Org Mode - Organize Your Life In Plain Text!

I keep a copy of the org-mode git repository in ~/git/org-mode/. This clone was created with

cd ~/git
git clone git://orgmode.org/org-mode.git

To update and get new commits from the org-mode developers you can use

cd ~/git/org-mode
git pull
make uncompiled

I run uncompiled source files in my setup so the uncompiled make target is all you need.

I normally track the master branch in the org-mode repository.

The following setup in my .emacs enables org-mode for most buffers. org-mode is the default mode for .org, .org_archive, and .txt files.

;;;
;;; Org Mode
;;;
(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/git/org-mode/lisp"))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.\\(org\\|org_archive\\|txt\\)$" . org-mode))
(require 'org)
;;
;; Standard key bindings
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
(global-set-key "\C-cb" 'org-iswitchb)

That's all you need to get started using headlines and lists in org-mode.

The rest of this document describes customizations I use in my setup, how I structure org-mode files, and other changes to fit the way I want org-mode to work.

Tasks are separated into logical groupings or projects. Use separate org files for large task groupings and subdirectories for collections of files for multiple projects that belong together.

Here are sample files that I use.

The following org files collect non-work related tasks:

The following org-file collects org capture notes and tasks:

The following work-related org-files keep my business notes (using fictitious client names)

Org-mode is great for dealing with multiple clients and client projects. An org file becomes the collection of projects, notes, etc. for a single client or client-project.

Client ABC Ltd. has multiple customer systems that I work on. Separating the tasks for each client-customer into separate org files helps keep things logically grouped and since clients come and go this allows entire org files to be added or dropped from my agenda to keep only what is important visible in agenda views.

Other org files are used for publishing only and do not contribute to the agenda. See Publishing and Exporting for more details.

Here is my current org-agenda-files setup.

(setq org-agenda-files (quote ("~/git/org"
                               "~/git/org/client1"
                               "~/git/client2")))

org-mode manages the org-agenda-files variable automatically using C-c [ and C-c ] to add and remove files respectively. However, this replaces my directory list with a list of explicit filenames instead and is not what I want. If this occurs then adding a new org file to any of the above directories will not contribute to my agenda and I will probably miss something important.

I have disabled the C-c [ and C-c ] keys in org-mode-hook to prevent messing up my list of directories in the org-agenda-files variable. I just add and remove directories manually in my .emacs file. Changing the list of directories in org-agenda-files happens very rarely since new files in existing directories are automatically picked up.

I also disable the comment function C-c ; since I never use those. I kept accidentally hitting this key sequence when doing C-c singlequote for editing source blocks.

In the example above I have ~/git/client2 in a separate git repository from ~/git/org. This gives me the flexibility of leaving confidential information at the client site and having all of my personal information available everywhere I use org-mode. I synchronize my personal repositories on multiple machines and skip the confidential info on the non-client laptop I travel with. org-agenda-files on this laptop does not include the ~/git/client2 directory.

Most of my org files are set up with level 1 headings as main categories only. Tasks and projects normally start as level 2.

Here are some examples of my level 1 headings in

todo.org:

• Special Dates

  Includes level 2 headings for

  • Birthdays
  • Anniversaries
  • Holidays
• Finances
• Health and Recreation
• House Maintenance
• Lawn and Garden Maintenance
• Notes
• Tasks
• Vehicle Maintenance
• Passwords

norang.org:

• System Maintenance
• Payroll
• Accounting
• Finances
• Hardware Maintenance
• Tasks
• Research and Development
• Notes
• Purchase Order Tracking
• Passwords

Each of these level 1 tasks normally has a property drawer specifying the category for any tasks in that tree. Level 1 headings are set up like this:

* Health and Recreation
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CATEGORY: Health
  :END:
  ...
* House Maintenance
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CATEGORY: House
  :END:

I live in the agenda. To make getting to the agenda faster I mapped F12 to the sequence C-c a since I'm using it hundreds of times a day.

I have the following custom key bindings set up for my emacs (sorted by frequency).

Here is the keybinding setup in lisp:

;; Custom Key Bindings
(global-set-key (kbd "<f12>") 'org-agenda)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f5>") 'bh/org-todo)
(global-set-key (kbd "<S-f5>") 'bh/widen)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f7>") 'bh/set-truncate-lines)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") 'org-cycle-agenda-files)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> <f9>") 'bh/show-org-agenda)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> b") 'bbdb)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> c") 'calendar)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> f") 'boxquote-insert-file)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> g") 'gnus)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> h") 'bh/hide-other)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> n") 'bh/toggle-next-task-display)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> I") 'bh/punch-in)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> O") 'bh/punch-out)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> o") 'bh/make-org-scratch)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> r") 'boxquote-region)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> s") 'bh/switch-to-scratch)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> t") 'bh/insert-inactive-timestamp)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> T") 'bh/toggle-insert-inactive-timestamp)

