacs can alert you when you get back to your
computer after being idle for that many minutes81, and ask what
you want to do with the idle time. There will be a question waiting
for you when you get back, indicating how much idle time has passed
constantly updated with the current amount, as well as a set of
choices to correct the discrepancy:
-
To keep some or all of the minutes and stay clocked in, press . Org asks how many of the minutes to keep. Press to keep them all, effectively changing nothing, or enter a number to keep that many minutes.
-
If you use the shift key and press , it keeps however many minutes you request and then immediately clock out of that task. If you keep all of the minutes, this is the same as just clocking out of the current task.
-
To keep none of the minutes, use to subtract all the away time from the clock, and then check back in from the moment you returned.
-
To keep none of the minutes and just clock out at the start of the away time, use the shift key and press . Remember that using shift always leave you clocked out, no matter which option you choose.
-
To cancel the clock altogether, use . Note that if instead of canceling you subtract the away time, and the resulting clock amount is less than a minute, the clock is still canceled rather than cluttering up the log with an empty entry.
What if you subtracted those away minutes from the current clock, and now want to apply them to a new clock? Simply clock in to any task immediately after the subtraction. Org will notice that you have subtracted time "on the books", so to speak, and will ask if you want to apply those minutes to the next task you clock in on.
There is one other instance when this clock resolution magic occurs. Say you were clocked in and hacking away, and suddenly your cat chased a mouse who scared a hamster that crashed into your UPS's power button! You suddenly lose all your buffers, but thanks to auto-save you still have your recent Org mode changes, including your last clock in.
If you restart Emacs and clock into any task, Org will notice that you have a dangling clock which was never clocked out from your last session. Using that clock's starting time as the beginning of the unaccounted-for period, Org will ask how you want to resolve that time. The logic and behavior is identical to dealing with away time due to idleness; it is just happening due to a recovery event rather than a set amount of idle time.
You can also check all the files visited by your Org agenda for dangling clocks at any time using -clocks RET)}}} (or ).
Continuous clocking
You may want to start clocking from the time when you clocked out the
previous task. To enable this systematically, set
org-clock-continuously
to non-nil
. Each time you clock in, Org
retrieves the clock-out time of the last clocked entry for this
session, and start the new clock from there.
If you only want this from time to time, use three universal prefix
arguments with org-clock-in
and two with
org-clock-in-last
.
Clocking out automatically after some idle time
When you often forget to clock out before being idle and you don't
want to manually set the clocking time to take into account, you can
set org-clock-auto-clockout-timer
to a number of seconds and add
(org-clock-auto-clockout-insinuate)
to your .emacs
file.
When the clock is running and Emacs is idle for more than this number of seconds, the clock will be clocked out automatically.
Use M-x org-clock-toggle-auto-clockout RET
to temporarily turn this
on or off.
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, a great way to improve planning estimates.
Effort estimates are stored in a special property EFFORT
. Multiple
formats are supported, such as 3:12
, 1:23:45
, or 1d3h5min
; see
the file org-duration.el
for more detailed information about the
format.
You can set the effort for an entry with the following commands:
-
(
org-set-effort
) -
Set the effort estimate for the current entry. With a prefix argument, set it to the next allowed value—see below. This command is also accessible from the agenda with the key.
-
(
org-clock-modify-effort-estimate
) -
Modify the effort estimate of the item currently being clocked.
Clearly the best way to work with effort estimates is through column
view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View). You should start by setting up discrete
values for effort estimates, and a COLUMNS
format that displays
these values together with clock sums—if you want to clock your
time. For a specific buffer you can use:
#+PROPERTY: Effort_ALL 0 0:10 0:30 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 #+COLUMNS: %40ITEM(Task) %17Effort(Estimated Effort){:} %CLOCKSUM
or, even better, you can set up these values globally by customizing
the variables org-global-properties
and
org-columns-default-format
. In particular if you want to use this
setup also in the agenda, a global setup may be advised.
The way to assign estimates to individual items is then to switch to column mode, and to use to change the value. The values you enter are immediately summed up in the hierarchy. In the column next to it, any clocked time is displayed.
If you switch to column view in the daily/weekly agenda, the effort
column summarizes the estimated work effort for each day82, and
you can use this to find space in your schedule. To get an overview
of the entire part of the day that is committed, you can set the
option org-agenda-columns-add-appointments-to-effort-sum
. The
appointments on a day that take place over a specified time interval
are then also added to the load estimate of the day.
Effort estimates can be used in secondary agenda filtering that is triggered with the key in the agenda (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]). If you have these estimates defined consistently, two or three key presses narrow down the list to stuff that fits into an available time slot.
Taking Notes with a Relative Timer
Org provides two types of timers. There is a relative timer that counts up, which can be useful when taking notes during, for example, a meeting or a video viewing. There is also a countdown timer.
The relative and countdown are started with separate commands.
-
(
org-timer-start
) -
Start or reset the relative timer. By default, the timer is set to 0. When called with a prefix, prompt the user for a starting offset. If there is a timer string at point, this is taken as the default, providing a convenient way to restart taking notes after a break in the process. When called with a double prefix argument , change all timer strings in the active region by a certain amount. This can be used to fix timer strings if the timer was not started at exactly the right moment.
-
(
org-timer-set-timer
) -
Start a countdown timer. The user is prompted for a duration.
org-timer-default-timer
sets the default countdown value. Giving a numeric prefix argument overrides this default value. This command is available as in agenda buffers.
Once started, relative and countdown timers are controlled with the same commands.
-
(
org-timer
) -
Insert a relative time into the buffer. The first time you use this, the timer starts. Using a prefix argument restarts it.
-
(
org-timer-item
) -
Insert a description list item with the current relative time. With a prefix argument, first reset the timer to 0.
-
(
org-insert-heading
) -
Once the timer list is started, you can also use to insert new timer items.
-
(
org-timer-pause-or-continue
) -
Pause the timer, or continue it if it is already paused.
-
(
org-timer-stop
) -
Stop the timer. After this, you can only start a new timer, not continue the old one. This command also removes the timer from the mode line.
Refiling and Archiving
Once information is in the system, it may need to be moved around. Org provides Refile, Copy and Archive commands for this. Refile and Copy helps with moving and copying outlines. Archiving helps to keep the system compact and fast.
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-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. Depending on
org-reverse-note-order
, it is either the first or last 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. If you would like to select a location via a file-path-like completion along the outline path, see the variablesorg-refile-use-outline-path
andorg-outline-path-complete-in-steps
. If you would like to be able to create new nodes as new parents for refiling on the fly, check the variableorg-refile-allow-creating-parent-nodes
. When the variableorg-log-refile
83 is set, a timestamp or a note is recorded whenever an entry is refiled. -
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. -
Refile as the child of the item currently being clocked.
-
Refile and keep the entry in place. Also see
org-refile-keep
to make this the default behavior, and beware that this may result in duplicatedID
properties. -
(
org-refile-cache-clear
) -
Clear the target cache. Caching of refile targets can be turned on by setting
org-refile-use-cache
. To make the command see new possible targets, you have to clear the cache with this command. -
(
org-refile-copy
) -
Copying works like refiling, except that the original note is not deleted.
-
(
org-refile-reverse
) -
Works like refiling, except that it temporarily toggles how the value of
org-reverse-note-order
applies to the current buffer. So iforg-refile
would append the entry as the last entry under the target header,org-refile-reverse
will prepend it as the first entry, and vice-versa.
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.
-
(
org-archive-subtree-default
) -
Archive the current entry using the command specified in the variable
org-archive-default-command
.
Moving a tree to an archive file
The most common archiving action is to move a project tree to another file, the archive file.
-
(
org-archive-subtree
) -
Archive the subtree starting at point position to the location given by
org-archive-location
. -
Check if any direct children of the current headline could be moved to the archive. To do this, check each subtree for open TODO entries. If none is found, the command offers to move it to the archive location. If point is not on a headline when this command is invoked, check level 1 trees.
-
As above, but check subtree for timestamps instead of TODO entries. The command offers to archive the subtree if it does contain a timestamp, and that timestamp is in the past.
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::
If you would like to have a special archive location for a single
entry or a (sub)tree, give the entry an ARCHIVE
property with the
location as the value (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns).
When a subtree is moved, it receives a number of special properties
that record context information like the file from where the entry
came, its outline path the archiving time etc. Configure the variable
org-archive-save-context-info
to adjust the amount of information
added.
When org-archive-subtree-save-file-p
is non-nil
, save the target
archive buffer.
Internal archiving
If you want to just switch off—for agenda views—certain subtrees
without moving them to a different file, you can use the ARCHIVE
tag.
A headline that is marked with the ARCHIVE
tag (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags) stays at
its location in the outline tree, but behaves in the following way:
-
It does not open when you attempt to do so with a visibility cycling command (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AVisibility%20Cycling). You can force cycling archived subtrees with , or by setting the option
org-cycle-open-archived-trees
. Also normal outline commands, likeorg-show-all
, open archived subtrees. -
During sparse tree construction (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASparse%20Trees), matches in archived subtrees are not exposed, unless you configure the option
org-sparse-tree-open-archived-trees
. -
During agenda view construction (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views), the content of archived trees is ignored unless you configure the option
org-agenda-skip-archived-trees
, in which case these trees are always included. In the agenda you can press to get archives temporarily included. -
Archived trees are not exported (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Exporting), only the headline is. Configure the details using the variable
org-export-with-archived-trees
. -
Archived trees are excluded from column view unless the variable
org-columns-skip-archived-trees
is configured tonil
.
The following commands help manage the ARCHIVE
tag:
-
(
org-toggle-archive-tag
) -
Toggle the archive tag for the current headline. When the tag is set, the headline changes to a shadowed face, and the subtree below it is hidden.
-
Check if any direct children of the current headline should be archived. To do this, check each subtree for open TODO entries. If none is found, the command offers to set the
ARCHIVE
tag for the child. If point is not on a headline when this command is invoked, check the level 1 trees. -
(
org-cycle-force-archived
) -
Cycle a tree even if it is tagged with
ARCHIVE
. -
(
org-archive-to-archive-sibling
) -
Move the current entry to the Archive Sibling. This is a sibling of the entry with the heading
Archive
and the archive tag. The entry becomes a child of that sibling and in this way retains a lot of its original context, including inherited tags and approximate position in the outline.
Capture and Attachments
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. Finally, it can parse RSS feeds for information. To learn how to let external programs (for example a web browser) trigger Org to capture material, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProtocols%20for%20External%20Access.
Capture
Capture lets you quickly store notes with little interruption of your work flow. Org's method for capturing new items is heavily inspired by John Wiegley's excellent Remember package.
Setting up capture
The following customization sets a default target 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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Activation).
Using capture
-
(
org-capture
) -
Display the capture templates menu. If you have templates defined (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACapture%20templates), it offers these templates for selection or use a new Org outline node as the default template. It inserts the template into the target file and switch to an indirect buffer narrowed to this new node. You may then insert the information you want.
-
(
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. When called with a prefix argument, finalize and then jump to the captured item.
-
(
org-capture-refile
) -
Finalize the capture process by refiling the note to a different place (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARefile%20and%20Copy). Please realize that this is a normal refiling command that will be executed—so point position at the moment you run this command is important. If you have inserted a tree with a parent and children, first move point back to the parent. Any prefix argument given to this command is passed on to the
org-refile
command. -
(
org-capture-kill
) -
Abort the capture process and return to the previous state.
You can also call org-capture
in a special way from the agenda,
using the key combination. With this access, any
timestamps inserted by the selected capture template defaults to the
date at point in the agenda, rather than to the current date.
To find the locations of the last stored capture, use org-capture
with prefix commands:
- Visit the target location of a capture template. You get to select the template in the usual way.
- Visit the last stored capture item in its buffer.
You can also jump to the bookmark org-capture-last-stored
, which is
automatically created unless you set org-capture-bookmark
to nil
.
To insert the capture at point in an Org buffer, call org-capture
with a prefix argument.
Capture templates
You can use templates for different types of capture items, and for different target locations. The easiest way to create such templates is through the customize interface.
-
Customize the variable
org-capture-templates
.
Before we give the formal description of template definitions, let's
look at an example. 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, %a
has been replaced by a link to
the location from where you called the capture command. This can be
extremely useful for deriving tasks from emails, for example. You
fill in the task definition, press and Org returns
you to the same place where you started the capture process.
To define special keys to capture to a particular template without going through the interactive template selection, you can create your key binding like this:
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-c x")
(lambda () (interactive) (org-capture nil "x")))
Template elements
Now lets look at the elements of a template definition. Each entry in
org-capture-templates
is a list with the following items:
- keys
-
The keys that selects the template, as a string, characters only, for example
"a"
, for a template to be selected with a single key, or"bt"
for selection with two keys. When using several keys, keys using the same prefix key must be sequential in the list and preceded by a 2-element entry explaining the prefix key, for example:("b" "Templates for marking stuff to buy")
If you do not define a template for the key, this key opens the Customize buffer for this complex variable.
- description
- A short string describing the template, shown during selection.
- type
-
The type of entry, a symbol. Valid values are:
-
entry
- An Org mode node, with a headline. Will be filed as the child of the target entry or as a top-level entry. The target file should be an Org file.
-
item
- A plain list item, placed in the first plain list at the target location. Again the target file should be an Org file.
-
checkitem
- A checkbox item. This only differs from the plain list item by the default template.
-
table-line
-
A new line in the first table at the target location. Where
exactly the line will be inserted depends on the properties
:prepend
and:table-line-pos
(see below). -
plain
- Text to be inserted as it is.
-
- target
-
Specification of where the captured item should be placed. In Org files, targets usually define a node. Entries will become children of this node. Other types will be added to the table or list in the body of this node. Most target specifications contain a file name. If that file name is the empty string, it defaults to
org-default-notes-file
. A file can also be given as a variable or as a function called with no argument. When an absolute path is not specified for a target, it is taken as relative toorg-directory
.Valid values are:
-
(file "path/to/file")
- Text will be placed at the beginning or end of that file.
-
(id "id of existing org entry")
- Filing as child of this entry, or in the body of the entry.
-
(file+headline "filename" "node headline")
- Fast configuration if the target heading is unique in the file.
-
(file+olp "filename" "Level 1 heading" "Level 2" ...)
- For non-unique headings, the full path is safer.
-
(file+regexp "filename" "regexp to find location")
- Use a regular expression to position point.
-
(file+olp+datetree "filename" [ "Level 1 heading" ...])
-
This target84 creates a heading in a date tree85 for
today's date. If the optional outline path is given, the tree
will be built under the node it is pointing to, instead of at top
level. Check out the
:time-prompt
and:tree-type
properties below for additional options. -
(file+function "filename" function-finding-location)
- A function to find the right location in the file.
-
(clock)
- File to the entry that is currently being clocked.
-
(function function-finding-location)
- Most general way: write your own function which both visits the file and moves point to the right location.
-
- template
-
The template for creating the capture item. If you leave this empty, an appropriate default template will be used. Otherwise this is a string with escape codes, which will be replaced depending on time and context of the capture call. You may also get this template string from a file86, or dynamically, from a function using either syntax:
(file "/path/to/template-file") (function FUNCTION-RETURNING-THE-TEMPLATE)
- properties
-
The rest of the entry is a property list of additional options. Recognized properties are:
-
:prepend
- Normally new captured information will be appended at the target location (last child, last table line, last list item, …). Setting this property changes that.
-
:immediate-finish
- When set, do not offer to edit the information, just file it away immediately. This makes sense if the template only needs information that can be added automatically.
-
:jump-to-captured
- When set, jump to the captured entry when finished.
-
:empty-lines
- Set this to the number of lines to insert before and after the new item. Default 0, and the only other common value is 1.
-
:empty-lines-after
-
Set this to the number of lines that should be inserted after the
new item. Overrides
:empty-lines
for the number of lines inserted after. -
:empty-lines-before
-
Set this to the number of lines that should be inserted before the
new item. Overrides
:empty-lines
for the number lines inserted before. -
:clock-in
- Start the clock in this item.
-
:clock-keep
- Keep the clock running when filing the captured entry.
-
:clock-resume
-
If starting the capture interrupted a clock, restart that clock
when finished with the capture. Note that
:clock-keep
has precedence over:clock-resume
. When setting both to non-nil
, the current clock will run and the previous one will not be resumed. -
:time-prompt
-
Prompt for a date/time to be used for date/week trees and when
filling the template. Without this property, capture uses the
current date and time. Even if this property has not been set,
you can force the same behavior by calling
org-capture
with a prefix argument. -
:tree-type
-
Use
week
to make a week tree instead of the month-day tree, i.e., place the headings for each day under a heading with the current ISO week. Usemonth
to group entries by month only. Default is to group entries by day. -
:unnarrowed
- Do not narrow the target buffer, simply show the full buffer. Default is to narrow it so that you only see the new material.
-
:table-line-pos
-
Specification of the location in the table where the new line
should be inserted. It should be a string like
II-3
meaning that the new line should become the third line before the second horizontal separator line. -
:kill-buffer
- If the target file was not yet visited when capture was invoked, kill the buffer again after capture is completed.
-
:no-save
- Do not save the target file after finishing the capture.
- ~:refile-targets
- Temporarily set
org-refile-targets
to the value of this property.
-
Template expansion
In the template itself, special "%-escapes"87 allow dynamic insertion of content. The templates are expanded in the order given here:
-
%[FILE]
- Insert the contents of the file given by .
-
%(EXP)
-
Evaluate Elisp expression and replace it with the
result. The form must return a string. Only
placeholders pre-existing within the template, or introduced with
%[file]
, are expanded this way. Since this happens after expanding non-interactive "%-escapes", those can be used to fill the expression. -
%<FORMAT>
- The result of format-time-string on the specification.
-
%t
- Timestamp, date only.
-
%T
- Timestamp, with date and time.
-
%u
,%U
-
Like
%t
,%T
above, but inactive timestamps. -
%i
-
Initial content, the region when capture is called while the region
is active. If there is text before
%i
on the same line, such as indentation, and%i
is not inside a%(exp)
form, that prefix is added before every line in the inserted text. -
%a
-
Annotation, normally the link created with
org-store-link
. -
%A
-
Like
%a
, but prompt for the description part. -
%l
-
Like
%a
, but only insert the literal link. -
%L
-
Like
%l
, but without brackets (the link content itself). -
%c
- Current kill ring head.
-
%x
- Content of the X clipboard.
-
%k
- Title of the currently clocked task.
-
%K
- Link to the currently clocked task.
-
%n
-
User name (taken from
user-full-name
). -
%f
- File visited by current buffer when org-capture was called.
-
%F
- Full path of the file or directory visited by current buffer.
-
%:keyword
- Specific information for certain link types, see below.
-
%^g
- Prompt for tags, with completion on tags in target file.
-
%^G
- Prompt for tags, with completion all tags in all agenda files.
-
%^t
-
Like
%t
, but prompt for date. Similarly%^T
,%^u
,%^U
. You may define a prompt like%^{Birthday}t
. -
%^C
- Interactive selection of which kill or clip to use.
-
%^L
-
Like
%^C
, but insert as link. -
%^{PROP}p
-
Prompt the user for a value for property . You may
specify a default value with
%^{PROP|default}
. -
%^{PROMPT}
-
Prompt the user for a string and replace this sequence with it. You
may specify a default value and a completion table with
%^{prompt|default|completion2|completion3...}
. The arrow keys access a prompt-specific history. -
%\N
-
Insert the text entered at the th
%^{PROMPT}
, where is a number, starting from 1. -
%?
- After completing the template, position point here.
For specific link types, the following keywords are defined88:
Link type | Available keywords |
---|---|
bbdb | %:name , %:company |
irc | %:server , %:port , %:nick |
mh, rmail | %:type , %:subject , %:message-id |
%:from , %:fromname , %:fromaddress |
|
%:to , %:toname , %:toaddress |
|
%:date (message date header field) |
|
%:date-timestamp (date as active timestamp) |
|
%:date-timestamp-inactive (date as inactive timestamp) |
|
%:fromto (either "to NAME" or "from NAME")89 |
|
gnus | %:group , for messages also all email fields |
w3, w3m | %:url |
info | %:file , %:node |
calendar | %:date |
org-protocol | %:link , %:description , %:annotation |
Templates in contexts
To control whether a capture template should be accessible from
a specific context, you can customize
org-capture-templates-contexts
. Let's say, for example, that you
have a capture template "p" for storing Gnus emails containing
patches. Then you would configure this option like this:
(setq org-capture-templates-contexts
'(("p" ((in-mode . "message-mode")))))
You can also tell that the command key should refer to another template. In that case, add this command key like this:
(setq org-capture-templates-contexts
'(("p" "q" ((in-mode . "message-mode")))))
See the docstring of the variable for more information.
Attachments
It is often useful to associate reference material with an outline node. Small chunks of plain text can simply be stored in the subtree of a project. Hyperlinks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Hyperlinks) can establish associations with files that live elsewhere on a local, or even remote, computer, like emails or source code files belonging to a project.
Another method is attachments, which are files located in a
directory belonging to an outline node. Org uses directories either
named by a unique ID of each entry, or by a DIR
property.
Attachment defaults and dispatcher
By default, Org attach uses ID properties when adding attachments to
outline nodes. This makes working with attachments fully automated.
There is no decision needed for folder-name or location. ID-based
directories are by default located in the data/
directory, which
lives in the same directory where your Org file lives90.
When attachments are made using org-attach
a default tag ATTACH
is
added to the node that gets the attachments.
For more control over the setup, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAttachment%20options.
The following commands deal with attachments:
-
(
org-attach
) -
The dispatcher for commands related to the attachment system. After these keys, a list of commands is displayed and you must press an additional key to select a command:
-
(
org-attach-attach
) -
Select a file and move it into the task's attachment directory. The file is copied, moved, or linked, depending on
org-attach-method
. Note that hard links are not supported on all systems. -
Attach a file using the copy/move/link method. Note that hard links are not supported on all systems.
-
(
org-attach-buffer
) -
Select a buffer and save it as a file in the task's attachment directory.
-
(
org-attach-new
) -
Create a new attachment as an Emacs buffer.
-
(
org-attach-sync
) -
Synchronize the current task with its attachment directory, in case you added attachments yourself.
-
(
org-attach-open
) -
Open current task's attachment. If there is more than one, prompt for a file name first. Opening follows the rules set by
org-file-apps
. For more details, see the information on following hyperlinks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links). -
(
org-attach-open-in-emacs
) -
Also open the attachment, but force opening the file in Emacs.
-
(
org-attach-reveal
) -
Open the current task's attachment directory.
-
(
org-attach-reveal-in-emacs
) -
Also open the directory, but force using Dired in Emacs.
-
(
org-attach-delete-one
) -
Select and delete a single attachment.
-
(
org-attach-delete-all
) -
Delete all of a task's attachments. A safer way is to open the directory in Dired and delete from there.
-
(
org-attach-set-directory
) -
Set a specific directory as the entry's attachment directory. This works by putting the directory path into the
DIR
property. -
(
org-attach-unset-directory
) -
Remove the attachment directory. This command removes the
DIR
property and asks the user to either move content inside that folder, if anID
property is set, delete the content, or to leave the attachment directory as is but no longer attached to the outline node.
-
(
Attachment options
There are a couple of options for attachments that are worth mentioning.
-
org-attach-id-dir
-
The directory where attachments are stored when
ID
is used as method. -
org-attach-dir-relative
-
When setting the
DIR
property on a node using (org-attach-set-directory
), absolute links are entered by default. This option changes that to relative links. -
org-attach-use-inheritance
-
By default folders attached to an outline node are inherited from parents according to
org-use-property-inheritance
. If one instead want to set inheritance specifically for Org attach that can be done usingorg-attach-use-inheritance
. Inheriting documents through the node hierarchy makes a lot of sense in most cases. Especially when using attachment links (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAttachment%20links). The following example shows one use case for attachment inheritance:* Chapter A ... :PROPERTIES: :DIR: Chapter A/ :END: ** Introduction Some text #+NAME: Image 1 [[attachment:image 1.jpg]]
Without inheritance one would not be able to resolve the link to
image 1.jpg
, since the link is inside a sub-heading toChapter A
.Inheritance works the same way for both
ID
andDIR
property. If both properties are defined on the same headline thenDIR
takes precedence. This is also true if inheritance is enabled. IfDIR
is inherited from a parent node in the outline, that property still takes precedence over anID
property defined on the node itself. -
org-attach-method
-
When attaching files using the dispatcher it defaults to copying files. The behavior can be changed by customizing
org-attach-method
. Options are Copy, Move/Rename, Hard link or Symbolic link. -
org-attach-preferred-new-method
-
This customization lets you choose the default way to attach to nodes without existing
ID
andDIR
property. It defaults toid
but can also be set todir
,ask
ornil
. -
org-attach-archive-delete
-
Configure this to determine if attachments should be deleted or not when a subtree that has attachments is archived.
-
org-attach-auto-tag
-
When attaching files to a heading it will be assigned a tag according to what is set here.
-
org-attach-id-to-path-function-list
-
When
ID
is used for attachments, the ID is parsed into a part of a directory-path. Seeorg-attach-id-uuid-folder-format
for the default function. Define a new one and add it as first element inorg-attach-id-to-path-function-list
if you want the folder structure in any other way. All functions in this list will be tried when resolving existing ID's into paths, to maintain backward compatibility with existing folders in your system. -
org-attach-store-link-p
-
Stores a link to the file that is being attached. The link is stored in
org-stored-links
for later insertion with {{{kbd(C-c C-l)}}} (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links). Depending on what option is set inorg-attach-store-link-p
, the link is stored to either the original location as a file link, the attachment location as an attachment link or to the attachment location as a file link. -
org-attach-commands
-
List of all commands used in the attach dispatcher.
-
org-attach-expert
-
Do not show the splash buffer with the attach dispatcher when
org-attach-expert
is set to non-nil
.
See customization group Org Attach
if you want to change the
default settings.
Attachment links
Attached files and folders can be referenced using attachment links. This makes it easy to refer to the material added to an outline node. Especially if it was attached using the unique ID of the entry!
* TODO Some task :PROPERTIES: :ID: 95d50008-c12e-479f-a4f2-cc0238205319 :END: See attached document for more information: [[attachment:info.org]]
See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExternal%20Links for more information about these links.
Automatic version-control with Git
If the directory attached to an outline node is a Git repository, Org can be configured to automatically commit changes to that repository when it sees them.
To make Org mode take care of versioning of attachments for you, add the following to your Emacs config:
(require 'org-attach-git)
Attach from Dired
It is possible to attach files to a subtree from a Dired buffer. To
use this feature, have one window in Dired mode containing the file(s)
to be attached and another window with point in the subtree that shall
get the attachments. In the Dired window, with point on a file,
attaches the file to the
subtree using the attachment method set by variable
org-attach-method
. When files are marked in the Dired window then
all marked files get attached.
Add the following lines to the Emacs init file to have {{{kbd(C-c C-x a)}}} attach files in Dired buffers.
(add-hook 'dired-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key dired-mode-map
(kbd "C-c C-x a")
#'org-attach-dired-to-subtree)))
The following code shows how to bind the previous command with a specific attachment method.
(add-hook 'dired-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(define-key dired-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-x c")
(lambda ()
(interactive)
(let ((org-attach-method 'cp))
(call-interactively #'org-attach-dired-to-subtree))))))
RSS Feeds
Org can add and change entries based on information found in RSS feeds
and Atom feeds. You could use this to make a task out of each new
podcast in a podcast feed. Or you could use a phone-based
note-creating service on the web to import tasks into Org. To access
feeds, configure the variable org-feed-alist
. The docstring of this
variable has detailed information. With the following
(setq org-feed-alist
'(("Slashdot"
"https://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot"
"~/txt/org/feeds.org" "Slashdot Entries")))
new items from the feed provided by rss.slashdot.org
result in new
entries in the file ~/org/feeds.org
under the heading Slashdot
Entries
, whenever the following command is used:
-
(
org-feed-update-all
) -
Collect items from the feeds configured in
org-feed-alist
and act upon them. -
(
org-feed-goto-inbox
) -
Prompt for a feed name and go to the inbox configured for this feed.
Under the same headline, Org creates a drawer FEEDSTATUS
in which it
stores information about the status of items in the feed, to avoid
adding the same item several times.
For more information, including how to read atom feeds, see
org-feed.el
and the docstring of org-feed-alist
.
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.
Org can select items based on various criteria and display them in a separate buffer. Six different view types are provided:
- an agenda that is like a calendar and shows information for specific dates,
- a TODO list that covers all unfinished action items,
- a match view, showings headlines based on the tags, properties, and TODO state associated with them,
- a text search view that shows all entries from multiple files that contain specified keywords,
- a stuck projects view showing projects that currently do not move along, and
- custom views that are special searches and combinations of different views.
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.
By default, the report ignores commented (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AComment%20Lines) and
archived (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20archiving) entries. You can override this by
setting org-agenda-skip-comment-trees
and
org-agenda-skip-archived-trees
to nil
.
Two variables control how the agenda buffer is displayed and whether
the window configuration is restored when the agenda exits:
org-agenda-window-setup
and org-agenda-restore-windows-after-quit
.
Agenda Files
The information to be shown is normally collected from all agenda
files, the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files
91.
If a directory is part of this list, all files with the extension
.org
in this directory are part of the list.
Thus, even if you only work with a single Org file, that file should
be put into the list92. You can customize org-agenda-files
,
but the easiest way to maintain it is through the following commands
-
(
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.
-
Command to use an Iswitchb-like interface to switch to and between Org buffers.
The Org menu contains the current list of files and can be used to visit any of them.
If you would like to focus the agenda temporarily on a file not in this list, or on just one file in the list, or even on only a subtree in a file, then this can be done in different ways. For a single agenda command, you may press once or several times in the dispatcher (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher). To restrict the agenda scope for an extended period, use the following commands:
-
(
org-agenda-set-restriction-lock
) -
Restrict the agenda to the current subtree. If there already is a restriction at point, remove it. When called with a universal prefix argument or with point before the first headline in a file, set the agenda scope to the entire file. This restriction remains in effect until removed with , or by typing either in the agenda dispatcher. If there is a window displaying an agenda view, the new restriction takes effect immediately.
-
(
org-agenda-remove-restriction-lock
) -
Remove the restriction created by .
When working with Speedbar, you can use the following commands in the Speedbar frame:
-
(
org-speedbar-set-agenda-restriction
) -
Restrict the agenda to the item—either an Org file or a subtree in such a file—at point in the Speedbar frame. If agenda is already restricted there, remove the restriction. If there is a window displaying an agenda view, the new restriction takes effect immediately.
-
(
org-agenda-remove-restriction-lock
) -
Remove the restriction.
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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/daily%20agenda).
- Create a list of all TODO items (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20global%20TODO%20list).
- Create a list of headlines matching a given expression (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/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.
-
Search for a regular expression in all agenda files and additionally in the files listed in
org-agenda-text-search-extra-files
. This uses the Emacs commandmulti-occur
. A prefix argument can be used to specify the number of context lines for each match, default is - Create a list of stuck projects (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStuck%20projects).
- Configure the list of stuck projects (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStuck%20projects).
-
Restrict an agenda command to the current buffer93. If narrowing is in effect restrict to the narrowed part of the buffer. After pressing , you still need to press the character selecting the command.
-
If there is an active region, restrict the following agenda command to the region. Otherwise, restrict it to the current subtree94. After pressing , you still need to press the character selecting the command.
-
Toggle sticky agenda views. By default, Org maintains only a single agenda buffer and rebuilds it each time you change the view, to make sure everything is always up to date. If you switch between views often and the build time bothers you, you can turn on sticky agenda buffers (make this the default by customizing the variable
org-agenda-sticky
). With sticky agendas, the dispatcher only switches to the selected view, you need to update it by hand with . You can toggle sticky agenda view any time withorg-toggle-sticky-agenda
.
You can also define custom commands that are accessible through the dispatcher, just like the default commands. This includes the possibility to create extended agenda buffers that contain several blocks together, for example the weekly agenda, the global TODO list and a number of special tags matches. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACustom%20Agenda%20Views.
The Built-in Agenda Views
In this section we describe the built-in views.
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. With a numeric prefix argument95—like —you may set the number of days to be displayed.
The default number of days displayed in the agenda is set by the
variable org-agenda-span
. This variable can be set to any number of
days you want to see by default in the agenda, or to a span name, such
a day
, week
, month
or year
. For weekly agendas, the default
is to start on the previous Monday (see
org-agenda-start-on-weekday
). You can also set the start date using
a date shift: (setq org-agenda-start-day "+10d")
starts the agenda
ten days from today in the future.
Remote editing from the agenda buffer means, for example, that you can change the dates of deadlines and appointments from the agenda buffer. The commands available in the Agenda buffer are listed in [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]].
Calendar/Diary integration
Emacs contains the calendar and diary by Edward M. Reingold. The calendar displays a three-month calendar with holidays from different countries and cultures. The diary allows you to keep track of anniversaries, lunar phases, sunrise/set, recurrent appointments (weekly, monthly) and more. In this way, it is quite complementary to Org. It can be very useful to combine output from Org with the diary.
In order to include entries from the Emacs diary into Org mode's agenda, you only need to customize the variable
(setq org-agenda-include-diary t)
After that, everything happens automatically. All diary entries including holidays, anniversaries, etc., are included in the agenda buffer created by Org mode. , and can be used from the agenda buffer to jump to the diary file in order to edit existing diary entries. The command to insert new entries for the current date works in the agenda buffer, as well as the commands , and to display Sunrise/Sunset times, show lunar phases and to convert to other calendars, respectively. can be used to switch back and forth between calendar and agenda.
If you are using the diary only for expression entries and holidays, it is faster to not use the above setting, but instead to copy or even move the entries into an Org file. Org mode evaluates diary-style expression entries, and does it faster because there is no overhead for first creating the diary display. Note that the expression entries must start at the left margin, no whitespace is allowed before them, as seen in the following segment of an Org file:96
* 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
Anniversaries from BBDB
If you are using the Insidious Big Brother Database to store your contacts, you very likely prefer to store anniversaries in BBDB rather than in a separate Org or diary file. Org supports this and can show BBDB anniversaries as part of the agenda. All you need to do is to add the following to one of your agenda files:
* Anniversaries :PROPERTIES: :CATEGORY: Anniv :END: %%(org-bbdb-anniversaries)
You can then go ahead and define anniversaries for a BBDB record.
Basically, you need a field named anniversary
for the BBDB record
which contains the date in the format YYYY-MM-DD
or MM-DD
,
followed by a space and the class of the anniversary (birthday
,
wedding
, or a format string). If you omit the class, it defaults to
birthday
. Here are a few examples, the header for the file
ol-bbdb.el
contains more detailed information.
1973-06-22 06-22 1955-08-02 wedding 2008-04-14 %s released version 6.01 of Org mode, %d years ago
After a change to BBDB, or for the first agenda display during an
Emacs session, the agenda display suffers a short delay as Org updates
its hash with anniversaries. However, from then on things will be
very fast, much faster in fact than a long list of
%%(diary-anniversary)
entries in an Org or Diary file.
If you would like to see upcoming anniversaries with a bit of forewarning, you can use the following instead:
* Anniversaries :PROPERTIES: :CATEGORY: Anniv :END: %%(org-bbdb-anniversaries-future 3)
That will give you three days' warning: on the anniversary date itself and the two days prior. The argument is optional: if omitted, it defaults to 7.
Appointment reminders
Org can interact with Emacs appointments notification facility. To
add the appointments of your agenda files, use the command
org-agenda-to-appt
. This command lets you filter through the list
of your appointments and add only those belonging to a specific
category or matching a regular expression. It also reads
a APPT_WARNTIME
property which overrides the value of
appt-message-warning-time
for this appointment. See the docstring
for details.
The global TODO list
The global TODO list contains all unfinished TODO items formatted and collected into a single place.
-
(
org-todo-list
) -
Show the global TODO list. This collects the TODO items from all agenda files (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views) into a single buffer. By default, this lists items with a state the is not a DONE state. The buffer is in Agenda mode, so there are commands to examine and manipulate the TODO entries directly from that buffer (see [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]]).
-
(
org-todo-list
) -
Like the above, but allows selection of a specific TODO keyword. You can also do this by specifying a prefix argument to . You are prompted for a keyword, and you may also specify several keywords by separating them with
|
as the boolean OR operator. With a numeric prefix, the Nth keyword inorg-todo-keywords
is selected.The key in the agenda buffer regenerates it, and you can give a prefix argument to this command to change the selected TODO keyword, for example . If you often need a search for a specific keyword, define a custom command for it (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher).
Matching specific TODO keywords can also be done as part of a tags search (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATag%20Searches).
Remote editing of TODO items means that you can change the state of a TODO entry with a single key press. The commands available in the TODO list are described in /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACommands%20in%20the%20Agenda%20Buffer.
Normally the global TODO list simply shows all headlines with TODO keywords. This list can become very long. There are two ways to keep it more compact:
-
Some people view a TODO item that has been scheduled for execution or have a deadline (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Timestamps) as no longer open. Configure the variables
org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled
to exclude some or all scheduled items from the global TODO list,org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines
to exclude some or all items with a deadline set,org-agenda-todo-ignore-timestamp
to exclude some or all items with an active timestamp other than a DEADLINE or a SCHEDULED timestamp and/ororg-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date
to exclude items with at least one active timestamp. -
TODO items may have sublevels to break up the task into subtasks. In such cases it may be enough to list only the highest level TODO headline and omit the sublevels from the global list. Configure the variable
org-agenda-todo-list-sublevels
to get this behavior.
Matching tags and properties
If headlines in the agenda files are marked with tags (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags), or have properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns), 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 /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tags). If you often need a specific search, define a custom command for it (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher). -
(
org-tags-view
) -
Like , but only select headlines that are also TODO items and force checking subitems (see the variable
org-tags-match-list-sublevels
). To exclude scheduled/deadline items, see the variableorg-agenda-tags-todo-honor-ignore-options
. Matching specific TODO keywords together with a tags match is also possible, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATag%20Searches.
The commands available in the tags list are described in [[*Commands in the Agenda Buffer]].
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
.
Instead of a tag, you may also specify a regular expression enclosed
in curly braces (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARegular%20Expressions). For example,
work+{^boss.*}
matches headlines that contain the tag :work:
and
any tag starting with boss
.
Group tags (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATag%20Hierarchy) are expanded as regular expressions.
E.g., if work
is a group tag for the group :work:lab:conf:
, then
searching for work
also searches for {\(?:work\|lab\|conf\)}
and
searching for -work
searches for all headlines but those with one of
the tags in the group (i.e., -{\(?:work\|lab\|conf\)}
).
You may also test for properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns) at the
same time as matching tags. The properties may be real properties, or
special properties that represent other metadata (see [[*Special
Properties]]). For example, the property TODO
represents the TODO
keyword of the entry. Or, the property LEVEL
represents the level
of an entry. So searching +LEVEL=3+boss-TODO
"DONE"= lists all level
three headlines that have the tag boss
and are not marked with the
TODO keyword DONE
. In buffers with org-odd-levels-only
set,
LEVEL
does not count the number of stars, but LEVEL=2
corresponds
to 3 stars etc.
Here are more examples:
-
work+TODO
"WAITING"= -
Select
work
-tagged TODO lines with the specific TODO keywordWAITING
. -
work+TODO
"WAITING"|home+TODO="WAITING"= - Waiting tasks both at work and at home.
When matching properties, a number of different operators can be used to test the value of a property. Here is a complex example:
+work-boss+PRIORITY="A"+Coffee="unlimited"+Effort<2 +With={Sarah\|Denny}+SCHEDULED>="<2008-10-11>"
The type of comparison depends on how the comparison value is written:
- If the comparison value is a plain number, a numerical comparison is
done, and the allowed operators are
<
,=
,>
,<=
,>=
, and<>
. - If the comparison value is enclosed in double-quotes, a string comparison is done, and the same operators are allowed.
- If the comparison value is enclosed in double-quotes and angular
brackets (like
DEADLINE<
"<2008-12-24 Wed 18:30>"=), both values are assumed to be date/time specifications in the standard Org way, and the comparison is done accordingly. Valid values also include"<now>"
for now (including time),"<today>"
, and"<tomorrow>"
for these days at 0:00 hours, i.e., without a time specification. You can also use strings like"<+5d>"
or"<-2m>"
with unitsd
,w
,m
, andy
for day, week, month, and year, respectively. - If the comparison value is enclosed in curly braces, a regexp match
is performed, with
=
meaning that the regexp matches the property value, and<>
meaning that it does not match.
So the search string in the example finds entries tagged work
but
not boss
, which also have a priority value A
, a Coffee
property
with the value unlimited
, an EFFORT
property that is numerically
smaller than 2, a With
property that is matched by the regular
expression Sarah\|Denny
, and that are scheduled on or after October
11, 2008.
You can configure Org mode to use property inheritance during a search, but beware that this can slow down searches considerably. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperty%20Inheritance, for details.
For backward compatibility, and also for typing speed, there is also
a different way to test TODO states in a search. For this, terminate
the tags/property part of the search string (which may include several
terms connected with |
) with a /
and then specify a Boolean
expression just for TODO keywords. The syntax is then similar to that
for tags, but should be applied with care: for example, a positive
selection on several TODO keywords cannot meaningfully be combined
with boolean AND. However, negative selection combined with AND can
be meaningful. To make sure that only lines are checked that actually
have any TODO keyword (resulting in a speed-up), use , or equivalently start the TODO part after the slash
with !
. Using or /!
does not match
TODO keywords in a DONE state. Examples:
-
work/WAITING
-
Same as
work+TODO
"WAITING"=. -
work/!-WAITING-NEXT
-
Select
work
-tagged TODO lines that are neitherWAITING
norNEXT
. -
work/!+WAITING|+NEXT
-
Select
work
-tagged TODO lines that are eitherWAITING
orNEXT
.
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, even if the two
words are separated by more space or a line break.
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
. The first +
is
necessary to turn on boolean search, other +
characters are
optional. For more details, see the docstring of the command
org-search-view
.
You can incrementally and conveniently adjust a boolean search from the agenda search view with the following keys
Add a positive search word | |
Add a negative search word | |
Add a positive regular expression | |
Add a negative regular expression |
Note that in addition to the agenda files, this command also searches
the files listed in org-agenda-text-search-extra-files
.