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> v") 'visible-mode)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> l") 'org-toggle-link-display)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> SPC") 'bh/clock-in-last-task)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-<f9>") 'previous-buffer)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-<f9>") 'org-toggle-inline-images)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x n r") 'narrow-to-region)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-<f10>") 'next-buffer)
(global-set-key (kbd "<f11>") 'org-clock-goto)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-<f11>") 'org-clock-in)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<f12>") 'bh/save-then-publish)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c c") 'org-capture)

(defun bh/hide-other ()
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    (org-back-to-heading 'invisible-ok)
    (hide-other)
    (org-cycle)
    (org-cycle)
    (org-cycle)))

(defun bh/set-truncate-lines ()
  "Toggle value of truncate-lines and refresh window display."
  (interactive)
  (setq truncate-lines (not truncate-lines))
  ;; now refresh window display (an idiom from simple.el):
  (save-excursion
    (set-window-start (selected-window)
                      (window-start (selected-window)))))

(defun bh/make-org-scratch ()
  (interactive)
  (find-file "/tmp/publish/scratch.org")
  (gnus-make-directory "/tmp/publish"))

(defun bh/switch-to-scratch ()
  (interactive)
  (switch-to-buffer "*scratch*"))

The main reason I have special key bindings (like F11, and F12) is so that the keys work in any mode. If I'm in the Gnus summary buffer then C-u C-c C-x C-i doesn't work, but the C-F11 key combination does and this saves me time since I don't have to visit an org-mode buffer first just to clock in a recent task.

I use a light colour theme in emacs. I find this easier to read on bright sunny days.

Here are my TODO state keywords and colour settings:

(setq org-todo-keywords
      (quote ((sequence "TODO(t)" "NEXT(n)" "|" "DONE(d)")
              (sequence "WAITING(w@/!)" "HOLD(h@/!)" "|" "CANCELLED(c@/!)" "PHONE" "MEETING"))))

(setq org-todo-keyword-faces
      (quote (("TODO" :foreground "red" :weight bold)
              ("NEXT" :foreground "blue" :weight bold)
              ("DONE" :foreground "forest green" :weight bold)
              ("WAITING" :foreground "orange" :weight bold)
              ("HOLD" :foreground "magenta" :weight bold)
              ("CANCELLED" :foreground "forest green" :weight bold)
              ("MEETING" :foreground "forest green" :weight bold)
              ("PHONE" :foreground "forest green" :weight bold))))

Fast todo selection allows changing from any task todo state to any other state directly by selecting the appropriate key from the fast todo selection key menu. This is a great feature!

(setq org-use-fast-todo-selection t)

Changing a task state is done with C-c C-t KEY

where KEY is the appropriate fast todo state selection key as defined in org-todo-keywords.

The setting

(setq org-treat-S-cursor-todo-selection-as-state-change nil)

allows changing todo states with S-left and S-right skipping all of the normal processing when entering or leaving a todo state. This cycles through the todo states but skips setting timestamps and entering notes which is very convenient when all you want to do is fix up the status of an entry.

I have a few triggers that automatically assign tags to tasks based on state changes. If a task moves to CANCELLED state then it gets a CANCELLED tag. Moving a CANCELLED task back to TODO removes the CANCELLED tag. These are used for filtering tasks in agenda views which I'll talk about later.

The triggers break down to the following rules:

• Moving a task to CANCELLED adds a CANCELLED tag
• Moving a task to WAITING adds a WAITING tag
• Moving a task to HOLD adds WAITING and HOLD tags
• Moving a task to a done state removes WAITING and HOLD tags
• Moving a task to TODO removes WAITING, CANCELLED, and HOLD tags
• Moving a task to NEXT removes WAITING, CANCELLED, and HOLD tags
• Moving a task to DONE removes WAITING, CANCELLED, and HOLD tags

The tags are used to filter tasks in the agenda views conveniently.

(setq org-todo-state-tags-triggers
      (quote (("CANCELLED" ("CANCELLED" . t))
              ("WAITING" ("WAITING" . t))
              ("HOLD" ("WAITING") ("HOLD" . t))
              (done ("WAITING") ("HOLD"))
              ("TODO" ("WAITING") ("CANCELLED") ("HOLD"))
              ("NEXT" ("WAITING") ("CANCELLED") ("HOLD"))
              ("DONE" ("WAITING") ("CANCELLED") ("HOLD")))))

When a new task needs to be added I categorize it into one of a few things:

• A phone call (p)
• A meeting (m)
• An email I need to respond to (r)
• A new task (t)
• A new note (n)
• An interruption (j)
• A new habit (h)

and pick the appropriate capture task.