Stuck projects
If you are following a system like David Allen's GTD to organize your work, one of the "duties" you have is a regular review to make sure that all projects move along. A stuck project is a project that has no defined next actions, so it never shows up in the TODO lists Org mode produces. During the review, you need to identify such projects and define next actions for them.
-
(
org-agenda-list-stuck-projects
) -
List projects that are stuck.
-
Customize the variable
org-stuck-projects
to define what a stuck project is and how to find it.
You almost certainly need to configure this view before it works for
you. The built-in default assumes that all your projects are level-2
headlines, and that a project is not stuck if it has at least one
entry marked with a TODO keyword TODO
or NEXT
or NEXTACTION
.
Let's assume that you, in your own way of using Org mode, identify
projects with a tag :PROJECT:
, and that you use a TODO keyword
MAYBE
to indicate a project that should not be considered yet.
Let's further assume that the TODO keyword DONE
marks finished
projects, and that NEXT
and TODO
indicate next actions. The tag
:@shop:
indicates shopping and is a next action even without the
NEXT tag. Finally, if the project contains the special word IGNORE
anywhere, it should not be listed either. In this case you would
start by identifying eligible projects with a tags/TODO match (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATag%20Searches) +PROJECT/-MAYBE-DONE
, and then check for TODO
,
NEXT
, @shop
, and IGNORE
in the subtree to identify projects that
are not stuck. The correct customization for this is:
(setq org-stuck-projects
'("+PROJECT/-MAYBE-DONE" ("NEXT" "TODO") ("@shop")
"\\<IGNORE\\>"))
Note that if a project is identified as non-stuck, the subtree of this entry is searched for stuck projects.
Presentation and Sorting
Before displaying items in an agenda view, Org mode visually prepares
the items and sorts them. Each item occupies a single line. The line
starts with a prefix that contains the category (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Categories)
of the item and other important information. You can customize in
which column tags are displayed through org-agenda-tags-column
. You
can also customize the prefix using the option
org-agenda-prefix-format
. This prefix is followed by a cleaned-up
version of the outline headline associated with the item.
Categories
The category is a broad label assigned to each agenda item. By default, the category is simply derived from the file name, but you can also specify it with a special line in the buffer, like this:
#+CATEGORY: Thesis
If you would like to have a special category for a single entry or
a (sub)tree, give the entry a CATEGORY
property with the special
category you want to apply as the value.
The display in the agenda buffer looks best if the category is not
longer than 10 characters. You can set up icons for category by
customizing the org-agenda-category-icon-alist
variable.
Time-of-day specifications
Org mode checks each agenda item for a time-of-day specification. The time can be part of the timestamp that triggered inclusion into the agenda, for example
<2005-05-10 Tue 19:00>
Time ranges can be specified with two timestamps:
<2005-05-10 Tue 20:30>--<2005-05-10 Tue 22:15>
In the headline of the entry itself, a time(range)—like 12:45
or
a 8:30-1pm
—may also appear as plain text97.
If the agenda integrates the Emacs diary (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/daily%20agenda), time specifications in diary entries are recognized as well.
For agenda display, Org mode extracts the time and displays it in a standard 24 hour format as part of the prefix. The example times in the previous paragraphs would end up in the agenda like this:
8:30-13:00 Arthur Dent lies in front of the bulldozer 12:45...... Ford Prefect arrives and takes Arthur to the pub 19:00...... The Vogon reads his poem 20:30-22:15 Marvin escorts the Hitchhikers to the bridge
If the agenda is in single-day mode, or for the display of today, the timed entries are embedded in a time grid, like
8:00...... ------------------ 8:30-13:00 Arthur Dent lies in front of the bulldozer 10:00...... ------------------ 12:00...... ------------------ 12:45...... Ford Prefect arrives and takes Arthur to the pub 14:00...... ------------------ 16:00...... ------------------ 18:00...... ------------------ 19:00...... The Vogon reads his poem 20:00...... ------------------ 20:30-22:15 Marvin escorts the Hitchhikers to the bridge
The time grid can be turned on and off with the variable
org-agenda-use-time-grid
, and can be configured with
org-agenda-time-grid
.
Sorting of agenda items
Before being inserted into a view, the items are sorted. How this is done depends on the type of view.
-
For the daily/weekly agenda, the items for each day are sorted. The default order is to first collect all items containing an explicit time-of-day specification. These entries are shown at the beginning of the list, as a schedule for the day. After that, items remain grouped in categories, in the sequence given by
org-agenda-files
. Within each category, items are sorted by priority (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Priorities), which is composed of the base priority (2000 for priorityA
, 1000 forB
, and 0 forC
), plus additional increments for overdue scheduled or deadline items. - For the TODO list, items remain in the order of categories, but within each category, sorting takes place according to priority (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Priorities). The priority used for sorting derives from the priority cookie, with additions depending on how close an item is to its due or scheduled date.
- For tags matches, items are not sorted at all, but just appear in the sequence in which they are found in the agenda files.
Sorting can be customized using the variable
org-agenda-sorting-strategy
, and may also include criteria based on
the estimated effort of an entry (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEffort%20Estimates).
Filtering/limiting agenda items
Agenda built-in or custom commands are statically defined. Agenda filters and limits allow to flexibly narrow down the list of agenda entries.
Filters only change the visibility of items, are very fast and are mostly used interactively98. You can switch quickly between different filters without having to recreate the agenda. Limits on the other hand take effect before the agenda buffer is populated, so they are mostly useful when defined as local variables within custom agenda commands.
Filtering in the agenda
The general filtering command is org-agenda-filter
, bound to
. Before we introduce it, we describe commands for
individual filter types. All filtering commands handle prefix
arguments in the same way: A single prefix negates the
filter, so it removes lines selected by the filter. A double prefix
adds the new filter condition to the one(s) already in place, so
filter elements are accumulated.
-
(
org-agenda-filter-by-tag
) -
Filter the agenda view with respect to a tag. You are prompted for a tag selection letter; means any tag at all. Pressing at that prompt offers completion to select a tag, including any tags that do not have a selection character. The command then hides all entries that do not contain or inherit this tag. Pressing at the prompt switches between filtering for and against the next tag. To clear the filter, press twice (once to call the command again, and once at the prompt).
-
(
org-agenda-filter-by-category
) -
Filter by category of the line at point, and show only entries with this category. When called with a prefix argument, hide all entries with the category at point. To clear the filter, call this command again by pressing .
-
(
org-agenda-filter-by-regexp
) -
Filter the agenda view by a regular expression: only show agenda entries matching the regular expression the user entered. To clear the filter, call the command again by pressing .
-
(
org-agenda-filter-by-effort
) -
Filter the agenda view with respect to effort estimates, so select tasks that take the right amount of time. You first need to set up a list of efforts globally, for example
(setq org-global-properties '(("Effort_ALL". "0 0:10 0:30 1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00")))
You can then filter for an effort by first typing an operator, one of , and then the one-digit index of an effort estimate in your array of allowed values, where means the 10th value. The filter then restricts to entries with effort smaller-or-equal, equal, or larger-or-equal than the selected value. For application of the operator, entries without a defined effort are treated according to the value of
org-sort-agenda-noeffort-is-high
. To clear the filter, press twice (once to call the command again, and once at the first prompt). -
(
org-agenda-filter-by-top-headline
) -
Filter the current agenda view and only display items that fall under the same top-level headline as the current entry. To clear the filter, call this command again by pressing .
-
(
org-agenda-filter
) -
This is the unified interface to four of the five filter methods described above. At the prompt, specify different filter elements in a single string, with full completion support. For example,
+work-John+<0:10-/plot/
selects entries with category
work
and effort estimates below 10 minutes, and deselects entries with tagJohn
or matching the regexpplot
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARegular%20Expressions). You can leave+
out if that does not lead to ambiguities. The sequence of elements is arbitrary. The filter syntax assumes that there is no overlap between categories and tags. Otherwise, tags take priority. If you reply to the prompt with the empty string, all filtering is removed. If a filter is specified, it replaces all current filters. But if you call the command with a double prefix argument, or if you add an additional+
(e.g.,++work
) to the front of the string, the new filter elements are added to the active ones. A single prefix argument applies the entire filter in a negative sense. -
(
org-agenda-filter-remove-all
) - Remove all filters in the current agenda view.
Computed tag filtering
If the variable org-agenda-auto-exclude-function
is set to
a user-defined function, that function can select tags that should be
used as a tag filter when requested. The function will be called with
lower-case versions of all tags represented in the current view. The
function should return "-tag"
if the filter should remove
entries with that tag, "+tag"
if only entries with this tag should
be kept, or nil
if that tag is irrelevant. For example, let's say
you use a Net
tag to identify tasks which need network access, an
Errand
tag for errands in town, and a Call
tag for making phone
calls. You could auto-exclude these tags based on the availability of
the Internet, and outside of business hours, with something like this:
(defun my-auto-exclude-fn (tag)
(when (cond ((string= tag "net")
(/= 0 (call-process "/sbin/ping" nil nil nil
"-c1" "-q" "-t1" "mail.gnu.org")))
((member tag '("errand" "call"))
(let ((hr (nth 2 (decode-time))))
(or (< hr 8) (> hr 21)))))
(concat "-" tag)))
(setq org-agenda-auto-exclude-function #'my-auto-exclude-fn)
You can apply this self-adapting filter by using a triple prefix
argument to org-agenda-filter
, i.e. -u /)}}},
or by pressing in org-agenda-filter-by-tag
.
Setting limits for the agenda
Here is a list of options that you can set, either globally, or locally in your custom agenda views (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACustom%20Agenda%20Views).
-
org-agenda-max-entries
-
Limit the number of entries.
-
org-agenda-max-effort
-
Limit the duration of accumulated efforts (as minutes).
-
org-agenda-max-todos
-
Limit the number of entries with TODO keywords.
-
org-agenda-max-tags
-
Limit the number of tagged entries.
When set to a positive integer, each option excludes entries from
other categories: for example, (setq org-agenda-max-effort 100)
limits the agenda to 100 minutes of effort and exclude any entry that
has no effort property. If you want to include entries with no effort
property, use a negative value for org-agenda-max-effort
. One
useful setup is to use org-agenda-max-entries
locally in a custom
command. For example, this custom command displays the next five
entries with a NEXT
TODO keyword.
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("n" todo "NEXT"
((org-agenda-max-entries 5)))))
Once you mark one of these five entry as DONE, rebuilding the agenda will again the next five entries again, including the first entry that was excluded so far.
You can also dynamically set temporary limits, which are lost when rebuilding the agenda:
-
(
org-agenda-limit-interactively
) -
This prompts for the type of limit to apply and its value.
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. In this way, all information is stored only once, removing the risk that your agenda and note files may diverge.
Some commands can be executed with mouse clicks on agenda lines. For the other commands, point needs to be in the desired line.
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-recenter
) -
Display original location and recenter that window.
-
(
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.
-
(
org-agenda-follow-mode
) -
Toggle Follow mode. In Follow mode, as you move point through the agenda buffer, the other window always shows the corresponding location in the Org file. The initial setting for this mode in new agenda buffers can be set with the variable
org-agenda-start-with-follow-mode
. -
(
org-agenda-tree-to-indirect-buffer
) -
Display the entire subtree of the current item in an indirect buffer. With a numeric prefix argument N, go up to level N and then take that tree. If N is negative, go up that many levels. With a prefix, do not remove the previously used indirect buffer.
-
(
org-agenda-open-link
) -
Follow a link in the entry. This offers a selection of any links in the text belonging to the referenced Org node. If there is only one link, follow it without a selection prompt.
Change display
-
Interactively select another agenda view and append it to the current view.
-
Delete other windows.
-
(
org-agenda-day-view
) -
Switch to day view. When switching to day view, this setting becomes the default for subsequent agenda refreshes. A numeric prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the year. For example, jumps to February 1st. When setting day view, a year may be encoded in the prefix argument as well. For example, jumps to January 12, 2007. If such a year specification has only one or two digits, it is expanded into one of the 30 next years or the last 69 years.
-
(
org-agenda-week-view
) -
Switch to week view. When switching week view, this setting becomes the default for subsequent agenda refreshes. A numeric prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the ISO week. For example to ISO week number 9. When setting week view, a year may be encoded in the prefix argument as well. For example, jumps to week 12 in 2007. If such a year specification has only one or two digits, it is expanded into one of the 30 next years or the last 69 years.
-
(
org-agenda-month-view
) -
Switch to month view. Because month views are slow to create, they do not become the default for subsequent agenda refreshes. A numeric prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the month. When setting month view, a year may be encoded in the prefix argument as well. For example, jumps to December, 2007. If such a year specification has only one or two digits, it is expanded into one of the 30 next years or the last 69 years.
-
(
org-agenda-year-view
) -
Switch to year view. Because year views are slow to create, they do not become the default for subsequent agenda refreshes. A numeric prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the year.
-
(
org-agenda-reset-view
) -
Reset the current view to
org-agenda-span
. -
(
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. With a prefix argument, repeat that many times.
-
(
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-clock-goto
) -
Go to the currently clocked-in task in the agenda buffer.
-
(
org-agenda-toggle-diary
) -
Toggle the inclusion of diary entries. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWeekly/daily%20agenda.
-
(
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. You can configure the entry types that should be included in log mode using the variableorg-agenda-log-mode-items
. When called with a prefix argument, show all possible logbook entries, including state changes. When called with two prefix arguments , show only logging information, nothing else. . -
(
org-agenda-manipulate-query-add
) -
Include inactive timestamps into the current view. Only for weekly/daily agenda.
-
(
org-agenda-archives-mode
) -
Toggle Archives mode. In Archives mode, trees that are archived (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20archiving) are also scanned when producing the agenda. To exit archives mode, press again.
-
Toggle Archives mode. Include all archive files as well.
-
(
org-agenda-clockreport-mode
) -
Toggle Clockreport mode. In Clockreport mode, the daily/weekly agenda always shows a table with the clocked times for the time span and file scope covered by the current agenda view. The initial setting for this mode in new agenda buffers can be set with the variable
org-agenda-start-with-clockreport-mode
. By using a prefix argument when toggling this mode (i.e., ), the clock table does not show contributions from entries that are hidden by agenda filtering99. See also the variablesorg-clock-report-include-clocking-task
andorg-agenda-clock-report-header
. -
Show overlapping clock entries, clocking gaps, and other clocking problems in the current agenda range. You can then visit clocking lines and fix them manually. See the variable
org-agenda-clock-consistency-checks
for information on how to customize the definition of what constituted a clocking problem. To return to normal agenda display, press to exit Logbook mode. -
(
org-agenda-entry-text-mode
) -
Toggle entry text mode. In entry text mode, a number of lines from the Org outline node referenced by an agenda line are displayed below the line. The maximum number of lines is given by the variable
org-agenda-entry-text-maxlines
. Calling this command with a numeric prefix argument temporarily modifies that number to the prefix value. -
(
org-agenda-toggle-time-grid
) -
Toggle the time grid on and off. See also the variables
org-agenda-use-time-grid
andorg-agenda-time-grid
. -
Recreate the agenda buffer, for example to reflect the changes after modification of the timestamps of items with and . When the buffer is the global TODO list, a prefix argument is interpreted to create a selective list for a specific TODO keyword.
-
(
org-save-all-org-buffers
) -
Save all Org buffers in the current Emacs session, and also the locations of IDs.
-
(
org-agenda-columns
) -
Invoke column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View) in the agenda buffer. The column view format is taken from the entry at point, or, if there is no entry at point, from the first entry in the agenda view. So whatever the format for that entry would be in the original buffer (taken from a property, from a
COLUMNS
keyword, or from the default variableorg-columns-default-format
) is used in the agenda. -
(
org-agenda-remove-restriction-lock
) -
Remove the restriction lock on the agenda, if it is currently restricted to a file or subtree (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Files).
-
(
org-agenda-drag-line-backward
) -
Drag the line at point backward one line. With a numeric prefix argument, drag backward by that many lines.
Moving agenda lines does not persist after an agenda refresh and does not modify the contributing Org files.
-
(
org-agenda-drag-line-forward
) -
Drag the line at point forward one line. With a numeric prefix argument, drag forward by that many lines.
Remote editing
- Digit argument.
-
(
org-agenda-undo
) -
Undo a change due to a remote editing command. The change is undone both in the agenda buffer and in the remote buffer.
-
(
org-agenda-todo
) -
Change the TODO state of the item, both in the agenda and in the original Org file. A prefix arg is passed through to the
org-todo
command, so for example a prefix are will trigger taking a note to document the state change. -
(
org-agenda-todo-nextset
) -
Switch to the next set of TODO keywords.
-
,
org-agenda-todo-previousset
-
Switch to the previous set of TODO keywords.
-
(
org-agenda-kill
) -
Delete the current agenda item along with the entire subtree belonging to it in the original Org file. If the text to be deleted remotely is longer than one line, the kill needs to be confirmed by the user. See variable
org-agenda-confirm-kill
. -
(
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
. When using the key, confirmation is required. -
(
org-agenda-toggle-archive-tag
) -
Toggle the archive tag (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20archiving) for the current headline.
-
(
org-agenda-archive-to-archive-sibling
) -
Move the subtree corresponding to the current entry to its archive sibling.
-
(
org-agenda-archive
) -
Archive the subtree corresponding to the current headline. This means the entry is moved to the configured archive location, most likely a different file.
-
(
org-agenda-show-tags
) -
Show all tags associated with the current item. This is useful if you have turned off
org-agenda-show-inherited-tags
, but still want to see all tags of a headline occasionally. -
(
org-agenda-set-tags
) -
Set tags for the current headline. If there is an active region in the agenda, change a tag for all headings in the region.
-
(
org-agenda-priority
) -
Set the priority for the current item. Org mode prompts for the priority character. If you reply with , the priority cookie is removed from the entry.
-
(
org-agenda-priority-up
) -
Increase the priority of the current item. The priority is changed in the original buffer, but the agenda is not resorted. Use the key for this.
-
(
org-agenda-priority-down
) -
Decrease the priority of the current item.
-
(
org-agenda-set-effort
) -
Set the effort property for the current item.
-
(
org-agenda-add-note
) -
Add a note to the entry. This note is recorded, and then filed to the same location where state change notes are put. Depending on
org-log-into-drawer
, this may be inside a drawer. -
(
org-attach
) -
Dispatcher for all command related to attachments.
-
(
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. If the date is in the past, the first call to this command moves it to today. With a numeric prefix argument, change it by that many days. For example, changes it by a year. With a prefix, change the time by one hour. If you immediately repeat the command, it will continue to change hours even without the prefix argument. With a double prefix, do the same for changing minutes. The stamp is changed in the original Org file, but the change is not directly reflected in the agenda buffer. Use or to update the buffer.
-
(
org-agenda-do-date-earlier
) -
Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day into the past.
-
(
org-agenda-date-prompt
) -
Change the timestamp associated with the current line. The key has been chosen, because it is the same as on my keyboard.
-
(
org-agenda-clock-in
) -
Start the clock on the current item. If a clock is running already, it is stopped first.
-
(
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.
-
(
org-agenda-capture
) -
Like
org-capture
, but use the date at point as the default date for the capture template. Seeorg-capture-use-agenda-date
to make this the default behavior oforg-capture
.
Bulk remote editing selected entries
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-mark
) -
Mark the entry at point for bulk action. If there is an active region in the agenda, mark the entries in the region. With numeric prefix argument, mark that many successive entries.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-mark-all
) -
Mark all visible agenda entries for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-unmark
) -
Unmark entry for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-remove-all-marks
) -
Unmark all marked entries for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-toggle
) -
Toggle mark of the entry at point for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-toggle-all
) -
Toggle mark of every entry for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-mark-regexp
) -
Mark entries matching a regular expression for bulk action.
-
(
org-agenda-bulk-action
) -
Bulk action: act on all marked entries in the agenda. This prompts for another key to select the action to be applied. The prefix argument to and commands, to bulk-remove these special timestamps. By default, marks are removed after the bulk. If you want them to persist, set
org-agenda-bulk-persistent-marks
tot
or hit at the prompt.- Toggle persistent marks.
- Archive all selected entries.
- Archive entries by moving them to their respective archive siblings.
- Change TODO state. This prompts for a single TODO keyword and changes the state of all selected entries, bypassing blocking and suppressing logging notes—but not timestamps.
- Add a tag to all selected entries.
- Remove a tag from all selected entries.
-
Schedule all items to a new date. To shift existing schedule
dates by a fixed number of days, use something starting with
double plus at the prompt, for example
++8d
or++2w
. - Set deadline to a specific date.
- Prompt for a single refile target and move all entries. The entries are no longer in the agenda; refresh () to bring them back.
- Reschedule randomly into the coming N days. N is prompted for. With a prefix argument (), scatter only across weekdays.
-
Apply a function100 to marked entries. For example, the function below sets the
CATEGORY
property of the entries toweb
.(defun set-category () (interactive "P") (let ((marker (or (org-get-at-bol 'org-hd-marker) (org-agenda-error)))) (org-with-point-at marker (org-back-to-heading t) (org-set-property "CATEGORY" "web"))))
Calendar commands
-
(
org-agenda-goto-calendar
) -
Open the Emacs calendar and go to the date at point in the agenda.
-
(
org-calendar-goto-agenda
) -
When in the calendar, compute and show the Org agenda for the date at point.
-
(
org-agenda-diary-entry
) -
Insert a new entry into the diary, using the date at point and (for block entries) the date at the mark. This adds to the Emacs diary file101, in a way similar to the command in the calendar. The diary file pops up in another window, where you can add the entry.
If you configure
org-agenda-diary-file
to point to an Org file, Org creates entries in that file instead. Most entries are stored in a date-based outline tree that will later make it easy to archive appointments from previous months/years. The tree is built under an entry with aDATE_TREE
property, or else with years as top-level entries. Emacs prompts you for the entry text—if you specify it, the entry is created inorg-agenda-diary-file
without further interaction. If you directly press at the prompt without typing text, the target file is shown in another window for you to finish the entry there. See also the command. -
(
org-agenda-phases-of-moon
) -
Show the phases of the moon for the three months around current date.
-
(
org-agenda-sunrise-sunset
) -
Show sunrise and sunset times. The geographical location must be set with calendar variables, see the documentation for the Emacs calendar.
-
(
org-agenda-convert-date
) -
Convert the date at point into many other cultural and historic calendars.
-
(
org-agenda-holidays
) -
Show holidays for three months around point date.
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. Buffers created by the user to visit Org files are not removed.
Custom Agenda Views
Custom agenda commands serve two purposes: to store and quickly access frequently used TODO and tags searches, and to create special composite agenda buffers. Custom agenda commands are accessible through the dispatcher (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher), just like the default commands.
Storing searches
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
'(("x" agenda)
("y" agenda*)
("w" todo "WAITING")
("W" todo-tree "WAITING")
("u" tags "+boss-urgent")
("v" tags-todo "+boss-urgent")
("U" tags-tree "+boss-urgent")
("f" occur-tree "\\<FIXME\\>")
("h" . "HOME+Name tags searches") ;description for "h" prefix
("hl" tags "+home+Lisa")
("hp" tags "+home+Peter")
("hk" tags "+home+Kim")))
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, but if you have many similar commands, you can also define two-letter combinations where the first character is the same in several combinations and serves as a prefix key102. 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 agenda entries planned103 this week/day.
-
as the same search, but only for entries with an hour specification
like
[h]h:mm
—think of them as appointments. -
as a global search for TODO entries with
WAITING
as the TODO keyword. - as the same search, but only in the current buffer and displaying the results as a sparse tree.
-
as a global tags search for headlines tagged
boss
but noturgent
. - The same search, but limiting it to headlines that are also TODO items.
- as the same search, but only in the current buffer and displaying the result as a sparse tree.
-
to create a sparse tree (again, current buffer only) with all
entries containing the word
FIXME
. -
as a prefix command for a
HOME
tags search where you have to press an additional key () to select a name (Lisa, Peter, or Kim) as additional tag to match.
Note that *-tree
agenda views need to be called from an Org buffer
as they operate on the current buffer only.
Block agenda
Another possibility is the construction of agenda views that comprise
the results of several commands, each of which creates a block in
the agenda buffer. The available commands include agenda
for the
daily or weekly agenda (as created with ) , alltodo
for
the global TODO list (as constructed with ), stuck
for
the list of stuck projects (as obtained with ) and the
matching commands discussed above: todo
, tags
, and tags-todo
.
Here are two examples:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("h" "Agenda and Home-related tasks"
((agenda "")
(tags-todo "home")
(tags "garden")))
("o" "Agenda and Office-related tasks"
((agenda "")
(tags-todo "work")
(tags "office")))))
This defines to create a multi-block view for stuff you
need to attend to at home. The resulting agenda buffer contains your
agenda for the current week, all TODO items that carry the tag home
,
and also all lines tagged with garden
. Finally the command
provides a similar view for office tasks.
Setting options for custom commands
Org mode contains a number of variables regulating agenda construction
and display. The global variables define the behavior for all agenda
commands, including the custom commands. However, if you want to
change some settings just for a single custom view, you can do so.
Setting options requires inserting a list of variable names and values
at the right spot in org-agenda-custom-commands
. For example:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("w" todo "WAITING"
((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down))
(org-agenda-prefix-format " Mixed: ")))
("U" tags-tree "+boss-urgent"
((org-show-context-detail 'minimal)))
("N" search ""
((org-agenda-files '("~org/notes.org"))
(org-agenda-text-search-extra-files nil)))))
Now the command sorts the collected entries only by
priority, and the prefix format is modified to just say Mixed:
instead of giving the category of the entry. The sparse tags tree of
now turns out ultra-compact, because neither the headline
hierarchy above the match, nor the headline following the match are
shown. The command does a text search limited to only
a single file.
For command sets creating a block agenda, org-agenda-custom-commands
has two separate spots for setting options. You can add options that
should be valid for just a single command in the set, and options that
should be valid for all commands in the set. The former are just
added to the command entry; the latter must come after the list of
command entries. Going back to the block agenda example (see [[*Block
agenda]]), let's change the sorting strategy for the
commands to priority-down
, but let's sort the results for garden
tags query in the opposite order, priority-up
. This would look like
this:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("h" "Agenda and Home-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "home")
(tags "garden"
((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-up)))))
((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(priority-down))))
("o" "Agenda and Office-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "work")
(tags "office")))))
As you see, the values and parentheses setting is a little complex. When in doubt, use the customize interface to set this variable—it fully supports its structure. Just one caveat: when setting options in this interface, the values are just Lisp expressions. So if the value is a string, you need to add the double-quotes around the value yourself.
To control whether an agenda command should be accessible from
a specific context, you can customize
org-agenda-custom-commands-contexts
. Let's say for example that you
have an agenda command displaying a view that you only
need when reading emails. Then you would configure this option like
this:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands-contexts
'(("o" (in-mode . "message-mode"))))
You can also tell that the command key should refer to another command key . In that case, add this command key like this:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands-contexts
'(("o" "r" (in-mode . "message-mode"))))
See the docstring of the variable for more information.
Exporting Agenda Views
If you are away from your computer, it can be very useful to have a printed version of some agenda views to carry around. Org mode can export custom agenda views as plain text, HTML104, Postscript, PDF105, and iCalendar files. If you want to do this only occasionally, use the following command:
-
(
org-agenda-write
) -
Write the agenda view to a file.
If you need to export certain agenda views frequently, you can associate any custom agenda command with a list of output file names106. Here is an example that first defines custom commands for the agenda and the global TODO list, together with a number of files to which to export them. Then we define two block agenda commands and specify file names for them as well. File names can be relative to the current working directory, or absolute.
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("X" agenda "" nil ("agenda.html" "agenda.ps"))
("Y" alltodo "" nil ("todo.html" "todo.txt" "todo.ps"))
("h" "Agenda and Home-related tasks"
((agenda "")
(tags-todo "home")
(tags "garden"))
nil
("~/views/home.html"))
("o" "Agenda and Office-related tasks"
((agenda)
(tags-todo "work")
(tags "office"))
nil
("~/views/office.ps" "~/calendars/office.ics"))))
The extension of the file name determines the type of export. If it
is .html
, Org mode uses the htmlize package to convert the buffer to
HTML and save it to this file name. If the extension is .ps
,
ps-print-buffer-with-faces
is used to produce Postscript output. If
the extension is .ics
, iCalendar export is run export over all files
that were used to construct the agenda, and limit the export to
entries listed in the agenda. Any other extension produces a plain
ASCII file.
The export files are not created when you use one of those commands interactively because this might use too much overhead. Instead, there is a special command to produce all specified files in one step:
-
(
org-store-agenda-views
) -
Export all agenda views that have export file names associated with them.
You can use the options section of the custom agenda commands to also set options for the export commands. For example:
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
'(("X" agenda ""
((ps-number-of-columns 2)
(ps-landscape-mode t)
(org-agenda-prefix-format " [ ] ")
(org-agenda-with-colors nil)
(org-agenda-remove-tags t))
("theagenda.ps"))))
This command sets two options for the Postscript exporter, to make it
print in two columns in landscape format—the resulting page can be
cut in two and then used in a paper agenda. The remaining settings
modify the agenda prefix to omit category and scheduling information,
and instead include a checkbox to check off items. We also remove the
tags to make the lines compact, and we do not want to use colors for
the black-and-white printer. Settings specified in
org-agenda-exporter-settings
also apply, e.g.,
(setq org-agenda-exporter-settings
'((ps-number-of-columns 2)
(ps-landscape-mode t)
(org-agenda-add-entry-text-maxlines 5)
(htmlize-output-type 'css)))
but the settings in org-agenda-custom-commands
take precedence.
From the command line you may also use:
emacs -eval (org-batch-store-agenda-views) -kill
or, if you need to modify some parameters107
emacs -eval '(org-batch-store-agenda-views \
org-agenda-span (quote month) \
org-agenda-start-day "2007-11-01" \
org-agenda-include-diary nil \
org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/project.org")))' \
-kill
which creates the agenda views restricted to the file
~/org/project.org
, without diary entries and with a 30-day extent.
You can also extract agenda information in a way that allows further processing by other programs. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExtracting%20Agenda%20Information, for more information.
Using Column View in the Agenda
Column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View) is normally used to view and edit properties embedded in the hierarchical structure of an Org file. It can be quite useful to use column view also from the agenda, where entries are collected by certain criteria.
-
(
org-agenda-columns
) -
Turn on column view in the agenda.
To understand how to use this properly, it is important to realize that the entries in the agenda are no longer in their proper outline environment. This causes the following issues:
-
Org needs to make a decision which columns format to use. Since the entries in the agenda are collected from different files, and different files may have different columns formats, this is a non-trivial problem. Org first checks if
org-overriding-columns-format
is currently set, and if so, takes the format from there. You should set this variable only in the local settings section of a custom agenda command (see [[*Custom Agenda Views]]) to make it valid for that specific agenda view. If no such binding exists, it checks, in sequence,org-columns-default-format-for-agenda
, the format associated with the first item in the agenda (through a property or a#+COLUMNS
setting in that buffer) and finallyorg-columns-default-format
. -
If any of the columns has a summary type defined (see [[*Column attributes]]), turning on column view in the agenda visits 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 then sums the values displayed in the agenda. In the daily/weekly agenda, the sums cover a single day; in all other views they cover the entire block.It is important to realize that the agenda may show the same entry twice—for example as scheduled and as a deadline—and it may show two entries from the same hierarchy (for example a parent and its child). In these cases, the summation in the agenda leads to incorrect results because some values count double.
- When the column view in the agenda shows the
CLOCKSUM
property, that is always the entire clocked time for this item. So even in the daily/weekly agenda, the clocksum listed in column view may originate from times outside the current view. This has the advantage that you can compare these values with a column listing the planned total effort for a task—one of the major applications for column view in the agenda. If you want information about clocked time in the displayed period use clock table mode (press in the agenda). -
When the column view in the agenda shows the
CLOCKSUM_T
property, that is always today's clocked time for this item. So even in the weekly agenda, the clocksum listed in column view only originates from today. This lets you compare the time you spent on a task for today, with the time already spent—viaCLOCKSUM
—and with the planned total effort for it.
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. For instance, you may want to center or emphasize text. Or you may need to insert a formula or image in your writing. Org offers syntax for all of this and more. Used in conjunction with the export framework (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Exporting), you can author beautiful documents in Org—like the fine manual you are currently reading.
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.
To turn off fontification for marked up text, you can set
org-fontify-emphasized-text
to nil
. To narrow down the list of
available markup syntax, you can customize org-emphasis-alist
.
Sometimes, when marked text also contains the marker character itself, the result may be unsettling. For example,
/One may expect this whole sentence to be italicized, but the following ~user/?variable~ contains =/= character, which effectively stops emphasis there./
You can use zero width space to help Org sorting out the ambiguity. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEscape%20Character for more details.
Subscripts and Superscripts
^
and _
are used to indicate super- and subscripts. To increase
the readability of ASCII text, it is not necessary, but OK, to
surround multi-character sub- and superscripts with curly braces. For
example
The 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}.
If you write a text where the underscore is often used in a different
context, Org's convention to always interpret these as subscripts can
get in your way. Configure the variable org-use-sub-superscripts
to
change this convention. For example, when setting this variable to
{}
, a_b
is not interpreted as a subscript, but a_{b}
is.
You can set org-use-sub-superscripts
in a file using the export
option ^:
(see Export Settings). For example, #+OPTIONS: ^:{}
sets org-use-sub-superscripts
to {}
and limits super- and
subscripts to the curly bracket notation.
You can also toggle the visual display of super- and subscripts:
-
(
org-toggle-pretty-entities
) -
This command formats sub- and superscripts in a WYSIWYM way.
Set both org-pretty-entities
and
org-pretty-entities-include-sub-superscripts
to t
to start with
super- and subscripts visually interpreted as specified by the
option org-use-sub-superscripts
.
Special Symbols
You can use LaTeX-like syntax to insert special symbols—named
entities—like \alpha
to indicate the Greek letter, or \to
to indicate
an arrow. Completion for these symbols is available, just type \
and maybe a few letters, and press to see possible
completions. If you need such a symbol inside a word, terminate it
with a pair of curly brackets. For example
Pro tip: Given a circle \Gamma of diameter d, the length of its circumference is \pi{}d.
A large number of entities is provided, with names taken from both
HTML and LaTeX; you can comfortably browse the complete list from
a dedicated buffer using the command org-entities-help
. It is also
possible to provide your own special symbols in the variable
org-entities-user
.
During export, these symbols are transformed into the native format of
the exporter back-end. Strings like \alpha
are exported as α
in
the HTML output, and as \(\alpha\)
in the LaTeX output. Similarly, \nbsp
becomes
in HTML and ~
in LaTeX.
If you would like to see entities displayed as UTF-8 characters, use the following command108:
-
(
org-toggle-pretty-entities
) -
Toggle display of entities as UTF-8 characters. This does not change the buffer content which remains plain ASCII, but it overlays the UTF-8 character for display purposes only.
In addition to regular entities defined above, Org exports in
a special way109 the following commonly used character
combinations: \-
is treated as a shy hyphen, --
and ---
are
converted into dashes, and ...
becomes a compact set of dots.
Embedded LaTeX
Plain ASCII is normally sufficient for almost all note taking. Exceptions include scientific notes, which often require mathematical symbols and the occasional formula. LaTeX110 is widely used to typeset scientific documents. Org mode supports embedding LaTeX code into its files, because many academics are used to writing and reading LaTeX source code, and because it can be readily processed to produce pretty output for a number of export back-ends.
LaTeX fragments
Org mode can contain LaTeX math fragments, and it supports ways to process these for several export back-ends. When exporting to LaTeX, the code is left as it is. When exporting to HTML, Org can use either MathJax (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AMath%20formatting%20in%20HTML%20export) or transcode the math into images (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APreviewing%20LaTeX%20fragments).
LaTeX fragments do not need any special marking at all. The following snippets are identified as LaTeX source code:
- Environments of any kind111. The only requirement is that the
\begin
statement appears on a new line, preceded by only whitespace. - Text within the usual LaTeX math delimiters. To avoid conflicts
with currency specifications, single
$
characters are only recognized as math delimiters if the enclosed text contains at most two line breaks, is directly attached to the$
characters with no whitespace in between, and if the closing$
is followed by whitespace, punctuation or a dash. For the other delimiters, there is no such restriction, so when in doubt, use\(...\)
as inline math delimiters.
For example:
\begin{equation} % arbitrary environments, x=\sqrt{b} % even tables, figures \end{equation} % etc If $a^2=b$ and \( b=2 \), then the solution must be either $$ a=+\sqrt{2} $$ or \[ a=-\sqrt{2} \].
LaTeX processing can be configured with the variable
org-export-with-latex
. The default setting is t
which means
MathJax for HTML, and no processing for ASCII and LaTeX back-ends.
You can also set this variable on a per-file basis using one of these
lines:
#+OPTIONS: tex:t |
Do the right thing automatically (MathJax) |
#+OPTIONS: tex:nil |
Do not process LaTeX fragments at all |
#+OPTIONS: tex:verbatim |
Verbatim export, for jsMath or so |
Previewing LaTeX fragments
If you have a working LaTeX installation and dvipng
, dvisvgm
or
convert
installed112, LaTeX fragments can be processed to
produce images of the typeset expressions to be used for inclusion
while exporting to HTML (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALaTeX%20fragments), or for inline
previewing within Org mode.
You can customize the variables org-format-latex-options
and
org-format-latex-header
to influence some aspects of the preview.
In particular, the :scale
(and for HTML export, :html-scale
)
property of the former can be used to adjust the size of the preview
images.
-
(
org-latex-preview
) -
Produce a preview image of the LaTeX fragment at point and overlay it over the source code. If there is no fragment at point, process all fragments in the current entry—between two headlines.
When called with a single prefix argument, clear all images in the current entry. Two prefix arguments produce a preview image for all fragments in the buffer, while three of them clear all the images in that buffer.
You can turn on the previewing of all LaTeX fragments in a file with
#+STARTUP: latexpreview
To disable it, simply use
#+STARTUP: nolatexpreview
Using CDLaTeX to enter math
CDLaTeX mode is a minor mode that is normally used in combination with
a major LaTeX mode like AUCTeX in order to speed-up insertion of
environments and math templates. Inside Org mode, you can make use of
some of the features of CDLaTeX mode. You need to install
cdlatex.el
and texmathp.el
(the latter comes also with AUCTeX)
using MELPA with the Emacs packaging system or alternatively from
https://staff.fnwi.uva.nl/c.dominik/Tools/cdlatex/. Do not use
CDLaTeX mode itself under Org mode, but use the special version Org
CDLaTeX minor mode that comes as part of Org. Turn it on for the
current buffer with , or for all Org
files with
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'turn-on-org-cdlatex)
When this mode is enabled, the following features are present (for more details see the documentation of CDLaTeX mode):
-
Insert an environment template.
-
The key expands the template if point is inside a LaTeX fragment113. For example, expands
fr
to\frac{}{}
and position point correctly inside the first brace. Another gets you into the second brace.Even outside fragments, expands environment abbreviations at the beginning of a line. For example, if you write
equ
at the beginning of a line and press , this abbreviation is expanded to anequation
environment. To get a list of all abbreviations, type {{{kbd(M-x cdlatex-command-help)}}}. -
Pressing inside a LaTeX fragment inserts these characters together with a pair of braces. If you use to move out of the braces, and if the braces surround only a single character or macro, they are removed again (depending on the variable
cdlatex-simplify-sub-super-scripts
). -
Pressing the backquote followed by a character inserts math macros, also outside LaTeX fragments. If you wait more than 1.5 seconds after the backquote, a help window pops up.
-
Pressing the single-quote followed by another character modifies the symbol before point with an accent or a font. If you wait more than 1.5 seconds after the single-quote, a help window pops up. Character modification works only inside LaTeX fragments; outside the quote is normal.
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
There is one limitation, however. You must insert a comma right
before lines starting with either *
, ,*
, #+
or ,#+
, as those
may be interpreted as outlines nodes or some other special syntax.
Org transparently strips these additional commas whenever it accesses
the contents of the block.
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE ,* I am no real headline #+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 buffer114. This is done with the code block, where you also need to specify the name of the major mode that should be used to fontify the example115, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Templates for shortcuts to easily insert code blocks.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun org-xor (a b) "Exclusive or." (if a (not b) b)) #+END_SRC
Both in example
and in src
snippets, you can add a -n
switch to
the end of the #+BEGIN
line, to get the lines of the example
numbered. The -n
takes an optional numeric argument specifying the
starting line number of the block. If you use a +n
switch, the
numbering from the previous numbered snippet is continued in the
current one. The +n
switch can also take a numeric argument. This
adds the value of the argument to the last line of the previous block
to determine the starting line number.
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp -n 20 ;; This exports with line number 20. (message "This is line 21") #+END_SRC #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp +n 10 ;; This is listed as line 31. (message "This is line 32") #+END_SRC
In literal examples, Org interprets strings like (ref:name)
as
labels, and use them as targets for special hyperlinks like
[[(name)]]
—i.e., the reference name enclosed in single parenthesis.
In HTML, hovering the mouse over such a link remote-highlights the
corresponding code line, which is kind of cool.
You can also add a -r
switch which removes the labels from the
source code116. With the -n
switch, links to these references
are labeled by the line numbers from the code listing. Otherwise
links use the labels with no parentheses. Here is an example:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp -n -r (save-excursion (ref:sc) (goto-char (point-min)) (ref:jump) #+END_SRC In line [[(sc)]] we remember the current position. [[(jump)][Line (jump)]] jumps to point-min.
Source code and examples may be indented in order to align nicely
with the surrounding text, and in particular with plain list structure
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20Lists). By default, Org only retains the relative
indentation between lines, e.g., when exporting the contents of the
block. However, you can use the -i
switch to also preserve the
global indentation, if it does matter. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEditing%20Source%20Code.
If the syntax for the label format conflicts with the language syntax,
use a -l
switch to change the format, for example
#+BEGIN_SRC pascal -n -r -l "((%s))"
See also the variable org-coderef-label-format
.
HTML export also allows examples to be published as text areas (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AText%20areas%20in%20HTML%20export).
Because the #+BEGIN
… #+END
patterns need to be added so often,
a shortcut is provided (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Templates).