Here is my setup for org-capture

(setq org-directory "~/git/org")
(setq org-default-notes-file "~/git/org/refile.org")

;; I use C-c c to start capture mode
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c c") 'org-capture)

;; Capture templates for: TODO tasks, Notes, appointments, phone calls, meetings, and org-protocol
(setq org-capture-templates
      (quote (("t" "todo" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* TODO %?\n%U\n%a\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
              ("r" "respond" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* NEXT Respond to %:from on %:subject\nSCHEDULED: %t\n%U\n%a\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t :immediate-finish t)
              ("n" "note" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* %? :NOTE:\n%U\n%a\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
              ("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/git/org/diary.org")
               "* %?\n%U\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
              ("w" "org-protocol" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* TODO Review %c\n%U\n" :immediate-finish t)
              ("m" "Meeting" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* MEETING with %? :MEETING:\n%U" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
              ("p" "Phone call" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* PHONE %? :PHONE:\n%U" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
              ("h" "Habit" entry (file "~/git/org/refile.org")
               "* NEXT %?\n%U\n%a\nSCHEDULED: %(format-time-string \"%<<%Y-%m-%d %a .+1d/3d>>\")\n:PROPERTIES:\n:STYLE: habit\n:REPEAT_TO_STATE: NEXT\n:END:\n"))))

Capture mode now handles automatically clocking in and out of a capture task. This all works out of the box now without special hooks. When I start a capture mode task the task is clocked in as specified by :clock-in t and when the task is filed with C-c C-c the clock resumes on the original clocking task.

The quick clocking in and out of capture mode tasks (often it takes less than a minute to capture some new task details) can leave empty clock drawers in my tasks which aren't really useful. Since I remove clocking lines with 0:00 length I end up with a clock drawer like this:

* TODO New Capture Task
  :LOGBOOK:
  :END:
  [2010-05-08 Sat 13:53]

I have the following setup to remove these empty LOGBOOK drawers if they occur.

;; Remove empty LOGBOOK drawers on clock out
(defun bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out ()
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    (beginning-of-line 0)
    (org-remove-empty-drawer-at "LOGBOOK" (point))))

(add-hook 'org-clock-out-hook 'bh/remove-empty-drawer-on-clock-out 'append)

I have a single org file which is the target for my capture templates.

I store notes, tasks, phone calls, and org-protocol tasks in refile.org. I used to use multiple files but found that didn't really have any advantage over a single file.

Normally this file is empty except for a single line at the top which creates a REFILE tag for anything in the file.

The file has a single permanent line at the top like this

#+FILETAGS: REFILE

Okay I'm in the middle of something and oh yeah - I have to remember to do that. I don't stop what I'm doing. I'm probably clocking a project I'm working on and I don't want to lose my focus on that but I can't afford to forget this little thing that just came up.

So what do I do? Hit C-c c to start capture mode and select t since it's a new task and I get a buffer like this:

* TODO 
  [2010-08-05 Thu 21:06]

  Capture Tasks is all about being FAST

Enter the details of the TODO item and C-c C-c to file it away in refile.org and go right back to what I'm really working on secure in the knowledge that that item isn't going to get lost and I don't have to think about it anymore at all now.

The amount of time I spend entering the captured note is clocked. The capture templates are set to automatically clock in and out of the capture task. This is great for interruptions and telephone calls too.

To refile tasks in org you need to tell it where you want to refile things.

In my setup I let any file in org-agenda-files and the current file contribute to the list of valid refile targets.

I've recently moved to using IDO to complete targets directly. I find this to be faster than my previous complete in steps setup. At first I didn't like IDO but after reviewing the documentation again and learning about C-SPC to limit target searches I find it is much better than my previous complete-in-steps setup. Now when I want to refile something I do C-c C-w to start the refile process, then type something to get some matching targets, then C-SPC to restrict the matches to the current list, then continue searching with some other text to find the target I need. C-j also selects the current completion as the final target. I like this a lot. I show full outline paths in the targets so I can have the same heading in multiple subtrees or projects and still tell them apart while refiling.

I now exclude DONE state tasks as valid refile targets. This helps to keep the refile target list to a reasonable size.

Here is my refile configuration:

; Targets include this file and any file contributing to the agenda - up to 9 levels deep
(setq org-refile-targets (quote ((nil :maxlevel . 9)
                                 (org-agenda-files :maxlevel . 9))))

; Use full outline paths for refile targets - we file directly with IDO
(setq org-refile-use-outline-path t)

; Targets complete directly with IDO
(setq org-outline-path-complete-in-steps nil)

; Allow refile to create parent tasks with confirmation
(setq org-refile-allow-creating-parent-nodes (quote confirm))

; Use IDO for both buffer and file completion and ido-everywhere to t
(setq org-completion-use-ido t)
(setq ido-everywhere t)
(setq ido-max-directory-size 100000)
(ido-mode (quote both))
; Use the current window when visiting files and buffers with ido
(setq ido-default-file-method 'selected-window)
(setq ido-default-buffer-method 'selected-window)
; Use the current window for indirect buffer display
(setq org-indirect-buffer-display 'current-window)

;;;; Refile settings
; Exclude DONE state tasks from refile targets
(defun bh/verify-refile-target ()
  "Exclude todo keywords with a done state from refile targets"
  (not (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-done-keywords)))

(setq org-refile-target-verify-function 'bh/verify-refile-target)

To refile a task to my norang.org file under System Maintenance I just put the cursor on the task and hit C-c C-w and enter nor C-SPC sys RET and it's done. IDO completion makes locating targets a snap.

Tasks to refile are in their own section of the block agenda. To find tasks to refile I run my agenda view with F12 SPC and scroll down to second section of the block agenda: Tasks to Refile. This view shows all tasks (even ones marked in a done state).