-
(
org-edit-special
) -
Edit the source code example at point in its native mode. This works by switching to a temporary buffer with the source code. You need to exit by pressing again. The edited version then replaces the old version in the Org buffer. Fixed-width regions—where each line starts with a colon followed by a space—are edited using Artist mode117 to allow creating ASCII drawings easily. Using this command in an empty line creates a new fixed-width region.
Calling org-store-link
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links) while editing a source
code example in a temporary buffer created with
prompts for a label. Make sure that it is unique in the current
buffer, and insert it with the proper formatting like (ref:label)
at
the end of the current line. Then the label is stored as a link
(label)
, for retrieval with .
Images
An image is a link to an image file118 that does not have a description part, for example
./img/cat.jpg
If you wish to define a caption for the image (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Captions) and
maybe a label for internal cross references (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20Links),
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]]
Such images can be displayed within the buffer with the following command:
-
(
org-toggle-inline-images
) -
Toggle the inline display of linked images. When called with a prefix argument, also display images that do have a link description. You can ask for inline images to be displayed at startup by configuring the variable
org-startup-with-inline-images
119.
Captions
You can assign a caption to a specific part of a document by inserting
a CAPTION
keyword immediately before it:
#+CAPTION: This is the caption for the next table (or link) | ... | ... | |-----+-----|
Optionally, the caption can take the form:
#+CAPTION[Short caption]: Longer caption.
Even though images and tables are prominent examples of captioned structures, the same caption mechanism can apply to many others—e.g., LaTeX equations, source code blocks. Depending on the export back-end, those may or may not be handled.
Horizontal Rules
A line consisting of only dashes, and at least 5 of them, is exported as a horizontal line.
Creating Footnotes
A footnote is started by a footnote marker in square brackets in
column 0, no indentation allowed. It ends at the next footnote
definition, headline, or after two consecutive empty lines. The
footnote reference is simply the marker in square brackets, inside
text. Markers always start with fn:
. For example:
The Org homepage[fn:1] now looks a lot better than it used to. ... [fn:1] The link is: https://orgmode.org
Org mode extends the number-based syntax to named footnotes and optional inline definition. Here are the valid references:
-
[fn:NAME]
- A named footnote reference, where is a unique label word, or, for simplicity of automatic creation, a number.
-
[fn:: This is the inline definition of this footnote]
- An anonymous footnote where the definition is given directly at the reference point.
-
[fn:NAME: a definition]
-
An inline definition of a footnote, which also specifies a name for
the note. Since Org allows multiple references to the same note,
you can then use
[fn:NAME]
to create additional references.
Footnote labels can be created automatically, or you can create names
yourself. This is handled by the variable org-footnote-auto-label
and its corresponding STARTUP
keywords. See the docstring of that
variable for details.
The following command handles footnotes:
-
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. Depending on the variable
org-footnote-define-inline
120, the definition is placed right into the text as part of the reference, or separately into the location determined by the variableorg-footnote-section
.When this command is called with a prefix argument, a menu of additional options is offered:
Sort the footnote definitions by reference sequence. Renumber the simple fn:N
footnotes.Short for first action. Rename all footnotes into a fn:1
…fn:n
sequence.Delete the footnote at point, including definition and references. Depending on the variable
org-footnote-auto-adjust
121, renumbering and sorting footnotes can be automatic after each insertion or deletion. -
If point is on a footnote reference, jump to the definition. If it is at the definition, jump back to the reference. When called at a footnote location with a prefix argument, offer the same menu as .
-
Footnote labels are also links to the corresponding definition or reference, and you can use the usual commands to follow these links.
Exporting
At some point you might want to print your notes, publish them on the web, or share them with people not using Org. Org can convert and export documents to a variety of other formats while retaining as much structure (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ADocument%20Structure) and markup (see [[*Markup for Rich Contents]]) as possible.
The libraries responsible for translating Org files to other formats are called back-ends. Org ships with support for the following back-ends:
- ascii (ASCII format)
- beamer (LaTeX Beamer format)
- html (HTML format)
- icalendar (iCalendar format)
- latex (LaTeX format)
- md (Markdown format)
- odt (OpenDocument Text format)
- org (Org format)
- texinfo (Texinfo format)
- man (Man page format)
Users can install libraries for additional formats from the Emacs
packaging system. For easy discovery, these packages have a common
naming scheme: ox-NAME
, where is a format. For
example, ox-koma-letter
for koma-letter back-end. More libraries
can be found in the org-contrib
repository (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Installation).
Org only loads back-ends for the following formats by default: ASCII,
HTML, iCalendar, LaTeX, and ODT. Additional back-ends can be loaded
in either of two ways: by configuring the org-export-backends
variable, or by requiring libraries in the Emacs init file. For
example, to load the Markdown back-end, add this to your Emacs config:
(require 'ox-md)
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 also has a minimal prompt interface for the export dispatcher.
When the variable org-export-dispatch-use-expert-ui
is set to
a non-nil
value, Org prompts in the minibuffer. To switch back to
the hierarchical menu, press .
-
(
org-export
) -
Invokes the export dispatcher interface. The options show default settings. The prefix argument preserves options from the previous export, including any sub-tree selections.
Org exports the entire buffer by default. If the Org buffer has an active region, then Org exports just that region.
Within the dispatcher interface, the following key combinations can further alter what is exported, and how.
-
Toggle asynchronous export. Asynchronous export uses an external Emacs process with a specially configured initialization file to complete the exporting process in the background, without tying-up Emacs. This is particularly useful when exporting long documents.
Output from an asynchronous export is saved on the export stack. To view this stack, call the export dispatcher with a double prefix argument. If already in the export dispatcher menu, displays the stack.
You can make asynchronous export the default by setting
org-export-in-background
.You can set the initialization file used by the background process by setting
org-export-async-init-file
. -
Toggle body-only export. Useful for excluding headers and footers in the export. Affects only those back-end formats that have sections like
<head>...</head>
in HTML. -
Toggle sub-tree export. When turned on, Org exports only the sub-tree starting from point position at the time the export dispatcher was invoked. Org uses the top heading of this sub-tree as the document's title. If point is not on a heading, Org uses the nearest enclosing header. If point is in the document preamble, Org signals an error and aborts export.
To make sub-tree export the default, customize the variable
org-export-initial-scope
. -
Toggle visible-only export. This is useful for exporting only certain parts of an Org document by adjusting the visibility of particular headings. See also /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASparse%20Trees.
Export Settings
Export options can be set: globally with variables; for an individual
file by making variables buffer-local with in-buffer settings (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASummary%20of%20In-Buffer%20Settings); by setting individual keywords or
specifying them in compact form with the OPTIONS
keyword; or for
a tree by setting properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperties%20and%20Columns). Options
set at a specific level override options set at a more general level.
In-buffer settings may appear anywhere in the file, either directly or
indirectly through a file included using #+SETUPFILE: filename or
URL
syntax. Option keyword sets tailored to a particular back-end
can be inserted from the export dispatcher (see [[*The Export
Dispatcher]]) using the Insert template
command by pressing
. To insert keywords individually, a good way to make
sure the keyword is correct is to type #+
and then to use
16 for completion.
The export keywords available for every back-end, and their equivalent global variables, include:
-
AUTHOR
-
The document author (
user-full-name
). -
CREATOR
-
Entity responsible for output generation (
org-export-creator-string
). -
DATE
-
A date or a time-stamp122.
-
EMAIL
-
The email address (
user-mail-address
). -
LANGUAGE
-
Language to use for translating certain strings (
org-export-default-language
). With#+LANGUAGE: fr
, for example, Org translatesTable of contents
to the FrenchTable des matières
123. -
SELECT_TAGS
-
The default value is
("export")
. When a tree is tagged withexport
(org-export-select-tags
), Org selects that tree and its sub-trees for export. Org excludes trees withnoexport
tags, see below. When selectively exporting files withexport
tags set, Org does not export any text that appears before the first headline. -
EXCLUDE_TAGS
-
The default value is
("noexport")
. When a tree is tagged withnoexport
(org-export-exclude-tags
), Org excludes that tree and its sub-trees from export. Entries tagged withnoexport
are unconditionally excluded from the export, even if they have anexport
tag. Even if a sub-tree is not exported, Org executes any code blocks contained there. -
TITLE
-
Org displays this title. For long titles, use multiple
#+TITLE
lines. -
EXPORT_FILE_NAME
-
The name of the output file to be generated. Otherwise, Org generates the file name based on the buffer name and the extension based on the back-end format.
The OPTIONS
keyword is a compact form. To configure multiple
options, use several OPTIONS
lines. OPTIONS
recognizes the
following arguments.
-
'
-
Toggle smart quotes (
org-export-with-smart-quotes
). Depending on the language used, when activated, Org treats pairs of double quotes as primary quotes, pairs of single quotes as secondary quotes, and single quote marks as apostrophes. -
*
-
Toggle emphasized text (
org-export-with-emphasize
). -
-
-
Toggle conversion of special strings (
org-export-with-special-strings
). -
:
-
Toggle fixed-width sections (
org-export-with-fixed-width
). -
<
-
Toggle inclusion of time/date active/inactive stamps (
org-export-with-timestamps
). -
\n
-
Toggles whether to preserve line breaks (
org-export-preserve-breaks
). -
^
-
Toggle TeX-like syntax for sub- and superscripts. If you write
^:{}
,a_{b}
is interpreted, but the simplea_b
is left as it is (org-export-with-sub-superscripts
). -
arch
-
Configure how archived trees are exported. When set to
headline
, the export process skips the contents and processes only the headlines (org-export-with-archived-trees
). -
author
-
Toggle inclusion of author name into exported file (
org-export-with-author
). -
broken-links
-
Toggles if Org should continue exporting upon finding a broken internal link. When set to
mark
, Org clearly marks the problem link in the output (org-export-with-broken-links
). -
c
-
Toggle inclusion of
CLOCK
keywords (org-export-with-clocks
). -
creator
-
Toggle inclusion of creator information in the exported file (
org-export-with-creator
). -
d
-
Toggles inclusion of drawers, or list of drawers to include, or list of drawers to exclude (
org-export-with-drawers
). -
date
-
Toggle inclusion of a date into exported file (
org-export-with-date
). -
e
-
Toggle inclusion of entities (
org-export-with-entities
). -
email
-
Toggle inclusion of the author's e-mail into exported file (
org-export-with-email
). -
f
-
Toggle the inclusion of footnotes (
org-export-with-footnotes
). -
H
-
Set the number of headline levels for export (
org-export-headline-levels
). Below that level, headlines are treated differently. In most back-ends, they become list items. -
inline
-
Toggle inclusion of inlinetasks (
org-export-with-inlinetasks
). -
num
-
Toggle section-numbers (
org-export-with-section-numbers
). When set to number N, Org numbers only those headlines at level N or above. SetUNNUMBERED
property to non-nil
to disable numbering of heading and subheadings entirely. Moreover, when the value isnotoc
the headline, and all its children, do not appear in the table of contents either (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATable%20of%20Contents). -
p
-
Toggle export of planning information (
org-export-with-planning
). "Planning information" comes from lines located right after the headline and contain any combination of these cookies:SCHEDULED
,DEADLINE
, orCLOSED
. -
pri
-
Toggle inclusion of priority cookies (
org-export-with-priority
). -
prop
-
Toggle inclusion of property drawers, or list the properties to include (
org-export-with-properties
). -
stat
-
Toggle inclusion of statistics cookies (
org-export-with-statistics-cookies
). -
tags
-
Toggle inclusion of tags, may also be
not-in-toc
(org-export-with-tags
). -
tasks
-
Toggle inclusion of tasks (TODO items); or
nil
to remove all tasks; ortodo
to remove done tasks; or list the keywords to keep (org-export-with-tasks
). -
tex
-
nil
does not export;t
exports;verbatim
keeps everything in verbatim (org-export-with-latex
). -
timestamp
-
Toggle inclusion of the creation time in the exported file (
org-export-time-stamp-file
). -
title
-
Toggle inclusion of title (
org-export-with-title
). -
toc
-
Toggle inclusion of the table of contents, or set the level limit (
org-export-with-toc
). -
todo
-
Toggle inclusion of TODO keywords into exported text (
org-export-with-todo-keywords
). -
|
-
Toggle inclusion of tables (
org-export-with-tables
).
When exporting sub-trees, special node properties can override the
above keywords. These properties have an EXPORT_
prefix. For
example, DATE
becomes, EXPORT_DATE
when used for a specific
sub-tree. Except for SETUPFILE
, all other keywords listed above
have an EXPORT_
equivalent.
If org-export-allow-bind-keywords
is non-nil
, Emacs variables can
become buffer-local during export by using the BIND
keyword. Its
syntax is #+BIND: variable value
. This is particularly useful for
in-buffer settings that cannot be changed using keywords.
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 includes both numbered and unnumbered headlines in the table of
contents124. If you need to exclude an unnumbered headline,
along with all its children, set the UNNUMBERED
property to notoc
value.
* Subtree not numbered, not in table of contents either :PROPERTIES: :UNNUMBERED: notoc :END:
Org normally inserts the table of contents directly before the first
headline of the file. To move the table of contents to a different
location, first turn off the default with org-export-with-toc
variable or with #+OPTIONS: toc:nil
. Then insert #+TOC: headlines
N
at the desired location(s).
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil ... #+TOC: headlines 2
To adjust the table of contents depth for a specific section of the
Org document, append an additional local
parameter. This parameter
becomes a relative depth for the current level. The following example
inserts a local table of contents, with direct children only.
* Section #+TOC: headlines 1 local
Note that for this feature to work properly in LaTeX export, the Org
file requires the inclusion of the titletoc package. Because of
compatibility issues, titletoc has to be loaded before hyperref.
Customize the org-latex-default-packages-alist
variable.
The following example inserts a table of contents that links to the children of the specified target.
* Target :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: TargetSection :END: ** Heading A ** Heading B * Another section #+TOC: headlines 1 :target #TargetSection
The :target
attribute is supported in HTML, Markdown, ODT, and ASCII export.
Use the TOC
keyword to generate list of tables—respectively, all
listings—with captions.
#+TOC: listings #+TOC: tables
Normally Org uses the headline for its entry in the table of contents.
But with ALT_TITLE
property, a different entry can be specified for
the table of contents.
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.
If an included file is specified as having a markup language, Org neither checks for valid syntax nor changes the contents in any way. For example and source blocks, Org code-escapes the contents before inclusion.
If an included file is not specified as having any markup language,
Org assumes it be in Org format and proceeds as usual with a few
exceptions. Org makes the footnote labels (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACreating%20Footnotes)
in the included file local to that file. The contents of the included
file belong to the same structure—headline, item—containing the
INCLUDE
keyword. In particular, headlines within the file become
children of the current section. That behavior can be changed by
providing an additional keyword parameter, :minlevel
. It shifts the
headlines in the included file to become the lowest level. For
example, this syntax makes the included file a sibling of the current
top-level headline:
#+INCLUDE: "~/my-book/chapter2.org" :minlevel 1
Inclusion of only portions of files are specified using ranges
parameter with :lines
keyword. The line at the upper end of the
range will not be included. The start and/or the end of the range may
be omitted to use the obvious defaults.
#+INCLUDE: "~/.emacs" :lines "5-10" |
Include lines 5 to 10, 10 excluded |
#+INCLUDE: "~/.emacs" :lines "-10" |
Include lines 1 to 10, 10 excluded |
#+INCLUDE: "~/.emacs" :lines "10-" |
Include lines from 10 to EOF |
Inclusions may specify a file-link to extract an object matched by
org-link-search
125 (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASearch%20Options%20in%20File%20Links). The
ranges for :lines
keyword are relative to the requested element.
Therefore,
#+INCLUDE: "./paper.org::*conclusion" :lines 1-20
includes the first 20 lines of the headline named conclusion
.
To extract only the contents of the matched object, set
:only-contents
property to non-nil
. This omits any planning lines
or property drawers. For example, to include the body of the heading
with the custom ID theory
, you can use
#+INCLUDE: "./paper.org::#theory" :only-contents t
The following command allows navigating to the included document:
-
(
org-edit~special
) -
Visit the included file at point.
Macro Replacement
Macros replace text snippets during export. Macros are defined
globally in org-export-global-macros
, or document-wise with the
following syntax:
#+MACRO: name replacement text; $1, $2 are arguments
which can be referenced using {{{name(arg1, arg2)}}}
126. For
example
#+MACRO: poem Rose is $1, violet's $2. Life's ordered: Org assists you. {{{poem(red,blue)}}}
becomes
Rose is red, violet's blue. Life's ordered: Org assists you.
As a special case, Org parses any replacement text starting with
(eval
as an Emacs Lisp expression and evaluates it accordingly.
Within such templates, arguments become strings. Thus, the following
macro
#+MACRO: gnustamp (eval (concat "GNU/" (capitalize $1)))
turns {{{gnustamp(linux)}}}
into GNU/Linux
during export.
Org recognizes macro references in following Org markup areas:
paragraphs, headlines, verse blocks, tables cells and lists. Org also
recognizes macro references in keywords, such as CAPTION
, TITLE
,
AUTHOR
, DATE
, and for some back-end specific export options.
Org comes with following pre-defined macros:
-
{{{keyword(NAME)}}}
;{{{title}}}
;{{{author}}}
;{{{email}}}
-
The
keyword
macro collects all values from keywords throughout the buffer, separated with white space.title
,author
andemail
macros are shortcuts for, respectively,{{{keyword(TITLE)}}}
,{{{keyword(AUTHOR)}}}
and{{{keyword(EMAIL)}}}
. -
{{{date}}}
;{{{date(FORMAT)}}}
-
This macro refers to the
DATE
keyword. is an optional argument to thedate
macro that is used only ifDATE
is a single timestamp. should be a format string understood byformat-time-string
. -
{{{time(FORMAT)}}}
;{{{modification-time(FORMAT, VC)}}}
-
These macros refer to the document's date and time of export and date and time of modification. is a string understood by
format-time-string
. If the second argument to themodification-time
macro is non-nil
, Org usesvc.el
to retrieve the document's modification time from the version control system. Otherwise Org reads the file attributes. -
{{{input-file}}}
-
This macro refers to the filename of the exported file.
-
{{{property(PROPERTY-NAME)}}}
;{{{property(PROPERTY-NAME, SEARCH OPTION)}}}
-
This macro returns the value of property in the current entry. If (see [[*Search Options in File Links]]) refers to a remote entry, use it instead.
-
{{{n}}}
;{{{n(NAME)}}}
;{{{n(NAME, ACTION)}}}
-
This macro implements custom counters by returning the number of times the macro has been expanded so far while exporting the buffer. You can create more than one counter using different values. If is
-
, previous value of the counter is held, i.e., the specified counter is not incremented. If the value is a number, the specified counter is set to that value. If it is any other non-empty string, the specified counter is reset to 1. You may leave empty to reset the default counter.
Moreover, inline source blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20of%20Code%20Blocks) use the
special results
macro to mark their output. As such, you are
advised against re-defining it, unless you know what you are doing.
The surrounding brackets can be made invisible by setting
org-hide-macro-markers
to a non-nil
value.
Org expands macros at the very beginning of the export process.
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.
In this case, the subtree is not exported and no code block within it
is executed either127. 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/Latin-1/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. Latin-1 and UTF-8 export use additional characters and symbols available in these encoding standards. All three of these export formats offer the most basic of text output for maximum portability.
On export, Org fills and justifies text according to the text width
set in org-ascii-text-width
.
Org exports links using a footnote-like style where the descriptive
part is in the text and the link is in a note before the next heading.
See the variable org-ascii-links-to-notes
for details.
ASCII export commands
-
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. -
Export to a temporary buffer. Does not create a file.
ASCII specific export settings
The ASCII export back-end has one extra keyword for customizing ASCII output. Setting this keyword works similar to the general options (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
-
SUBTITLE
-
The document subtitle. For long subtitles, use multiple
#+SUBTITLE
lines in the Org file. Org prints them on one continuous line, wrapping into multiple lines if necessary.
Header and sectioning structure
Org converts the first three outline levels into headlines for ASCII export. The remaining levels are turned into lists. To change this cut-off point where levels become lists, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings.
Quoting ASCII text
To insert text within the Org file by the ASCII back-end, use one the following constructs, inline, keyword, or export block:
Inline text @@ascii:and additional text@@ within a paragraph. #+ASCII: Some text #+BEGIN_EXPORT ascii Org exports text in this block only when using ASCII back-end. #+END_EXPORT
ASCII specific attributes
ASCII back-end recognizes only one attribute, :width
, which
specifies the width of a horizontal rule in number of characters. The
keyword and syntax for specifying widths is:
#+ATTR_ASCII: :width 10 -----
ASCII special blocks
Besides #+BEGIN_CENTER
blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Paragraphs), ASCII back-end has
these two left and right justification blocks:
#+BEGIN_JUSTIFYLEFT It's just a jump to the left... #+END_JUSTIFYLEFT #+BEGIN_JUSTIFYRIGHT ...and then a step to the right. #+END_JUSTIFYRIGHT
Beamer Export
Org uses Beamer export to convert an Org file tree structure into high-quality interactive slides for presentations. Beamer is a LaTeX document class for creating presentations in PDF, HTML, and other popular display formats.
Beamer export commands
-
(
org-beamer-export-to-latex
) -
Export as LaTeX file with a
.tex
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.tex
, overwriting without warning. -
(
org-beamer-export-as-latex
) -
Export to a temporary buffer. Does not create a file.
-
(
org-beamer-export-to-pdf
) -
Export as LaTeX file and then convert it to PDF format.
-
Export as LaTeX file, convert it to PDF format, and then open the PDF file.
Beamer specific export settings
Beamer export back-end has several additional keywords for customizing Beamer output. These keywords work similar to the general options settings (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
-
BEAMER_THEME
-
The Beamer layout theme (
org-beamer-theme
). Use square brackets for options. For example:#+BEAMER_THEME: Rochester [height=20pt]
-
BEAMER_FONT_THEME
-
The Beamer font theme.
-
BEAMER_INNER_THEME
-
The Beamer inner theme.
-
BEAMER_OUTER_THEME
-
The Beamer outer theme.
-
BEAMER_HEADER
-
Arbitrary lines inserted in the preamble, just before the
hyperref
settings. -
DESCRIPTION
-
The document description. For long descriptions, use multiple
DESCRIPTION
keywords. By default,hyperref
insertsDESCRIPTION
as metadata. Useorg-latex-hyperref-template
to configure document metadata. Useorg-latex-title-command
to configure typesetting of description as part of front matter. -
KEYWORDS
-
The keywords for defining the contents of the document. Use multiple
KEYWORDS
lines if necessary. By default,hyperref
insertsKEYWORDS
as metadata. Useorg-latex-hyperref-template
to configure document metadata. Useorg-latex-title-command
to configure typesetting of keywords as part of front matter. -
SUBTITLE
-
Document's subtitle. For typesetting, use
org-beamer-subtitle-format
string. Useorg-latex-hyperref-template
to configure document metadata. Useorg-latex-title-command
to configure typesetting of subtitle as part of front matter.
Frames and Blocks in Beamer
Org transforms heading levels into Beamer's sectioning elements, frames and blocks. Any Org tree with a not-too-deep-level nesting should in principle be exportable as a Beamer presentation.
-
Org headlines become Beamer frames when the heading level in Org is equal to
org-beamer-frame-level
orH
value in aOPTIONS
line (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).Org overrides headlines to frames conversion for the current tree of an Org file if it encounters the
BEAMER_ENV
property set toframe
orfullframe
. Org ignores whateverorg-beamer-frame-level
happens to be for that headline level in the Org tree. In Beamer terminology, a full frame is a frame without its title. -
Org exports a Beamer frame's objects as block environments. Org can enforce wrapping in special block types when
BEAMER_ENV
property is set128. For valid values seeorg-beamer-environments-default
. To add more values, seeorg-beamer-environments-extra
. -
If
BEAMER_ENV
is set toappendix
, Org exports the entry as an appendix. When set tonote
, Org exports the entry as a note within the frame or between frames, depending on the entry's heading level. When set tonoteNH
, Org exports the entry as a note without its title. When set toagainframe
, Org exports the entry with\againframe
command, which makes setting theBEAMER_REF
property mandatory because\againframe
needs frame to resume.When
ignoreheading
is set, Org export ignores the entry's headline but not its content. This is useful for inserting content between frames. It is also useful for properly closing acolumn
environment. @end itemizeWhen
BEAMER_ACT
is set for a headline, Org export translates that headline as an overlay or action specification. When enclosed in square brackets, Org export makes the overlay specification a default. UseBEAMER_OPT
to set any options applicable to the current Beamer frame or block. The Beamer export back-end wraps with appropriate angular or square brackets. It also adds thefragile
option for any code that may require a verbatim block.To create a column on the Beamer slide, use the
BEAMER_COL
property for its headline in the Org file. Set the value ofBEAMER_COL
to a decimal number representing the fraction of the total text width. Beamer export uses this value to set the column's width and fills the column with the contents of the Org entry. If the Org entry has no specific environment defined, Beamer export ignores the heading. If the Org entry has a defined environment, Beamer export uses the heading as title. Behind the scenes, Beamer export automatically handles LaTeX column separations for contiguous headlines. To manually adjust them for any unique configurations needs, use theBEAMER_ENV
property.
Beamer specific syntax
Since Org's Beamer export back-end is an extension of the LaTeX
back-end, it recognizes other LaTeX specific syntax—for example,
#+LATEX:
or #+ATTR_LATEX:
. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALaTeX%20Export, for details.
Beamer export wraps the table of contents generated with toc:t
OPTION
keyword in a frame
environment. Beamer export does not
wrap the table of contents generated with TOC
keyword (see [[*Table of
Contents]]). Use square brackets for specifying options.
#+TOC: headlines [currentsection]
Insert Beamer-specific code using the following constructs:
#+BEAMER: \pause #+BEGIN_EXPORT beamer Only Beamer export back-end exports this. #+END_BEAMER Text @@beamer:some code@@ within a paragraph.
Inline constructs, such as the last one above, are useful for adding
overlay specifications to objects with bold
, item
, link
,
radio-target
and target
types. Enclose the value in angular
brackets and place the specification at the beginning of the object as
shown in this example:
A *@@beamer:<2->@@useful* feature
Beamer export recognizes the ATTR_BEAMER
keyword with the following
attributes from Beamer configurations: :environment
for changing
local Beamer environment, :overlay
for specifying Beamer overlays in
angular or square brackets, and :options
for inserting optional
arguments.
#+ATTR_BEAMER: :environment nonindentlist - item 1, not indented - item 2, not indented - item 3, not indented
#+ATTR_BEAMER: :overlay <+-> - item 1 - item 2
#+ATTR_BEAMER: :options [Lagrange] Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $H$ be a subgroup of $G$. Then the order of $H$ divides the order of $G$.
Editing support
Org Beamer mode is a special minor mode for faster editing of Beamer documents.
#+STARTUP: beamer
-
(
org-beamer-select-environment
) -
Org Beamer mode provides this key for quicker selections in Beamer normal environments, and for selecting the
BEAMER_COL
property.
A Beamer example
Here is an example of an Org document ready for Beamer export.
#+TITLE: Example Presentation #+AUTHOR: Carsten Dominik #+OPTIONS: H:2 toc:t num:t #+LATEX_CLASS: beamer #+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [presentation] #+BEAMER_THEME: Madrid #+COLUMNS: %45ITEM %10BEAMER_ENV(Env) %10BEAMER_ACT(Act) %4BEAMER_COL(Col) * This is the first structural section ** Frame 1 *** Thanks to Eric Fraga :B_block: :PROPERTIES: :BEAMER_COL: 0.48 :BEAMER_ENV: block :END: for the first viable Beamer setup in Org *** Thanks to everyone else :B_block: :PROPERTIES: :BEAMER_COL: 0.48 :BEAMER_ACT: <2-> :BEAMER_ENV: block :END: for contributing to the discussion **** This will be formatted as a beamer note :B_note: :PROPERTIES: :BEAMER_env: note :END: ** Frame 2 (where we will not use columns) *** Request Please test this stuff!
HTML Export
Org mode contains an HTML exporter with extensive HTML formatting compatible with XHTML 1.0 strict standard.
HTML export commands
-
(
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. -
(
org-html-export-as-html
) -
Exports to a temporary buffer. Does not create a file.
HTML specific export settings
HTML export has a number of keywords, similar to the general options settings described in /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings.
-
DESCRIPTION
-
This is the document's description, which the HTML exporter inserts it as a HTML meta tag in the HTML file. For long descriptions, use multiple
DESCRIPTION
lines. The exporter takes care of wrapping the lines properly.The exporter includes a number of other meta tags, which can be customized by modifying
org-html-meta-tags
. -
HTML_DOCTYPE
-
Specify the document type, for example: HTML5 (
org-html-doctype
). -
HTML_CONTAINER
-
Specify the HTML container, such as
div
, for wrapping sections and elements (org-html-container-element
). -
HTML_LINK_HOME
-
The URL for home link (
org-html-link-home
). -
HTML_LINK_UP
-
The URL for the up link of exported HTML pages (
org-html-link-up
). -
HTML_MATHJAX
-
Options for MathJax (
org-html-mathjax-options
). MathJax is used to typeset LaTeX math in HTML documents. See [[*Math formatting in HTML export]], for an example. -
HTML_HEAD
-
Arbitrary lines for appending to the HTML document's head (
org-html-head
). -
HTML_HEAD_EXTRA
-
More arbitrary lines for appending to the HTML document's head (
org-html-head-extra
). -
KEYWORDS
-
Keywords to describe the document's content. HTML exporter inserts these keywords as HTML meta tags. For long keywords, use multiple
KEYWORDS
lines. -
LATEX_HEADER
-
Arbitrary lines for appending to the preamble; HTML exporter appends when transcoding LaTeX fragments to images (see [[*Math formatting in HTML export]]).
-
SUBTITLE
-
The document's subtitle. HTML exporter formats subtitle if document type is
HTML5
and the CSS has asubtitle
class.
Some of these keywords are explained in more detail in the following sections of the manual.
HTML doctypes
Org can export to various (X)HTML flavors.
Set the org-html-doctype
variable for different (X)HTML variants.
Depending on the variant, the HTML exporter adjusts the syntax of HTML
conversion accordingly. Org includes the following ready-made
variants:
"html4-strict"
"html4-transitional"
"html4-frameset"
"xhtml-strict"
"xhtml-transitional"
"xhtml-frameset"
"xhtml-11"
"html5"
"xhtml5"
See the variable org-html-doctype-alist
for details. The default is
"xhtml-strict"
.
Org's HTML exporter does not by default enable new block elements
introduced with the HTML5 standard. To enable them, set
org-html-html5-fancy
to non-nil
. Or use an OPTIONS
line in the
file to set html5-fancy
.
HTML5 documents can now have arbitrary #+BEGIN
… #+END
blocks.
For example:
#+BEGIN_aside Lorem ipsum #+END_aside
exports to:
<aside>
<p>Lorem ipsum</p>
</aside>
while this:
#+ATTR_HTML: :controls controls :width 350 #+BEGIN_video #+HTML: <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4"> #+HTML: <source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg"> Your browser does not support the video tag. #+END_video
exports to:
<video controls="controls" width="350">
<source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
<source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg">
<p>Your browser does not support the video tag.</p>
</video>
When special blocks do not have a corresponding HTML5 element, the
HTML exporter reverts to standard translation (see
org-html-html5-elements
). For example, #+BEGIN_lederhosen
exports
to <div class="lederhosen">
.
Special blocks cannot have headlines. For the HTML exporter to wrap
the headline and its contents in <section>
or <article>
tags, set
the HTML_CONTAINER
property for the headline.
HTML preamble and postamble
The HTML exporter has delineations for preamble and postamble. The
default value for org-html-preamble
is t
, which makes the HTML
exporter insert the preamble. See the variable
org-html-preamble-format
for the format string.
Set org-html-preamble
to a string to override the default format
string. If the string is a function, the HTML exporter expects the
function to return a string upon execution. The HTML exporter inserts
this string in the preamble. The HTML exporter does not insert
a preamble if org-html-preamble
is set nil
.
The default value for org-html-postamble
is auto
, which makes the
HTML exporter build a postamble from looking up author's name, email
address, creator's name, and date. Set org-html-postamble
to t
to
insert the postamble in the format specified in the
org-html-postamble-format
variable. The HTML exporter does not
insert a postamble if org-html-postamble
is set to nil
.
Quoting HTML tags
The HTML export back-end transforms <
and >
to <
and >
.
To include raw HTML code in the Org file so the HTML export back-end
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
Headlines in HTML export
Headlines are exported to <h1>
, <h2>
, etc. Each headline gets the
id
attribute from CUSTOM_ID
property, or a unique generated value,
see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20Links.
When org-html-self-link-headlines
is set to a non-nil
value, the
text of the headlines is also wrapped in <a>
tags. These tags have
a href
attribute making the headlines link to themselves.
Links in HTML export
The HTML export back-end transforms Org's internal links (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20Links) to equivalent HTML links in the output. The back-end similarly handles Org's automatic links created by radio targets (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ARadio%20Targets) similarly. For Org links to external files, the back-end transforms the links to relative paths.
For Org links to other .org
files, the back-end automatically
changes the file extension to .html
and makes file paths relative.
If the .org
files have an equivalent .html
version at the same
location, then the converted links should work without any further
manual intervention. However, to disable this automatic path
translation, set org-html-link-org-files-as-html
to nil
. When
disabled, the HTML export back-end substitutes the ID-based links in
the HTML output. For more about linking files when publishing to
a directory, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APublishing%20links.
Org files can also have special directives to the HTML export
back-end. For example, by using #+ATTR_HTML
lines to specify new
format attributes to <a>
or <img>
tags. This example shows
changing the link's title and style:
#+ATTR_HTML: :title The Org mode homepage :style color:red; [[https://orgmode.org]]
Tables in HTML export
The HTML export back-end uses org-html-table-default-attributes
when
exporting Org tables to HTML. By default, the exporter does not draw
frames and cell borders. To change for this for a table, use the
following lines before the table in the Org file:
#+CAPTION: This is a table with lines around and between cells #+ATTR_HTML: :border 2 :rules all :frame border
The HTML export back-end preserves column groupings in Org tables (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20Groups) when exporting to HTML.
Additional options for customizing tables for HTML export.
-
org-html-table-align-individual-fields
-
Non-
nil
attaches style attributes for alignment to each table field. -
org-html-table-caption-above
-
Non-
nil
places caption string at the beginning of the table. -
org-html-table-data-tags
-
Opening and ending tags for table data fields.
-
org-html-table-default-attributes
-
Default attributes and values for table tags.
-
org-html-table-header-tags
-
Opening and ending tags for table's header fields.
-
org-html-table-row-tags
-
Opening and ending tags for table rows.
-
org-html-table-use-header-tags-for-first-column
-
Non-
nil
formats column one in tables with header tags.
Images in HTML export
The HTML export back-end has features to convert Org image links to HTML inline images and HTML clickable image links.
When the link in the Org file has no description, the HTML export
back-end by default in-lines that image. For example:
[[file:myimg.jpg]]
is in-lined, while [[file:myimg.jpg][the image]]
links to the text,
the image
. For more details, see the variable
org-html-inline-images
.
On the other hand, if the description part of the Org link is itself
another link, such as file:
or http:
URL pointing to an image, the
HTML export back-end in-lines this image and links to the main image.
This Org syntax enables the back-end to link low-resolution thumbnail
to the high-resolution version of the image, as shown in this example:
[[file:highres.jpg][file:thumb.jpg]]
To change attributes of in-lined images, use #+ATTR_HTML
lines in
the Org file. This example shows realignment to right, and adds alt
and title
attributes in support of text viewers and modern web
accessibility standards.
#+CAPTION: A black cat stalking a spider #+ATTR_HTML: :alt cat/spider image :title Action! :align right [[./img/a.jpg]]
The HTML export back-end copies the http
links from the Org file
as-is.
Math formatting in HTML export
LaTeX math snippets (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALaTeX%20fragments) can be displayed in two
different ways on HTML pages. The default is to use the MathJax,
which should work out of the box with Org129130. Some MathJax
display options can be configured via org-html-mathjax-options
, or
in the buffer. For example, with the following settings,
#+HTML_MATHJAX: align: left indent: 5em tagside: left font: Neo-Euler #+HTML_MATHJAX: cancel.js noErrors.js
equation labels are displayed on the left margin and equations are
five em from the left margin. In addition, it loads the two MathJax
extensions cancel.js
and noErrors.js
131.
See the docstring of org-html-mathjax-options
for all supported
variables. The MathJax template can be configure via
org-html-mathjax-template
.
If you prefer, you can also request that LaTeX fragments are processed into small images that will be inserted into the browser page. Before the availability of MathJax, this was the default method for Org files. This method requires that the dvipng program, dvisvgm or ImageMagick suite is available on your system. You can still get this processing with
#+OPTIONS: tex:dvipng
#+OPTIONS: tex:dvisvgm
or
#+OPTIONS: tex:imagemagick
Text areas in HTML export
Before Org mode's Babel, one popular approach to publishing code in
HTML was by using :textarea
. The advantage of this approach was
that copying and pasting was built into browsers with simple
JavaScript commands. Even editing before pasting was made simple.
The HTML export back-end can create such text areas. It requires an
#+ATTR_HTML
line as shown in the example below with the :textarea
option. This must be followed by either an example or a source code
block. Other Org block types do not honor the :textarea
option.
By default, the HTML export back-end creates a text area 80 characters
wide and height just enough to fit the content. Override these
defaults with :width
and :height
options on the #+ATTR_HTML
line.
#+ATTR_HTML: :textarea t :width 40 #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE (defun org-xor (a b) "Exclusive or." (if a (not b) b)) #+END_EXAMPLE
CSS support
You can modify the CSS style definitions for the exported file. The HTML exporter assigns the following special CSS classes132 to appropriate parts of the document—your style specifications may change these, in addition to any of the standard classes like for headlines, tables, etc.
p.author |
author information, including email |
p.date |
publishing date |
p.creator |
creator info, about org mode version |
.title |
document title |
.subtitle |
document subtitle |
.todo |
TODO keywords, all not-done states |
.done |
the DONE keywords, all states that count as done |
.WAITING |
each TODO keyword also uses a class named after itself |
.timestamp |
timestamp |
.timestamp-kwd |
keyword associated with a timestamp, like SCHEDULED |
.timestamp-wrapper |
span around keyword plus timestamp |
.tag |
tag in a headline |
._HOME |
each tag uses itself as a class, "@" replaced by "_" |
.target |
target for links |
.linenr |
the line number in a code example |
.code-highlighted |
for highlighting referenced code lines |
div.outline-N |
div for outline level N (headline plus text) |
div.outline-text-N |
extra div for text at outline level N |
.section-number-N |
section number in headlines, different for each level |
.figure-number |
label like "Figure 1:" |
.table-number |
label like "Table 1:" |
.listing-number |
label like "Listing 1:" |
div.figure |
how to format an in-lined image |
pre.src |
formatted source code |
pre.example |
normal example |
p.verse |
verse paragraph |
div.footnotes |
footnote section headline |
p.footnote |
footnote definition paragraph, containing a footnote |
.footref |
a footnote reference number (always a <sup>) |
.footnum |
footnote number in footnote definition (always <sup>) |
.org-svg |
default class for a linked .svg image |
The HTML export back-end includes a compact default style in each exported HTML file. To override the default style with another style, use these keywords in the Org file. They will replace the global defaults the HTML exporter uses.
#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style1.css" /> #+HTML_HEAD_EXTRA: <link rel="alternate stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style2.css" />
To just turn off the default style, customize
org-html-head-include-default-style
variable, or use this option
line in the Org file.
#+OPTIONS: html-style:nil
For longer style definitions, either use several HTML_HEAD
and
HTML_HEAD_EXTRA
keywords, or use <style> ... </style>
blocks
around them. Both of these approaches can avoid referring to an
external file.
In order to add styles to a sub-tree, use the HTML_CONTAINER_CLASS
property to assign a class to the tree. In order to specify CSS
styles for a particular headline, you can use the ID specified in
a CUSTOM_ID
property. You can also assign a specific class to
a headline with the HTML_HEADLINE_CLASS
property.
Never change the org-html-style-default
constant. Instead use other
simpler ways of customizing as described above.
JavaScript supported display of web pages
Sebastian Rose has written a JavaScript program especially designed to allow two different ways of viewing HTML files created with Org. One is an Info-like mode where each section is displayed separately and navigation can be done with the keys, and some other keys as well, press for an overview of the available keys. The second one has a folding view, much like Org provides inside Emacs. The script is available at https://orgmode.org/org-info.js and the documentation at https://orgmode.org/worg/code/org-info-js/. The script is hosted on https://orgmode.org, but for reliability, prefer installing it on your own web server.
To use this program, just add this line to the Org file:
#+INFOJS_OPT: view:info toc:nil
The HTML header now has the code needed to automatically invoke the script. For setting options, use the syntax from the above line for options described below:
-
path:
-
The path to the script. The default is to grab the script from
https://orgmode.org/org-info.js, but you might want to have a local
copy and use a path like
../scripts/org-info.js
. -
view:
-
Initial view when the website is first shown. Possible values are:
info
Info-like interface with one section per page overview
Folding interface, initially showing only top-level content
Folding interface, starting with all headlines visible showall
Folding interface, all headlines and text visible -
sdepth:
-
Maximum headline level still considered as an independent section
for info and folding modes. The default is taken from
org-export-headline-levels
, i.e., theH
switch inOPTIONS
. If this is smaller than inorg-export-headline-levels
, each info/folding section can still contain child headlines. -
toc:
-
Should the table of contents initially be visible? Even when
nil
, you can always get to the "toc" with . -
tdepth:
-
The depth of the table of contents. The defaults are taken from the
variables
org-export-headline-levels
andorg-export-with-toc
. -
ftoc:
- Does the CSS of the page specify a fixed position for the "toc"? If yes, the toc is displayed as a section.
-
ltoc:
-
Should there be short contents (children) in each section? Make
this
above
if the section should be above initial text. -
mouse:
-
Headings are highlighted when the mouse is over them. Should be
underline
(default) or a background color like#cccccc
. -
buttons:
-
Should view-toggle buttons be everywhere? When
nil
(the default), only one such button is present.
You can choose default values for these options by customizing the
variable org-infojs-options
. If you always want to apply the script
to your pages, configure the variable org-export-html-use-infojs
.
LaTeX Export
The LaTeX export back-end 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.
While the details are covered in-depth in this section, here are some
quick references to variables for the impatient: for engines, see
org-latex-compiler
; for build sequences, see
org-latex-pdf-process
; for packages, see
org-latex-default-packages-alist
and org-latex-packages-alist
.
An important note about the LaTeX export back-end: it is sensitive to blank lines in the Org document. That's because LaTeX itself depends on blank lines to tell apart syntactical elements, such as paragraphs.
LaTeX/PDF export commands
-
(
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-as-latex
) -
Export to a temporary buffer. Do not create a file.
-
(
org-latex-export-to-pdf
) -
Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF file.
-
Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF, then open the PDF using the default viewer.
- Convert the region to LaTeX under the assumption that it was in Org mode syntax before. This is a global command that can be invoked in any buffer.
The LaTeX export back-end can use any of these LaTeX engines:
pdflatex
, xelatex
, and lualatex
. These engines compile LaTeX
files with different compilers, packages, and output options. The
LaTeX export back-end finds the compiler version to use from
org-latex-compiler
variable or the #+LATEX_COMPILER
keyword in the
Org file. See the docstring for the
org-latex-default-packages-alist
for loading packages with certain
compilers. Also see org-latex-bibtex-compiler
to set the
bibliography compiler133.
LaTeX specific export settings
The LaTeX export back-end has several additional keywords for customizing LaTeX output. Setting these keywords works similar to the general options (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
-
DESCRIPTION
-
The document's description. The description along with author name, keywords, and related file metadata are inserted in the output file by the hyperref package. See
org-latex-hyperref-template
for customizing metadata items. Seeorg-latex-title-command
for typesetting description into the document's front matter. Use multipleDESCRIPTION
keywords for long descriptions. -
LANGUAGE
-
In order to be effective, the
babel
orpolyglossia
packages—according to the LaTeX compiler used—must be loaded with the appropriate language as argument. This can be accomplished by modifying theorg-latex-packages-alist
variable, e.g., with the following snippet:(add-to-list 'org-latex-packages-alist '("AUTO" "babel" t ("pdflatex"))) (add-to-list 'org-latex-packages-alist '("AUTO" "polyglossia" t ("xelatex" "lualatex")))
-
LATEX_CLASS
-
This is LaTeX document class, such as article, report, book, and so on, which contain predefined preamble and headline level mapping that the LaTeX export back-end needs. The back-end reads the default class name from the
org-latex-default-class
variable. Org has article as the default class. A valid default class must be an element oforg-latex-classes
. -
LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS
-
Options the LaTeX export back-end uses when calling the LaTeX document class.
-
LATEX_COMPILER
-
The compiler, such as
pdflatex
,xelatex
,lualatex
, for producing the PDF. Seeorg-latex-compiler
. -
LATEX_HEADER
,LATEX_HEADER_EXTRA
-
Arbitrary lines to add to the document's preamble, before the hyperref settings. See
org-latex-classes
for adjusting the structure and order of the LaTeX headers. -
KEYWORDS
-
The keywords for the document. The description along with author name, keywords, and related file metadata are inserted in the output file by the hyperref package. See
org-latex-hyperref-template
for customizing metadata items. Seeorg-latex-title-command
for typesetting description into the document's front matter. Use multipleKEYWORDS
lines if necessary. -
SUBTITLE
-
The document's subtitle. It is typeset as per
org-latex-subtitle-format
. Iforg-latex-subtitle-separate
is non-nil
, it is typed outside of the\title
macro. Seeorg-latex-hyperref-template
for customizing metadata items. Seeorg-latex-title-command
for typesetting description into the document's front matter.
The following sections have further details.
LaTeX header and sectioning structure
The LaTeX export back-end converts the first three of Org's outline levels into LaTeX headlines. The remaining Org levels are exported as lists. To change this globally for the cut-off point between levels and lists, (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
By default, the LaTeX export back-end uses the article class.
To change the default class globally, edit org-latex-default-class
.
To change the default class locally in an Org file, add option lines
#+LATEX_CLASS: myclass
. To change the default class for just a part
of the Org file, set a sub-tree property, EXPORT_LATEX_CLASS
. The
class name entered here must be valid member of org-latex-classes
.
This variable defines a header template for each class into which the
exporter splices the values of org-latex-default-packages-alist
and
org-latex-packages-alist
. Use the same three variables to define
custom sectioning or custom classes.
The LaTeX export back-end sends the LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS
keyword and
EXPORT_LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS
property as options to the LaTeX
\documentclass
macro. The options and the syntax for specifying
them, including enclosing them in square brackets, follow LaTeX
conventions.
#+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [a4paper,11pt,twoside,twocolumn]
The LaTeX export back-end appends values from LATEX_HEADER
and
LATEX_HEADER_EXTRA
keywords to the LaTeX header. The docstring for
org-latex-classes
explains in more detail. Also note that LaTeX
export back-end does not append LATEX_HEADER_EXTRA
to the header
when previewing LaTeX snippets (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APreviewing%20LaTeX%20fragments).
A sample Org file with the above headers:
#+LATEX_CLASS: article #+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [a4paper] #+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{xyz} * Headline 1 some text * Headline 2 some more text
Quoting LaTeX code
The LaTeX export back-end can insert any arbitrary LaTeX code, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/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 back-end exports any code between begin and end markers:
#+BEGIN_EXPORT latex any arbitrary LaTeX code #+END_EXPORT
Tables in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end can pass several LaTeX attributes for table contents and layout. Besides specifying a label (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AInternal%20Links) and a caption (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Captions), the other valid LaTeX attributes include:
-
:mode
-
The LaTeX export back-end wraps the table differently depending on the mode for accurate rendering of math symbols. Mode is either
table
,math
,inline-math
orverbatim
.For
math
orinline-math
mode, LaTeX export back-end wraps the table in a math environment, but every cell in it is exported as-is. The LaTeX export back-end determines the default mode fromorg-latex-default-table-mode
. The LaTeX export back-end merges contiguous tables in the same mode into a single environment. -
:environment
-
Set the default LaTeX table environment for the LaTeX export back-end to use when exporting Org tables. Common LaTeX table environments are provided by these packages: tabularx, longtable, array, tabu, and bmatrix. For packages, such as tabularx and tabu, or any newer replacements, include them in the
org-latex-packages-alist
variable so the LaTeX export back-end can insert the appropriate load package headers in the converted LaTeX file. Look in the docstring for theorg-latex-packages-alist
variable for configuring these packages for LaTeX snippet previews, if any. -
:caption
-
Use
CAPTION
keyword to set a simple caption for a table (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Captions). For custom captions, use:caption
attribute, which accepts raw LaTeX code.:caption
value overridesCAPTION
value. -
:float
,:placement
-
The table environments by default are not floats in LaTeX. To make
them floating objects use
:float
with one of the following options:t
(for a defaulttable
environment),sideways
(for asidewaystable
environment),multicolumn
(to span the table across multiple columns of a page in atable*
environment) andnil
. In addition to these three values,:float
can pass through any arbitrary value, for example a user-defined float type with thefloat
LaTeX package. LaTeX floats can also have additional layout:placement
attributes. These are the usual[h t b p ! H]
permissions specified in square brackets. Note that for:float sideways
tables, the LaTeX export back-end ignores:placement
attributes. -
:align
,:font
,:width
- The LaTeX export back-end uses these attributes for regular tables to set their alignments, fonts, and widths.
-
:options
-
The
:options
attribute allows adding an optional argument with a list of various table options (between brackets in LaTeX export), since certain tabular environments, such as longtblr of the tabularray LaTeX package, provides this structure. For example::options remark{Note}={note},remark{Source}={source}
. -
:spread
-
When
:spread
is non-nil
, the LaTeX export back-end spreads or shrinks the table by the:width
for tabu and longtabu environments.:spread
has no effect if:width
is not set. -
:booktabs
,:center
,:rmlines
-
All three commands are toggles.
:booktabs
brings in modern typesetting enhancements to regular tables. The booktabs package has to be loaded throughorg-latex-packages-alist
.:center
is for centering the table.:rmlines
removes all but the very first horizontal line made of ASCII characters from "table.el" tables only. -
:math-prefix
,:math-suffix
,:math-arguments
-
The LaTeX export back-end inserts
:math-prefix
string value in a math environment before the table. The LaTeX export back-end inserts:math-suffix
string value in a math environment after the table. The LaTeX export back-end inserts:math-arguments
string value between the macro name and the table's contents.:math-arguments
comes in use for matrix macros that require more than one argument, such asqbordermatrix
.
LaTeX table attributes help formatting tables for a wide range of situations, such as matrix product or spanning multiple pages:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :environment longtable :align l|lp{3cm}r|l | ... | ... | | ... | ... | #+ATTR_LATEX: :mode math :environment bmatrix :math-suffix \times | a | b | | c | d | #+ATTR_LATEX: :mode math :environment bmatrix | 1 | 2 | | 3 | 4 |
Set the caption with the LaTeX command
\bicaption{HeadingA}{HeadingB}
:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :caption \bicaption{HeadingA}{HeadingB} | ... | ... | | ... | ... |
Images in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end processes image links in Org files that do
not have descriptions, such as these links [[file:img.jpg]]
or
[[./img.jpg]]
, as direct image insertions in the final PDF output. In
the PDF, they are no longer links but actual images embedded on the
page. The LaTeX export back-end uses \includegraphics
macro to
insert the image. But for TikZ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pgf/)
images, the back-end uses an \input
macro wrapped within
a tikzpicture
environment.
For specifying image :width
, :height
, :scale
and other :options
,
use this syntax:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :width 5cm :options angle=90 [[./img/sed-hr4049.pdf]]
A :scale
attribute overrides both :width
and :height
attributes.
For custom commands for captions, use the :caption
attribute. It
overrides the default #+CAPTION
value:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :caption \bicaption{HeadingA}{HeadingB} [[./img/sed-hr4049.pdf]]
When captions follow the method as described in /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Captions, the LaTeX
export back-end wraps the picture in a floating figure
environment.
To float an image without specifying a caption, set the :float
attribute to one of the following:
-
t
-
For a default
figure
environment. -
multicolumn
-
To span the image across multiple columns of a page; the back-end
wraps the image in a
figure*
environment. -
wrap
- For text to flow around the image on the right; the figure occupies the left half of the page.
-
sideways
-
For a new page with the image sideways, rotated ninety degrees, in
a
sidewaysfigure
environment; overrides:placement
setting. -
nil
-
To avoid a
:float
even if using a caption. - Any arbitrary value
-
For example, a user-defined float type with the
float
LaTeX package.
Use the placement
attribute to modify a floating environment's
placement.
#+ATTR_LATEX: :float wrap :width 0.38\textwidth :placement {r}{0.4\textwidth} [[./img/hst.png]]
The LaTeX export back-end centers all images by default. Setting
:center
to nil
disables centering. To disable centering globally,
set org-latex-images-centered
to nil
.
Set the :comment-include
attribute to non-nil
value for the LaTeX
export back-end to comment out the \includegraphics
macro.
Plain lists in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end accepts the environment
and options
attributes for plain lists. Both attributes work together for
customizing lists, as shown in the examples:
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[inline]{enumitem} Some ways to say "Hello": #+ATTR_LATEX: :environment itemize* #+ATTR_LATEX: :options [label={}, itemjoin={,}, itemjoin*={, and}] - Hola - Bonjour - Guten Tag.
Since LaTeX supports only four levels of nesting for lists, use an
external package, such as enumitem
in LaTeX, for levels deeper than
four:
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{enumitem} #+LATEX_HEADER: \renewlist{itemize}{itemize}{9} #+LATEX_HEADER: \setlist[itemize]{label=$\circ$} - One - Two - Three - Four - Five
Source blocks in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end can make source code blocks into floating
objects through the attributes :float
and :options
. For :float
:
-
t
- Makes a source block float; by default floats any source block with a caption.
-
multicolumn
- Spans the source block across multiple columns of a page.
-
nil
-
Avoids a
:float
even if using a caption; useful for source code blocks that may not fit on a page.
#+ATTR_LATEX: :float nil #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp Lisp code that may not fit in a single page. #+END_SRC
The LaTeX export back-end passes string values in :options
to LaTeX
packages for customization of that specific source block. In the
example below, the :options
are set for Engraved or Minted. Minted
is a source code highlighting LaTeX package with many configurable
options134. Both Minted and Engraved are built on fvextra, and
so support many of the same options.
#+ATTR_LATEX: :options mathescape #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun Fib (n) ; $n_i = n_{i-2} + n_{i-1}$ (if (< n 2) n (+ (Fib (- n 1)) (Fib (- n 2))))) #+END_SRC
To apply similar configuration options for all source blocks in a
file, use the org-latex-listings-options
,
org-latex-engraved-options
, and org-latex-minted-options
variables.
Example blocks in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end wraps the contents of example blocks in
a verbatim
environment. To change this behavior to use another
environment globally, specify an appropriate export filter (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAdvanced%20Export%20Configuration). To change this behavior to use
another environment for each block, use the :environment
parameter
to specify a custom environment.
#+ATTR_LATEX: :environment myverbatim #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE This sentence is false. #+END_EXAMPLE
Special blocks in LaTeX export
For other special blocks in the Org file, the LaTeX export back-end
makes a special environment of the same name. The back-end also takes
:options
, if any, and appends as-is to that environment's opening
string. For example:
#+BEGIN_abstract We demonstrate how to solve the Syracuse problem. #+END_abstract #+ATTR_LATEX: :options [Proof of important theorem] #+BEGIN_proof ... Therefore, any even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes. #+END_proof
exports to
\begin{abstract} We demonstrate how to solve the Syracuse problem. \end{abstract} \begin{proof}[Proof of important theorem] ... Therefore, any even number greater than 2 is the sum of two primes. \end{proof}
If you need to insert a specific caption command, use :caption
attribute. It overrides standard CAPTION
value, if any. For
example:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :caption \MyCaption{HeadingA} #+BEGIN_proof ... #+END_proof
Horizontal rules in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end converts horizontal rules by the specified
:width
and :thickness
attributes. For example:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :width .6\textwidth :thickness 0.8pt -----
Verse blocks in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end accepts four attributes for verse blocks:
:lines
, :center
, :versewidth
and :latexcode
. The three first
require the external LaTeX package verse.sty
, which is an extension
of the standard LaTeX environment.
-
:lines
- To add marginal verse numbering. Its value is an integer, the sequence in which the verses should be numbered.
-
:center
- With value
t
all the verses on the page are optically centered (a typographic convention for poetry), taking as a reference the longest verse, which must be indicated by the attribute:versewidth
. -
:versewidth
- Its value is a literal text string with the longest verse.
-
:latexcode
- It accepts any arbitrary LaTeX code that can be
included within a LaTeX
verse
environment.
A complete example with Shakespeare's first sonnet:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :center t :latexcode \color{red} :lines 5
#+ATTR_LATEX: :versewidth Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
#+BEGIN_VERSE
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease
His tender heir might bear his memory
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggardly.
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.
#+END_VERSE
Quote blocks in LaTeX export
The LaTeX export back-end accepts two attributes for quote blocks:
:environment
, for an arbitrary quoting environment (the default
value is that of org-latex-default-quote-environment
: "quote"
) and
:options
. For example, to choose the environment quotation
,
included as an alternative to quote
in standard LaTeX classes:
#+ATTR_LATEX: :environment quotation #+BEGIN_QUOTE some text... #+END_QUOTE
To choose the foreigndisplayquote
environment, included in the LaTeX
package csquotes
, with the german
option, use this syntax:
#+LATEX_HEADER:\usepackage[autostyle=true]{csquotes} #+ATTR_LATEX: :environment foreigndisplayquote :options {german} #+BEGIN_QUOTE some text in German... #+END_QUOTE
which is exported to LaTeX as
\begin{foreigndisplayquote}{german} some text in German... \end{foreigndisplayquote}
Markdown Export
The Markdown export back-end, "md", converts an Org file to Markdown format, as defined at http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/.
Since it is built on top of the HTML back-end (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHTML%20Export), it converts every Org construct not defined in Markdown syntax, such as tables, to HTML.
Markdown export commands
-
(
org-md-export-to-markdown
) -
Export to a text file with Markdown syntax. For
myfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.md
, overwritten without warning. -
(
org-md-export-as-markdown
) -
Export to a temporary buffer. Does not create a file.
-
Export as a text file with Markdown syntax, then open it.
Header and sectioning structure
Based on org-md-headline-style
, Markdown export can generate
headlines of both atx and setext types. atx limits headline
levels to two whereas setext limits headline levels to six. Beyond
these limits, the export back-end converts headlines to lists. To set
a limit to a level before the absolute limit (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
OpenDocument Text Export
The ODT export back-end handles creating of OpenDocument Text (ODT) format. Documents created by this exporter use the 135 and are compatible with LibreOffice 3.4.
Pre-requisites for ODT export
The ODT export back-end relies on the zip program to create the final
compressed ODT output. Check if zip
is locally available and
executable. Without it, export cannot finish.
ODT export commands
-
(
org-export-to-odt
) -
Export as OpenDocument Text file.
If
org-odt-preferred-output-format
is specified, the ODT export back-end automatically converts the exported file to that format.For
myfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.odt
, overwriting without warning. The ODT export back-end exports a region only if a region was active.If the selected region is a single tree, the ODT export back-end makes the tree head the document title. Incidentally, {{{kbd(C-c @)}}} selects the current sub-tree. If the tree head entry has, or inherits, an
EXPORT_FILE_NAME
property, the ODT export back-end uses that for file name. -
Export as an OpenDocument Text file and open the resulting file.
If
org-export-odt-preferred-output-format
is specified, open the converted file instead. See [[*Automatically exporting to other formats]].
ODT specific export settings
The ODT export back-end has several additional keywords for customizing ODT output. Setting these keywords works similar to the general options (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
-
DESCRIPTION
-
This is the document's description, which the ODT export back-end inserts as document metadata. For long descriptions, use multiple lines, prefixed with
DESCRIPTION
. -
KEYWORDS
-
The keywords for the document. The ODT export back-end inserts the description along with author name, keywords, and related file metadata as metadata in the output file. Use multiple
KEYWORDS
if necessary. -
ODT_STYLES_FILE
-
The ODT export back-end uses the
org-odt-styles-file
by default. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AApplying%20custom%20styles for details. -
SUBTITLE
-
The document subtitle.
Extending ODT export
The ODT export back-end can produce documents in other formats besides
ODT using a specialized ODT converter process. Its common interface
works with popular converters to produce formats such as doc
, or
convert a document from one format, say csv
, to another format, say
xls
.
Customize org-odt-convert-process
variable to point to unoconv
,
which is the ODT's preferred converter. Working installations of
LibreOffice would already have unoconv
installed. Alternatively,
other converters may be substituted here. See [[*Configuring
a document converter]].
Automatically exporting to other formats
If ODT format is just an intermediate step to get to other formats,
such as doc
, docx
, rtf
, or pdf
, etc., then extend the ODT
export back-end to directly produce that format. Specify the final
format in the org-odt-preferred-output-format
variable. This is one
way to extend (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AODT%20export%20commands).
Converting between document formats
The Org export back-end is made to be inter-operable with a wide range of text document format converters. Newer generation converters, such as LibreOffice and Pandoc, can handle hundreds of formats at once. Org provides a consistent interaction with whatever converter is installed. Here are some generic commands:
-
Convert an existing document from one format to another. With a prefix argument, opens the newly produced file.
Applying custom styles
The ODT export back-end comes with many OpenDocument styles (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWorking%20with%20OpenDocument%20style%20files). To expand or further customize these built-in style sheets, either edit the style sheets directly or generate them using an application such as LibreOffice. The example here shows creating a style using LibreOffice.
Applying custom styles: the easy way
-
Create a sample
example.org
file with settings as shown below, and export it to ODT format.#+OPTIONS: H:10 num:t
- Open the above
example.odt
using LibreOffice. Use the Stylist to locate the target styles, which typically have the "Org" prefix. Open one, modify, and save as either OpenDocument Text (ODT) or OpenDocument Template (OTT) file. -
Customize the variable
org-odt-styles-file
and point it to the newly created file. For additional configuration options, see Overriding factory styles.To apply an ODT style to a particular file, use the
ODT_STYLES_FILE
keyword as shown in the example below:#+ODT_STYLES_FILE: "/path/to/example.ott"
or
#+ODT_STYLES_FILE: ("/path/to/file.ott" ("styles.xml" "image/hdr.png"))
Using third-party styles and templates
The ODT export back-end relies on many templates and style names. Using third-party styles and templates can lead to mismatches. Templates derived from built in ODT templates and styles seem to have fewer problems.
Links in ODT export
ODT exporter creates native cross-references for internal links. It creates Internet-style links for all other links.
A link with no description and pointing to a regular, un-itemized, outline heading is replaced with a cross-reference and section number of the heading.
A \ref{label}
-style reference to an image, table etc., is replaced
with a cross-reference and sequence number of the labeled entity. See
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALabels%20and%20captions%20in%20ODT%20export.
Tables in ODT export
The ODT export back-end handles native Org mode tables (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Tables)
and simple table.el
tables. Complex table.el
tables having column
or row spans are not supported. Such tables are stripped from the
exported document.
By default, the ODT export back-end exports a table with top and bottom frames and with ruled lines separating row and column groups (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20Groups). All tables are typeset to occupy the same width. The ODT export back-end honors any table alignments and relative widths for columns (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20Width%20and%20Alignment).
Note that the ODT export back-end interprets column widths as weighted ratios, the default weight being 1.
Specifying :rel-width
property on an ATTR_ODT
line controls the
width of the table. For example:
#+ATTR_ODT: :rel-width 50 | Area/Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Sum | |---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------| | / | < | | | < | | <l13> | <r5> | <r5> | <r5> | <r6> | | North America | 1 | 21 | 926 | 948 | | Middle East | 6 | 75 | 844 | 925 | | Asia Pacific | 9 | 27 | 790 | 826 | |---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------| | Sum | 16 | 123 | 2560 | 2699 |
On export, the above table takes 50% of text width area. The exporter sizes the columns in the ratio: 13:5:5:5:6. The first column is left-aligned and rest of the columns, right-aligned. Vertical rules separate the header and the last column. Horizontal rules separate the header and the last row.
For even more customization, create custom table styles and associate
them with a table using the ATTR_ODT
keyword. See [[*Customizing
tables in ODT export]].
Images in ODT export
Embedding images
The ODT export back-end processes image links in Org files that do not
have descriptions, such as these links [[file:img.jpg]]
or [[./img.jpg]]
,
as direct image insertions in the final output. Either of these
examples works:
[[file:img.png]]
[[./img.png]]
Embedding clickable images
For clickable images, provide a link whose description is another link
to an image file. For example, to embed an image
org-mode-unicorn.png
which when clicked jumps to https://orgmode.org
website, do the following
[[https://orgmode.org][./org-mode-unicorn.png]]
Sizing and scaling of embedded images
Control the size and scale of the embedded images with the ATTR_ODT
attribute.
The ODT export back-end starts with establishing the size of the image
in the final document. The dimensions of this size are measured in
centimeters. The back-end then queries the image file for its
dimensions measured in pixels. For this measurement, the back-end
relies on ImageMagick's identify program or Emacs create-image
and
image-size
API. ImageMagick is the preferred choice for large file
sizes or frequent batch operations. The back-end then converts the
pixel dimensions using org-odt-pixels-per-inch
into the familiar 72
dpi or 96 dpi. The default value for this is in
display-pixels-per-inch
, which can be tweaked for better results
based on the capabilities of the output device. Here are some common
image scaling operations:
- Explicitly size the image
-
To embed
img.png
as a 10 cm x 10 cm image, do the following:#+ATTR_ODT: :width 10 :height 10 [[./img.png]]
- Scale the image
-
To embed
img.png
at half its size, do the following:#+ATTR_ODT: :scale 0.5 [[./img.png]]
- Scale the image to a specific width
-
To embed
img.png
with a width of 10 cm while retaining the original height:width ratio, do the following:#+ATTR_ODT: :width 10 [[./img.png]]
- Scale the image to a specific height
-
To embed
img.png
with a height of 10 cm while retaining the original height:width ratio, do the following:#+ATTR_ODT: :height 10 [[./img.png]]
Anchoring of images
The ODT export back-end can anchor images to as-char
, paragraph
,
or page
. Set the preferred anchor using the :anchor
property of
the ATTR_ODT
line.
To create an image that is anchored to a page:
#+ATTR_ODT: :anchor page [[./img.png]]
Math formatting in ODT export
The ODT exporter has special support for handling math.
LaTeX math snippets
LaTeX math snippets (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALaTeX%20fragments) can be embedded in the ODT document in one of the following ways:
- MathML
-
Add this line to the Org file. This option is activated on a per-file basis.
#+OPTIONS: tex:t
With this option, LaTeX fragments are first converted into MathML fragments using an external LaTeX-to-MathML converter program. The resulting MathML fragments are then embedded as an OpenDocument Formula in the exported document.
You can specify the LaTeX-to-MathML converter by customizing the variables
org-latex-to-mathml-convert-command
andorg-latex-to-mathml-jar-file
.If you prefer to use MathToWeb136 as your converter, you can configure the above variables as shown below.
(setq org-latex-to-mathml-convert-command "java -jar %j -unicode -force -df %o %I" org-latex-to-mathml-jar-file "/path/to/mathtoweb.jar")
or, to use LaTeXML137 instead,
(setq org-latex-to-mathml-convert-command "latexmlmath \"%i\" --presentationmathml=%o")
To quickly verify the reliability of the LaTeX-to-MathML converter, use the following commands:
-
Convert a LaTeX math snippet to an OpenDocument formula (
.odf
) file. -
Convert a LaTeX math snippet to an OpenDocument formula (
.odf
) file and open the formula file with the system-registered application.
- PNG images
-
Add this line to the Org file. This option is activated on a per-file basis.
#+OPTIONS: tex:dvipng
#+OPTIONS: tex:dvisvgm
or
#+OPTIONS: tex:imagemagick
Under this option, LaTeX fragments are processed into PNG or SVG images and the resulting images are embedded in the exported document. This method requires dvipng program, dvisvgm or ImageMagick programs.
MathML and OpenDocument formula files
When embedding LaTeX math snippets in ODT documents is not reliable,
there is one more option to try. Embed an equation by linking to its
MathML (.mml
) source or its OpenDocument formula (.odf
) file as
shown below:
[[./equation.mml]]
or
[[./equation.odf]]
Labels and captions in ODT export
ODT format handles labeling and captioning of objects based on their types. Inline images, tables, LaTeX fragments, and Math formulas are numbered and captioned separately. Each object also gets a unique sequence number based on its order of first appearance in the Org file. Each category has its own sequence. A caption is just a label applied to these objects.
#+CAPTION: Bell curve #+NAME: fig:SED-HR4049 [[./img/a.png]]
When rendered, it may show as follows in the exported document:
Figure 2: Bell curve
To modify the category component of the caption, customize the option
org-odt-category-map-alist
. For example, to tag embedded images
with the string "Illustration" instead of the default string "Figure",
use the following setting:
(setq org-odt-category-map-alist
'(("__Figure__" "Illustration" "value" "Figure" org-odt--enumerable-image-p)))
With the above modification, the previous example changes to:
Illustration 2: Bell curve
Literal examples in ODT export
The ODT export back-end supports literal examples (see [[*Literal
Examples]]) with full fontification. Internally, the ODT export
back-end relies on htmlfontify.el
to generate the style definitions
needed for fancy listings. The auto-generated styles get OrgSrc
prefix and inherit colors from the faces used by Emacs Font Lock
library for that source language.
For custom fontification styles, customize the
org-odt-create-custom-styles-for-srcblocks
option.
To turn off fontification of literal examples, customize the
org-odt-fontify-srcblocks
option.
Advanced topics in ODT export
The ODT export back-end has extensive features useful for power users and frequent uses of ODT formats.
Configuring a document converter
The ODT export back-end works with popular converters with little or no extra configuration. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExtending%20ODT%20export. The following is for unsupported converters or tweaking existing defaults.
- Register the converter
-
Add the name of the converter to the
org-odt-convert-processes
variable. Note that it also requires how the converter is invoked on the command line. See the variable's docstring for details. - Configure its capabilities
-
Specify which formats the converter can handle by customizing the variable
org-odt-convert-capabilities
. Use the entry for the default values in this variable for configuring the new converter. Also see its docstring for details. - Choose the converter
-
Select the newly added converter as the preferred one by customizing the option
org-odt-convert-process
.
Working with OpenDocument style files
This section explores the internals of the ODT exporter; the means by which it produces styled documents; the use of automatic and custom OpenDocument styles.
The ODT exporter relies on two files for generating its output. These
files are bundled with the distribution under the directory pointed to
by the variable org-odt-styles-dir
. The two files are:
-
OrgOdtStyles.xml
<<x-orgodtstyles-xml>> -
This file contributes to the
styles.xml
file of the final ODT document. This file gets modified for the following purposes:- To control outline numbering based on user settings;
- To add styles generated by
htmlfontify.el
for fontification of code blocks.
-
OrgOdtContentTemplate.xml
<<x-orgodtcontenttemplate-xml>> -
This file contributes to the
content.xml
file of the final ODT document. The contents of the Org outline are inserted between the<office:text>
…</office:text>
elements of this file.Apart from serving as a template file for the final
content.xml
, the file serves the following purposes:- It contains automatic styles for formatting of tables which are referenced by the exporter;
- It contains
<text:sequence-decl>
…</text:sequence-decl>
elements that control numbering of tables, images, equations, and similar entities.
<<x-overriding-factory-styles>> The following two variables control the location from where the ODT exporter picks up the custom styles and content template files. Customize these variables to override the factory styles used by the exporter.
-
org-odt-styles-file
-
The ODT export back-end uses the file pointed to by this variable, such as
styles.xml
, for the final output. It can take one of the following values:-
FILE.xml
-
Use this file instead of the default
styles.xml
-
FILE.odt
orFILE.ott
-
Use the
styles.xml
contained in the specified OpenDocument Text or Template file -
FILE.odt
orFILE.ott
and a subset of included files -
Use the
styles.xml
contained in the specified OpenDocument Text or Template file. Additionally extract the specified member files and embed those within the final ODT document. Use this option if thestyles.xml
file references additional files like header and footer images. -
nil
-
Use the default
styles.xml
.
-
-
org-odt-content-template-file
-
Use this variable to specify the blank
content.xml
used in the final output.
Creating one-off styles
The ODT export back-end can read embedded raw OpenDocument XML from the Org file. Such direct formatting is useful for one-off instances.
- Embedding ODT tags as part of regular text
-
Enclose OpenDocument syntax in
@@odt:...@@
for inline markup. For example, to highlight a region of text do the following:@@odt:<text:span text:style-name="Highlight">This is highlighted text</text:span>@@. But this is regular text.
Hint: To see the above example in action, edit the
styles.xml
(see Factory styles) and add a custom Highlight style as shown below:<style:style style:name="Highlight" style:family="text"> <style:text-properties fo:background-color="#ff0000"/> </style:style>
- Embedding a one-line OpenDocument XML
-
The ODT export back-end can read one-liner options with
#+ODT:
in the Org file. For example, to force a page break:#+ODT: <text:p text:style-name="PageBreak"/>
Hint: To see the above example in action, edit your
styles.xml
(see Factory styles) and add a customPageBreak
style as shown below.<style:style style:name="PageBreak" style:family="paragraph" style:parent-style-name="Text_20_body"> <style:paragraph-properties fo:break-before="page"/> </style:style>
- Embedding a block of OpenDocument XML
-
The ODT export back-end can also read ODT export blocks for OpenDocument XML. Such blocks use the
#+BEGIN_EXPORT odt
…#+END_EXPORT
constructs.For example, to create a one-off paragraph that uses bold text, do the following:
#+BEGIN_EXPORT odt <text:p text:style-name="Text_20_body_20_bold"> This paragraph is specially formatted and uses bold text. </text:p> #+END_EXPORT
Customizing tables in ODT export
Override the default table format by specifying a custom table style
with the #+ATTR_ODT
line. For a discussion on default formatting of
tables, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATables%20in%20ODT%20export.
This feature closely mimics the way table templates are defined in the OpenDocument-v1.2 specification138.
For quick preview of this feature, install the settings below and export the table that follows:
(setq org-export-odt-table-styles
(append org-export-odt-table-styles
'(("TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn" "Custom"
((use-first-row-styles . t)
(use-first-column-styles . t)))
("TableWithFirstRowandLastRow" "Custom"
((use-first-row-styles . t)
(use-last-row-styles . t))))))
#+ATTR_ODT: :style TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn | Name | Phone | Age | | Peter | 1234 | 17 | | Anna | 4321 | 25 |
The example above used Custom
template and installed two table
styles TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn
and
TableWithFirstRowandLastRow
. Important: The OpenDocument styles
needed for producing the above template were pre-defined. They are
available in the section marked Custom Table Template
in
OrgOdtContentTemplate.xml
(see Factory styles). For adding new
templates, define new styles there.
To use this feature proceed as follows:
-
Create a table template139.
A table template is set of
table-cell
andparagraph
styles for each of the following table cell categories:- Body
- First column
- Last column
- First row
- Last row
- Even row
- Odd row
- Even column
- Odd Column
The names for the above styles must be chosen based on the name of the table template using a well-defined convention.
The naming convention is better illustrated with an example. For a table template with the name
Custom
, the needed style names are listed in the following table.Cell type Cell style Paragraph style Body CustomTableCell
CustomTableParagraph
First column CustomFirstColumnTableCell
CustomFirstColumnTableParagraph
Last column CustomLastColumnTableCell
CustomLastColumnTableParagraph
First row CustomFirstRowTableCell
CustomFirstRowTableParagraph
Last row CustomLastRowTableCell
CustomLastRowTableParagraph
Even row CustomEvenRowTableCell
CustomEvenRowTableParagraph
Odd row CustomOddRowTableCell
CustomOddRowTableParagraph
Even column CustomEvenColumnTableCell
CustomEvenColumnTableParagraph
Odd column CustomOddColumnTableCell
CustomOddColumnTableParagraph
To create a table template with the name
Custom
, define the above styles in the<office:automatic-styles>
…</office:automatic-styles>
element of the content template file (see Factory styles). -
Define a table style140.
To define a table style, create an entry for the style in the variable
org-odt-table-styles
and specify the following:- the name of the table template created in step (1),
- the set of cell styles in that template that are to be activated.
For example, the entry below defines two different table styles
TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn
andTableWithFirstRowandLastRow
based on the same templateCustom
. The styles achieve their intended effect by selectively activating the individual cell styles in that template.(setq org-export-odt-table-styles (append org-export-odt-table-styles '(("TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn" "Custom" ((use-first-row-styles . t) (use-first-column-styles . t))) ("TableWithFirstRowandLastRow" "Custom" ((use-first-row-styles . t) (use-last-row-styles . t))))))
-
Associate a table with the table style.
To do this, specify the table style created in step (2) as part of the
ATTR_ODT
line as shown below.#+ATTR_ODT: :style TableWithHeaderRowAndColumn | Name | Phone | Age | | Peter | 1234 | 17 | | Anna | 4321 | 25 |
Validating OpenDocument XML
Sometimes ODT format files may not open due to .odt
file corruption.
To verify if such a file is corrupt, validate it against the
OpenDocument Relax NG Compact (RNC) syntax schema. But first the
.odt
files have to be decompressed using zip
. Note that .odt
files are ZIP archives: info:emacs::File Archives. The contents of
ODT files are in XML. For general help with validation—and
schema-sensitive editing—of XML files: info:nxml-mode::Introduction.
Customize org-odt-schema-dir
to point to a directory with
OpenDocument RNC files and the needed schema-locating rules. The ODT
export back-end takes care of updating the
rng-schema-locating-files
.
Org Export
org export back-end creates a normalized version of the Org document in current buffer. The exporter evaluates Babel code (see [[*Evaluating Code Blocks]]) and removes content specific to other back-ends.
Org export commands
-
(
org-org-export-to-org
) -
Export as an Org file with a
.org
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.org.org
, overwriting without warning. - (~~)
-
Export to an Org file, then open it.
Texinfo Export
Texinfo export commands
-
(
org-texinfo-export-to-texinfo
) -
Export as a Texinfo file with
.texi
extension. Formyfile.org
, Org exports tomyfile.texi
, overwriting without warning. -
(
org-texinfo-export-to-info
) -
Export to Texinfo format first and then process it to make an Info file. To generate other formats, such as DocBook, customize the
org-texinfo-info-process
variable.
Texinfo specific export settings
The Texinfo export back-end has several additional keywords for customizing Texinfo output. Setting these keywords works similar to the general options (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
-
SUBTITLE
-
The document subtitle.
-
SUBAUTHOR
-
Additional authors for the document.
-
TEXINFO_FILENAME
-
The Texinfo filename.
-
TEXINFO_CLASS
-
The default document class (
org-texinfo-default-class
), which must be a member oforg-texinfo-classes
. -
TEXINFO_HEADER
-
Arbitrary lines inserted at the end of the header.
-
TEXINFO_POST_HEADER
-
Arbitrary lines inserted after the end of the header.
-
TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY
-
The directory category of the document.
-
TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE
-
The directory title of the document.
-
TEXINFO_DIR_DESC
-
The directory description of the document.
-
TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE
-
The printed title of the document.
Texinfo file header
After creating the header for a Texinfo file, the Texinfo back-end
automatically generates a name and destination path for the Info file.
To override this default with a more sensible path and name, specify
the TEXINFO_FILENAME
keyword.
Along with the output's file name, the Texinfo header also contains
language details (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings) and encoding system as set in
the org-texinfo-coding-system
variable. Insert TEXINFO_HEADER
keywords for each additional command in the header, for example:
#+TEXINFO_HEADER: @synindex
Instead of repeatedly installing the same set of commands, define
a class in org-texinfo-classes
once, and then activate it in the
document by setting the TEXINFO_CLASS
keyword to that class.
Texinfo title and copyright page
The default template for hard copy output has a title page with
TITLE
and AUTHOR
keywords (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings). To replace the
regular title with something different for the printed version, use
the TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE
and SUBTITLE
keywords. Both expect raw
Texinfo code for setting their values.
If one AUTHOR
line is not sufficient, add multiple SUBAUTHOR
keywords. They have to be set in raw Texinfo code.
#+AUTHOR: Jane Smith #+SUBAUTHOR: John Doe #+TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE: This Long Title@@inlinefmt{tex,@*} Is Broken in @TeX{}
Copying material is defined in a dedicated headline with a non-nil
COPYING
property. The back-end inserts the contents within
a @copying
command at the beginning of the document. The heading
itself does not appear in the structure of the document.
Copyright information is printed on the back of the title page.
* Legalese :PROPERTIES: :COPYING: t :END: This is a short example of a complete Texinfo file, version 1.0. Copyright \copy 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Info directory file
The end result of the Texinfo export process is the creation of an
Info file. This Info file's metadata has variables for category,
title, and description: TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY
, TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE
,
and TEXINFO_DIR_DESC
keywords that establish where in the Info
hierarchy the file fits.
Here is an example that writes to the Info directory file:
#+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Emacs #+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: Org Mode: (org) #+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Outline-based notes management and organizer
Headings and sectioning structure
The Texinfo export back-end uses a pre-defined scheme to convert Org
headlines to equivalent Texinfo structuring commands. A scheme like
this maps top-level headlines to numbered chapters tagged as
@chapter
and lower-level headlines to unnumbered chapters tagged as
@unnumbered
. To override such mappings to introduce @part
or
other Texinfo structuring commands, define a new class in
org-texinfo-classes
. Activate the new class with the
TEXINFO_CLASS
keyword. When no new class is defined and activated,
the Texinfo export back-end defaults to the
org-texinfo-default-class
.
If an Org headline's level has no associated Texinfo structuring command, or is below a certain threshold (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings), then the Texinfo export back-end makes it into a list item.
The Texinfo export back-end makes any headline with a non-nil
APPENDIX
property into an appendix. This happens independent of the
Org headline level or the TEXINFO_CLASS
keyword.
The Texinfo export back-end creates a menu entry after the Org
headline for each regular sectioning structure. To override this with
a shorter menu entry, use the ALT_TITLE
property (see [[*Table of
Contents]]). Texinfo menu entries also have an option for a longer
DESCRIPTION
property. Here's an example that uses both to override
the default menu entry:
* Controlling Screen Display :PROPERTIES: :ALT_TITLE: Display :DESCRIPTION: Controlling Screen Display :END:
The text before the first headline belongs to the Top node, i.e.,
the node in which a reader enters an Info manual. As such, it is
expected not to appear in printed output generated from the .texi
file. See info:texinfo::The Top Node, for more information.
Indices
The Texinfo export back-end recognizes these indexing keywords if used
in the Org file: CINDEX
, FINDEX
, KINDEX
, PINDEX
, TINDEX
and
VINDEX
. Write their value as verbatim Texinfo code; in particular,
{
, }
and @
characters need to be escaped with @
if they do not
belong to a Texinfo command.
#+CINDEX: Defining indexing entries
For the back-end to generate an index entry for a headline, set the
INDEX
property to cp
or vr
. These abbreviations come from
Texinfo that stand for concept index and variable index. The Texinfo
manual has abbreviations for all other kinds of indexes. The back-end
exports the headline as an unnumbered chapter or section command, and
then inserts the index after its contents.
* Concept Index :PROPERTIES: :INDEX: cp :END:
Quoting Texinfo code
Use any of the following three methods to insert or escape raw Texinfo code:
Richard @@texinfo:@sc{@@Stallman@@texinfo:}@@ commence' GNU. #+TEXINFO: @need800 This paragraph is preceded by... #+BEGIN_EXPORT texinfo @auindex Johnson, Mark @auindex Lakoff, George #+END_EXPORT
Plain lists in Texinfo export
The Texinfo export back-end converts unordered and ordered lists in
the Org file using the default command @itemize
.
Ordered lists are numbered when exported to Texinfo format. Such
numbering obeys any counter (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20Lists) in the first item of
the list. The :enum
attribute also let you start the list at a
specific number, or switch to a lettered list, as illustrated here:
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :enum A 1. Alpha 2. Bravo 3. Charlie
The Texinfo export back-end by default converts description lists in
the Org file using the default command @table
, which results in
a table with two columns. To change this behavior, set :table-type
attribute to either ftable
or vtable
value. For more information,
see info:texinfo::Two-column Tables.