Bulk refiling in the agenda works very well for multiple tasks going to the same place. Just mark the tasks with m and then B r to refile all of them to a new location. Occasionally I'll also refile tasks as subtasks of the current clocking task using C-2 C-c C-w from the refile.org file.

Refiling all of my tasks tends to take less than a minute so I normally do this a couple of times a day.

I keep a * Notes headline in most of my org-mode files. Notes have a NOTE tag which is created by the capture template for notes. This allows finding notes across multiple files easily using the agenda search functions.

Notes created by capture tasks go first to refile.org and are later refiled to the appropriate project file. Some notes that are project related get filed to the appropriate project instead of under the catchall * NOTES task. Generally these types of notes are specific to the project and not generally useful – so removing them from the notes list when the project is archived makes sense.

Phone calls and meetings are handled using capture mode. I time my calls and meetings using the capture mode template settings to clock in and out the capture task while the phone call or meeting is in progress.

Phone call and meeting tasks collect in refile.org and are later refiled to the appropriate location. Some phone calls are billable and we want these tracked in the appropriate category. I refile my phone call and meeting tasks under the appropriate project so time tracking and reports are as accurate as possible.

;; Do not dim blocked tasks
(setq org-agenda-dim-blocked-tasks nil)

;; Compact the block agenda view
(setq org-agenda-compact-blocks t)

;; Custom agenda command definitions
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      (quote (("N" "Notes" tags "NOTE"
               ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Notes")
                (org-tags-match-list-sublevels t)))
              ("h" "Habits" tags-todo "STYLE=\"habit\""
               ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Habits")
                (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                 '(todo-state-down effort-up category-keep))))
              (" " "Agenda"
               ((agenda "" nil)
                (tags "REFILE"
                      ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Tasks to Refile")
                       (org-tags-match-list-sublevels nil)))
                (tags-todo "-CANCELLED/!"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Stuck Projects")
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-non-stuck-projects)
                            (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                             '(category-keep))))
                (tags-todo "-HOLD-CANCELLED/!"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Projects")
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-non-projects)
                            (org-tags-match-list-sublevels 'indented)
                            (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                             '(category-keep))))
                (tags-todo "-CANCELLED/!NEXT"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header (concat "Project Next Tasks"
                                                                  (if bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks
                                                                      ""
                                                                    " (including WAITING and SCHEDULED tasks)")))
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-projects-and-habits-and-single-tasks)
                            (org-tags-match-list-sublevels t)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                             '(todo-state-down effort-up category-keep))))
                (tags-todo "-REFILE-CANCELLED-WAITING-HOLD/!"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header (concat "Project Subtasks"
                                                                  (if bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks
                                                                      ""
                                                                    " (including WAITING and SCHEDULED tasks)")))
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-non-project-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                             '(category-keep))))
                (tags-todo "-REFILE-CANCELLED-WAITING-HOLD/!"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header (concat "Standalone Tasks"
                                                                  (if bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks
                                                                      ""
                                                                    " (including WAITING and SCHEDULED tasks)")))
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-project-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-sorting-strategy
                             '(category-keep))))
                (tags-todo "-CANCELLED+WAITING|HOLD/!"
                           ((org-agenda-overriding-header (concat "Waiting and Postponed Tasks"
                                                                  (if bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks
                                                                      ""
                                                                    " (including WAITING and SCHEDULED tasks)")))
                            (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-non-tasks)
                            (org-tags-match-list-sublevels nil)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-scheduled bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)
                            (org-agenda-todo-ignore-deadlines bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks)))
                (tags "-REFILE/"
                      ((org-agenda-overriding-header "Tasks to Archive")
                       (org-agenda-skip-function 'bh/skip-non-archivable-tasks)
                       (org-tags-match-list-sublevels nil))))
               nil))))

My block agenda view looks like this when not narrowed to a project. This shows top-level projects and NEXT tasks but hides the project details since we are not focused on any particular project.

NOTE: This agenda screen shot is out of date and does not currently match the agenda setup in this document. This will be fixed soon.

After selecting a project (with P on any task in the agenda) the block agenda changes to show the project and any subprojects in the Projects section. Tasks show project-related tasks that are hidden when not narrowed to a project.

This makes it easy to focus on the task at hand.

NOTE: This agenda screen shot is out of date and does not currently match the agenda setup in this document. This will be fixed soon.

I generally work top-down on the agenda. Things with deadlines and scheduled dates (planned to work on today or earlier) show up in the agenda at the top.