The Texinfo export back-end by default also applies a text highlight
based on the defaults stored in org-texinfo-table-default-markup
.
To override the default highlight command, specify another one with
the :indic
attribute.
Org syntax is limited to one entry per list item. Nevertheless, the
Texinfo export back-end can split that entry according to any text
provided through the :sep
attribute. Each part then becomes a new
entry in the first column of the table.
The following example illustrates all the attributes above:
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :table-type vtable :sep , :indic asis - foo, bar :: This is the common text for variables foo and bar.
becomes
@vtable @asis @item foo @itemx bar This is the common text for variables foo and bar. @end table
The :compact
attribute is an alternative to the :sep
attribute,
which allows writing each entry on its own line. If this attribute is
non-nil and an item in a description list has no body but is followed
by another item, then the second item is transcoded to @itemx
. This
example is transcoded to the same output as above.
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :table-type vtable :indic asis :compact t - foo :: - bar :: This is the common text for variables foo and bar.
Support for this compact syntax can also be enabled for all lists in
a file using the compact-itemx
export option, or globally using the
variable org-texinfo-compact-itemx
.
The Texinfo export back-end also supports two approaches to writing Texinfo definition commands (see info:texinfo::Definition Commands). One of them uses description lists and is described below, the other relies on special blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASpecial%20blocks%20in%20Texinfo%20export).
Items in a description list in a Org file that begin with Function:
or certain other prefixes are converted using Texinfo definition
commands. This works even if other items in the same list do not have
such a prefix; if necessary a single description list is converted
using multiple tables (such as @vtable
) and definition commands
(such as @defun
).
- Function: org-texinfo-drawer drawer contents info :: Transcode a DRAWER element from Org to Texinfo.
becomes
@defun org-texinfo-drawer drawer contents info :: Transcode a DRAWER element from Org to Texinfo. @end defun
The recognized prefixes are Command:
, Function:
, Macro:
,
Special Form:
, Variable:
and User Option:
. These are the same
prefixes that appear in the Info file for the respective definition
commands. For example a Function:
item in the Org file is converted
to a @defun
command in the Texinfo file, which in turn is converted
to a definition prefixed with -- Function:
in the Info file.
As a special case the prefix Key:
is also recognized. No Texinfo
definition command exists for key bindings and the output in Info
files also lacks the Key:
prefix. Even so this special case is
supported because it provides a convenient shorthand, as illustrated
here:
- Key: C-c C-c (do-something) :: This command does something. - User Option: do-something-somehow :: This option controls how exactly ~do-something~ does its thing.
becomes
@table @asis @item @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{do-something}) @kindex C-c C-c @findex do-something This command does something. @end table @defopt do-something-somehow This option controls how exactly @code{do-something} does its thing. @end defopt
Command in parenthesis, as done above, is optional.
Tables in Texinfo export
When exporting tables, the Texinfo export back-end uses the widest
cell width in each column. To override this and instead specify as
fractions of line length, use the :columns
attribute. See example
below.
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :columns .5 .5 | a cell | another cell |
Images in Texinfo export
Insert a file link to the image in the Org file, and the Texinfo
export back-end inserts the image. These links must have the usual
supported image extensions and no descriptions. To scale the image,
use :width
and :height
attributes. For alternate text, use :alt
and specify the text using Texinfo code, as shown in the example:
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :width 1in :alt Alternate @i{text} [[ridt.pdf]]
Quotations in Texinfo export
You can write the text of a quotation within a quote block (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Paragraphs). You may also emphasize some text at the beginning of
the quotation with the :tag
attribute.
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :tag Warning #+BEGIN_QUOTE Striking your thumb with a hammer may cause severe pain and discomfort. #+END_QUOTE
To specify the author of the quotation, use the :author
attribute.
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :author King Arthur #+BEGIN_QUOTE The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king. #+END_QUOTE
Key bindings in Texinfo export
Org does not provide any markup for key bindings that corresponds to
Texinfo's @kbd
and @key
commands. One way to deal with this is to
fall back to code syntax. ~C-x SPC~
, for example, is transcoded to
@code{C-x SPC}
.
A better approach is to define and use an Org macro named kbd
. To
make that easier the function org-texinfo-kbd-macro
is provided,
which is intended to be used like this:
#+macro: kbd (eval (org-texinfo-kbd-macro $1)) Type {{{kbd(C-c SPC)}}}.
which becomes
Type @kbd{C-c @key{SPC}}.
Special blocks in Texinfo export
The Texinfo export back-end supports two approaches to writing Texinfo definition commands. One of them is described here, the other in /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2APlain%20lists%20in%20Texinfo%20export.
The Texinfo export back-end converts special blocks to commands with
the same name. It also adds any :options
attributes to the end of
the command, as shown in this example:
#+ATTR_TEXINFO: :options org-org-export-to-org ... #+BEGIN_defun A somewhat obsessive function name. #+END_defun
becomes
@defun org-org-export-to-org ... A somewhat obsessive function name. @end defun
A Texinfo example
Here is a more detailed example Org file. See info:texinfo::GNU Sample Texts for an equivalent example using Texinfo code.
#+TITLE: GNU Sample {{{version}}} #+SUBTITLE: for version {{{version}}}, {{{updated}}} #+AUTHOR: A.U. Thor #+EMAIL: bug-sample@gnu.org #+OPTIONS: ':t toc:t author:t email:t #+LANGUAGE: en #+MACRO: version 2.0 #+MACRO: updated last updated 4 March 2014 #+TEXINFO_FILENAME: sample.info #+TEXINFO_HEADER: @syncodeindex pg cp #+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Texinfo documentation system #+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: sample: (sample) #+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Invoking sample #+TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE: GNU Sample This manual is for GNU Sample (version {{{version}}}, {{{updated}}}). * Copying :PROPERTIES: :COPYING: t :END: This manual is for GNU Sample (version {{{version}}}, {{{updated}}}), which is an example in the Texinfo documentation. Copyright \copy 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. #+BEGIN_QUOTE 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 no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". #+END_QUOTE * Invoking sample #+PINDEX: sample #+CINDEX: invoking @command{sample} This is a sample manual. There is no sample program to invoke, but if there were, you could see its basic usage and command line options here. * GNU Free Documentation License :PROPERTIES: :APPENDIX: t :END: #+INCLUDE: fdl.org * Index :PROPERTIES: :INDEX: cp :END:
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 back-end takes calendar data from Org files and exports to the standard iCalendar format.
The iCalendar export back-end can also incorporate TODO entries based
on the configuration of the org-icalendar-include-todo
variable.
The back-end exports plain timestamps as VEVENT
, TODO items as
VTODO
, and also create events from deadlines that are in non-TODO
items. The back-end uses the deadlines and scheduling dates in Org
TODO items for setting the start and due dates for the iCalendar TODO
entry. Consult the org-icalendar-use-deadline
and
org-icalendar-use-scheduled
variables for more details.
For tags on the headline, the iCalendar export back-end makes them
into iCalendar categories. To tweak the inheritance of tags and TODO
states, configure the variable org-icalendar-categories
. To assign
clock alarms based on time, configure the org-icalendar-alarm-time
variable.
The iCalendar format standard requires globally unique identifier—or
UID—for each entry. The iCalendar export back-end creates UIDs
during export. To save a copy of the UID in the Org file set the
variable org-icalendar-store-UID
. The back-end looks for the ID
property of the entry for re-using the same UID for subsequent
exports.
Since a single Org entry can result in multiple iCalendar entries—timestamp, deadline, scheduled item, or TODO item—Org adds prefixes to the UID, depending on which part of the Org entry triggered the creation of the iCalendar entry. Prefixing ensures UIDs remains unique, yet enable synchronization programs trace the connections.
-
(
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-export-agenda-files
) -
Create iCalendar entries from Org files in
org-agenda-files
and store in a separate iCalendar file for each Org file. -
(
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.
The iCalendar export back-end includes SUMMARY
, DESCRIPTION
,
LOCATION
, TIMEZONE
and CLASS
properties from the Org entries
when exporting. To force the back-end to inherit the LOCATION
,
TIMEZONE
and CLASS
properties, configure the
org-use-property-inheritance
variable.
When Org entries do not have SUMMARY
, DESCRIPTION
, LOCATION
and
CLASS
properties, the iCalendar export back-end derives the summary
from the headline, and derives the description from the body of the
Org item. The org-icalendar-include-body
variable limits the
maximum number of characters of the content are turned into its
description.
The TIMEZONE
property can be used to specify a per-entry time zone,
and is applied to any entry with timestamp information. Time zones
should be specified as per the IANA time zone database format, e.g.,
Asia/Almaty
. Alternately, the property value can be UTC
, to force
UTC time for this entry only.
The CLASS
property can be used to specify a per-entry visibility
class or access restrictions, and is applied to any entry with class
information. The iCalendar standard defines three visibility classes:
-
PUBLIC
- The entry is publicly visible (this is the default).
-
CONFIDENTIAL
- Only a limited group of clients get access to the event.
-
PRIVATE
- The entry can be retrieved only by its owner.
The server should treat unknown class properties the same as
PRIVATE
.
Exporting to iCalendar format depends in large part on the capabilities of the destination application. Some are more lenient than others. Consult the Org mode FAQ for advice on specific applications.
Other Built-in Back-ends
Other export back-ends included with Org are:
ox-man.el
: Export to a man page.
To activate such back-ends, either customize org-export-backends
or
load directly with (require 'ox-man)
. On successful load, the
back-end adds new keys in the export dispatcher (see [[*The Export
Dispatcher]]).
Follow the comment section of such files, for example, ox-man.el
,
for usage and configuration details.
Advanced Export Configuration
Export hooks
The export process executes two hooks before the actual exporting
begins. The first hook, org-export-before-processing-hook
, runs
before any expansions of macros, Babel code, and include keywords in
the buffer. The second hook, org-export-before-parsing-hook
, runs
before the buffer is parsed.
Functions added to these hooks are called with a single argument: the export back-end actually used, as a symbol. You may use them for heavy duty structural modifications of the document. For example, you can remove every headline in the buffer during export like this:
(defun my-headline-removal (backend)
"Remove all headlines in the current buffer.
BACKEND is the export back-end being used, as a symbol."
(org-map-entries
(lambda () (delete-region (point) (line-beginning-position 2)))))
(add-hook 'org-export-before-parsing-hook #'my-headline-removal)
Filters
Filters are lists of functions to be applied to certain parts for a given back-end. The output from the first function in the filter is passed on to the next function in the filter. The final output is the output from the final function in the filter.
The Org export process has many filter sets applicable to different
types of objects, plain text, parse trees, export options, and final
output formats. The filters are named after the element type or
object type: org-export-filter-TYPE-functions
, where
is the type targeted by the filter. Valid types are:
body | bold | babel-call |
center-block | clock | code |
diary-sexp | drawer | dynamic-block |
entity | example-block | export-block |
export-snippet | final-output | fixed-width |
footnote-definition | footnote-reference | headline |
horizontal-rule | inline-babel-call | inline-src-block |
inlinetask | italic | item |
keyword | latex-environment | latex-fragment |
line-break | link | node-property |
options | paragraph | parse-tree |
plain-list | plain-text | planning |
property-drawer | quote-block | radio-target |
section | special-block | src-block |
statistics-cookie | strike-through | subscript |
superscript | table | table-cell |
table-row | target | timestamp |
underline | verbatim | verse-block |
Here is an example filter that replaces non-breaking spaces ~ ~ in the
Org buffer with ~
for the LaTeX back-end.
(defun my-latex-filter-nobreaks (text backend info)
"Ensure \" \" are properly handled in LaTeX export."
(when (org-export-derived-backend-p backend 'latex)
(replace-regexp-in-string " " "~" text)))
(add-to-list 'org-export-filter-plain-text-functions
'my-latex-filter-nobreaks)
A filter requires three arguments: the code to be transformed, the
name of the back-end, and some optional information about the export
process. The third argument can be safely ignored. Note the use of
org-export-derived-backend-p
predicate that tests for latex
back-end or any other back-end, such as beamer, derived from
latex.
Defining filters for individual files
The Org export can filter not just for back-ends, but also for
specific files through the BIND
keyword. Here is an example with
two filters; one removes brackets from time stamps, and the other
removes strike-through text. The filter functions are defined in
a code block in the same Org file, which is a handy location for
debugging.
#+BIND: org-export-filter-timestamp-functions (tmp-f-timestamp) #+BIND: org-export-filter-strike-through-functions (tmp-f-strike-through) #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :exports results :results none (defun tmp-f-timestamp (s backend info) (replace-regexp-in-string "&[lg]t;\\|[][]" "" s)) (defun tmp-f-strike-through (s backend info) "") #+END_SRC
Extending an existing back-end
Some parts of the conversion process can be extended for certain elements so as to introduce a new or revised translation. That is how the HTML export back-end was extended to handle Markdown format. The extensions work seamlessly so any aspect of filtering not done by the extended back-end is handled by the original back-end. Of all the export customization in Org, extending is very powerful as it operates at the parser level.
For this example, make the ascii back-end display the language used
in a source code block. Also make it display only when some attribute
is non-nil
, like the following:
#+ATTR_ASCII: :language t
Then extend ASCII back-end with a custom "my-ascii" back-end.
(defun my-ascii-src-block (src-block contents info)
"Transcode a SRC-BLOCK element from Org to ASCII.
CONTENTS is nil. INFO is a plist used as a communication
channel."
(if (not (org-export-read-attribute :attr_ascii src-block :language))
(org-export-with-backend 'ascii src-block contents info)
(concat
(format ",--[ %s ]--\n%s`----"
(org-element-property :language src-block)
(replace-regexp-in-string
"^" "| "
(org-element-normalize-string
(org-export-format-code-default src-block info)))))))
(org-export-define-derived-backend 'my-ascii 'ascii
:translate-alist '((src-block . my-ascii-src-block)))
The my-ascii-src-block
function looks at the attribute above the
current element. If not true, hands over to ascii back-end. If
true, which it is in this example, it creates a box around the code
and leaves room for the inserting a string for language. The last
form creates the new back-end that springs to action only when
translating src-block
type elements.
To use the newly defined back-end, evaluate the following from an Org buffer:
(org-export-to-buffer 'my-ascii "*Org MY-ASCII Export*")
Further steps to consider would be an interactive function, self-installing an item in the export dispatcher menu, and other user-friendly improvements.
Export in Foreign Buffers
The export back-ends in Org often include commands to convert selected regions. A convenient feature of this in-place conversion is that the exported output replaces the original source. Here are such functions:
-
org-ascii-convert-region-to-ascii
-
Convert the selected region into ASCII.
-
org-ascii-convert-region-to-utf8
-
Convert the selected region into UTF-8.
-
org-html-convert-region-to-html
-
Convert the selected region into HTML.
-
org-latex-convert-region-to-latex
-
Convert the selected region into LaTeX.
-
org-texinfo-convert-region-to-texinfo
-
Convert the selected region into Texinfo.
-
org-md-convert-region-to-md
-
Convert the selected region into Markdown.
In-place conversions are particularly handy for quick conversion of tables and lists in foreign buffers. For example, in an HTML buffer, write a list in Org syntax, select it, and convert it to HTML with .
Exporting to minimal HTML
If you want to output a minimal HTML file, with no CSS, no Javascript, no preamble or postamble, here are the variable you would need to set:
(setq org-html-head ""
org-html-head-extra ""
org-html-head-include-default-style nil
org-html-head-include-scripts nil
org-html-preamble nil
org-html-postamble nil
org-html-use-infojs nil)
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.
Publishing has been contributed to Org by David O'Toole.
Configuration
Publishing needs significant configuration to specify files, destination and many other properties of a project.
The variable org-publish-project-alist
Publishing is configured almost entirely through setting the value of
one variable, called org-publish-project-alist
. Each element of the
list configures one project, and may be in one of the two following
forms:
("project-name" :property value :property value ...)
i.e., a well-formed property list with alternating keys and values, or:
("project-name" :components ("project-name" "project-name" ...))
In both cases, projects are configured by specifying property values.
A project defines the set of files that are to be published, as well
as the publishing configuration to use when publishing those files.
When a project takes the second form listed above, the individual
members of the :components
property are taken to be sub-projects,
which group together files requiring different publishing options.
When you publish such a "meta-project", all the components are also
published, in the sequence given.
Sources and destinations for files
Most properties are optional, but some should always be set. In particular, Org needs to know where to look for source files, and where to put published files.
-
:base-directory
- Directory containing publishing source files.
-
:publishing-directory
- Directory where output files are published. You can directly publish to a webserver using a file name syntax appropriate for the Emacs tramp package. Or you can publish to a local directory and use external tools to upload your website (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AUploading%20Files).
-
:preparation-function
-
Function or list of functions to be called before starting the
publishing process, for example, to run
make
for updating files to be published. Each preparation function is called with a single argument, the project property list. -
:completion-function
- Function or list of functions called after finishing the publishing process, for example, to change permissions of the resulting files. Each completion function is called with a single argument, the project property list.
Selecting files
By default, all files with extension .org
in the base directory are
considered part of the project. This can be modified by setting the
following properties
-
:base-extension
-
Extension—without the dot—of source files. This actually is
a regular expression. Set this to the symbol
any
if you want to get all files in:base-directory
, even without extension. -
:exclude
- Regular expression to match file names that should not be published, even though they have been selected on the basis of their extension.
-
:include
-
List of files to be included regardless of
:base-extension
and:exclude
. -
:recursive
-
Non-
nil
means, check base-directory recursively for files to publish.
Publishing action
Publishing means that a file is copied to the destination directory
and possibly transformed in the process. The default transformation
is to export Org files as HTML files, and this is done by the function
org-html-publish-to-html
which calls the HTML exporter (see [[*HTML
Export]]). But you can also publish your content as PDF files using
org-latex-publish-to-pdf
, or as ASCII, Texinfo, etc., using the
corresponding functions.
If you want to publish the Org file as an .org
file but with
archived, commented, and tag-excluded trees removed, use
org-org-publish-to-org
. This produces file.org
and puts it in the
publishing directory. If you want a htmlized version of this file,
set the parameter :htmlized-source
to t
. It produces
file.org.html
in the publishing directory141.
Other files like images only need to be copied to the publishing
destination; for this you can use org-publish-attachment
. For
non-Org files, you always need to specify the publishing function:
-
:publishing-function
- Function executing the publication of a file. This may also be a list of functions, which are all called in turn.
-
:htmlized-source
-
Non-
nil
means, publish htmlized source.
The function must accept three arguments: a property list containing
at least a :publishing-directory
property, the name of the file to
be published, and the path to the publishing directory of the output
file. It should take the specified file, make the necessary
transformation, if any, and place the result into the destination
folder.
Options for the exporters
The property list can be used to set many export options for the HTML and LaTeX exporters. In most cases, these properties correspond to user variables in Org. The table below lists these properties along with the variable they belong to. See the documentation string for the respective variable for details.
When a property is given a value in org-publish-project-alist
, its
setting overrides the value of the corresponding user variable, if
any, during publishing. Options set within a file (see [[*Export
Settings]]), however, override everything.
Generic properties
:archived-trees |
org-export-with-archived-trees |
:exclude-tags |
org-export-exclude-tags |
:headline-levels |
org-export-headline-levels |
:language |
org-export-default-language |
:preserve-breaks |
org-export-preserve-breaks |
:section-numbers |
org-export-with-section-numbers |
:select-tags |
org-export-select-tags |
:with-author |
org-export-with-author |
:with-broken-links |
org-export-with-broken-links |
:with-clocks |
org-export-with-clocks |
:with-creator |
org-export-with-creator |
:with-date |
org-export-with-date |
:with-drawers |
org-export-with-drawers |
:with-email |
org-export-with-email |
:with-emphasize |
org-export-with-emphasize |
:with-fixed-width |
org-export-with-fixed-width |
:with-footnotes |
org-export-with-footnotes |
:with-latex |
org-export-with-latex |
:with-planning |
org-export-with-planning |
:with-priority |
org-export-with-priority |
:with-properties |
org-export-with-properties |
:with-special-strings |
org-export-with-special-strings |
:with-sub-superscript |
org-export-with-sub-superscripts |
:with-tables |
org-export-with-tables |
:with-tags |
org-export-with-tags |
:with-tasks |
org-export-with-tasks |
:with-timestamps |
org-export-with-timestamps |
:with-title |
org-export-with-title |
:with-toc |
org-export-with-toc |
:with-todo-keywords |
org-export-with-todo-keywords |
ASCII specific properties
:ascii-bullets |
org-ascii-bullets |
:ascii-caption-above |
org-ascii-caption-above |
:ascii-charset |
org-ascii-charset |
:ascii-global-margin |
org-ascii-global-margin |
:ascii-format-drawer-function |
org-ascii-format-drawer-function |
:ascii-format-inlinetask-function |
org-ascii-format-inlinetask-function |
:ascii-headline-spacing |
org-ascii-headline-spacing |
:ascii-indented-line-width |
org-ascii-indented-line-width |
:ascii-inlinetask-width |
org-ascii-inlinetask-width |
:ascii-inner-margin |
org-ascii-inner-margin |
:ascii-links-to-notes |
org-ascii-links-to-notes |
:ascii-list-margin |
org-ascii-list-margin |
:ascii-paragraph-spacing |
org-ascii-paragraph-spacing |
:ascii-quote-margin |
org-ascii-quote-margin |
:ascii-table-keep-all-vertical-lines |
org-ascii-table-keep-all-vertical-lines |
:ascii-table-use-ascii-art |
org-ascii-table-use-ascii-art |
:ascii-table-widen-columns |
org-ascii-table-widen-columns |
:ascii-text-width |
org-ascii-text-width |
:ascii-underline |
org-ascii-underline |
:ascii-verbatim-format |
org-ascii-verbatim-format |
Beamer specific properties
:beamer-theme |
org-beamer-theme |
:beamer-column-view-format |
org-beamer-column-view-format |
:beamer-environments-extra |
org-beamer-environments-extra |
:beamer-frame-default-options |
org-beamer-frame-default-options |
:beamer-outline-frame-options |
org-beamer-outline-frame-options |
:beamer-outline-frame-title |
org-beamer-outline-frame-title |
:beamer-subtitle-format |
org-beamer-subtitle-format |
HTML specific properties
:html-allow-name-attribute-in-anchors |
org-html-allow-name-attribute-in-anchors |
:html-checkbox-type |
org-html-checkbox-type |
:html-container |
org-html-container-element |
:html-divs |
org-html-divs |
:html-doctype |
org-html-doctype |
:html-extension |
org-html-extension |
:html-footnote-format |
org-html-footnote-format |
:html-footnote-separator |
org-html-footnote-separator |
:html-footnotes-section |
org-html-footnotes-section |
:html-format-drawer-function |
org-html-format-drawer-function |
:html-format-headline-function |
org-html-format-headline-function |
:html-format-inlinetask-function |
org-html-format-inlinetask-function |
:html-head-extra |
org-html-head-extra |
:html-head-include-default-style |
org-html-head-include-default-style |
:html-head-include-scripts |
org-html-head-include-scripts |
:html-head |
org-html-head |
:html-home/up-format |
org-html-home/up-format |
:html-html5-fancy |
org-html-html5-fancy |
:html-indent |
org-html-indent |
:html-infojs-options |
org-html-infojs-options |
:html-infojs-template |
org-html-infojs-template |
:html-inline-image-rules |
org-html-inline-image-rules |
:html-inline-images |
org-html-inline-images |
:html-link-home |
org-html-link-home |
:html-link-org-files-as-html |
org-html-link-org-files-as-html |
:html-link-up |
org-html-link-up |
:html-link-use-abs-url |
org-html-link-use-abs-url |
:html-mathjax-options |
org-html-mathjax-options |
:html-mathjax-template |
org-html-mathjax-template |
:html-equation-reference-format |
org-html-equation-reference-format |
:html-metadata-timestamp-format |
org-html-metadata-timestamp-format |
:html-postamble-format |
org-html-postamble-format |
:html-postamble |
org-html-postamble |
:html-preamble-format |
org-html-preamble-format |
:html-preamble |
org-html-preamble |
:html-self-link-headlines |
org-html-self-link-headlines |
:html-table-align-individual-field |
org-html-table-align-individual-fields |
:html-table-attributes |
org-html-table-default-attributes |
:html-table-caption-above |
org-html-table-caption-above |
:html-table-data-tags |
org-html-table-data-tags |
:html-table-header-tags |
org-html-table-header-tags |
:html-table-row-tags |
org-html-table-row-tags |
:html-table-use-header-tags-for-first-column |
org-html-table-use-header-tags-for-first-column |
:html-tag-class-prefix |
org-html-tag-class-prefix |
:html-text-markup-alist |
org-html-text-markup-alist |
:html-todo-kwd-class-prefix |
org-html-todo-kwd-class-prefix |
:html-toplevel-hlevel |
org-html-toplevel-hlevel |
:html-use-infojs |
org-html-use-infojs |
:html-validation-link |
org-html-validation-link |
:html-viewport |
org-html-viewport |
:html-wrap-src-lines |
org-html-wrap-src-lines |
:html-xml-declaration |
org-html-xml-declaration |
LaTeX specific properties
:latex-active-timestamp-format |
org-latex-active-timestamp-format |
:latex-caption-above |
org-latex-caption-above |
:latex-classes |
org-latex-classes |
:latex-class |
org-latex-default-class |
:latex-compiler |
org-latex-compiler |
:latex-default-figure-position |
org-latex-default-figure-position |
:latex-default-table-environment |
org-latex-default-table-environment |
:latex-default-table-mode |
org-latex-default-table-mode |
:latex-diary-timestamp-format |
org-latex-diary-timestamp-format |
:latex-engraved-options |
org-latex-engraved-options |
:latex-engraved-preamble |
org-latex-engraved-preamble |
:latex-engraved-theme |
org-latex-engraved-theme |
:latex-footnote-defined-format |
org-latex-footnote-defined-format |
:latex-footnote-separator |
org-latex-footnote-separator |
:latex-format-drawer-function |
org-latex-format-drawer-function |
:latex-format-headline-function |
org-latex-format-headline-function |
:latex-format-inlinetask-function |
org-latex-format-inlinetask-function |
:latex-hyperref-template |
org-latex-hyperref-template |
:latex-image-default-height |
org-latex-image-default-height |
:latex-image-default-option |
org-latex-image-default-option |
:latex-image-default-width |
org-latex-image-default-width |
:latex-images-centered |
org-latex-images-centered |
:latex-inactive-timestamp-format |
org-latex-inactive-timestamp-format |
:latex-inline-image-rules |
org-latex-inline-image-rules |
:latex-link-with-unknown-path-format |
org-latex-link-with-unknown-path-format |
:latex-listings-langs |
org-latex-listings-langs |
:latex-listings-options |
org-latex-listings-options |
:latex-minted-langs |
org-latex-minted-langs |
:latex-minted-options |
org-latex-minted-options |
:latex-prefer-user-labels |
org-latex-prefer-user-labels |
:latex-subtitle-format |
org-latex-subtitle-format |
:latex-subtitle-separate |
org-latex-subtitle-separate |
:latex-src-block-backend |
org-latex-src-block-backend |
:latex-table-scientific-notation |
org-latex-table-scientific-notation |
:latex-tables-booktabs |
org-latex-tables-booktabs |
:latex-tables-centered |
org-latex-tables-centered |
:latex-text-markup-alist |
org-latex-text-markup-alist |
:latex-title-command |
org-latex-title-command |
:latex-toc-command |
org-latex-toc-command |
Markdown specific properties
:md-footnote-format |
org-md-footnote-format |
:md-footnotes-section |
org-md-footnotes-section |
:md-headline-style |
org-md-headline-style |
ODT specific properties
:odt-content-template-file |
org-odt-content-template-file |
:odt-display-outline-level |
org-odt-display-outline-level |
:odt-fontify-srcblocks |
org-odt-fontify-srcblocks |
:odt-format-drawer-function |
org-odt-format-drawer-function |
:odt-format-headline-function |
org-odt-format-headline-function |
:odt-format-inlinetask-function |
org-odt-format-inlinetask-function |
:odt-inline-formula-rules |
org-odt-inline-formula-rules |
:odt-inline-image-rules |
org-odt-inline-image-rules |
:odt-pixels-per-inch |
org-odt-pixels-per-inch |
:odt-styles-file |
org-odt-styles-file |
:odt-table-styles |
org-odt-table-styles |
:odt-use-date-fields |
org-odt-use-date-fields |
Texinfo specific properties
:texinfo-active-timestamp-format |
org-texinfo-active-timestamp-format |
:texinfo-classes |
org-texinfo-classes |
:texinfo-class |
org-texinfo-default-class |
~:texinfo-compact-itemx | org-texinfo-compact-itemx |
:texinfo-table-default-markup |
org-texinfo-table-default-markup |
:texinfo-diary-timestamp-format |
org-texinfo-diary-timestamp-format |
:texinfo-filename |
org-texinfo-filename |
:texinfo-format-drawer-function |
org-texinfo-format-drawer-function |
:texinfo-format-headline-function |
org-texinfo-format-headline-function |
:texinfo-format-inlinetask-function |
org-texinfo-format-inlinetask-function |
:texinfo-inactive-timestamp-format |
org-texinfo-inactive-timestamp-format |
:texinfo-link-with-unknown-path-format |
org-texinfo-link-with-unknown-path-format |
:texinfo-node-description-column |
org-texinfo-node-description-column |
:texinfo-table-scientific-notation |
org-texinfo-table-scientific-notation |
:texinfo-tables-verbatim |
org-texinfo-tables-verbatim |
:texinfo-text-markup-alist |
org-texinfo-text-markup-alist |
Publishing links
To create a link from one Org file to another, you would use something
like [[file:foo.org][The foo]]
or simply [[file:foo.org]]
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExternal%20Links). When
published, this link becomes a link to foo.html
. You can thus
interlink the pages of your "Org web" project and the links will work
as expected when you publish them to HTML. If you also publish the
Org source file and want to link to it, use an http
link instead of
a file:
link, because file
links are converted to link to the
corresponding .html
file.
You may also link to related files, such as images. Provided you are careful with relative file names, and provided you have also configured Org to upload the related files, these links will work too. See , for an example of this usage.
Eventually, links between published documents can contain some search
options (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASearch%20Options%20in%20File%20Links), which will be resolved to
the appropriate location in the linked file. For example, once
published to HTML, the following links all point to a dedicated anchor
in foo.html
.
[[file:foo.org::*heading]] [[file:foo.org::#custom-id]] [[file:foo.org::target]]
Generating a sitemap
The following properties may be used to control publishing of a map of files for a given project.
-
:auto-sitemap
-
When non-
nil
, publish a sitemap duringorg-publish-current-project
ororg-publish-all
. -
:sitemap-filename
-
Filename for output of sitemap. Defaults to
sitemap.org
, which becomessitemap.html
. -
:sitemap-title
- Title of sitemap page. Defaults to name of file.
-
:sitemap-format-entry
-
With this option one can tell how a site-map entry is formatted in the site-map. It is a function called with three arguments: the file or directory name relative to base directory of the project, the site-map style and the current project. It is expected to return a string. Default value turns file names into links and use document titles as descriptions. For specific formatting needs, one can use
org-publish-find-date
,org-publish-find-title
andorg-publish-find-property
, to retrieve additional information about published documents. -
:sitemap-function
-
Plug-in function to use for generation of the sitemap. It is called
with two arguments: the title of the site-map and a representation
of the files and directories involved in the project as a nested
list, which can further be transformed using
org-list-to-generic
,org-list-to-subtree
and alike. Default value generates a plain list of links to all files in the project. -
:sitemap-sort-folders
-
Where folders should appear in the sitemap. Set this to
first
(default) orlast
to display folders first or last, respectively. When set toignore
, folders are ignored altogether. Any other value mixes files and folders. This variable has no effect when site-map style istree
. -
:sitemap-sort-files
-
How the files are sorted in the site map. Set this to
alphabetically
(default),chronologically
oranti-chronologically
.chronologically
sorts the files with older date first whileanti-chronologically
sorts the files with newer date first.alphabetically
sorts the files alphabetically. The date of a file is retrieved withorg-publish-find-date
. -
:sitemap-ignore-case
-
Should sorting be case-sensitive? Default
nil
. -
:sitemap-file-entry-format
-
With this option one can tell how a sitemap's entry is formatted in
the sitemap. This is a format string with some escape sequences:
%t
stands for the title of the file,%a
stands for the author of the file and%d
stands for the date of the file. The date is retrieved with theorg-publish-find-date
function and formatted withorg-publish-sitemap-date-format
. Default%t
. -
:sitemap-date-format
-
Format string for the
format-time-string
function that tells how a sitemap entry's date is to be formatted. This property bypassesorg-publish-sitemap-date-format
which defaults to%Y-%m-%d
.
Generating an index
Org mode can generate an index across the files of a publishing project.
-
:makeindex
-
When non-
nil
, generate in index in the filetheindex.org
and publish it astheindex.html
.
The file is created when first publishing a project with the
:makeindex
set. The file only contains a statement #+INCLUDE:
"theindex.inc"
. You can then build around this include statement by
adding a title, style information, etc.
Index entries are specified with INDEX
keyword. An entry that
contains an exclamation mark creates a sub item.
*** Curriculum Vitae #+INDEX: CV #+INDEX: Application!CV
Uploading Files
For those people already utilizing third party sync tools such as Rsync or Unison, it might be preferable not to use the built-in remote publishing facilities of Org mode which rely heavily on Tramp. Tramp, while very useful and powerful, tends not to be so efficient for multiple file transfer and has been known to cause problems under heavy usage.
Specialized synchronization utilities offer several advantages. In addition to timestamp comparison, they also do content and permissions/attribute checks. For this reason you might prefer to publish your web to a local directory—possibly even in place with your Org files—and then use Unison or Rsync to do the synchronization with the remote host.
Since Unison, for example, can be configured as to which files to
transfer to a certain remote destination, it can greatly simplify the
project publishing definition. Simply keep all files in the correct
location, process your Org files with org-publish
and let the
synchronization tool do the rest. You do not need, in this scenario,
to include attachments such as JPG, CSS or PNG files in the project
definition since the third-party tool syncs them.
Publishing to a local directory is also much faster than to a remote
one, so that you can afford more easily to republish entire projects.
If you set org-publish-use-timestamps-flag
to nil
, you gain the
main benefit of re-including any changed external files such as source
example files you might include with INCLUDE
keyword. The timestamp
mechanism in Org is not smart enough to detect if included files have
been modified.
Sample Configuration
Below we provide two example configurations. The first one is a simple project publishing only a set of Org files. The second example is more complex, with a multi-component project.
Example: simple publishing configuration
This example publishes a set of Org files to the public_html
directory on the local machine.
(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\"/>")))
Example: complex publishing configuration
This more complicated example publishes an entire website, including Org files converted to HTML, image files, Emacs Lisp source code, and style sheets. The publishing directory is remote and private files are excluded.
To ensure that links are preserved, care should be taken to replicate
your directory structure on the web server, and to use relative file
paths. For example, if your Org files are kept in ~/org/
and your
publishable images in ~/images/
, you would link to an image with
file:../images/myimage.png
On the web server, the relative path to the image should be the same.
You can accomplish this by setting up an images/
folder in the right
place on the web server, and publishing images to it.
(setq org-publish-project-alist
'(("orgfiles"
:base-directory "~/org/"
:base-extension "org"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/notebook/"
:publishing-function org-html-publish-to-html
:exclude "PrivatePage.org" ;; regexp
:headline-levels 3
:section-numbers nil
:with-toc nil
:html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\"
href=\"../other/mystyle.css\" type=\"text/css\"/>"
:html-preamble t)
("images"
:base-directory "~/images/"
:base-extension "jpg\\|gif\\|png"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/images/"
:publishing-function org-publish-attachment)
("other"
:base-directory "~/other/"
:base-extension "css\\|el"
:publishing-directory "/ssh:user@host:~/html/other/"
:publishing-function org-publish-attachment)
("website" :components ("orgfiles" "images" "other"))))
Triggering Publication
Once properly configured, Org can publish with the following commands:
-
(
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, or by customizing the variable
org-publish-use-timestamps-flag
. This may be necessary in
particular if files include other files via SETUPFILE
or INCLUDE
keywords.
Citation handling
The oc.el
library provides tooling to handle citations in Org via
"citation processors" that offer some or all of the following
capabilities:
- activate
- Fontification, tooltip preview, etc.
- follow
- At-point actions on citations via
org-open-at-point
. - insert
- Add and edit citations via
org-cite-insert
. - export
- Via different libraries for different target formats.
To use a "citation processor", the user must load them; for example;
(require 'oc-bibtex)
They can then configure them with org-cite-activate-processor
,
org-cite-follow-processor
, org-cite-insert-processor
, and
org-cite-export-processors
respectively.
The included "basic" processor provides all four capabilities.
Citations
Before adding citations, first set one-or-more bibliographies, either
globally with org-cite-global-bibliography
, or locally using one or
more "bibliography" keywords.
#+bibliography: SomeFile.bib #+bibliography: /some/other/file.json #+bibliography: "/some/file/with spaces/in its name.bib"
One can then insert and edit citations using org-cite-insert
, called
with .
A citation requires one or more citation key(s), elements identifying a reference in the bibliography.
- Each citation is surrounded by brackets and uses the
cite
type. - Each key starts with the character
@
. - Each key can be qualified by a prefix (e.g. "see ") and/or a suffix (e.g. "p. 123"), giving information useful or necessary fo the comprehension of the citation but not included in the reference.
- A single citation can cite more than one reference ; the keys are separated by semicolons ; the formatting of such citation groups is specified by the style.
- One can also specify a stylistic variation for the citations by
inserting a
/
and a style name between thecite
keyword and the colon; this usually makes sense only for the author-year styles.
[cite/style:common prefix ;prefix @key suffix; ... ; common suffix]
The only mandatory elements are:
- The
cite
keyword and the colon. - The
@
character immediately preceding each key. - The brackets surrounding the citation(s) (group).
Citation export processors
Org currently includes the following export processors:
-
Two processors can export to a variety of formats, including
latex
(and thereforepdf
),html
,odt
and plain (UTF8) text:- basic
- a basic export processor, well adapted to situations where backward compatibility is not a requirement and formatting needs are minimal;
- csl
- this export processor uses format files written in Citation Style Language via citeproc-el;
-
In contrast, three other processors target LaTeX and LaTeX-derived formats exclusively:
- bibtex
- this export processor uses BibTeX, the historical
bibliographic processor used with LaTeX, thus allowing the use of
data and style files compatible with this processor (including a
large number of publishers' styles). It only supports LaTeX's
\cite
and\nocite
commands. - natbib
- as with the bibtex processor, but using the LaTeX
package
natbib
, allowing more stylistic variants that LaTeX's\cite
command. - biblatex
- this backend allows the use of data and formats prepared for BibLaTeX, an alternate bibliographic processor used with LaTeX, which overcomes some serious BibTeX limitations, but has not (yet?) been widely adopted by publishers.
The CITE_EXPORT
keyword specifies the export processor and the
citation (and possibly reference) style(s); for example (all arguments
are optional)
#+cite_export: basic author author-year
specifies the "basic" export processor with citations inserted as author's name and references indexed by author's names and year;
#+cite_export: csl /some/path/to/vancouver-brackets.csl
specifies the "csl" processor and CSL style, which in this case
defines numeric citations and numeric references according to the
Vancouver
specification (as style used in many medical journals),
following a typesetting variation putting citations between brackets;
#+cite_export: natbib kluwer
specifies the natbib
export processor with a label citation style
conformant to the Harvard style and the specification of the
Wolkers-Kluwer publisher; since it relies on the bibtex
processor of
your LaTeX installation, it won't export to anything but PDF.
The PRINT_BIBLIOGRAPHY
keyword specifies where the bibliography
should print.
#+print_bibliography:
Working with Source Code
Source code here refers to any plain text collection of computer instructions, possibly with comments, written using a human-readable programming language. Org can manage source code in an Org document when the source code is identified with begin and end markers. Working with source code begins with identifying source code blocks. A source code block can be placed almost anywhere in an Org document; it is not restricted to the preamble or the end of the document. However, Org cannot manage a source code block if it is placed inside an Org comment or within a fixed width section.
Here is an example source code block in the Emacs Lisp language:
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun org-xor (a b) "Exclusive or." (if a (not b) b)) #+END_SRC
Source code blocks are one of many Org block types, which also include
"center", "comment", "dynamic", "example", "export", "quote",
"special", and "verse". This section pertains to blocks between
#+BEGIN_SRC
and #+END_SRC
.
Details of Org's facilities for working with source code are described in the following sections.
Features Overview
Org can manage the source code in the block delimited by #+BEGIN_SRC
… #+END_SRC
in several ways that can simplify housekeeping tasks
essential to modern source code maintenance. Org can edit, format,
extract, export, and publish source code blocks. Org can also compile
and execute a source code block, then capture the results. The Org
mode literature sometimes refers to source code blocks as live code
blocks because they can alter the content of the Org document or the
material that it exports. Users can control the "liveliness" of each
source code block by tweaking the header arguments (see [[*Using Header
Arguments]]) for compiling, execution, extraction, and exporting.
For editing and formatting a source code block, Org uses an appropriate Emacs major mode that includes features specifically designed for source code in that language.
Org can extract one or more source code blocks and write them to one or more source files—a process known as tangling in literate programming terminology.
For exporting and publishing, Org's back-ends can format a source code block appropriately, often with native syntax highlighting.
For executing and compiling a source code block, the user can configure Org to select the appropriate compiler. Org provides facilities to collect the result of the execution or compiler output, insert it into the Org document, and/or export it. In addition to text results, Org can insert links to other data types, including audio, video, and graphics. Org can also link a compiler error message to the appropriate line in the source code block.
An important feature of Org's management of source code blocks is the ability to pass variables, functions, and results to one another using a common syntax for source code blocks in any language. Although most literate programming facilities are restricted to one language or another, Org's language-agnostic approach lets the literate programmer match each programming task with the appropriate computer language and to mix them all together in a single Org document. This interoperability among languages explains why Org's source code management facility was named Org Babel by its originators, Eric Schulte and Dan Davison.
Org mode fulfills the promise of easy verification and maintenance of publishing reproducible research by keeping text, data, code, configuration settings of the execution environment, the results of the execution, and associated narratives, claims, references, and internal and external links in a single Org document.
Structure of Code Blocks
Org offers two ways to structure source code in Org documents: in a source code block, and directly inline. Both specifications are shown below.
A source code block conforms to this structure:
#+NAME: <name> #+BEGIN_SRC <language> <switches> <header arguments> <body> #+END_SRC
Do not be put-off by having to remember the source block syntax. Org mode offers a command for wrapping existing text in a block (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20Templates). Org also works with other completion systems in Emacs, some of which predate Org and have custom domain-specific languages for defining templates. Regular use of templates reduces errors, increases accuracy, and maintains consistency.
An inline code block conforms to this structure:
src_<language>{<body>}
or
src_<language>[<header arguments>]{<body>}
-
#+NAME: <name>
- Optional. Names the source block so it can be called, like a function, from other source blocks or inline code to evaluate or to capture the results. Code from other blocks, other files, and from table formulas (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Spreadsheet) can use the name to reference a source block. This naming serves the same purpose as naming Org tables. Org mode requires unique names. For duplicate names, Org mode's behavior is undefined.
-
#+BEGIN_SRC
…#+END_SRC
-
Mandatory. They mark the start and end of a block that Org
requires. The
#+BEGIN_SRC
line takes additional arguments, as described next. -
<language>
-
Mandatory. It is the identifier of the source code language in the block. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Languages, for identifiers of supported languages.
-
<switches>
-
Optional. Switches provide finer control of the code execution, export, and format (see the discussion of switches in [[*Literal Examples]]).
-
<header arguments>
-
Optional. Heading arguments control many aspects of evaluation, export and tangling of code blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AUsing%20Header%20Arguments). Using Org's properties feature, header arguments can be selectively applied to the entire buffer or specific sub-trees of the Org document.
-
<body>
- Source code in the dialect of the specified language identifier.
Using Header Arguments
Org comes with many header arguments common to all languages. New header arguments are added for specific languages as they become available for use in source code blocks. A header argument is specified with an initial colon followed by the argument's name in lowercase.
Since header arguments can be set in several ways, Org prioritizes them in case of overlaps or conflicts by giving local settings a higher priority. Header values in function calls, for example, override header values from global defaults.
System-wide header arguments
System-wide values of header arguments can be specified by customizing
the org-babel-default-header-args
variable, which defaults to the
following values:
:session => "none" :results => "replace" :exports => "code" :cache => "no" :noweb => "no"
The example below sets :noweb
header arguments to yes
, which makes
Org expand :noweb
references by default.
(setq org-babel-default-header-args
(cons '(:noweb . "yes")
(assq-delete-all :noweb org-babel-default-header-args)))
Each language can have separate default header arguments by
customizing the variable org-babel-default-header-args:<LANG>
, where
is the name of the language. For details, see the
language-specific online documentation at
https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/.
Header arguments in Org mode properties
For header arguments applicable to the buffer, use PROPERTY
keyword
anywhere in the Org file (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperty%20Syntax).
The following example makes all the R code blocks execute in the same
session. Setting :results
to silent
ignores the results of
executions for all blocks, not just R code blocks; no results inserted
for any block.
#+PROPERTY: header-args:R :session *R* #+PROPERTY: header-args :results silent
Header arguments set through Org's property drawers (see [[*Property
Syntax]]) apply at the sub-tree level on down. Since these property
drawers can appear anywhere in the file hierarchy, Org uses outermost
call or source block to resolve the values. Org ignores
org-use-property-inheritance
setting.
In this example, :cache
defaults to yes
for all code blocks in the
sub-tree.
* sample header :PROPERTIES: :header-args: :cache yes :END:
Properties defined through org-set-property
function, bound to
, apply to all active languages. They override
properties set in org-babel-default-header-args
.
Language-specific header arguments are also read from properties
header-args:<LANG>
where is the language
identifier. For example,
* Heading :PROPERTIES: :header-args:clojure: :session *clojure-1* :header-args:R: :session *R* :END: ** Subheading :PROPERTIES: :header-args:clojure: :session *clojure-2* :END:
would force separate sessions for Clojure blocks in Heading
and
Subheading
, but use the same session for all R blocks. Blocks in
Subheading
inherit settings from Heading
.
Code block specific header arguments
Header arguments are most commonly set at the source code block level,
on the #+BEGIN_SRC
line. Arguments set at this level take
precedence over those set in the org-babel-default-header-args
variable, and also those set as header properties.
In the following example, setting :results
to silent
makes it
ignore results of the code execution. Setting :exports
to code
exports only the body of the code block to HTML or LaTeX.
#+NAME: factorial #+BEGIN_SRC haskell :results silent :exports code :var n=0 fac 0 = 1 fac n = n * fac (n-1) #+END_SRC
The same header arguments in an inline code block:
src_haskell[:exports both]{fac 5}
Code block header arguments can span multiple lines using #+HEADER:
on each line. Note that Org currently accepts the plural spelling of
#+HEADER:
only as a convenience for backward-compatibility. It may
be removed at some point.
Multi-line header arguments on an unnamed code block:
#+HEADER: :var data1=1 #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var data2=2 (message "data1:%S, data2:%S" data1 data2) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: : data1:1, data2:2
Multi-line header arguments on a named code block:
#+NAME: named-block #+HEADER: :var data=2 #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (message "data:%S" data) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: named-block : data:2
Header arguments in function calls
Header arguments in function calls are the most specific and override
all other settings in case of an overlap. They get the highest
priority. Two #+CALL:
examples are shown below. For the complete
syntax of CALL
keyword, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEvaluating%20Code%20Blocks.
In this example, :exports results
header argument is applied to the
evaluation of the #+CALL:
line.
#+CALL: factorial(n=5) :exports results
In this example, :session special
header argument is applied to the
evaluation of factorial
code block.
#+CALL: factorial[:session special](n=5)
Environment of a Code Block
Passing arguments
Use var
for passing arguments to source code blocks. The specifics
of variables in code blocks vary by the source language and are
covered in the language-specific documentation. The syntax for var
,
however, is the same for all languages. This includes declaring
a variable, and assigning a default value.
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. may specify a filename for references
to elements in a different file, using a :
to separate the filename
from the reference.
:var NAME=FILE:REFERENCE
Here are examples of passing values by reference:
- table
-
A table named with a
NAME
keyword.#+NAME: example-table | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | #+NAME: table-length #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var table=example-table (length table) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: table-length : 4
When passing a table, you can treat specially the row, or the column, containing labels for the columns, or the rows, in the table.
The
colnames
header argument acceptsyes
,no
, ornil
values. The default value isnil
: if an input table has column names—because the second row is a horizontal rule—then Org removes the column names, processes the table, puts back the column names, and then writes the table to the results block. Usingyes
, Org does the same to the first row, even if the initial table does not contain any horizontal rule. When set tono
, Org does not pre-process column names at all.#+NAME: less-cols | a | |---| | b | | c | #+BEGIN_SRC python :var tab=less-cols :colnames nil return [[val + '*' for val in row] for row in tab] #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | a | |----| | b* | | c* |
Similarly, the
rownames
header argument can take two values:yes
orno
. When set toyes
, Org removes the first column, processes the table, puts back the first column, and then writes the table to the results block. The default isno
, which means Org does not pre-process the first column. Note that Emacs Lisp code blocks ignorerownames
header argument because of the ease of table-handling in Emacs.#+NAME: with-rownames | one | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | | two | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | #+BEGIN_SRC python :var tab=with-rownames :rownames yes return [[val + 10 for val in row] for row in tab] #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | one | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | | two | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
To refer to a table in another file, join the filename and table name with
a colon, for example: :var table=other-file.org:example-table
.
- list
-
A simple named list.
#+NAME: example-list - simple - not - nested - list #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var x=example-list (print x) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | simple | list |
Note that only the top level list items are passed along. Nested list items are ignored.
- code block without arguments
-
A code block name, as assigned by
NAME
keyword from the example above, optionally followed by parentheses.#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var length=table-length() (* 2 length) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: : 8
- code block with arguments
-
A code block name, as assigned by
NAME
keyword, followed by parentheses and optional arguments passed within the parentheses.#+NAME: double #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var input=8 (* 2 input) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: double : 16 #+NAME: squared #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var input=double(input=1) (* input input) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: squared : 4
- literal example
-
A literal example block named with a
NAME
keyword.#+NAME: literal-example #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE A literal example on two lines #+END_EXAMPLE #+NAME: read-literal-example #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var x=literal-example (concatenate #'string x " for you.") #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: read-literal-example : A literal example : on two lines for you.
Indexing variable values enables referencing portions of a variable.
Indexes are 0 based with negative values counting backwards from the
end. If an index is separated by commas then each subsequent section
indexes as the next dimension. Note that this indexing occurs
before other table-related header arguments are applied, such as
hlines
, colnames
and rownames
. The following example assigns
the last cell of the first row the table example-table
to the
variable data
:
#+NAME: example-table | 1 | a | | 2 | b | | 3 | c | | 4 | d | #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var data=example-table[0,-1] data #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: : a
Two integers separated by a colon reference a range of variable
values. In that case the entire inclusive range is referenced. For
example the following assigns the middle three rows of example-table
to data
.
#+NAME: example-table | 1 | a | | 2 | b | | 3 | c | | 4 | d | | 5 | 3 | #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var data=example-table[1:3] data #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | 2 | b | | 3 | c | | 4 | d |
To pick the entire range, use an empty index, or the single character
*
. 0:-1
does the same thing. Example below shows how to
reference the first column only.
#+NAME: example-table | 1 | a | | 2 | b | | 3 | c | | 4 | d | #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var data=example-table[,0] data #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Index referencing can be used for tables and code blocks. Index referencing can handle any number of dimensions. Commas delimit multiple dimensions, as shown below.
#+NAME: 3D #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp '(((1 2 3) (4 5 6) (7 8 9)) ((10 11 12) (13 14 15) (16 17 18)) ((19 20 21) (22 23 24) (25 26 27))) #+END_SRC #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var data=3D[1,,1] data #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | 11 | 14 | 17 |
Note that row names and column names are not removed prior to variable
indexing. You need to take them into account, even when colnames
or
rownames
header arguments remove them.
Emacs lisp code can also set the values for variables. To
differentiate a value from Lisp code, Org interprets any value
starting with (
, [
, '
or `
as Emacs Lisp code. The result of
evaluating that code is then assigned to the value of that variable.
The following example shows how to reliably query and pass the file
name of the Org mode buffer to a code block using headers. We need
reliability here because the file's name could change once the code in
the block starts executing.
#+BEGIN_SRC sh :var filename=(buffer-file-name) :exports both wc -w $filename #+END_SRC
Note that values read from tables and lists are not mistakenly evaluated as Emacs Lisp code, as illustrated in the following example.
#+NAME: table | (a b c) | #+HEADER: :var data=table[0,0] #+BEGIN_SRC perl $data #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: : (a b c)
Using sessions
Two code blocks can share the same environment. The session
header
argument is for running multiple source code blocks under one session.
Org runs code blocks with the same session name in the same
interpreter process.
-
none
- Default. Each code block gets a new interpreter process to execute. The process terminates once the block is evaluated.
-
Any string besides
none
turns that string into the name of that session. For example,:session STRING
names itSTRING
. Ifsession
has no value, then the session name is derived from the source language identifier. Subsequent blocks with the same source code language use the same session. Depending on the language, state variables, code from other blocks, and the overall interpreted environment may be shared. Some interpreted languages support concurrent sessions when subsequent source code language blocks change session names.
Only languages that provide interactive evaluation can have session support. Not all languages provide this support, such as C and ditaa. Even languages, such as Python and Haskell, that do support interactive evaluation impose limitations on allowable language constructs that can run interactively. Org inherits those limitations for those code blocks running in a session.
Choosing a working directory
The dir
header argument specifies the default directory during code
block execution. If it is absent, then the directory associated with
the current buffer is used. In other words, supplying :dir
DIRECTORY
temporarily has the same effect as changing the current
directory with , and then not setting
dir
. Under the surface, dir
simply sets the value of the Emacs
variable default-directory
. Setting mkdirp
header argument to
a non-nil
value creates the directory, if necessary.
Setting dir
to the symbol attach
or the string "'attach"
will
set dir
to the directory returned by (org-attach-dir)
, set :mkdir
yes
, and insert any file paths, as when using :results file
, which
are under the node's attachment directory using attachment:
links
instead of the usual file:
links. Any returned path outside of the
attachment directory will use file:
links as per usual.
For example, to save the plot file in the Work/
folder of the home
directory—notice tilde is expanded:
#+BEGIN_SRC R :file myplot.png :dir ~/Work matplot(matrix(rnorm(100), 10), type="l") #+END_SRC
To evaluate the code block on a remote machine, supply a remote directory name using Tramp syntax. For example:
#+BEGIN_SRC R :file plot.png :dir /scp:dand@yakuba.princeton.edu: plot(1:10, main=system("hostname", intern=TRUE)) #+END_SRC
Org first captures the text results as usual for insertion in the Org
file. Then Org also inserts a link to the remote file, thanks to
Emacs Tramp. Org constructs the remote path to the file name from
dir
and default-directory
, as illustrated here:
[[file:/scp:dand@yakuba.princeton.edu:/home/dand/plot.png][plot.png]]
When dir
is used with session
, Org sets the starting directory for
a new session. But Org does not alter the directory of an already
existing session.
Do not use dir
with :exports results
or with :exports both
to
avoid Org inserting incorrect links to remote files. That is because
Org does not expand default directory
to avoid some underlying
portability issues.
Inserting headers and footers
The prologue
header argument is for appending to the top of the code
block for execution, like a reset instruction. For example, you may
use :prologue "reset"
in a Gnuplot code block or, for every such
block:
(add-to-list 'org-babel-default-header-args:gnuplot
'((:prologue . "reset")))
Likewise, the value of the epilogue
header argument is for appending
to the end of the code block for execution.
Evaluating Code Blocks
A note about security: With code evaluation comes the risk of harm. Org safeguards by prompting for user's permission before executing any code in the source block. To customize this safeguard, or disable it, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACode%20Evaluation%20and%20Security%20Issues.
How to evaluate source code
Org captures the results of the code block evaluation and inserts them
in the Org file, right after the code block. The insertion point is
after a newline and the RESULTS
keyword. Org creates the RESULTS
keyword if one is not already there.
By default, Org enables only Emacs Lisp code blocks for execution. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Languages to enable other languages.
Org provides many ways to execute code blocks. or
with the point on a code block142 calls the
org-babel-execute-src-block
function, which executes the code in the
block, collects the results, and inserts them in the buffer.
By calling a named code block143 from an Org mode buffer or a table. Org can call the named code blocks from the current Org mode buffer or from the "Library of Babel" (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALibrary%20of%20Babel).
The syntax for CALL
keyword is:
#+CALL: <name>(<arguments>) #+CALL: <name>[<inside header arguments>](<arguments>) <end header arguments>
The syntax for inline named code blocks is:
... call_<name>(<arguments>) ... ... call_<name>[<inside header arguments>](<arguments>)[<end header arguments>] ...
When inline syntax is used, the result is wrapped based on the
variable org-babel-inline-result-wrap
, which by default is set to
"=%s="
to produce verbatim text suitable for markup.
-
<name>
-
This is the name of the code block (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AStructure%20of%20Code%20Blocks) to be evaluated in the current document. If the block is located in another file, start
<name>
with the file name followed by a colon. For example, in order to execute a block namedclear-data
infile.org
, you can write the following:#+CALL: file.org:clear-data()
-
<arguments>
-
Org passes arguments to the code block using standard function call syntax. For example, a
#+CALL:
line that passes4
to a code block nameddouble
, which declares the header argument:var n=2
, would be written as:#+CALL: double(n=4)
Note how this function call syntax is different from the header argument syntax.
-
<inside header arguments>
-
Org passes inside header arguments to the named code block using the
header argument syntax. Inside header arguments apply to code block
evaluation. For example,
[:results output]
collects results printed to stdout during code execution of that block. Note how this header argument syntax is different from the function call syntax. -
<end header arguments>
-
End header arguments affect the results returned by the code block.
For example,
:results html
wraps the results in a#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
block before inserting the results in the Org buffer.
Limit code block evaluation
The eval
header argument can limit evaluation of specific code
blocks and CALL
keyword. It is useful for protection against
evaluating untrusted code blocks by prompting for a confirmation.
-
never
orno
- Org never evaluates the source code.
-
query
- Org prompts the user for permission to evaluate the source code.
-
never-export
orno-export
- Org does not evaluate the source code when exporting, yet the user can evaluate it interactively.
-
query-export
- Org prompts the user for permission to evaluate the source code during export.
If eval
header argument is not set, then Org determines whether to
evaluate the source code from the org-confirm-babel-evaluate
variable (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACode%20Evaluation%20and%20Security%20Issues).
Cache results of evaluation
The cache
header argument is for caching results of evaluating code
blocks. Caching results can avoid re-evaluating a code block that
have not changed since the previous run. To benefit from the cache
and avoid redundant evaluations, the source block must have a result
already present in the buffer, and neither the header
arguments—including the value of var
references—nor the text of
the block itself has changed since the result was last computed. This
feature greatly helps avoid long-running calculations. For some edge
cases, however, the cached results may not be reliable.
The caching feature is best for when code blocks are pure functions, that is functions that return the same value for the same input arguments (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEnvironment%20of%20a%20Code%20Block), and that do not have side effects, and do not rely on external variables other than the input arguments. Functions that depend on a timer, file system objects, and random number generators are clearly unsuitable for caching.
A note of warning: when cache
is used in a session, caching may
cause unexpected results.
When the caching mechanism tests for any source code changes, it does not expand noweb style references (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ANoweb%20Reference%20Syntax).
The cache
header argument can have one of two values: yes
or no
.
-
no
- Default. No caching of results; code block evaluated every time.
-
yes
-
Whether to run the code or return the cached results is determined
by comparing the SHA1 hash value of the combined code block and
arguments passed to it. This hash value is packed on the
#+RESULTS:
line from previous evaluation. When hash values match, Org does not evaluate the code block. When hash values mismatch, Org evaluates the code block, inserts the results, recalculates the hash value, and updates#+RESULTS:
line.
In this example, both functions are cached. But caller
runs only if
the result from random
has changed since the last run.
#+NAME: random #+BEGIN_SRC R :cache yes runif(1) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS[a2a72cd647ad44515fab62e144796432793d68e1]: random 0.4659510825295 #+NAME: caller #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var x=random :cache yes x #+END_SRC #+RESULTS[bec9c8724e397d5df3b696502df3ed7892fc4f5f]: caller 0.254227238707244
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 accepts four classes of options.
Each code block can take only one option per class:
- Collection
- For how the results should be collected from the code block;
- Type
- For which type of result the code block will return; affects how Org processes and inserts results in the Org buffer;
- Format
- For the result; affects how Org processes results;
- Handling
- For inserting results once they are properly formatted.
Collection
Collection options specify the results. Choose one of the options; they are mutually exclusive.
-
value
-
Default for most Babel libraries143. Functional mode. Org
gets the value by wrapping the code in a function definition in the
language of the source block. That is why when using
:results value
, code should execute like a function and return a value. For languages like Python, an explicitreturn
statement is mandatory when using:results value
. Result is the value returned by the last statement in the code block. When evaluating the code block in a session (see [[*Environment of a Code Block]]), Org passes the code to an interpreter running as an interactive Emacs inferior process. Org gets the value from the source code interpreter's last statement output. Org has to use language-specific methods to obtain the value. For example, from the variable_
in Ruby, and the value of.Last.value
in R. -
output
- Scripting mode. Org passes the code to an external process running the interpreter. Org returns the contents of the standard output stream as text results. When using a session, Org passes the code to the interpreter running as an interactive Emacs inferior process. Org concatenates any text output from the interpreter and returns the collection as a result.
Type
Type tells what result types to expect from the execution of the code block. Choose one of the options; they are mutually exclusive. The default behavior is to automatically determine the result type.
-
table
,vector
-
Interpret the results as an Org table. If the result is a single value, create a table with one row and one column. Usage example:
:results value table
.In-between each table row or below the table headings, sometimes results have horizontal lines, which are also known as "hlines". The
hlines
argument with the defaultno
value strips such lines from the input table. For most code, this is desirable, or else thosehline
symbols raise unbound variable errors. Ayes
accepts such lines, as demonstrated in the following example.#+NAME: many-cols | a | b | c | |---+---+---| | d | e | f | |---+---+---| | g | h | i | #+NAME: no-hline #+BEGIN_SRC python :var tab=many-cols :hlines no return tab #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: no-hline | a | b | c | | d | e | f | | g | h | i | #+NAME: hlines #+BEGIN_SRC python :var tab=many-cols :hlines yes return tab #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: hlines | a | b | c | |---+---+---| | d | e | f | |---+---+---| | g | h | i |
-
list
- Interpret the results as an Org list. If the result is a single value, create a list of one element.
-
scalar
,verbatim
-
Interpret literally and insert as quoted text. Do not create
a table. Usage example:
:results value verbatim
. -
file
-
Interpret as a filename. Save the results of execution of the code block to that file, then insert a link to it. You can control both the filename and the description associated to the link.
Org first tries to generate the filename from the value of the
file
header argument and the directory specified using theoutput-dir
header arguments. Ifoutput-dir
is not specified, Org assumes it is the current directory.#+BEGIN_SRC asymptote :results value file :file circle.pdf :output-dir img/ size(2cm); draw(unitcircle); #+END_SRC
If
file
header argument is missing, Org generates the base name of the output file from the name of the code block, and its extension from thefile-ext
header argument. In that case, both the name and the extension are mandatory.#+name: circle #+BEGIN_SRC asymptote :results value file :file-ext pdf size(2cm); draw(unitcircle); #+END_SRC
The
file-desc
header argument defines the description (see [[*Link Format]]) for the link. Iffile-desc
is present but has no value, thefile
value is used as the link description. When this argument is not present, the description is omitted. If you want to provide thefile-desc
argument but omit the description, you can provide it with an empty vector (i.e., :file-desc []).By default, Org assumes that a table written to a file has TAB-delimited output. You can choose a different separator with the
sep
header argument.The
file-mode
header argument defines the file permissions. To make it executable, use:file-mode (identity #o755)
.#+BEGIN_SRC shell :results file :file script.sh :file-mode (identity #o755) echo "#!/bin/bash" echo "echo Hello World" #+END_SRC
Format
Format pertains to the type of the result returned by the code block. Choose one of the options; they are mutually exclusive. The default follows from the type specified above.
-
code
-
Result enclosed in a code block. Useful for parsing. Usage
example:
:results value code
. -
drawer
-
Result wrapped in a
RESULTS
drawer. Useful for containingraw
ororg
results for later scripting and automated processing. Usage example::results value drawer
. -
html
-
Results enclosed in a
BEGIN_EXPORT html
block. Usage example::results value html
. -
latex
-
Results enclosed in a
BEGIN_EXPORT latex
block. Usage example::results value latex
. -
link
,graphics
-
When used along with
file
type, the result is a link to the file specified in:file
header argument. However, unlike plainfile
type, nothing is written to the disk. The block is used for its side-effects only, as in the following example:#+begin_src shell :results file link :file "download.tar.gz" wget -c "https://example.com/download.tar.gz" #+end_src
-
org
-
Results enclosed in a
BEGIN_SRC org
block. For comma-escape, either in the block, or export the file. Usage example::results value org
. -
pp
-
Result converted to pretty-print source code. Enclosed in a code
block. Languages supported: Emacs Lisp, Python, and Ruby. Usage
example:
:results value pp
. -
raw
-
Interpreted as raw Org mode. Inserted directly into the buffer.
Aligned if it is a table. Usage example:
:results value raw
.
The wrap
header argument unconditionally marks the results block by
appending strings to #+BEGIN_
and #+END_
. If no string is
specified, Org wraps the results in a #+BEGIN_results
… #+END_results
block. It takes precedent over the results
value listed above. E.g.,
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :results html :wrap EXPORT markdown "<blink>Welcome back to the 90's</blink>" #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: #+BEGIN_EXPORT markdown <blink>Welcome back to the 90's</blink> #+END_EXPORT
Handling
Handling options after collecting the results.
-
replace
-
Default. Insert results in the Org buffer. Remove previous
results. Usage example:
:results output replace
. -
silent
-
Do not insert results in the Org mode buffer, but echo them in the
minibuffer. Usage example:
:results output silent
. -
none
-
Do not process results at all. No inserting in the Org mode buffer
nor echo them in the minibuffer. Usage example:
:results none
. -
append
-
Append results to the Org buffer. Latest results are at the bottom.
Does not remove previous results. Usage example:
:results output append
. -
prepend
-
Prepend results to the Org buffer. Latest results are at the top.
Does not remove previous results. Usage example:
:results output prepend
.
Post-processing
The post
header argument is for post-processing results from block
evaluation. When post
has any value, Org binds the results to
*this*
variable for easy passing to var
header argument
specifications (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEnvironment%20of%20a%20Code%20Block). That makes results
available to other code blocks, or even for direct Emacs Lisp code
execution.
The following two examples illustrate post
header argument in
action. The first one shows how to attach an ATTR_LATEX
keyword
using post
.
#+NAME: attr_wrap #+BEGIN_SRC sh :var data="" :var width="\\textwidth" :results output echo "#+ATTR_LATEX: :width $width" echo "$data" #+END_SRC #+HEADER: :file /tmp/it.png #+BEGIN_SRC dot :post attr_wrap(width="5cm", data=*this*) :results drawer digraph{ a -> b; b -> c; c -> a; } #+end_src #+RESULTS: :RESULTS: #+ATTR_LATEX :width 5cm [[file:/tmp/it.png]] :END:
The second example shows use of colnames
header argument in post
to pass data between code blocks.
#+NAME: round-tbl #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :var tbl="" fmt="%.3f" (mapcar (lambda (row) (mapcar (lambda (cell) (if (numberp cell) (format fmt cell) cell)) row)) tbl) #+end_src #+BEGIN_SRC R :colnames yes :post round-tbl[:colnames yes](*this*) set.seed(42) data.frame(foo=rnorm(1)) #+END_SRC #+RESULTS: | foo | |-------| | 1.371 |
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. For some languages, such as ditaa, Org defaults to results. To export just the body of code blocks, see [[*Literal Examples]]. To selectively export sub-trees of an Org document, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Exporting.
The exports
header argument is to specify if that part of the Org
file is exported to, say, HTML or LaTeX formats.
-
code
-
The default. The body of code is included into the exported file.
Example:
:exports code
. -
results
-
The results of evaluation of the code is included in the exported
file. Example:
:exports results
. -
both
-
Both the code and results of evaluation are included in the exported
file. Example:
:exports both
. -
none
-
Neither the code nor the results of evaluation is included in the
exported file. Whether the code is evaluated at all depends on
other options. Example:
:exports none
.
To stop Org from evaluating code blocks to speed exports, use the
header argument :eval never-export
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEvaluating%20Code%20Blocks).
To stop Org from evaluating code blocks for greater security, set the
org-export-use-babel
variable to nil
, but understand that header
arguments will have no effect.
Turning off evaluation comes in handy when batch processing. For
example, markup languages for wikis, which have a high risk of
untrusted code. Stopping code block evaluation also stops evaluation
of all header arguments of the code block. This may not be desirable
in some circumstances. So during export, to allow evaluation of just
the header arguments but not any code evaluation in the source block,
set :eval never-export
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEvaluating%20Code%20Blocks).
Org never evaluates code blocks in commented sub-trees when exporting (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AComment%20Lines). On the other hand, Org does evaluate code blocks in sub-trees excluded from export (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
Extracting Source Code
Extracting source code from code blocks is a basic task in literate programming. Org has features to make this easy. In literate programming parlance, documents on creation are woven with code and documentation, and on export, the code is tangled for execution by a computer. Org facilitates weaving and tangling for producing, maintaining, sharing, and exporting literate programming documents. Org provides extensive customization options for extracting source code.
When Org tangles code blocks, it expands, merges, and transforms them. Then Org recomposes them into one or more separate files, as configured through the options. During this tangling process, Org expands variables in the source code, and resolves any noweb style references (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ANoweb%20Reference%20Syntax).
Header arguments
The tangle
header argument specifies if the code block is exported
to source file(s).
-
yes
-
Export the code block to source file. The file name for the source
file is derived from the name of the Org file, and the file
extension is derived from the source code language identifier.
Example:
:tangle yes
. -
no
-
The default. Do not extract the code in a source code file.
Example:
:tangle no
. -
Export the code block to source file whose file name is derived from
any string passed to the
tangle
header argument. Org derives the file name as being relative to the directory of the Org file's location. Example::tangle FILENAME
.
The mkdirp
header argument creates parent directories for tangled
files if the directory does not exist. A yes
value enables
directory creation whereas no
inhibits it.
The comments
header argument controls inserting comments into
tangled files. These are above and beyond whatever comments may
already exist in the code block.
-
no
- The default. Do not insert any extra comments during tangling.
-
link
- Wrap the code block in comments. Include links pointing back to the place in the Org file from where the code was tangled.
-
yes
-
Kept for backward compatibility; same as
link
. -
org
- Nearest headline text from Org file is inserted as comment. The exact text that is inserted is picked from the leading context of the source block.
-
both
-
Includes both
link
andorg
options. -
noweb
-
Includes
link
option, expands noweb references (see [[*Noweb Reference Syntax]]), and wraps them in link comments inside the body of the code block.
The padline
header argument controls insertion of newlines to pad
source code in the tangled file.
-
yes
- Default. Insert a newline before and after each code block in the tangled file.
-
no
- Do not insert newlines to pad the tangled code blocks.
The shebang
header argument can turn results into executable script
files. By setting it to a string value—for example, :shebang
"#!/bin/bash"
—Org inserts that string as the first line of the
tangled file that the code block is extracted to. Org then turns on
the tangled file's executable permission.
The tangle-mode
header argument specifies what permissions to set
for tangled files by set-file-modes
. Permissions are given by an
octal value, which can be provided calling the identity
function on
an elisp octal value. For instance, to create a read-only file one may
use :tangle-mode (identity #o444)
. To reduce the verbosity required,
a octal shorthand is defined, oXXX
(o
for octal). Using this, our
read-only example is :tangle-mode o444
. Omitting the o
prefix will
cause the argument to be interpreted as an integer, which can lead to
unexpected results (444
is the same as o674
).
Two other shorthands are recognised, ls-style strings like
rw-r--r--
, and chmod-style permissions like g+w
.
Note that chmod-style permissions are based on
org-babel-tangle-default-file-mode
, which is #o544
by default.
When :tangle-mode
and :shebang
are both specified, the give
:tangle-mode
will override the permissions from :shebang
. When
multiple source code blocks tangle to a single file with conflicting
:tangle-mode
header arguments, Org's behaviour is undefined.
By default Org expands code blocks during tangling. The no-expand
header argument turns off such expansions. Note that one side-effect
of expansion by org-babel-expand-src-block
also assigns values (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEnvironment%20of%20a%20Code%20Block) to variables. Expansions also replace
noweb references with their targets (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ANoweb%20Reference%20Syntax).
Some of these expansions may cause premature assignment, hence this
option. This option makes a difference only for tangling. It has no
effect when exporting since code blocks for execution have to be
expanded anyway.
Functions
-
org-babel-tangle
-
Tangle the current file. Bound to .
With prefix argument only tangle the current code block.
-
org-babel-tangle-file
-
Choose a file to tangle. Bound to .
Tangle hooks
-
org-babel-post-tangle-hook
-
This hook is run from within code files tangled by
org-babel-tangle
, making it suitable for post-processing, compilation, and evaluation of code in the tangled files.
Jumping between code and Org
Debuggers normally link errors and messages back to the source code.
But for tangled files, we want to link back to the Org file, not to
the tangled source file. To make this extra jump, Org uses
org-babel-tangle-jump-to-org
function with two additional source
code block header arguments:
- Set
padline
to true—this is the default setting. - Set
comments
tolink
, which makes Org insert links to the Org file.
Languages
Code blocks in dozens of languages are supported. See Worg for language specific documentation.
By default, only Emacs Lisp is enabled for evaluation. To enable or
disable other languages, customize the org-babel-load-languages
variable either through the Emacs customization interface, or by
adding code to the init file as shown next.
In this example, evaluation is disabled for Emacs Lisp, and enabled for R.
(org-babel-do-load-languages
'org-babel-load-languages
'((emacs-lisp . nil)
(R . t)))
Note that this is not the only way to enable a language. Org also
enables languages when loaded with require
statement. For example,
the following enables execution of Clojure code blocks:
(require 'ob-clojure)
Editing 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.
saves the buffer and updates the contents of the
Org buffer. Set org-edit-src-auto-save-idle-delay
to save the base
buffer after a certain idle delay time. Set
org-edit-src-turn-on-auto-save
to auto-save this buffer into
a separate file using Auto-save mode.
While editing the source code in the major mode, the Org Src minor
mode remains active. It provides these customization variables as
described below. For even more variables, look in the customization
group org-edit-structure
.
-
org-src-lang-modes
-
If an Emacs major-mode named
<LANG>-mode
exists, where is the language identifier from code block's header line, then the edit buffer uses that major mode. Use this variable to arbitrarily map language identifiers to major modes. -
org-src-window-setup
-
For specifying Emacs window arrangement when the new edit buffer is created.
-
org-src-preserve-indentation
-
Default is
nil
. Source code is indented. This indentation applies during export or tangling, and depending on the context, may alter leading spaces and tabs. When non-nil
, source code is aligned with the leftmost column. No lines are modified during export or tangling, which is very useful for white-space sensitive languages, such as Python. -
org-src-ask-before-returning-to-edit-buffer
-
When
nil
, Org returns to the edit buffer without further prompts. The default prompts for a confirmation.
Set org-src-fontify-natively
to non-nil
to turn on native code
fontification in the Org buffer. Fontification of code blocks can
give visual separation of text and code on the display page. To
further customize the appearance of org-block
for specific
languages, customize org-src-block-faces
. The following example
shades the background of regular blocks, and colors source blocks only
for Python and Emacs Lisp languages.
(require 'color)
(set-face-attribute 'org-block nil :background
(color-darken-name
(face-attribute 'default :background) 3))
(setq org-src-block-faces '(("emacs-lisp" (:background "#EEE2FF"))
("python" (:background "#E5FFB8"))))
Noweb Reference Syntax
Source code blocks can include references to other source code blocks, using a noweb144 style syntax:
<<CODE-BLOCK-ID>>
where refers to either the NAME
of a single
source code block, or a collection of one or more source code blocks
sharing the same noweb-ref
header argument (see [[*Using Header
Arguments]]). Org can replace such references with the source code of
the block or blocks being referenced, or, in the case of a single
source code block named with NAME
, with the results of an evaluation
of that block.
The noweb
header argument controls expansion of noweb syntax
references. Expansions occur when source code blocks are evaluated,
tangled, or exported.
-
no
- Default. No expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code when evaluating, tangling, or exporting.
-
yes
- Expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code block when evaluating, tangling, or exporting.
-
tangle
- Expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code block when tangling. No expansion when evaluating or exporting.
-
no-export
- Expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code block when evaluating or tangling. No expansion when exporting.
-
strip-export
- Expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code block when expanding prior to evaluating or tangling. Removes noweb syntax references when exporting.
-
eval
- Expansion of noweb syntax references in the body of the code block only before evaluating.
In the most simple case, the contents of a single source block is inserted within other blocks. Thus, in following example,
#+NAME: initialization #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (setq sentence "Never a foot too far, even.") #+END_SRC #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :noweb yes <<initialization>> (reverse sentence) #+END_SRC
the second code block is expanded as
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :noweb yes (setq sentence "Never a foot too far, even.") (reverse sentence) #+END_SRC
You may also include the contents of multiple blocks sharing a common
noweb-ref
header argument, which can be set at the file, sub-tree,
or code block level. In the example Org file shown next, the body of
the source code in each block is extracted for concatenation to a pure
code file when tangled.
#+BEGIN_SRC sh :tangle yes :noweb yes :shebang #!/bin/sh <<fullest-disk>> #+END_SRC * the mount point of the fullest disk :PROPERTIES: :header-args: :noweb-ref fullest-disk :END: ** query all mounted disks #+BEGIN_SRC sh df \ #+END_SRC ** strip the header row #+BEGIN_SRC sh |sed '1d' \ #+END_SRC ** output mount point of fullest disk #+BEGIN_SRC sh |awk '{if (u < +$5) {u = +$5; m = $6}} END {print m}' #+END_SRC
By default a newline separates each noweb reference concatenation. To
use a different separator, edit the noweb-sep
header argument.
Alternatively, Org can include the results of evaluation of a single code block rather than its body. Evaluation occurs when parentheses, possibly including arguments, are appended to the code block name, as shown below.
<<NAME(optional arguments)>>
Note that in this case, a code block name set by NAME
keyword is
required; the reference set by noweb-ref
will not work when
evaluation is desired.
Here is an example that demonstrates how the exported content changes when noweb style references are used with parentheses versus without. Given:
#+NAME: some-code #+BEGIN_SRC python :var num=0 :results output :exports none print(num*10) #+END_SRC
this code block:
#+BEGIN_SRC text :noweb yes <<some-code>> #+END_SRC
expands to:
print(num*10)
Below, a similar noweb style reference is used, but with parentheses,
while setting a variable num
to 10:
#+BEGIN_SRC text :noweb yes <<some-code(num=10)>> #+END_SRC
Note that the expansion now contains the results of the code block
some-code
, not the code block itself:
100
Noweb insertions honor prefix characters that appear before the noweb
syntax reference. This behavior is illustrated in the following
example. Because the <<example>>
noweb reference appears behind the
SQL comment syntax, each line of the expanded noweb reference is
commented. With:
#+NAME: example #+BEGIN_SRC text this is the multi-line body of example #+END_SRC
this code block:
#+BEGIN_SRC sql :noweb yes ---<<example>> #+END_SRC
expands to:
#+BEGIN_SRC sql :noweb yes ---this is the ---multi-line body of example #+END_SRC
Since this change does not affect noweb replacement text without newlines in them, inline noweb references are acceptable.
This feature can also be used for management of indentation in exported code snippets. With:
#+NAME: if-true #+BEGIN_SRC python :exports none print('do things when true') #+end_src #+name: if-false #+begin_src python :exports none print('do things when false') #+end_src
this code block:
#+begin_src python :noweb yes :results output if true: <<if-true>> else: <<if-false>> #+end_src
expands to:
if true: print('do things when true') else: print('do things when false')
This prefix behavior can be turned off in a block by setting the
noweb-prefix
header argument to no
, as in:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp :noweb-prefix no (setq example-data "<<example>>") #+END_SRC
which expands to:
(setq example-data "this is the multi-line body of example")
When in doubt about the outcome of a source code block expansion, you can preview the results with the following command:
-
(
org-babel-expand-src-block
) -
Expand the current source code block according to its header arguments and pop open the results in a preview buffer.
Library of Babel
The "Library of Babel" is a collection of code blocks. Like a function library, these code blocks can be called from other Org files. A collection of useful code blocks is available on Worg. For remote code block evaluation syntax, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AEvaluating%20Code%20Blocks.
For any user to add code to the library, first save the code in
regular code blocks of an Org file, and then load the Org file with
org-babel-lob-ingest
, which is bound to .
Key bindings and Useful Functions
Many common Org mode key sequences are re-bound depending on the context.
Active key bindings in code blocks:
Key binding | Function |
---|---|
org-babel-execute-src-block |
|
org-babel-open-src-block-result |
|
org-babel-load-in-session |
|
org-babel-pop-to-session |
Active key bindings in Org mode buffer:
Key binding | Function |
---|---|
org-babel-previous-src-block |
|
org-babel-next-src-block |
|
org-babel-execute-maybe |
|
org-babel-open-src-block-result |
|
org-babel-expand-src-block |
|
org-babel-goto-src-block-head |
|
org-babel-goto-named-src-block |
|
org-babel-goto-named-result |
|
org-babel-execute-buffer |
|
org-babel-execute-subtree |
|
org-babel-demarcate-block |
|
org-babel-tangle |
|
org-babel-tangle-file |
|
org-babel-check-src-block |
|
org-babel-insert-header-arg |
|
org-babel-load-in-session |
|
org-babel-lob-ingest |
|
org-babel-view-src-block-info |
|
org-babel-switch-to-session-with-code |
|
org-babel-sha1-hash |
|
org-babel-describe-bindings |
|
org-babel-do-key-sequence-in-edit-buffer |
Batch Execution
Org mode features, including working with source code facilities can be invoked from the command line. This enables building shell scripts for batch processing, running automated system tasks, and expanding Org mode's usefulness.
The sample script shows batch processing of multiple files using
org-babel-tangle
.
#!/bin/sh # Tangle files with Org mode # emacs -Q --batch --eval " (progn (require 'ob-tangle) (dolist (file command-line-args-left) (with-current-buffer (find-file-noselect file) (org-babel-tangle)))) " "$@"
Miscellaneous
Completion
Org has in-buffer completions. Unlike minibuffer completions, which are useful for quick command interactions, Org's in-buffer completions are more suitable for content creation in Org documents. Type one or more letters and invoke the hot key to complete the text in-place. Depending on the context and the keys, Org offers different types of completions. No minibuffer is involved. Such mode-specific hot keys have become an integral part of Emacs and Org provides several shortcuts.
-
Complete word at point.
- At the beginning of an empty headline, complete TODO keywords.
- After
\
, complete TeX symbols supported by the exporter. - After
:
in a headline, complete tags. Org deduces the list of tags from theTAGS
in-buffer option (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASetting%20Tags), the variableorg-tag-alist
, or from all tags used in the current buffer. - After
:
and not in a headline, complete property keys. The list of keys is constructed dynamically from all keys used in the current buffer. - After
[[
, complete link abbreviations (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALink%20Abbreviations). - After
[[*
, complete headlines in the current buffer so that they can be used in search links like:[[*find this headline]]
- After
#+
, complete the special keywords likeTYP_TODO
or file-specificOPTIONS
. After option keyword is complete, pressing again inserts example settings for this keyword. - After
STARTUP
keyword, complete startup items. - When point is anywhere else, complete dictionary words using Ispell.