My day goes generally like this:

• Punch in (this starts the clock on the default task)
• Look at the agenda and make a mental note of anything important to deal with today
• Read email and news
  • create notes, and tasks for things that need responses with org-capture
• Check refile tasks and respond to emails
• Look at my agenda and work on important tasks for today
  • Clock it in
  • Work on it until it is DONE or it gets interrupted
• Work on tasks
• Make journal entries (C-c c j) for interruptions
• Punch out for lunch and punch back in after lunch
• work on more tasks
• Refile tasks to empty the list
  • Tag tasks to be refiled with m collecting all tasks for the same target
  • Bulk refile the tasks to the target location with B r
  • Repeat (or refile individually with C-c C-w) until all refile tasks are gone
• Mark habits done today as DONE
• Punch out at the end of the work day

Start with deadlines and tasks scheduled today or earlier from the daily agenda view. Then move on to tasks in the Next Tasks list in the block agenda view. I tend to schedule current projects to 'today' when I start work on them and they sit on my daily agenda reminding me that they need to be completed. I normally only schedule one or two projects to the daily agenda and unschedule things that are no longer important and don't deserve my attention today.

When I look for a new task to work on I generally hit F12 SPC to get the block agenda and follow this order:

• Pick something off today's agenda
  • deadline for today (do this first - it's not late yet)
  • deadline in the past (it's already late)
  • a scheduled task for today (it's supposed to be done today)
  • a scheduled task that is still on the agenda
  • deadline that is coming up soon
• pick a NEXT task
• If you run out of items to work on look for a NEXT task in the current context pick a task from the Tasks list of the current project.

When reading email, newsgroups, and conversations on IRC I just let the default task (normally ** Organization) clock the time I spend on these tasks. To read email I go to Gnus and read everything in my inboxes. If there are emails that require a response I use org-capture to create a new task with a heading of 'Respond to <user>' for each one. This automatically links to the email in the task and makes it easy to find later. Some emails are quick to respond to and some take research and a significant amount of time to complete. I clock each one in it's own task just in case I need that clocked time later. The capture template for Repond To tasks is now scheduled for today so I can refile the task to the appropriate org file without losing the task for a week.

Next, I go to my newly created tasks to be refiled from the block agenda with F12 a and clock in an email task and deal with it. Repeat this until all of the 'Respond to <user>' tasks are marked DONE.

I read email and newgroups in Gnus so I don't separate clocked time for quickly looking at things. If an article has a useful piece of information I want to remember I create a note for it with C-c c n and enter the topic and file it. This takes practically no time at all and I know the note is safely filed for later retrieval. The time I spend in the capture buffer is clocked with that capture note.

So many tasks, so little time. I have hundreds of tasks at any given time (373 right now). There is so much stuff to look at it can be daunting. This is where agenda filtering saves the day.

It's 11:53AM and I'm in work mode just before lunch. I don't want to see tasks that are not work related right now. I also don't want to work on a big project just before lunch… so I need to find small tasks that I can knock off the list.

How do we do this? Get a list of NEXT tasks from the block agenda and then narrow it down with filtering. Tasks are ordered in the NEXT agenda view by estimated effort so the short tasks are first – just start at the top and work your way down. I can limit the displayed agenda tasks to those estimates of 10 minutes or less with / + 1 and I can pick something that fits the minutes I have left before I take off for lunch.

To get started we need to punch in which clocks in the default task and keeps the clock running. This is now simply a matter of punching in the clock with F9 I. You can do this anywhere. Clocking out will now clock in the parent task (if there is one with a todo keyword) or clock in the default task if not parent exists.

Keeping the clock running when moving a subtask to a DONE state means clocking continues to apply to the project task. I can pick the next task from the parent and clock that in without losing a minute or two while I'm deciding what to work on next.

I keep clock times, state changes, and other notes in the :LOGBOOK: drawer.

I have the following org-mode settings for clocking:

;;
;; Resume clocking task when emacs is restarted
(org-clock-persistence-insinuate)
;;
;; Show lot of clocking history so it's easy to pick items off the C-F11 list
(setq org-clock-history-length 23)
;; Resume clocking task on clock-in if the clock is open
(setq org-clock-in-resume t)
;; Change tasks to NEXT when clocking in
(setq org-clock-in-switch-to-state 'bh/clock-in-to-next)
;; Separate drawers for clocking and logs
(setq org-drawers (quote ("PROPERTIES" "LOGBOOK")))
;; Save clock data and state changes and notes in the LOGBOOK drawer
(setq org-clock-into-drawer t)
;; Sometimes I change tasks I'm clocking quickly - this removes clocked tasks with 0:00 duration
(setq org-clock-out-remove-zero-time-clocks t)
;; Clock out when moving task to a done state
(setq org-clock-out-when-done t)
;; Save the running clock and all clock history when exiting Emacs, load it on startup
(setq org-clock-persist t)
;; Do not prompt to resume an active clock
(setq org-clock-persist-query-resume nil)
;; Enable auto clock resolution for finding open clocks
(setq org-clock-auto-clock-resolution (quote when-no-clock-is-running))
;; Include current clocking task in clock reports
(setq org-clock-report-include-clocking-task t)

(setq bh/keep-clock-running nil)

(defun bh/clock-in-to-next (kw)
  "Switch a task from TODO to NEXT when clocking in.
Skips capture tasks, projects, and subprojects.
Switch projects and subprojects from NEXT back to TODO"
  (when (not (and (boundp 'org-capture-mode) org-capture-mode))
    (cond
     ((and (member (org-get-todo-state) (list "TODO"))
           (bh/is-task-p))
      "NEXT")
     ((and (member (org-get-todo-state) (list "NEXT"))
           (bh/is-project-p))
      "TODO"))))

(defun bh/find-project-task ()
  "Move point to the parent (project) task if any"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((parent-task (save-excursion (org-back-to-heading 'invisible-ok) (point))))
      (while (org-up-heading-safe)
        (when (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)
          (setq parent-task (point))))
      (goto-char parent-task)
      parent-task)))

(defun bh/punch-in (arg)
  "Start continuous clocking and set the default task to the
selected task.  If no task is selected set the Organization task
as the default task."
  (interactive "p")
  (setq bh/keep-clock-running t)
  (if (equal major-mode 'org-agenda-mode)
      ;;
      ;; We're in the agenda
      ;;
      (let* ((marker (org-get-at-bol 'org-hd-marker))
             (tags (org-with-point-at marker (org-get-tags-at))))
        (if (and (eq arg 4) tags)
            (org-agenda-clock-in '(16))
          (bh/clock-in-organization-task-as-default)))
    ;;
    ;; We are not in the agenda
    ;;
    (save-restriction
      (widen)
      ; Find the tags on the current task
      (if (and (equal major-mode 'org-mode) (not (org-before-first-heading-p)) (eq arg 4))
          (org-clock-in '(16))
        (bh/clock-in-organization-task-as-default)))))

(defun bh/punch-out ()
  (interactive)
  (setq bh/keep-clock-running nil)
  (when (org-clock-is-active)
    (org-clock-out))
  (org-agenda-remove-restriction-lock))

(defun bh/clock-in-default-task ()
  (save-excursion
    (org-with-point-at org-clock-default-task
      (org-clock-in))))

(defun bh/clock-in-parent-task ()
  "Move point to the parent (project) task if any and clock in"
  (let ((parent-task))
    (save-excursion
      (save-restriction
        (widen)
        (while (and (not parent-task) (org-up-heading-safe))
          (when (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)
            (setq parent-task (point))))
        (if parent-task
            (org-with-point-at parent-task
              (org-clock-in))
          (when bh/keep-clock-running
            (bh/clock-in-default-task)))))))

(defvar bh/organization-task-id "eb155a82-92b2-4f25-a3c6-0304591af2f9")

(defun bh/clock-in-organization-task-as-default ()
  (interactive)
  (org-with-point-at (org-id-find bh/organization-task-id 'marker)
    (org-clock-in '(16))))

(defun bh/clock-out-maybe ()
  (when (and bh/keep-clock-running
             (not org-clock-clocking-in)
             (marker-buffer org-clock-default-task)
             (not org-clock-resolving-clocks-due-to-idleness))
    (bh/clock-in-parent-task)))

(add-hook 'org-clock-out-hook 'bh/clock-out-maybe 'append)

I used to clock in tasks by ID using the following function but with the new punch-in and punch-out I don't need these as much anymore. f9-SPC calls bh/clock-in-last-task which switches the clock back to the previously clocked task.

(require 'org-id)
(defun bh/clock-in-task-by-id (id)
  "Clock in a task by id"
  (org-with-point-at (org-id-find id 'marker)
    (org-clock-in nil)))

(defun bh/clock-in-last-task (arg)
  "Clock in the interrupted task if there is one
Skip the default task and get the next one.
A prefix arg forces clock in of the default task."
  (interactive "p")
  (let ((clock-in-to-task
         (cond
          ((eq arg 4) org-clock-default-task)
          ((and (org-clock-is-active)
                (equal org-clock-default-task (cadr org-clock-history)))
           (caddr org-clock-history))
          ((org-clock-is-active) (cadr org-clock-history))
          ((equal org-clock-default-task (car org-clock-history)) (cadr org-clock-history))
          (t (car org-clock-history)))))
    (widen)
    (org-with-point-at clock-in-to-task
      (org-clock-in nil))))

When I start or continue working on a task I clock it in with any of the following:

• C-c C-x C-i
• I in the agenda
• I speed key on the first character of the heading line
• f9 I while on the task in the agenda
• f9 I while in the task in an org file

In order to clock everything you need a task for everything. That's fine for planned projects but interruptions inevitably occur and you need some place to record whatever time you spend on that interruption.

To deal with this we create a new capture task to record the thing we are about to do. The workflow goes something like this:

• You are clocking some task and an interruption occurs
• Create a quick capture task journal entry C-c c j
• Type the heading
• go do that thing (eat lunch, whatever)
• file it C-c C-c, this restores the clock back to the previous clocking task
• clock something else in or continue with the current clocking task

This means you can ignore the details like where this task really belongs in your org file layout and just get on with completing the thing. Refiling a bunch of tasks later in a group when it is convenient to refile the tasks saves time in the long run.

If it's a one-shot uninteresting task (like a coffee break) I create a capture journal entry for it that goes to the diary.org date tree. If it's a task that actually needs to be tracked and marked done, and applied to some project then I create a capture task instead which files it in refile.org.