Structure Templates
With just a few keystrokes, it is possible to insert empty structural
blocks, such as #+BEGIN_SRC
… #+END_SRC
, or to wrap existing
text in such a block.
-
(
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. First prompts the user for keys, which are used to look up a structure type from the variable below. If the key is , or , the user is prompted to enter a block type.
Available structure types are defined in
org-structure-template-alist
, see the docstring for adding or
changing values.
Org Tempo expands snippets to structures defined in
org-structure-template-alist
and org-tempo-keywords-alist
. For
example, creates a code block. Enable it by
customizing org-modules
or add (require 'org-tempo)
to your Emacs
init file145.
#+BEGIN_EXPORT ascii … #+END_EXPORT |
|
#+BEGIN_CENTER … #+END_CENTER |
|
#+BEGIN_COMMENT … #+END_COMMENT |
|
#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE … #+END_EXAMPLE |
|
#+BEGIN_EXPORT … #+END_EXPORT |
|
#+BEGIN_EXPORT html … #+END_EXPORT |
|
#+BEGIN_EXPORT latex … #+END_EXPORT |
|
#+BEGIN_QUOTE … #+END_QUOTE |
|
#+BEGIN_SRC … #+END_SRC |
|
#+BEGIN_VERSE … #+END_VERSE |
Speed Keys
Single keystrokes can execute custom commands in an Org file when point is on a headline. Without the extra burden of a meta or modifier key, Speed Keys can speed navigation or execute custom commands. Besides faster navigation, Speed Keys may come in handy on small mobile devices that do not have full keyboards. Speed Keys may also work on TTY devices known for their problems when entering Emacs key chords.
By default, Org has Speed Keys disabled. To activate Speed Keys, set
the variable org-use-speed-commands
to a non-nil
value. To
trigger a Speed Key, point must be at the beginning of an Org
headline, before any of the stars.
Org comes with a pre-defined list of Speed Keys. To add or modify
Speed Keys, customize the option org-speed-commands
. For more
details, see the variable's docstring. With Speed Keys activated,
when point is at the
beginning of an Org headline, shows currently active Speed Keys,
including the user-defined ones.
A Cleaner Outline View
Org's outline with stars and no indents can look 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 displays only one star and indents text to line up 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
Org can achieve this in two ways, (1) by just displaying the buffer in this way without changing it, or (2) by actually indenting every line in the desired amount with hard spaces and hiding leading stars.
Org Indent Mode
To display the buffer in the indented view, activate Org Indent minor mode, using . Text lines that are not headlines are prefixed with virtual spaces to vertically align with the headline text146.
To make more horizontal space, the headlines are shifted by two
characters. Configure org-indent-indentation-per-level
variable for
a different number.
By default, Org Indent mode turns off org-adapt-indentation
and does
hide leading stars by locally setting org-hide-leading-stars
to t
:
only one star on each headline is visible, the rest are masked with
the same font color as the background. If you want to customize this
default behavior, see org-indent-mode-turns-on-hiding-stars
and
org-indent-mode-turns-off-org-adapt-indentation
.
To globally turn on Org Indent mode for all files, customize the
variable org-startup-indented
. To control it for individual files,
use STARTUP
keyword as follows:
#+STARTUP: indent #+STARTUP: noindent
Hard indentation
It is possible to use hard spaces to achieve the indentation instead, if the bare ASCII file should have the indented look also outside Emacs147. With Org's support, you have to indent all lines to line up with the outline headers. You would use these settings148:
(setq org-adapt-indentation t
org-hide-leading-stars t
org-odd-levels-only t)
-
Indentation of text below headlines (
org-adapt-indentation
) -
The first setting modifies paragraph filling, line wrapping, and structure editing commands to preserving or adapting the indentation as appropriate.
-
Hiding leading stars (
org-hide-leading-stars
) -
The second setting makes leading stars invisible by applying the face
org-hide
to them. For per-file preference, use these fileSTARTUP
options:#+STARTUP: hidestars #+STARTUP: showstars
-
Odd levels (
org-odd-levels-only
) -
The third setting makes Org use only odd levels, 1, 3, 5, …, in the outline to create more indentation. On a per-file level, control this with:
#+STARTUP: odd #+STARTUP: oddeven
To convert a file between single and double stars layouts, use and {{{kbd(M-x org-convert-to-oddeven-levels)}}}.
Execute commands in the active region
When in an Org buffer and the region is active, some commands will
apply to all the subtrees in the active region. For example, hitting
when multiple headlines are within the active region will
successively prompt you for a new schedule date and time. To disable
this, set the option org-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region
to
non-t
, activate the region and run the command normally.
org-agenda-loop-over-headlines-in-active-region
is the equivalent
option of the agenda buffer, where you can also use bulk editing of
selected entries.
Not all commands can loop in the active region and what subtrees or headlines are considered can be refined: see the docstrings of these options for more details.
Dynamic Headline Numbering
The Org Num minor mode, toggled with , displays outline numbering on top of headlines. It also updates it automatically upon changes to the structure of the document.
By default, all headlines are numbered. You can limit numbering to
specific headlines according to their level, tags, COMMENT
keyword,
or UNNUMBERED
property. Set org-num-max-level
,
org-num-skip-tags
, org-num-skip-commented
,
org-num-skip-unnumbered
, or org-num-skip-footnotes
accordingly.
If org-num-skip-footnotes
is non-nil
, footnotes sections (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ACreating%20Footnotes) are not numbered either.
You can control how the numbering is displayed by setting
org-num-face
and org-num-format-function
.
You can also turn this mode globally for all Org files by setting the
option org-startup-numerated
to t
, or locally on a file by using
#+startup: num
.
The Very Busy Key
The key in Org serves many purposes depending on the context. It is probably the most over-worked, multi-purpose key combination in Org. Its uses are well documented throughout this manual, but here is a consolidated list for easy reference.
- If column view (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AColumn%20View) is on, exit column view.
- If any highlights shown in the buffer from the creation of a sparse tree, or from clock display, remove such highlights.
- If point is in one of the special
KEYWORD
lines, scan the buffer for these lines and update the information. Also reset the Org file cache used to temporary store the contents of URLs used as values for keywords likeSETUPFILE
. - If point is inside a table, realign the table.
- If point is on a
TBLFM
keyword, re-apply the formulas to the entire table. - If the current buffer is a capture buffer, close the note and file it. With a prefix argument, also jump to the target location after saving the note.
- If point is on a
<<<target>>>
, update radio targets and corresponding links in this buffer. - If point is on a property line or at the start or end of a property drawer, offer property commands.
- If point is at a footnote reference, go to the corresponding definition, and vice versa.
- If point is on a statistics cookie, update it.
- If point is in a plain list item with a checkbox, toggle the status of the checkbox.
- If point is on a numbered item in a plain list, renumber the ordered list.
- If point is on the
#+BEGIN
line of a dynamic block, the block is updated. - If point is at a timestamp, fix the day name in the timestamp.
Summary of In-Buffer Settings
In-buffer settings start with #+
, followed by a keyword, a colon,
and then a word for each setting. Org accepts multiple settings on
the same line. Org also accepts multiple lines for a keyword. This
manual describes these settings throughout. A summary follows here.
activates any changes to the in-buffer settings. Closing and reopening the Org file in Emacs also activates the changes.
-
#+ARCHIVE: %s_done::
-
Sets the archive location of the agenda file. The corresponding variable is
org-archive-location
. -
#+CATEGORY
-
Sets the category of the agenda file, which applies to the entire document.
-
#+COLUMNS: %25ITEM ...
-
Set the default format for columns view. This format applies when columns view is invoked in locations where no
COLUMNS
property applies. -
#+CONSTANTS: name1=value1 ...
-
Set file-local values for constants that table formulas can use. This line sets the local variable
org-table-formula-constants-local
. The global version of this variable isorg-table-formula-constants
. -
#+FILETAGS: :tag1:tag2:tag3:
-
Set tags that all entries in the file inherit from, including the top-level entries.
-
#+LINK: linkword replace
-
Each line specifies one abbreviation for one link. Use multiple
LINK
keywords for more, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALink%20Abbreviations. The corresponding variable isorg-link-abbrev-alist
. -
#+PRIORITIES: highest lowest default
-
This line sets the limits and the default for the priorities. All three must be either letters A–Z or numbers 0–9. The highest priority must have a lower ASCII number than the lowest priority.
-
#+PROPERTY: Property_Name Value
-
This line sets a default inheritance value for entries in the current buffer, most useful for specifying the allowed values of a property.
-
#+SETUPFILE: file
-
The setup file or a URL pointing to such file is for additional in-buffer settings. Org loads this file and parses it for any settings in it only when Org opens the main file. If URL is specified, the contents are downloaded and stored in a temporary file cache. on the settings line parses and loads the file, and also resets the temporary file cache. Org also parses and loads the document during normal exporting process. Org parses the contents of this document as if it was included in the buffer. It can be another Org file. To visit the file—not a URL—use while point is on the line with the file name.
-
#+STARTUP:
-
Startup options Org uses when first visiting a file.
The first set of options deals with the initial visibility of the outline tree. The corresponding variable for global default settings is
org-startup-folded
with a default value ofshoweverything
.overview
Top-level headlines only. content
All headlines. showall
No folding on any entry. show2levels
Headline levels 1-2. show3levels
Headline levels 1-3. show4levels
Headline levels 1-4. show5levels
Headline levels 1-5. showeverything
Show even drawer contents. Dynamic virtual indentation is controlled by the variable
org-startup-indented
149.indent
Start with Org Indent mode turned on. noindent
Start with Org Indent mode turned off. Dynamic virtual numeration of headlines is controlled by the variable
org-startup-numerated
.num
Start with Org num mode turned on. nonum
Start with Org num mode turned off. Aligns tables consistently upon visiting a file. The corresponding variable is
org-startup-align-all-tables
withnil
as default value.align
Align all tables. noalign
Do not align tables on startup. Shrink table columns with a width cookie. The corresponding variable is
org-startup-shrink-all-tables
withnil
as default value.When visiting a file, inline images can be automatically displayed. The corresponding variable is
org-startup-with-inline-images
, with a default valuenil
to avoid delays when visiting a file.inlineimages
Show inline images. noinlineimages
Do not show inline images on startup. Logging the closing and reopening of TODO items and clock intervals can be configured using these options (see variables
org-log-done
,org-log-note-clock-out
, andorg-log-repeat
).logdone
Record a timestamp when an item is marked as done. lognotedone
Record timestamp and a note when DONE. nologdone
Do not record when items are marked as done. logrepeat
Record a time when reinstating a repeating item. lognoterepeat
Record a note when reinstating a repeating item. nologrepeat
Do not record when reinstating repeating item. lognoteclock-out
Record a note when clocking out. nolognoteclock-out
Do not record a note when clocking out. logreschedule
Record a timestamp when scheduling time changes. lognotereschedule
Record a note when scheduling time changes. nologreschedule
Do not record when a scheduling date changes. logredeadline
Record a timestamp when deadline changes. lognoteredeadline
Record a note when deadline changes. nologredeadline
Do not record when a deadline date changes. logrefile
Record a timestamp when refiling. lognoterefile
Record a note when refiling. nologrefile
Do not record when refiling. Here are the options for hiding leading stars in outline headings, and for indenting outlines. The corresponding variables are
org-hide-leading-stars
andorg-odd-levels-only
, both with a default settingnil
(meaningshowstars
andoddeven
).hidestars
Make all but one of the stars starting a headline invisible. showstars
Show all stars starting a headline. indent
Virtual indentation according to outline level. noindent
No virtual indentation according to outline level. odd
Allow only odd outline levels (1, 3, …). oddeven
Allow all outline levels. To turn on custom format overlays over timestamps (variables
org-put-time-stamp-overlays
andorg-time-stamp-overlay-formats
), use:customtime
Overlay custom time format. The following options influence the table spreadsheet (variable
constants-unit-system
).constcgs
constants.el
should use the c-g-s unit system.constSI
constants.el
should use the SI unit system.To influence footnote settings, use the following keywords. The corresponding variables are
org-footnote-define-inline
,org-footnote-auto-label
, andorg-footnote-auto-adjust
.fninline
Define footnotes inline. fnnoinline
Define footnotes in separate section. fnlocal
Define footnotes near first reference, but not inline. fnprompt
Prompt for footnote labels. fnauto
Create [fn:1]
-like labels automatically (default).fnconfirm
Offer automatic label for editing or confirmation. fnadjust
Automatically renumber and sort footnotes. nofnadjust
Do not renumber and sort automatically. To hide blocks on startup, use these keywords. The corresponding variable is
org-hide-block-startup
.hideblocks
Hide all begin/end blocks on startup. nohideblocks
Do not hide blocks on startup. The display of entities as UTF-8 characters is governed by the variable
org-pretty-entities
and the keywordsentitiespretty
Show entities as UTF-8 characters where possible. entitiesplain
Leave entities plain. -
#+TAGS: TAG1(c1) TAG2(c2)
-
These lines (several such lines are allowed) specify the valid tags in this file, and (potentially) the corresponding fast tag selection keys. The corresponding variable is
org-tag-alist
. -
#+TODO:
,#+SEQ_TODO:
,#+TYP_TODO:
-
These lines set the TODO keywords and their interpretation in the current file. The corresponding variable is
org-todo-keywords
.
Regular Expressions
Org, as an Emacs mode, makes use of Elisp regular expressions for
searching, matching and filtering. Elisp regular expressions have a
somewhat different syntax then some common standards. Most notably,
alternation is indicated using \|
and matching groups are denoted by
\(...\)
. For example the string home\|work
matches either home
or work
.
For more information, see Regular Expressions in Emacs.
Org Syntax
A reference document providing a formal description of Org's syntax is available as a draft on Worg, written and maintained by Nicolas Goaziou. It defines Org's core internal concepts such as "headlines", "sections", "affiliated keywords", "(greater) elements" and "objects". Each part of an Org document belongs to one of the previous categories.
To explore the abstract structure of an Org buffer, run this in a buffer:
M-: (org-element-parse-buffer) <RET>
It outputs a list containing the buffer's content represented as an abstract structure. The export engine relies on the information stored in this list. Most interactive commands—e.g., for structure editing—also rely on the syntactic meaning of the surrounding context.
You can probe the syntax of your documents with the command
M-x org-lint <RET>
It runs a number of checks to find common mistakes. It then displays their location in a dedicated buffer, along with a description and a "trust level", since false-positive are possible. From there, you can operate on the reports with the following keys:
Display the offending line | |
Move point to the offending line | |
Check the document again | |
Hide all reports from the same checker | |
Also remove them from all subsequent checks | |
Sort reports by the column at point |
Context Dependent Documentation
in an Org file tries to open a suitable section of the Org manual depending on the syntax at point. For example, using it on a headline displays "Document Structure" section.
closes the Info window.
Escape Character
You may sometimes want to write text that looks like Org syntax, but should really read as plain text. Org may use a specific escape character in some situations, i.e., a backslash in macros (see [[*Macro Replacement]]) and links (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALink%20Format), or a comma in source and example blocks (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ALiteral%20Examples). In the general case, however, we suggest to use the zero width space. You can insert one with any of the following:
C-x 8 <RET> zero width space <RET> C-x 8 <RET> 200B <RET>
For example, in order to write [[1,2]]
as-is in your document, you
may write instead
[X[1,2]]
where X
denotes the zero width space character.
Code Evaluation and Security Issues
Unlike plain text, running code comes with risk. Each source code block, in terms of risk, is equivalent to an executable file. Org therefore puts a few confirmation prompts by default. This is to alert the casual user from accidentally running untrusted code.
For users who do not run code blocks or write code regularly, Org's default settings should suffice. However, some users may want to tweak the prompts for fewer interruptions. To weigh the risks of automatic execution of code blocks, here are some details about code evaluation.
Org evaluates code in the following circumstances:
- Source code blocks
-
Org evaluates source code blocks in an Org file during export. Org also evaluates a source code block with the key chord. Users exporting or running code blocks must load files only from trusted sources. Be wary of customizing variables that remove or alter default security measures.
When
t
, Org prompts the user for confirmation before executing each code block. Whennil
, Org executes code blocks without prompting the user for confirmation. When this option is set to a custom function, Org invokes the function with these two arguments: the source code language and the body of the code block. The custom function must return either at
ornil
, which determines if the user is prompted. Each source code language can be handled separately through this function argument.For example, here is how to execute ditaa code blocks without prompting:
(defun my-org-confirm-babel-evaluate (lang body) (not (string= lang "ditaa"))) ;don't ask for ditaa (setq org-confirm-babel-evaluate #'my-org-confirm-babel-evaluate)
-
Following
shell
andelisp
links -
Org has two link types that can directly evaluate code (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExternal%20Links). Because such code is not visible, these links have a potential risk. Org therefore prompts the user when it encounters such links. The customization variables are:
Function that prompts the user before executing a shell link.
Function that prompts the user before executing an Emacs Lisp link.
- Formulas in tables
- Formulas in tables (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Spreadsheet) are code that is evaluated either by the Calc interpreter, or by the Emacs Lisp interpreter.
Interaction with Other Packages
Org's compatibility and the level of interaction with other Emacs packages are documented here.
Packages that Org cooperates with
-
calc.el
by Dave Gillespie -
Org uses the Calc package for implementing spreadsheet functionality in its tables (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Spreadsheet). Org also uses Calc for embedded calculations. See GNU Emacs Calc Manual.
-
constants.el
by Carsten Dominik -
Org can use names for constants in formulas in tables. Org can also use calculation suffixes for units, such as
M
forMega
. For a standard collection of such constants, install theconstants
package. Install version 2.0 of this package, available at http://www.astro.uva.nl/~dominik/Tools. Org checks if the functionconstants-get
has been autoloaded. Installation instructions are in the fileconstants.el
. -
cdlatex.el
by Carsten Dominik -
Org mode can make use of the CDLaTeX package to efficiently enter LaTeX fragments into Org files. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AUsing%20CDLaTeX%20to%20enter%20math.
-
imenu.el
by Ake Stenhoff and Lars Lindberg -
Imenu creates dynamic menus based on an index of items in a file. Org mode supports Imenu menus. Enable it with a mode hook as follows:
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (imenu-add-to-menubar "Imenu")))
By default the index is two levels deep—you can modify the depth using the option
org-imenu-depth
. -
speedbar.el
by Eric M. Ludlam -
Speedbar package creates a special Emacs frame for displaying files and index items in files. Org mode supports Speedbar; users can drill into Org files directly from the Speedbar. The in the Speedbar frame tweaks the agenda commands to that file or to a subtree.
-
table.el
by Takaaki Ota -
Complex ASCII tables with automatic line wrapping, column- and row-spanning, and alignment can be created using the Emacs table package by Takaaki Ota. Org mode recognizes such tables and exports them properly. to edit these tables in a special buffer, much like Org's code blocks. Because of interference with other Org mode functionality, Takaaki Ota tables cannot be edited directly in the Org buffer.
-
(
org-edit-special
) -
Edit a
table.el
table. Works when point is in atable.el
table. -
(
org-table-create-with-table.el
) -
Insert a
table.el
table. If there is already a table at point, this command converts it between thetable.el
format and the Org mode format. See the documentation string of the commandorg-convert-table
for the restrictions under which this is possible.
-
(
Packages that conflict with Org mode
In Emacs, shift-selection combines motions of point with shift key to
enlarge regions. Emacs sets this mode by default. This conflicts
with Org's use of commands to change timestamps,
TODO keywords, priorities, and item bullet types, etc. Since
commands outside of specific contexts do not do
anything, Org offers the variable org-support-shift-select
for
customization. Org mode accommodates shift selection by (i) making it
available outside of the special contexts where special commands
apply, and (ii) extending an existing active region even if point
moves across a special context.
-
cua.el
by Kim F. Storm -
Org key bindings conflict with keys used by CUA mode. For Org to relinquish these bindings to CUA mode, configure the variable
org-replace-disputed-keys
. When set, Org moves the following key bindings in Org files, and in the agenda buffer—but not during date selection.Yes, these are unfortunately more difficult to remember. If you want to have other replacement keys, look at the variable
org-disputed-keys
. -
ecomplete.el
by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen -
Ecomplete provides "electric" address completion in address header lines in message buffers. Sadly Orgtbl mode cuts Ecomplete's power supply: no completion happens when Orgtbl mode is enabled in message buffers while entering text in address header lines. If one wants to use ecomplete one should not follow the advice to automagically turn on Orgtbl mode in message buffers (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Orgtbl%20Minor%20Mode), but instead—after filling in the message headers—turn on Orgtbl mode manually when needed in the messages body.
-
filladapt.el
by Kyle Jones -
Org mode tries to do the right thing when filling paragraphs, list items and other elements. Many users reported problems using both
filladapt.el
and Org mode, so a safe thing to do is to disable filladapt like this:(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'turn-off-filladapt-mode)
-
viper.el
by Michael Kifer -
Viper uses and therefore makes this key not access the corresponding Org mode command
org-sparse-tree
. You need to find another key for this command, or override the key inviper-vi-global-user-map
with(define-key viper-vi-global-user-map "C-c /" 'org-sparse-tree)
-
windmove.el
by Hovav Shacham -
This package also uses the keys, so everything written in the paragraph above about CUA mode also applies here. If you want to make the windmove function active in locations where Org mode does not have special functionality on , add this to your configuration:
;; Make windmove work in Org mode: (add-hook 'org-shiftup-final-hook 'windmove-up) (add-hook 'org-shiftleft-final-hook 'windmove-left) (add-hook 'org-shiftdown-final-hook 'windmove-down) (add-hook 'org-shiftright-final-hook 'windmove-right)
-
yasnippet.el
-
The way Org mode binds the key (binding to
[tab]
instead of"\t"
) overrules YASnippet's access to this key. The following code fixed this problem:(add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (setq-local yas/trigger-key [tab]) (define-key yas/keymap [tab] 'yas/next-field-or-maybe-expand)))
The latest version of YASnippet does not play well with Org mode. If the above code does not fix the conflict, start by defining the following function:
(defun yas/org-very-safe-expand () (let ((yas/fallback-behavior 'return-nil)) (yas/expand)))
Then, tell Org mode to use that function:
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (make-variable-buffer-local 'yas/trigger-key) (setq yas/trigger-key [tab]) (add-to-list 'org-tab-first-hook 'yas/org-very-safe-expand) (define-key yas/keymap [tab] 'yas/next-field)))
Using Org on a TTY
Org provides alternative key bindings for TTY and modern mobile devices that cannot perform movement commands on point and key bindings with modifier keys. Some of these workarounds may be more cumbersome than necessary. Users should look into customizing these further based on their usage needs. For example, the normal for editing timestamp might be better with chord.
Default | Alternative 1 | Speed key | Alternative 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Protocols for External Access
Org protocol is a tool to trigger custom actions in Emacs from external applications. Any application that supports calling external programs with an URL as argument may be used with this functionality. For example, you can configure bookmarks in your web browser to send a link to the current page to Org and create a note from it using capture (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Capture). You can also create a bookmark that tells Emacs to open the local source file of a remote website you are browsing.
In order to use Org protocol from an application, you need to register
org-protocol://
as a valid scheme-handler. External calls are
passed to Emacs through the emacsclient
command, so you also need to
ensure an Emacs server is running. More precisely, when the
application calls
emacsclient "org-protocol://PROTOCOL?key1=val1&key2=val2"
Emacs calls the handler associated to with
argument (:key1 val1 :key2 val2)
.
Org protocol comes with three predefined protocols, detailed in the
following sections. Configure org-protocol-protocol-alist
to define
your own.
The store-link
protocol
Using the store-link
handler, you can copy links, to that they can
be inserted using or yanking. More
precisely, the command
emacsclient "org-protocol://store-link?url=URL&title=TITLE"
stores the following link:
[[URL][TITLE]]
In addition, is pushed on the kill-ring for yanking. You need to encode if they contain slashes, and probably quote those for the shell.
To use this feature from a browser, add a bookmark with an arbitrary
name, e.g., Org: store-link
and enter this as Location:
javascript:location.href='org-protocol://store-link?' + new URLSearchParams({url:location.href, title:document.title});
Title is an optional parameter. Another expression was recommended earlier:
javascript:location.href='org-protocol://store-link?url='+ encodeURIComponent(location.href);
The latter form is compatible with older Org versions from 9.0 to 9.4.
The capture
protocol
Activating the "capture" handler pops up a Capture
buffer in Emacs,
using acapture template.
emacsclient "org-protocol://capture?template=X&url=URL&title=TITLE&body=BODY"
To use this feature, add a bookmark with an arbitrary name, e.g.,
Org: capture
, and enter this as Location
:
javascript:location.href='org-protocol://capture?' + new URLSearchParams({ template: 'x', url: window.location.href, title: document.title, body: window.getSelection()});
You might have seen another expression:
javascript:location.href='org-protocol://capture?template=x'+ '&url='+encodeURIComponent(window.location.href)+ '&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+ '&body='+encodeURIComponent(window.getSelection());
It is a bit more cluttered than the former one, but it is compatible with previous Org versions 9.0-9.4. In these versions encoding of space as "+" character was not supported by URI decoder.
The capture template to be used can be specified in the bookmark (like
X
above). If unspecified, the template key is set in the variable
org-protocol-default-template-key
. The following template
placeholders are available:
%:link The URL %:description The webpage title %:annotation Equivalent to [[%:link][%:description]] %i The selected text
The open-source
protocol
The open-source
handler is designed to help with editing local
sources when reading a document. To that effect, you can use
a bookmark with the following location:
javascript:location.href='org-protocol://open-source?&url='+ encodeURIComponent(location.href)
The variable org-protocol-project-alist
maps URLs to local file
names, by stripping URL parameters from the end and replacing the
:base-url
with :working-directory
and :online-suffix
with
:working-suffix
. For example, assuming you own a local copy of
https://orgmode.org/worg/
contents at /home/user/worg
, you can set
org-protocol-project-alist
to the following
(setq org-protocol-project-alist
'(("Worg"
:base-url "https://orgmode.org/worg/"
:working-directory "/home/user/worg/"
:online-suffix ".html"
:working-suffix ".org")))
If you are now browsing
https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/org-protocol.html
and find
a typo or have an idea about how to enhance the documentation, simply
click the bookmark and start editing.
However, such mapping may not always yield the desired results.
Suppose you maintain an online store located at https://example.com/
.
The local sources reside in /home/user/example/
. It is common
practice to serve all products in such a store through one file and
rewrite URLs that do not match an existing file on the server. That
way, a request to https://example.com/print/posters.html
might be
rewritten on the server to something like
https://example.com/shop/products.php/posters.html.php
. The
open-source
handler probably cannot find a file named
/home/user/example/print/posters.html.php
and fails.
Such an entry in org-protocol-project-alist
may hold an additional
property :rewrites
. This property is a list of cons cells, each of
which maps a regular expression to a path relative to the
:working-directory
.
Now map the URL to the path /home/user/example/products.php
by
adding :rewrites
rules like this:
(setq org-protocol-project-alist
'(("example.com"
:base-url "https://example.com/"
:working-directory "/home/user/example/"
:online-suffix ".php"
:working-suffix ".php"
:rewrites (("example.com/print/" . "products.php")
("example.com/$" . "index.php")))))
Since example.com/$
is used as a regular expression, it maps
http://example.com/
, https://example.com
,
http://www.example.com/
and similar to
/home/user/example/index.php
.
The :rewrites
rules are searched as a last resort if and only if no
existing file name is matched.
Two functions can help you filling org-protocol-project-alist
with
valid contents: org-protocol-create
and
org-protocol-create-for-org
. The latter is of use if you're editing
an Org file that is part of a publishing project.
Org Crypt
Org Crypt encrypts the text of an entry, but not the headline, or properties. Behind the scene, it uses the Emacs EasyPG Library to encrypt and decrypt files, and EasyPG needs a correct GnuPG setup.
Any text below a headline that has a crypt
tag is automatically
encrypted when the file is saved. To use a different tag, customize
the org-crypt-tag-matcher
setting.
Here is a suggestion for Org Crypt settings in Emacs init file:
(require 'org-crypt)
(org-crypt-use-before-save-magic)
(setq org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance '("crypt"))
(setq org-crypt-key nil)
;; GPG key to use for encryption
;; Either the Key ID or set to nil to use symmetric encryption.
(setq auto-save-default nil)
;; Auto-saving does not cooperate with org-crypt.el: so you need to
;; turn it off if you plan to use org-crypt.el quite often. Otherwise,
;; you'll get an (annoying) message each time you start Org.
;; To turn it off only locally, you can insert this:
;;
;; # -*- buffer-auto-save-file-name: nil; -*-
It's possible to use different keys for different headings by
specifying the respective key as property CRYPTKEY
, e.g.:
* Totally secret :crypt: :PROPERTIES: :CRYPTKEY: 0x0123456789012345678901234567890123456789 :END:
Excluding the crypt
tag from inheritance prevents already encrypted
text from being encrypted again.
Org Mobile
Org Mobile is a protocol for synchronizing Org files between Emacs and other applications, e.g., on mobile devices. It enables offline-views and capture support for an Org mode system that is rooted on a "real" computer. The external application can also record changes to existing entries.
This appendix describes Org's support for agenda view formats compatible with Org Mobile. It also describes synchronizing changes, such as to notes, between the mobile application and the computer.
To change tags and TODO states in the mobile application, first
customize the variables org-todo-keywords
, org-tag-alist
and
org-tag-persistent-alist
. These should cover all the important tags
and TODO keywords, even if Org files use only some of them. Though
the mobile application is expected to support in-buffer settings, it
is required to understand TODO states sets (see [[*Setting up keywords
for individual files]]) and mutually exclusive tags (see [[*Setting
Tags]]) only for those set in these variables.
Setting up the staging area
The mobile application needs access to a file directory on
a server150 to interact with Emacs. Pass its location through
the org-mobile-directory
variable. If you can mount that directory
locally just set the variable to point to that directory:
(setq org-mobile-directory "~/orgmobile/")
Alternatively, by using TRAMP (see TRAMP User Manual),
org-mobile-directory
may point to a remote directory accessible
through, for example, SSH, SCP, or DAVS:
(setq org-mobile-directory "/davs:user@remote.host:/org/webdav/")
With a public server, consider encrypting the files. Org also
requires OpenSSL installed on the local computer. To turn on
encryption, set the same password in the mobile application and in
Emacs. Set the password in the variable
org-mobile-use-encryption
151. Note that even after the mobile
application encrypts the file contents, the file name remains visible
on the file systems of the local computer, the server, and the mobile
device.
Pushing to the mobile application
The command org-mobile-push
copies files listed in
org-mobile-files
into the staging area. Files include agenda files
(as listed in org-agenda-files
). Customize org-mobile-files
to
add other files. File names are staged with paths relative to
org-directory
, so all files should be inside this directory152.
Push creates a special Org file agendas.org
with custom agenda views
defined by the user153.
Finally, Org writes the file index.org
, containing links to other
files. The mobile application reads this file first from the server
to determine what other files to download for agendas. For faster
downloads, it is expected to only read files whose checksums154
have changed.
Pulling from the mobile application
The command org-mobile-pull
synchronizes changes with the server.
More specifically, it first pulls the Org files for viewing. It then
appends captured entries and pointers to flagged or changed entries to
the file mobileorg.org
on the server. Org ultimately integrates its
data in an inbox file format, through the following steps:
-
Org moves all entries found in
mobileorg.org
155 and appends them to the file pointed to by the variableorg-mobile-inbox-for-pull
. It should reside neither in the staging area nor on the server. Each captured entry and each editing event is a top-level entry in the inbox file. -
After moving the entries, Org processes changes to the shared files. Some of them are applied directly and without user interaction. Examples include changes to tags, TODO state, headline and body text. Entries requiring further action are tagged as
FLAGGED
. Org marks entries with problems with an error message in the inbox. They have to be resolved manually. -
Org generates an agenda view for flagged entries for user intervention to clean up. For notes stored in flagged entries, Org displays them in the echo area when point is on the corresponding agenda item.
-
Pressing displays the entire flagged note in another
window. Org also pushes it to the kill ring. To store flagged
note as a normal note, use . Pressing
twice does these things: first it removes the
FLAGGED
tag; second, it removes the flagged note from the property drawer; third, it signals that manual editing of the flagged entry is now finished.
From the agenda dispatcher, returns to the view to finish processing flagged entries. Note that these entries may not be the most recent since the mobile application searches files that were last pulled. To get an updated agenda view with changes since the last pull, pull again.
Hacking
This appendix describes some ways a user can extend the functionality of Org.
Hooks
Org has a large number of hook variables for adding functionality. This appendix illustrates using a few. A complete list of hooks with documentation is maintained by the Worg project at https://orgmode.org/worg/doc.html#hooks.
Add-on Packages
Various authors wrote a large number of add-on packages for Org. Some
of these packages used to be part of the org-mode
repository but are
now hosted in a separate org-contrib
repository
here. A Worg page with more
information is at: https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/.
Adding Hyperlink Types
Org has many built-in hyperlink types (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Hyperlinks), and an interface for adding new link types. The following example shows the process of adding Org links to Unix man pages, which look like this
[[man:printf][The printf manual]]
The following ol-man.el
file implements it
;;; ol-man.el - Support for links to man pages in Org mode
(require 'ol)
(org-link-set-parameters "man"
:follow #'org-man-open
:export #'org-man-export
:store #'org-man-store-link)
(defcustom org-man-command 'man
"The Emacs command to be used to display a man page."
:group 'org-link
:type '(choice (const man) (const woman)))
(defun org-man-open (path _)
"Visit the manpage on PATH.
PATH should be a topic that can be thrown at the man command."
(funcall org-man-command path))
(defun org-man-store-link ()
"Store a link to a man page."
(when (memq major-mode '(Man-mode woman-mode))
;; This is a man page, we do make this link.
(let* ((page (org-man-get-page-name))
(link (concat "man:" page))
(description (format "Man page for %s" page)))
(org-link-store-props
:type "man"
:link link
:description description))))
(defun org-man-get-page-name ()
"Extract the page name from the buffer name."
;; This works for both `Man-mode' and `woman-mode'.
(if (string-match " \\(\\S-+\\)\\*" (buffer-name))
(match-string 1 (buffer-name))
(error "Cannot create link to this man page")))
(defun org-man-export (link description format _)
"Export a man page link from Org files."
(let ((path (format "http://man.he.net/?topic=%s§ion=all" link))
(desc (or description link)))
(pcase format
(`html (format "<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"%s\">%s</a>" path desc))
(`latex (format "\\href{%s}{%s}" path desc))
(`texinfo (format "@uref{%s,%s}" path desc))
(`ascii (format "%s (%s)" desc path))
(t path))))
(provide ol-man)
;;; ol-man.el ends here
To activate links to man pages in Org, enter this in the Emacs init file:
(require 'ol-man)
A review of ol-man.el
:
- First,
(require 'ol)
ensures thatol.el
is loaded. -
Then
org-link-set-parameters
defines a new link type withman
prefix and associates functions for following, exporting and storing such links. See the variableorg-link-parameters
for a complete list of possible associations. - The rest of the file implements necessary variables and functions.
For example,
org-man-store-link
is responsible for storing a link whenorg-store-link
(see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AHandling%20Links) is called from a buffer displaying a man page. It first checks if the major mode is appropriate. If check fails, the function returnsnil
, which means it isn't responsible for creating a link to the current buffer. Otherwise the function makes a link string by combining theman:
prefix with the man topic. It also provides a default description. The functionorg-insert-link
can insert it back into an Org buffer later on.
Adding Export Back-ends
Org's export engine makes it easy for writing new back-ends. The framework on which the engine was built makes it easy to derive new back-ends from existing ones.
The two main entry points to the export engine are:
org-export-define-backend
and org-export-define-derived-backend
.
To grok these functions, see ox-latex.el
for an example of defining
a new back-end from scratch, and ox-beamer.el
for an example of
deriving from an existing engine.
For creating a new back-end from scratch, first set its name as
a symbol in an alist consisting of elements and export functions. To
make the back-end visible to the export dispatcher, set :menu-entry
keyword. For export options specific to this back-end, set the
:options-alist
.
For creating a new back-end from an existing one, set
:translate-alist
to an alist of export functions. This alist
replaces the parent back-end functions.
For complete documentation, see the Org Export Reference on Worg.
Tables in Arbitrary Syntax
Due to Org's success in handling tables with Orgtbl, a frequently requested feature is the use of Org's table functions in other modes, e.g., LaTeX. This would be hard to do in a general way without complicated customization nightmares. Moreover, that would take Org away from its simplicity roots that Orgtbl has proven. There is, however, an alternate approach to accomplishing the same.
This approach involves implementing a custom translate function that operates on a native Org source table to produce a table in another format. This strategy would keep the excellently working Orgtbl simple and isolate complications, if any, confined to the translate function. To add more alien table formats, we just add more translate functions. Also the burden of developing custom translate functions for new table formats is in the hands of those who know those formats best.
Radio tables
Radio tables are target locations for translated tables that are not near their source. Org finds the target location and inserts the translated table.
The key to finding the target location is the magic words BEGIN/END
RECEIVE ORGTBL
. They have to appear as comments in the current mode.
If the mode is C, then:
/* BEGIN RECEIVE ORGTBL table_name */ /* END RECEIVE ORGTBL table_name */
At the location of source, Org needs a special line to direct Orgtbl to translate and to find the target for inserting the translated table. For example:
#+ORGTBL: SEND table_name translation_function arguments ...
table_name
is the table's reference name, which is also used in the
receiver lines, and the translation_function
is the Lisp function
that translates. This line, in addition, may also contain alternating
key and value arguments at the end. The translation function gets
these values as a property list. A few standard parameters are
already recognized and acted upon before the translation function is
called:
-
:skip N
- Skip the first N lines of the table. Hlines do count; include them if they are to be skipped.
-
:skipcols (n1 n2 ...)
-
List of columns to be skipped. First Org automatically discards
columns with calculation marks and then sends the table to the
translator function, which then skips columns as specified in
skipcols
.
To keep the source table intact in the buffer without being disturbed when the source file is compiled or otherwise being worked on, use one of these strategies:
- Place the table in a block comment. For example, in C mode you
could wrap the table between
/*
and*/
lines. - Put the table after an "end" statement. For example
\bye
in TeX and\end{document}
in LaTeX. - Comment and un-comment each line of the table during edits. The command makes toggling easy.
A LaTeX example of radio tables
To wrap a source table in LaTeX, use the comment
environment
provided by comment.sty
156. To activate it, put
\usepackage{comment}
in the document header. Orgtbl mode inserts
a radio table skeleton157 with the command {{{kbd(M-x
orgtbl-insert-radio-table)}}}, which prompts for a table name. For
example, if salesfigures
is the name, the template inserts:
% BEGIN RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures % END RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures \begin{comment} #+ORGTBL: SEND salesfigures orgtbl-to-latex | | | \end{comment}
The line #+ORGTBL: SEND
tells Orgtbl mode to use the function
orgtbl-to-latex
to convert the table to LaTeX format, then insert
the table at the target (receive) location named salesfigures
. Now
the table is ready for data entry. It can even use spreadsheet
features158:
% BEGIN RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures % END RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures \begin{comment} #+ORGTBL: SEND salesfigures orgtbl-to-latex | Month | Days | Nr sold | per day | |-------+------+---------+---------| | Jan | 23 | 55 | 2.4 | | Feb | 21 | 16 | 0.8 | | March | 22 | 278 | 12.6 | #+TBLFM: $4=$3/$2;%.1f % $ (optional extra dollar to keep Font Lock happy, see footnote) \end{comment}
After editing, inserts the translated table at the target location, between the two marker lines.
For hand-made custom tables, note that the translator needs to skip the first two lines of the source table. Also the command has to splice out the target table without the header and footer.
\begin{tabular}{lrrr} Month & \multicolumn{1}{c}{Days} & Nr.\ sold & per day\\ % BEGIN RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures % END RECEIVE ORGTBL salesfigures \end{tabular} % \begin{comment} #+ORGTBL: SEND salesfigures orgtbl-to-latex :splice t :skip 2 | Month | Days | Nr sold | per day | |-------+------+---------+---------| | Jan | 23 | 55 | 2.4 | | Feb | 21 | 16 | 0.8 | | March | 22 | 278 | 12.6 | #+TBLFM: $4=$3/$2;%.1f \end{comment}
The LaTeX translator function orgtbl-to-latex
is already part of
Orgtbl mode and uses a tabular
environment to typeset the table and
marks horizontal lines with \hline
. For additional parameters to
control output, see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ATranslator%20functions:
-
:splice BOOLEAN
-
When {{{var(BOOLEAN}}} is non-
nil
, return only table body lines; i.e., not wrapped intabular
environment. Default isnil
. -
:fmt FMT
-
Format string to warp each field. It should contain
%s
for the original field value. For example, to wrap each field value in dollar symbol, you could use:fmt "$%s$"
. Format can also wrap a property list with column numbers and formats, for example:fmt (2 "$%s$" 4 "%s\\%%")
. In place of a string, a function of one argument can be used; the function must return a formatted string. -
:efmt EFMT
-
Format numbers as exponentials. The spec should have
%s
twice for inserting mantissa and exponent, for example"%s\\times10^{%s}"
. This may also be a property list with column numbers and formats, for example:efmt (2 "$%s\\times10^{%s}$" 4 "$%s\\cdot10^{%s}$")
. After —see above—is also applied. Functions with two arguments can be supplied instead of strings. By default, no special formatting is applied.
Translator functions
Orgtbl mode has built-in translator functions: orgtbl-to-csv
(comma-separated values), orgtbl-to-tsv
(TAB-separated values),
orgtbl-to-latex
, orgtbl-to-html
, orgtbl-to-texinfo
,
orgtbl-to-unicode
and orgtbl-to-orgtbl
. They use the generic
translator, orgtbl-to-generic
, which delegates translations to
various export back-ends.
Properties passed to the function through the ORGTBL SEND
line take
precedence over properties defined inside the function. For example,
this overrides the default LaTeX line endings, \\
, with \\[2mm]
:
#+ORGTBL: SEND test orgtbl-to-latex :lend " \\\\[2mm]"
For a new language translator, define a converter function. It can be
a generic function, such as shown in this example. It marks
a beginning and ending of a table with !BTBL!
and !ETBL!
;
a beginning and ending of lines with !BL!
and !EL!