To find a task to work on I use one of the following options (generally listed most frequently used first)

• Use the clock history C-u C-c C-x C-i Go back to something I was clocking that is not finished
• Pick something off today's block agenda SCHEDULED or DEADLINE items that need to be done soon
• Pick something off the NEXT tasks agenda view Work on some unfinished task to move to completion
• Pick something off the other task list
• Use an agenda view with filtering to pick something to work on

Punching in on the task you select will restrict the agenda view to that project so you can focus on just that thing for some period of time.

Sometimes it is necessary to edit clock entries so they reflect reality. I find I do this for maybe 2-3 entries in a week.

Occassionally I cannot clock in a task on time because I'm away from my computer. In this case the previous clocked task is still running and counts time for both tasks which is wrong.

I make a note of the time and then when I get back to my computer I clock in the right task and edit the start and end times to correct the clock history.

To visit the clock line for an entry quickly use the agenda log mode. F12 a l shows all clock lines for today. I use this to navigate to the appropriate clock lines quickly. F11 goes to the current clocked task but the agenda log mode is better for finding and visiting older clock entries.

Use F12 a l to open the agenda in log mode and show only logged clock times. Move the cursor down to the clock line you need to edit and hit TAB and you're there.

To edit a clock entry just put the cursor on the part of the date you want to edit (use the keyboard not the mouse - since the clicking on the timestamp with the mouse goes back to the agenda for that day) and hit the S-<up arrow> or S-<down arrow> keys to change the time.

The following setting makes time editing use discrete minute intervals (no rounding) increments:

(setq org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes (quote (1 1)))

Editing the time with the shift arrow combination also updates the total for the clock line which is a nice convenience.

I always check that I haven't created task overlaps when fixing time clock entries by viewing them with log mode on in the agenda. There is a new view in the agenda for this – just hit v c in the daily agenda and clock gaps and overlaps are identified.

I want my clock entries to be as accurate as possible.

The following setting shows 1 minute clocking gaps.

(setq org-agenda-clock-consistency-checks
      (quote (:max-duration "4:00"
              :min-duration 0
              :max-gap 0
              :gap-ok-around ("4:00"))))

At the beginning of the month I invoice my clients for work done last month. This is where I review my clocking data for correctness before billing for the clocked time.

Billing for clocked time basically boils down to the following steps:

1. Verify that the clock data is complete and correct
2. Use clock reports to summarize time spent

3. Create an invoice based on the clock data

   I currently create invoices in an external software package based on the org-mode clock data.

4. Archive complete tasks so they are out of the way.

   See Archiving for more details.

Estimating how long tasks take to complete is a difficult skill to master. Org-mode makes it easy to practice creating estimates for tasks and then clock the actual time it takes to complete.

By repeatedly estimating tasks and reviewing how your estimate relates to the actual time clocked you can tune your estimating skills.

When someone wants details of what I've done recently I simple generate a log report in the agenda with tasks I've completed and state changes combined with a clock report for the appropriate time period.

The following setting shows closed tasks and state changes in the agenda. Combined with the agenda clock report ('R') I can quickly generate all of the details required.

;; Agenda log mode items to display (closed and state changes by default)
(setq org-agenda-log-mode-items (quote (closed state)))

To generate the report I pull up the agenda for the appropriate time frame (today, yesterday, this week, or last week) and hit the key sequence l R to add the log report (without clocking data lines) and the agenda clock report at the end.

Then it's simply a matter of exporting the resulting agenda in some useful format to provide to other people. C-x C-w /tmp/agenda.html RET exports to HTML and C-x C-w /tmp/agenda.txt RET exports to plain text. Other formats are available but I use these two the most.

Combining this export with tag filters and C-u R can limit the report to exactly the tags that people are interested in.

Here are my tag definitions with associated keys for filtering in the agenda views.

The startgroup - endgroup (@XXX) tags are mutually exclusive - selecting one removes a similar tag already on the task. These are the context tags - you can't be in two places at once so if a task is marked with @farm and you add @office then the @farm tag is removed automagically.

The other tags WAITING .. FLAGGED are not mutually exclusive and multiple tags can appear on a single task. Some of those tags are created by todo state change triggers. The shortcut key is used to add or remove the tag using C-c C-q or to apply the task for filtering on the agenda.

I have both FARM and @farm tags. FARM is set by a FILETAGS entry and just gives me a way to filter anything farm related. The @farm tag signifies that the task as to be done at the farm. If I have to call someone about something that would have a FARM tag but I can do that at home on my lunch break. I don't physically have to be at the farm to make the call.

; Tags with fast selection keys
(setq org-tag-alist (quote ((:startgroup)
                            ("@errand" . ?e)
                            ("@office" . ?o)
                            ("@home" . ?H)
                            ("@farm" . ?f)
                            (:endgroup)
                            ("WAITING" . ?w)
                            ("HOLD" . ?h)
                            ("PERSONAL" . ?P)
                            ("WORK" . ?W)
                            ("FARM" . ?F)
                            ("ORG" . ?O)
                            ("NORANG" . ?N)
                            ("crypt" . ?E)
                            ("NOTE" . ?n)
                            ("CANCELLED" . ?c)
                            ("FLAGGED" . ??))))