; and uses a TAB
for a field separator:
(defun orgtbl-to-language (table params)
"Convert the orgtbl-mode TABLE to language."
(orgtbl-to-generic
table
(org-combine-plists
'(:tstart "!BTBL!" :tend "!ETBL!" :lstart "!BL!" :lend "!EL!" :sep "\t")
params)))
The documentation for the orgtbl-to-generic
function shows
a complete list of parameters, each of which can be passed through to
orgtbl-to-latex
, orgtbl-to-texinfo
, and any other function using
that generic function.
For complicated translations the generic translator function could be
replaced by a custom translator function. Such a custom function must
take two arguments and return a single string containing the formatted
table. The first argument is the table whose lines are a list of
fields or the symbol hline
. The second argument is the property
list consisting of parameters specified in the #+ORGTBL: SEND
line.
Please share your translator functions by posting them to the Org
users mailing list, at mailto:emacs-orgmode@gnu.org.
Dynamic Blocks
Org supports dynamic blocks in Org documents. They are inserted with begin and end markers like any other code block, but the contents are updated automatically by a user function.
You can insert a dynamic block with org-dynamic-block-insert-dblock
,
which is bound to by default. For example,
inserts a table that
updates the work time (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AClocking%20Work%20Time).
Dynamic blocks can have names and function parameters. The syntax is similar to source code block specifications:
#+BEGIN: myblock :parameter1 value1 :parameter2 value2 ... ... #+END:
These commands update dynamic blocks:
-
(
org-dblock-update
) -
Update dynamic block at point.
-
Update all dynamic blocks in the current file.
Before updating a dynamic block, Org removes content between the
BEGIN
and END
markers. Org then reads the parameters on the
BEGIN
line for passing to the writer function as a plist. The
previous content of the dynamic block becomes erased from the buffer
and appended to the plist under :content
.
The syntax for naming a writer function with a dynamic block labeled
myblock
is: org-dblock-write:myblock
.
The following is an example of a dynamic block and a block writer function that updates the time when the function was last run:
#+BEGIN: block-update-time :format "on %m/%d/%Y at %H:%M" ... #+END:
The dynamic block's writer function:
(defun org-dblock-write:block-update-time (params)
(let ((fmt (or (plist-get params :format) "%d. %m. %Y")))
(insert "Last block update at: "
(format-time-string fmt))))
To keep dynamic blocks up-to-date in an Org file, use the function,
org-update-all-dblocks
in hook, such as before-save-hook
. The
org-update-all-dblocks
function does not run if the file is not in
Org mode.
Dynamic blocks, like any other block, can be narrowed with
org-narrow-to-block
.
Special Agenda Views
Org provides a special hook to further limit items in agenda views:
agenda
, agenda*
159, todo
, alltodo
, tags
, tags-todo
,
tags-tree
. Specify a custom function that tests inclusion of every
matched item in the view. This function can also skip as much as is
needed.
For a global condition applicable to agenda views, use the
org-agenda-skip-function-global
variable. Org uses a global
condition with org-agenda-skip-function
for custom searching.
This example defines a function for a custom view showing TODO items
with waiting
status. Manually this is a multi-step search process,
but with a custom view, this can be automated as follows:
The custom function searches the subtree for the waiting
tag and
returns nil
on match. Otherwise it gives the location from where
the search continues.
(defun my-skip-unless-waiting ()
"Skip trees that are not waiting"
(let ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
(if (re-search-forward ":waiting:" subtree-end t)
nil ; tag found, do not skip
subtree-end))) ; tag not found, continue after end of subtree
To use this custom function in a custom agenda command:
(org-add-agenda-custom-command
'("b" todo "PROJECT"
((org-agenda-skip-function 'my-skip-unless-waiting)
(org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects waiting for something: "))))
Note that this also binds org-agenda-overriding-header
to a more
meaningful string suitable for the agenda view.
Search for entries with a limit set on levels for the custom search.
This is a general approach to creating custom searches in Org. To
include all levels, use LEVEL>0
160. Then to selectively pick
the matched entries, use org-agenda-skip-function
, which also
accepts Lisp forms, such as org-agenda-skip-entry-if
and
org-agenda-skip-subtree-if
. For example:
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'scheduled)
- Skip current entry if it has been scheduled.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'notscheduled)
- Skip current entry if it has not been scheduled.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'deadline)
- Skip current entry if it has a deadline.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'scheduled 'deadline)
- Skip current entry if it has a deadline, or if it is scheduled.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'todo '("TODO" "WAITING"))
- Skip current entry if the TODO keyword is TODO or WAITING.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'todo 'done)
- Skip current entry if the TODO keyword marks a DONE state.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'timestamp)
- Skip current entry if it has any timestamp, may also be deadline or scheduled.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'regexp "regular expression")
- Skip current entry if the regular expression matches in the entry.
-
(org-agenda-skip-entry-if 'notregexp "regular expression")
- Skip current entry unless the regular expression matches.
-
(org-agenda-skip-subtree-if 'regexp "regular expression")
- Same as above, but check and skip the entire subtree.
The following is an example of a search for waiting
without the
special function:
(org-add-agenda-custom-command
'("b" todo "PROJECT"
((org-agenda-skip-function '(org-agenda-skip-subtree-if
'regexp ":waiting:"))
(org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects waiting for something: "))))
Speeding Up Your Agendas
Some agenda commands slow down when the Org files grow in size or number. Here are tips to speed up:
- Reduce the number of Org agenda files to avoid slowdowns due to hard drive accesses.
- Reduce the number of DONE and archived headlines so agenda operations that skip over these can finish faster.
-
Do not dim blocked tasks:
(setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks nil)
-
Stop preparing agenda buffers on startup:
(setq org-agenda-inhibit-startup t)
-
Disable tag inheritance for agendas:
(setq org-agenda-use-tag-inheritance nil)
These options can be applied to selected agenda views. For more details about generation of agenda views, see the docstrings for the relevant variables, and this dedicated Worg page for agenda optimization.
Extracting Agenda Information
Org provides commands to access agendas through Emacs batch mode. Through this command-line interface, agendas are automated for further processing or printing.
org-batch-agenda
creates an agenda view in ASCII and outputs to
standard output. This command takes one string parameter. When
string consists of a single character, Org uses it as a key to
org-agenda-custom-commands
. These are the same ones available
through the agenda dispatcher (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AThe%20Agenda%20Dispatcher).
This example command line directly prints the TODO list to the printer:
emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -eval '(org-batch-agenda "t")' | lpr
When the string parameter length is two or more characters, Org
matches it with tags/TODO strings. For example, this example command
line prints items tagged with shop
, but excludes items tagged with
NewYork
:
emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs \ -eval '(org-batch-agenda "+shop-NewYork")' | lpr
An example showing on-the-fly parameter modifications:
emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs \ -eval '(org-batch-agenda "a" \ org-agenda-span (quote month) \ org-agenda-include-diary nil \ org-agenda-files (quote ("~/org/project.org")))' \ | lpr
which produces an agenda for the next 30 days from just the
~/org/projects.org
file.
For structured processing of agenda output, use org-batch-agenda-csv
with the following fields:
- category
- The category of the item
- head
- The headline, without TODO keyword, TAGS and PRIORITY
- type
-
The type of the agenda entry, can be
todo
selected in TODO match tagsmatch
selected in tags match diary
imported from diary deadline
a deadline scheduled
scheduled timestamp
appointment, selected by timestamp closed
entry was closed on date upcoming-deadline
warning about nearing deadline past-scheduled
forwarded scheduled item block
entry has date block including date - todo
- The TODO keyword, if any
- tags
- All tags including inherited ones, separated by colons
- date
- The relevant date, like
2007-2-14
- time
- The time, like
15:00-16:50
- extra
- String with extra planning info
- priority-l
- The priority letter if any was given
- priority-n
- The computed numerical priority
If the selection of the agenda item was based on a timestamp,
including those items with DEADLINE
and SCHEDULED
keywords, then
Org includes date and time in the output.
If the selection of the agenda item was based on a timestamp (or deadline/scheduled), then Org includes date and time in the output.
Here is an example of a post-processing script in Perl. It takes the CSV output from Emacs and prints with a checkbox:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# define the Emacs command to run
$cmd = "emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -eval '(org-batch-agenda-csv \"t\")'";
# run it and capture the output
$agenda = qx{$cmd 2>/dev/null};
# loop over all lines
foreach $line (split(/\n/,$agenda)) {
# get the individual values
($category,$head,$type,$todo,$tags,$date,$time,$extra,
$priority_l,$priority_n) = split(/,/,$line);
# process and print
print "[ ] $head\n";
}
Using the Property API
Here is a description of the functions that can be used to work with properties.
Get all properties of the entry at point-or-marker .
This includes the TODO keyword, the tags, time strings for deadline,
scheduled, and clocking, and any additional properties defined in the
entry. The return value is an alist. Keys may occur multiple times
if the property key was used several times. may also
be nil
, in which case the current entry is used. If
is nil
or all
, get all properties. If
is special
or standard
, only get that subclass.
Get value of for entry at point-or-marker
. By default, this only looks at properties defined
locally in the entry. If is non-nil
and the
entry does not have the property, then also check higher levels of the
hierarchy. If is the symbol selective
, use
inheritance if and only if the setting of
org-use-property-inheritance
selects for
inheritance.
Delete the property from entry at point-or-marker .
Set for entry at point-or-marker POM.
Get all property keys in the current buffer.
Insert a property drawer for the current entry. Also
Set to should be a list of strings. They are concatenated, with spaces as separators.
Treat the value of the property as a whitespace-separated list of values and return the values as a list of strings.
Treat the value of the property as a whitespace-separated list of values and make sure that is in this list.
Treat the value of the property as a whitespace-separated list of values and make sure that is not in this list.
Treat the value of the property as a whitespace-separated list of values and check if is in this list.
Hook for functions supplying allowed values for a specific property.
The functions must take a single argument, the name of the property,
and return a flat list of allowed values. If :ETC
is one of the
values, use the values as completion help, but allow also other values
to be entered. The functions must return nil
if they are not
responsible for this property.
Using the Mapping API
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:
Call in .
is a function or a Lisp form. With point positioned at the beginning of the headline, call the function without arguments. Org returns an alist of return values of calls to the function.
To avoid preserving point, Org wraps the call to in
save-excursion
form. After evaluation, Org moves point to the end
of the line that was just processed. Search continues from that point
forward. This may not always work as expected under some conditions,
such as if the current sub-tree was removed by a previous archiving
operation. In such rare circumstances, Org skips the next entry
entirely when it should not. To stop Org from such skips, make
set the variable org-map-continue-from
to a specific
buffer position.
is a tags/property/TODO match. Org iterates only
matched headlines. Org iterates over all headlines when
is nil
or t
.
determines the scope of this command. It can be any of:
-
nil
- The current buffer, respecting the restriction, if any.
-
tree
- The subtree started with the entry at point.
-
region
- The entries within the active region, if any.
-
file
- The current buffer, without restriction.
-
file-with-archives
- The current buffer, and any archives associated with it.
-
agenda
- All agenda files.
-
agenda-with-archives
- All agenda files with any archive files associated with them.
- list of filenames
- If this is a list, all files in the list are scanned.
The remaining arguments are treated as settings for the scanner's skipping facilities. Valid arguments are:
-
archive
-
Skip trees with the
ARCHIVE
tag. -
comment
- Skip trees with the COMMENT keyword.
- function or Lisp form
-
Used as value for
org-agenda-skip-function
, so whenever the function returnst
, is called for that entry and search continues from the point where the function leaves it.
The mapping routine can call any arbitrary function, even functions that change meta data or query the property API (see [[*Using the Property API]]). Here are some handy functions:
Change the TODO state of the entry. See the docstring of the functions for the many possible values for the argument .
Change the priority of the entry. See the docstring of this function for the possible values for .
Toggle the tag in the current entry. Setting
to either on
or off
does not toggle tag, but
ensure that it is either on or off.
Promote the current entry.
Demote the current entry.
This example turns all entries tagged with TOMORROW
into TODO
entries with keyword UPCOMING
. Org ignores entries in comment trees
and archive trees.
(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" 'agenda))
History and Acknowledgments
From Carsten
Org was born in 2003, out of frustration over the user interface of
the Emacs Outline mode. I was trying to organize my notes and
projects, and using Emacs seemed to be the natural way to go.
However, having to remember eleven different commands with two or
three keys per command, only to hide and show parts of the outline
tree, that seemed entirely unacceptable to me. Also, when using
outlines to take notes, I constantly wanted to restructure the tree,
organizing it parallel to my thoughts and plans. Visibility cycling
and structure editing were originally implemented in the package
outline-magic.el
, but quickly moved to the more general org.el
.
As this environment became comfortable for project planning, the next
step was adding TODO entries, basic timestamps, and table
support. These areas highlighted the two main goals that Org still
has today: to be a new, outline-based, plain text mode with innovative
and intuitive editing features, and to incorporate project planning
functionality directly into a notes file.
Since the first release, literally thousands of emails to me or to the mailing list have provided a constant stream of bug reports, feedback, new ideas, and sometimes patches and add-on code. Many thanks to everyone who has helped to improve this package. I am trying to keep here a list of the people who had significant influence in shaping one or more aspects of Org. The list may not be complete, if I have forgotten someone, please accept my apologies and let me know.
Before I get to this list, a few special mentions are in order:
- Bastien Guerry
- Bastien has written a large number of extensions to Org (most of them integrated into the core by now), including the LaTeX exporter and the plain list parser. His support during the early days was central to the success of this project. Bastien also invented Worg, helped establishing the Web presence of Org, and sponsored hosting costs for the orgmode.org website. Bastien stepped in as maintainer of Org between 2011 and 2013, at a time when I desperately needed a break.
- Eric Schulte and Dan Davison
- Eric and Dan are jointly responsible for the Org Babel system, which turns Org into a multi-language environment for evaluating code and doing literate programming and reproducible research. This has become one of Org's killer features that define what Org is today.
- John Wiegley
-
John has contributed a number of great ideas and patches directly to
Org, including the attachment system (
org-attach.el
), integration with Apple Mail (org-mac-message.el
), hierarchical dependencies of TODO items, habit tracking (org-habits.el
), and encryption (org-crypt.el
). Also, the capture system is really an extended copy of his greatremember.el
. - Sebastian Rose
-
Without Sebastian, the HTML/XHTML publishing of Org would be the
pitiful work of an ignorant amateur. Sebastian has pushed this part
of Org onto a much higher level. He also wrote
org-info.js
, a JavaScript program for displaying webpages derived from Org using an Info-like or a folding interface with single-key navigation.
See below for the full list of contributions! Again, please let me know what I am missing here!
From Bastien
I (Bastien) have been maintaining Org between 2011 and 2013. This appendix would not be complete without adding a few more acknowledgments and thanks.
I am first grateful to Carsten for his trust while handing me over the maintainership of Org. His unremitting support is what really helped me getting more confident over time, with both the community and the code.
When I took over maintainership, I knew I would have to make Org more collaborative than ever, as I would have to rely on people that are more knowledgeable than I am on many parts of the code. Here is a list of the persons I could rely on, they should really be considered co-maintainers, either of the code or the community:
- Eric Schulte
- Eric is maintaining the Babel parts of Org. His reactivity here kept me away from worrying about possible bugs here and let me focus on other parts.
- Nicolas Goaziou
-
Nicolas is maintaining the consistency of the deepest parts of Org.
His work on
org-element.el
andox.el
has been outstanding, and it opened the doors for many new ideas and features. He rewrote many of the old exporters to use the new export engine, and helped with documenting this major change. More importantly (if that's possible), he has been more than reliable during all the work done for Org 8.0, and always very reactive on the mailing list. - Achim Gratz
- Achim rewrote the building process of Org, turning some ad hoc tools into a flexible and conceptually clean process. He patiently coped with the many hiccups that such a change can create for users.
- Nick Dokos
- The Org mode mailing list would not be such a nice place without Nick, who patiently helped users so many times. It is impossible to overestimate such a great help, and the list would not be so active without him.
I received support from so many users that it is clearly impossible to be fair when shortlisting a few of them, but Org's history would not be complete if the ones above were not mentioned in this manual.
List of Contributions
- Russell Adams came up with the idea for drawers.
- Thomas Baumann wrote
ol-bbdb.el
andol-mhe.el
. - Christophe Bataillon created the great unicorn logo that we use on the Org mode website.
- Alex Bochannek provided a patch for rounding timestamps.
- Jan Böcker wrote
ol-docview.el
. - Brad Bozarth showed how to pull RSS feed data into Org files.
- Tom Breton wrote
org-choose.el
. - Charles Cave's suggestion sparked the implementation of templates for Remember, which are now templates for capture.
- Timothy E Chapman worked on a complete overhaul of the orgmode.org website in 2020 and helped fixing various bugs.
- Pavel Chalmoviansky influenced the agenda treatment of items with specified time.
- Gregory Chernov patched support for Lisp forms into table
calculations and improved XEmacs compatibility, in particular by
porting
nouline.el
to XEmacs. - Sacha Chua suggested copying some linking code from Planner.
- Baoqiu Cui contributed the DocBook exporter.
- Eddward DeVilla proposed and tested checkbox statistics. He also came up with the idea of properties, and that there should be an API for them.
- Nick Dokos tracked down several nasty bugs.
- Kees Dullemond used to edit projects lists directly in HTML and so inspired some of the early development, including HTML export. He also asked for a way to narrow wide table columns.
- Thomas S. Dye contributed documentation on Worg and helped integrating the Org Babel documentation into the manual.
- Christian Egli converted the documentation into Texinfo format,
inspired the agenda, patched CSS formatting into the HTML exporter,
and wrote
org-taskjuggler.el
. - David Emery provided a patch for custom CSS support in exported HTML agendas.
- Nic Ferrier contributed mailcap and XOXO support.
- Miguel A. Figueroa-Villanueva implemented hierarchical checkboxes.
- John Foerch figured out how to make incremental search show context around a match in a hidden outline tree.
- Raimar Finken wrote
org-git-line.el
. - Mikael Fornius works as a mailing list moderator.
- Austin Frank works as a mailing list moderator.
- Eric Fraga drove the development of Beamer export with ideas and testing.
- Barry Gidden did proofreading the manual in preparation for the book publication through Network Theory Ltd.
- Niels Giesen had the idea to automatically archive DONE trees.
- Nicolas Goaziou rewrote much of the plain list code.
- Kai Grossjohann pointed out key-binding conflicts with other packages.
- Brian Gough of Network Theory Ltd publishes the Org mode manual as a book.
- Bernt Hansen has driven much of the support for auto-repeating tasks, task state change logging, and the clocktable. His clear explanations have been critical when we started to adopt the Git version control system.
- Manuel Hermenegildo has contributed various ideas, small fixes and patches.
- Phil Jackson wrote
ol-irc.el
. - Scott Jaderholm proposed footnotes, control over whitespace between folded entries, and column view for properties.
- Matt Jones wrote MobileOrg Android.
- Tokuya Kameshima wrote
org-wl.el
andorg-mew.el
. - Shidai Liu ("Leo") asked for embedded LaTeX and tested it. He also provided frequent feedback and some patches.
- Matt Lundin has proposed last-row references for table formulas and named invisible anchors. He has also worked a lot on the FAQ.
- David Maus wrote
org-atom.el
, maintains the issues file for Org, and is a prolific contributor on the mailing list with competent replies, small fixes and patches. - Jason F. McBrayer suggested agenda export to CSV format.
- Kyle Meyer helped setting up the public-inbox archive of the Org mailing list and has been fixing many bugs.
- Max Mikhanosha came up with the idea of refiling.
- Dmitri Minaev sent a patch to set priority limits on a per-file basis.
- Stefan Monnier provided a patch to keep the Emacs Lisp compiler happy.
- Richard Moreland wrote MobileOrg for the iPhone.
- Rick Moynihan proposed allowing multiple TODO sequences in a file and being able to quickly restrict the agenda to a subtree.
- Todd Neal provided patches for links to Info files and Elisp forms.
- Greg Newman refreshed the unicorn logo into its current form.
- Tim O'Callaghan suggested in-file links, search options for general file links, and tags.
- Osamu Okano wrote
orgcard2ref.pl
, a Perl program to create a text version of the reference card. - Takeshi Okano translated the manual and David O'Toole's tutorial into Japanese.
- Oliver Oppitz suggested multi-state TODO items.
- Scott Otterson sparked the introduction of descriptive text for links, among other things.
- Pete Phillips helped during the development of the TAGS feature, and provided frequent feedback.
- Martin Pohlack provided the code snippet to bundle character insertion into bundles of 20 for undo.
- Ihor Radchenko helped with fixing bugs and improving the user experience regarding Org's speed.
- T. V. Raman reported bugs and suggested improvements.
- Matthias Rempe (Oelde) provided ideas, Windows support, and quality control.
- Paul Rivier provided the basic implementation of named footnotes. He also acted as mailing list moderator for some time.
- Kevin Rogers contributed code to access VM files on remote hosts.
- Frank Ruell solved the mystery of the
keymapp nil
bug, a conflict withallout.el
. - Jason Riedy generalized the send-receive mechanism for Orgtbl tables with extensive patches.
- Philip Rooke created the Org reference card, provided lots of feedback, developed and applied standards to the Org documentation.
- Christian Schlauer proposed angular brackets around links, among other things.
- Paul Sexton wrote
org-ctags.el
. - Tom Shannon's
organizer-mode.el
inspired linking to VM/BBDB/Gnus. - Ilya Shlyakhter proposed the Archive Sibling, line numbering in literal examples, and remote highlighting for referenced code lines.
- Stathis Sideris wrote the
ditaa.jar
ASCII to PNG converter that is now packaged into the org-contrib repository. - Daniel Sinder came up with the idea of internal archiving by locking subtrees.
- Dale Smith proposed link abbreviations.
- James TD Smith has contributed a large number of patches for useful tweaks and features.
- Adam Spiers asked for global linking commands, inspired the link extension system, added support for Mairix, and proposed the mapping API.
- Ulf Stegemann created the table to translate special symbols to HTML, LaTeX, UTF-8, Latin-1 and ASCII.
- Andy Stewart contributed code to
ol-w3m.el
, to copy HTML content with links transformation to Org syntax. - David O'Toole wrote
org-publish.el
and drafted the manual chapter about publishing. - Jambunathan K. contributed the ODT exporter.
- Sebastien Vauban reported many issues with LaTeX and Beamer export and enabled source code highlighting in Gnus.
- Stefan Vollmar organized a video-recorded talk at the Max-Planck-Institute for Neurology. He also inspired the creation of a concept index for HTML export.
- Jürgen Vollmer contributed code generating the table of contents in HTML output.
- Samuel Wales has provided important feedback and bug reports.
- Chris Wallace provided a patch implementing the
QUOTE
block. - David Wainberg suggested archiving, and improvements to the linking system.
- Carsten Wimmer suggested some changes and helped fix a bug in linking to Gnus.
- Roland Winkler requested additional key bindings to make Org work on a TTY.
- Piotr Zielinski wrote
org-mouse.el
, proposed agenda blocks and contributed various ideas and code snippets. - Marco Wahl wrote
ol-eww.el
.
GNU Free Documentation License
Main Index
Key Index
Command and Function Index
Variable Index
This is not a complete index of variables and faces, only the ones that are mentioned in the manual. For a more complete list, use and then click yourself through the tree.
Copying
This manual is for Org version {{{version}}}.
Copyright © 2004–2022 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."
(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual."
Footnotes
If you do not use Font Lock globally turn it on in Org buffer
with (add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'turn-on-font-lock)
.
Please consider subscribing to the mailing list in order to minimize the work the mailing list moderators have to do.
See the variables org-special-ctrl-a/e
, org-special-ctrl-k
,
and org-ctrl-k-protect-subtree
to configure special behavior of
in headlines. Note
also that clocking only works with headings indented less than 30
stars.
See, however, the option org-cycle-emulate-tab
.
The indirect buffer contains the entire buffer, but is narrowed to the current tree. Editing the indirect buffer also changes the original buffer, but without affecting visibility in that buffer. For more information about indirect buffers, see GNU Emacs Manual.
When org-agenda-inhibit-startup
is non-nil
, Org does not
honor the default visibility state when first opening a file for the
agenda (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASpeeding%20Up%20Your%20Agendas).
See also the variable org-show-context-detail
to decide how
much context is shown around each match.
This depends on the option org-remove-highlights-with-change
.
When using *
as a bullet, lines must be indented so that they
are not interpreted as headlines. Also, when you are hiding leading
stars to get a clean outline view, plain list items starting with
a star may be hard to distinguish from true headlines. In short: even
though *
is supported, it may be better to not use it for plain list
items.
You can filter out any of them by configuring
org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator
.
You can also get a.
, A.
, a)
and A)
by configuring
org-list-allow-alphabetical
. To minimize confusion with normal
text, those are limited to one character only. Beyond that limit,
bullets automatically become numbers.
If there's a checkbox in the item, the cookie must be put
before the checkbox. If you have activated alphabetical lists, you
can also use counters like [@b]
.
If you do not want the item to be split, customize the
variable org-M-RET-may-split-line
.
If you want to cycle around items that way, you may customize
org-list-use-circular-motion
.
See org-list-use-circular-motion
for a cyclic behavior.
Many desktops intercept to switch windows. Use instead.
To insert a vertical bar into a table field, use \vert
or,
inside a word abc\vert{}def
.
Org understands references typed by the user as B4
, but it
does not use this syntax when offering a formula for editing. You can
customize this behavior using the variable
org-table-use-standard-references
.
The computation time scales as O(N^2) because table is parsed for each field to be copied.
The file constants.el
can supply the values of constants in
two different unit systems, SI
and cgs
. Which one is used depends
on the value of the variable constants-unit-system
. You can use the
STARTUP
options constSI
and constcgs
to set this value for the
current buffer.
The printf reformatting is limited in precision because the value passed to it is converted into an "integer" or "double". The "integer" is limited in size by truncating the signed value to 32 bits. The "double" is limited in precision to 64 bits overall which leaves approximately 16 significant decimal digits.
Such names must start with an alphabetic character and use only alphanumeric/underscore characters.
Plain URIs are recognized only for a well-defined set of schemes. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExternal%20Links. Unlike URI syntax, they cannot contain parenthesis or white spaces, either. URIs within angle brackets have no such limitation.
More accurately, the precise behavior depends on how point arrived there—see Invisible Text.
To insert a link targeting a headline, in-buffer completion can be used. Just type a star followed by a few optional letters into the buffer and press . All headlines in the current buffer are offered as completions.
When targeting a NAME
keyword, the CAPTION
keyword is
mandatory in order to get proper numbering (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Captions).
The actual behavior of the search depends on the value of the
variable org-link-search-must-match-exact-headline
. If its value is
nil
, then a fuzzy text search is done. If it is t
, then only the
exact headline is matched, ignoring spaces and statistic cookies. If
the value is query-to-create
, then an exact headline is searched; if
it is not found, then the user is queried to create it.
If the headline contains a timestamp, it is removed from the link, which results in a wrong link—you should avoid putting a timestamp in the headline.
The Org Id library must first be loaded, either through
org-customize
, by enabling id
in org-modules
, or by adding
(require 'org-id)
in your Emacs init file.
Note that you do not have to use this command to insert a link. Links in Org are plain text, and you can type or paste them straight into the buffer. By using this command, the links are automatically enclosed in double brackets, and you will be asked for the optional descriptive text.
After insertion of a stored link, the link will be removed
from the list of stored links. To keep it in the list for later use,
use a triple , or
configure the option org-link-keep-stored-after-insertion
.
This works if a function has been defined in the :complete
property of a link in org-link-parameters
.
See the variable org-link-use-indirect-buffer-for-internals
.
For backward compatibility, line numbers can also follow a single colon.
Of course, you can make a document that contains only long lists of TODO items, but this is not required.
Changing the variable org-todo-keywords
only becomes
effective after restarting Org mode in a buffer.
This is also true for the command in the agenda buffer.
All characters are allowed except @
, ^
and !
, which have
a special meaning here.
Check also the variable org-fast-tag-selection-include-todo
,
it allows you to change the TODO state through the tags interface (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ASetting%20Tags), in case you like to mingle the two concepts. Note
that this means you need to come up with unique keys across both sets
of keywords.
Org mode parses these lines only when Org mode is activated
after visiting a file. with point in a line
starting with #+
is simply restarting Org mode for the current
buffer.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is: #+STARTUP: logdone
.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is: #+STARTUP:
lognotedone
.
See the variable org-log-states-order-reversed
.
Note that the LOGBOOK
drawer is unfolded when pressing
in the agenda to show an entry—use {{{kbd(C-u
SPC)}}} to keep it folded here.
It is possible that Org mode records two timestamps when you
are using both org-log-done
and state change logging. However, it
never prompts for two notes: if you have configured both, the state
change recording note takes precedence and cancel the closing note.
See also the option org-priority-start-cycle-with-default
.
To keep subtasks out of the global TODO list, see the option
org-agenda-todo-list-sublevels
.
With the exception of description lists. But you can allow it
by modifying org-list-automatic-rules
accordingly.
Set the variable org-hierarchical-checkbox-statistics
if you
want such cookies to count all checkboxes below the cookie, not just
those belonging to direct children.
on the first item of a list with no checkbox adds checkboxes to the rest of the list.
As with all these in-buffer settings, pressing {{{kbd(C-c C-c)}}} activates any changes in the line.
This is only true if the search does not involve more complex tests including properties (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AProperty%20Searches).
To extend this default list to all tags used in all agenda
files (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AAgenda%20Views), customize the variable
org-complete-tags-always-offer-all-agenda-tags
.
Keys are automatically assigned to tags that have no configured keys.
If more than one summary type applies to the same property, the parent values are computed according to the first of them.
An age can be defined as a duration, using units defined in
org-duration-units
, e.g., 3d 1h
. If any value in the column is as
such, the summary is also expressed as a duration.
Please note that the COLUMNS
definition must be on a single
line; it is wrapped here only because of formatting constraints.
Contributed packages are not part of Emacs, but are distributed with the main distribution of Org—visit https://orgmode.org.
The Org date format is inspired by the standard ISO 8601 date/time format. To use an alternative format, see [[*Custom time format]]. The day name is optional when you type the date yourself. However, any date inserted or modified by Org adds that day name, for reading convenience.
When working with the standard diary expression functions, you
need to be very careful with the order of the arguments. That order
depends evilly on the variable calendar-date-style
. For example, to
specify a date December 12, 2005, the call might look like
(diary-date 12 1 2005)
or (diary-date 1 12 2005)
or (diary-date
2005 12 1)
, depending on the settings. This has been the source of
much confusion. Org mode users can resort to special versions of
these functions, namely org-date
, org-anniversary
, org-cyclic, and
~org-block
. These work just like the corresponding diary-
functions, but with stable ISO order of arguments (year, month, day)
wherever applicable, independent of the value of
calendar-date-style
.
See the variable org-read-date-prefer-future
. You may set
that variable to the symbol time
to even make a time before now
shift the date to tomorrow.
If you do not need/want the calendar, configure the variable
org-popup-calendar-for-date-prompt
.
You can also use the calendar command to jump to today's date, but if you are inserting an hour specification for your timestamp, will then insert a dot after the hour. By contrast, will always jump to today's date.
If you find this distracting, turn off the display with
org-read-date-display-live
.
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
.
The SCHEDULED
and DEADLINE
dates are inserted on the line
right below the headline. Do not put any text between this line and
the headline.
Note the corresponding STARTUP
options logredeadline
,
lognoteredeadline
, and nologredeadline
.
Note the corresponding STARTUP
options logreschedule
,
lognotereschedule
, and nologreschedule
.
Org does not repeat inactive timestamps, however. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/*Timestamps.
In fact, the target state is taken from, in this sequence, the
REPEAT_TO_STATE
property, the variable org-todo-repeat-to-state
if
it is a string, the previous TODO state if org-todo-repeat-to-state
is t
, or the first state of the TODO state sequence.
You can change this using the option org-log-repeat
, or the
STARTUP
options logrepeat
, lognoterepeat
, and nologrepeat
.
With lognoterepeat
, you will also be prompted for a note.
Clocking only works if all headings are indented with less
than 30 stars. This is a hard-coded limitation of lmax
in
org-clock-sum
.
To resume the clock under the assumption that you have worked
on this task while outside Emacs, use (setq org-clock-persist t)
.
To add an effort estimate "on the fly", hook a function doing
this to org-clock-in-prepare-hook
.
The last reset of the task is recorded by the LAST_REPEAT
property.
See also the variable org-clock-mode-line-total
.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is: #+STARTUP:
lognoteclock-out
.
When using :step
, untilnow
starts from the beginning of
2003, not the beginning of time.
Language terms can be set through the variable
org-clock-clocktable-language-setup
.
Note that all parameters must be specified in a single line—the line is broken here only to fit it into the manual.
On computers using macOS, idleness is based on actual user
idleness, not just Emacs' idle time. For X11, you can install a
utility program x11idle.c
, available in the org-contrib/
repository, or install the xprintidle package and set it to the
variable org-clock-x11idle-program-name
if you are running Debian,
to get the same general treatment of idleness. On other systems, idle
time refers to Emacs idle time only.
Please note the pitfalls of summing hierarchical data in a flat list (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AUsing%20Column%20View%20in%20the%20Agenda).
Note the corresponding STARTUP
options logrefile
,
lognoterefile
, and nologrefile
.
Org used to offer four different targets for date/week tree
capture. Now, Org automatically translates these to use
file+olp+datetree
, applying the :time-prompt
and :tree-type
properties. Please rewrite your date/week-tree targets using
file+olp+datetree
since the older targets are now deprecated.
A date tree is an outline structure with years on the highest level, months or ISO weeks as sublevels and then dates on the lowest level. Tags are allowed in the tree structure.
When the file name is not absolute, Org assumes it is relative
to org-directory
.
If you need one of these sequences literally, escape the %
with a backslash.
If you define your own link types (see [[*Adding Hyperlink
Types]]), any property you store with org-store-link-props
can be
accessed in capture templates in a similar way.
This is always the other, not the user. See the variable
org-link-from-user-regexp
.
If you move entries or Org files from one directory to
another, you may want to configure org-attach-id-dir
to contain
an absolute path.
If the value of that variable is not a list, but a single file name, then the list of agenda files in maintained in that external file.
When using the dispatcher, pressing before
selecting a command actually limits the command to the current file,
and ignores org-agenda-files
until the next dispatcher command.
For backward compatibility, you can also press to restrict to the current buffer.
For backward compatibility, you can also press to restrict to the current region/subtree.
For backward compatibility, the universal prefix argument causes all TODO entries to be listed before the agenda. This feature is deprecated, use the dedicated TODO list, or a block agenda instead (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2ABlock%20agenda).
The variable org-anniversary
used in the example is just
like diary-anniversary
, but the argument order is always according
to ISO and therefore independent of the value of
calendar-date-style
.
You can, however, disable this by setting
org-agenda-search-headline-for-time
variable to a nil
value.
Custom agenda commands can preset a filter by binding one of
the variables org-agenda-tag-filter-preset
,
org-agenda-category-filter-preset
, org-agenda-effort-filter-preset
or org-agenda-regexp-filter-preset
as an option. This filter is
then applied to the view and persists as a basic filter through
refreshes and more secondary filtering. The filter is a global
property of the entire agenda view—in a block agenda, you should
only set this in the global options section, not in the section of an
individual block.
Only tags filtering is respected here, effort filtering is ignored.
You can also create persistent custom functions through
org-agenda-bulk-custom-functions
.
This file is parsed for the agenda when
org-agenda-include-diary
is set.
You can provide a description for a prefix key by inserting a cons cell with the prefix and the description.
Planned means here that these entries have some planning
information attached to them, like a time-stamp, a scheduled or
a deadline string. See org-agenda-entry-types
on how to set what
planning information is taken into account.
For HTML you need to install Hrvoje Nikšić's htmlize.el
as an Emacs package from MELPA or from Hrvoje Nikšić's repository.
To create PDF output, the Ghostscript ps2pdf utility must be installed on the system. Selecting a PDF file also creates the postscript file.
If you want to store standard views like the weekly agenda or the global TODO list as well, you need to define custom commands for them in order to be able to specify file names.
Quoting depends on the system you use, please check the FAQ for examples.
You can turn this on by default by setting the variable
org-pretty-entities
, or on a per-file base with the STARTUP
option
entitiespretty
.
This behavior can be disabled with -
export setting (see
/tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings).
LaTeX is a macro system based on Donald E. Knuth's TeX system. Many of the features described here as "LaTeX" are really from TeX, but for simplicity I am blurring this distinction.
When MathJax is used, only the environments recognized by MathJax are processed. When dvipng, dvisvgm, or ImageMagick suite is used to create images, any LaTeX environment is handled.
These are respectively available at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dvipng/, http://dvisvgm.bplaced.net/
and from the ImageMagick suite. Choose the converter by setting the
variable org-preview-latex-default-process
accordingly.
Org mode has a method to test if point is inside such
a fragment, see the documentation of the function
org-inside-LaTeX-fragment-p
.
This works automatically for the HTML backend (it requires
version 1.34 of the htmlize.el
package, which you need to install).
Fontified code chunks in LaTeX can be achieved using either the
listings LaTeX package, minted LaTeX package, or by using
engrave-faces . Refer to org-latex-src-block-backend
for details.
Source code in code blocks may also be evaluated either interactively or on export. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AWorking%20with%20Source%20Code for more information on evaluating code blocks.
Adding -k
to -n -r
keeps the labels in the source code
while using line numbers for the links, which might be useful to
explain those in an Org mode example code.
You may select a different mode with the variable
org-edit-fixed-width-region-mode
.
What Emacs considers to be an image depends on
image-file-name-extensions
and image-file-name-regexps
.
The variable org-startup-with-inline-images
can be set
within a buffer with the STARTUP
options inlineimages
and
noinlineimages
.
The corresponding in-buffer setting is: #+STARTUP: fninline
or #+STARTUP: nofninline
.
The corresponding in-buffer options are #+STARTUP: fnadjust
and #+STARTUP: nofnadjust
.
The variable org-export-date-timestamp-format
defines how
this timestamp are exported.
For export to LaTeX format—or LaTeX-related formats such as
Beamer—, the org-latex-package-alist
variable needs further
configuration. See /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/LaTeX%20specific%20export%20settings.
At the moment, some export back-ends do not obey this specification. For example, LaTeX export excludes every unnumbered headline from the table of contents.
Note that org-link-search-must-match-exact-headline
is
locally bound to non-nil
. Therefore, org-link-search
only matches
headlines and named elements.
Since commas separate the arguments, commas within arguments have to be escaped with the backslash character. So only those backslash characters before a comma need escaping with another backslash character.
For a less drastic behavior, consider using a select tag (see /tec/org-mode/src/commit/226119124d3d434e6db1160b9f561d3ed0b45993/doc/%2AExport%20Settings) instead.
If BEAMER_ENV
is set, Org export adds B_environment
tag
to make it visible. The tag serves as a visual aid and has no
semantic relevance.
Please note that exported formulas are part of an HTML
document, and that signs such as <
, >
, or &
have special
meanings. See MathJax TeX and LaTeX support.
See TeX and LaTeX extensions in the MathJax manual to learn about extensions.
If the classes on TODO keywords and tags lead to conflicts,
use the variables org-html-todo-kwd-class-prefix
and
org-html-tag-class-prefix
to make them unique.
This does not allow setting different bibliography compilers for different files. However, "smart" LaTeX compilation systems, such as latexmk, can select the correct bibliography compiler.
Minted uses an external Python package for code highlighting,
which requires the flag -shell-escape
to be added to
org-latex-pdf-process
.
See the <table:table-template>
element of the
OpenDocument-v1.2 specification.
See the attributes table:template-name
,
table:use-first-row-styles
, table:use-last-row-styles
,
table:use-first-column-styles
, table:use-last-column-styles
,
table:use-banding-rows-styles
, and table:use-banding-column-styles
of the <table:table>
element in the OpenDocument-v1.2 specification.
If the publishing directory is the same as the source
directory, file.org
is exported as file.org.org
, so you probably
do not want to do this.
The option org-babel-no-eval-on-ctrl-c-ctrl-c
can be used
to remove code evaluation from the key binding.
Actually, the constructs call_<name>()
and src_<lang>{}
are not evaluated when they appear in a keyword (see [[*Summary of
In-Buffer Settings]]).
For noweb literate programming details, see http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/noweb/.
For more information, please refer to the commentary section
in org-tempo.el
.
Org Indent mode also sets wrap-prefix
correctly for
indenting and wrapping long lines of headlines or text. This minor
mode also handles Visual Line mode and directly applied settings
through word-wrap
.
This works, but requires extra effort. Org Indent mode is more convenient for most applications.
org-adapt-indentation
can also be set to 'headline-data
,
in which case only data lines below the headline will be indented.
Note that Org Indent mode also sets the wrap-prefix
property, such that Visual Line mode (or purely setting word-wrap
)
wraps long lines, including headlines, correctly indented.
If Emacs is configured for safe storing of passwords, then
configure the variable org-mobile-encryption-password
; please read
the docstring of that variable.
Symbolic links in org-directory
need to have the same name
as their targets.
While creating the agendas, Org mode forces ID
properties
on all referenced entries, so that these entries can be uniquely
identified if Org Mobile flags them for further action. To avoid
setting properties configure the variable
org-mobile-force-id-on-agenda-items
to nil
. Org mode then relies
on outline paths, assuming they are unique.
Checksums are stored automatically in the file
checksums.dat
.
The file will be empty after this operation.
By default this works only for LaTeX, HTML, and Texinfo.
Configure the variable orgtbl-radio-table-templates
to install
templates for other modes.
If the TBLFM
keyword contains an odd number of dollar
characters, this may cause problems with Font Lock in LaTeX mode. As
shown in the example you can fix this by adding an extra line inside
the comment
environment that is used to balance the dollar
expressions. If you are using AUCTeX with the font-latex library,
a much better solution is to add the comment
environment to the
variable LaTeX-verbatim-environments
.
The agenda*
view is the same as agenda
except that it
only considers appointments, i.e., scheduled and deadline items that
have a time specification [h]h:mm
in their time-stamps.
Note that, for org-odd-levels-only
, a level number
corresponds to order in the hierarchy, not to the number of stars.