; Allow setting single tags without the menu
(setq org-fast-tag-selection-single-key (quote expert))

; For tag searches ignore tasks with scheduled and deadline dates
(setq org-agenda-tags-todo-honor-ignore-options t)

Filetags are a convenient way to apply one or more tags to all of the headings in a file.

Filetags look like this:

#+FILETAGS: NORANG @office

I have the following #+FILETAGS: entries in my org-mode files:

The following tags are automatically added or removed by todo state triggers described previously in ToDo state triggers

• WAITING
• CANCELLED

The first day of the week (usually Monday) I do my weekly review. I keep a list like this one to remind me what needs to be done.

To keep the agenda fast I set

(setq org-agenda-span 'day)

so only today's date is shown by default. I only need the weekly view during my weekly review and this keeps my agenda generation fast.

I have a recurring task which keeps my weekly review checklist handy. This pops up as a reminder on Monday's. This week I'm doing my weekly review on Tuesday since Monday was a holiday.

* NEXT Weekly Review [0/6]
  SCHEDULED: <2009-05-18 Mon ++1w> 
  :LOGBOOK:...
  :PROPERTIES:...

  What to review:

   - [ ] Check follow-up folder
   - [ ] Review weekly agenda =F12 a w //=
   - [ ] Check clocking data for past week =v c=
   - [ ] Review clock report for past week =R=
     - Check where we spent time (too much or too little) and rectify this week
   - [ ] Look at entire agenda for today  =F12 SPC=
   - [ ] Review projects =F12 SPC //= and =V= repeatedly to view each project

   - start work
     - daily agenda first - knock off items
     - then work on NEXT tasks

The first item [ ] Check follow-up folder makes me pull out the paper file I dump stuff into all week long - things I need to take care of but are in no particular hurry to deal with. Stuff I get in the mail etc. that I don't want to deal with now. I just toss it in my Follow-Up folder in the filing cabinet and forget about it until the weekly review.

I go through the folder and weed out anything that needs to be dealt with. After that everything else is in org-mode. I tend to schedule tasks onto the agenda for the coming week so that I don't spend lots of time trying to find what needs to be worked on next.

This works for me. Your mileage may vary ;)

I'm using a new lazy project definition to mark tasks as projects. This requires zero effort from me. Any task with a subtask using a todo keyword is a project. Period.

Projects are 'stuck' if they have no subtask with a NEXT todo keyword task defined.

The org-mode stuck projects agenda view lists projects that have no NEXT task defined. Stuck projects show up on my block agenda and I tend to assign a NEXT task so the list remains empty. This helps to keep projects moving forward.

I disable the default org-mode stuck projects agenda view with the following setting.

(setq org-stuck-projects (quote ("" nil nil "")))

This prevents org-mode from trying to show incorrect data if I select the default stuck project view with F12 # from the agenda menu. My customized stuck projects view is part of my block agenda displayed with F12 SPC.

Projects can have subprojects - and these subprojects can also be stuck. Any project that is stuck shows up on the stuck projects list so I can indicate or create a NEXT task to move that project forward.

In the following example Stuck Project A is stuck because it has no subtask which is NEXT. Project C is not stuck because it has NEXT tasks SubTask G and Task I. Stuck Sub Project D is stuck because SubTask E is not NEXT and there are no other tasks available in this project.

* Category
** TODO Stuck Project A
*** TODO Task B
** TODO Project C
*** TODO Stuck Sub Project D
**** TODO SubTask E
*** TODO Sub Project F
**** NEXT SubTask G
**** TODO SubTask H
*** NEXT Task I
*** TODO Task J

All of the stuck projects and subprojects show up in the stuck projects list and that is my indication to assign or create NEXT tasks until the stuck projects list is empty. Occasionally some subtask is WAITING for something and the project is stuck until that condition is satisfied. In this case I leave it on the stuck project list and just work on something else. This stuck project 'bugs' me regularly when I see it on the block agenda and this prompts me to follow up on the thing that I'm waiting for.

I have the following helper functions defined for projects which are used by agenda views.

(defun bh/is-project-p ()
  "Any task with a todo keyword subtask"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((has-subtask)
          (subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
          (is-a-task (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)))
      (save-excursion
        (forward-line 1)
        (while (and (not has-subtask)
                    (< (point) subtree-end)
                    (re-search-forward "^\*+ " subtree-end t))
          (when (member (org-get-todo-state) org-todo-keywords-1)
            (setq has-subtask t))))
      (and is-a-task has-subtask))))

(defun bh/is-project-subtree-p ()
  "Any task with a todo keyword that is in a project subtree.
Callers of this function already widen the buffer view."
  (let ((task (save-excursion (org-back-to-heading 'invisible-ok)
                              (point))))
    (save-excursion
      (bh/find-project-task)
      (if (equal (point) task)
          nil
        t))))

(defun bh/is-task-p ()
  "Any task with a todo keyword and no subtask"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((has-subtask)
          (subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
          (is-a-task (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)))
      (save-excursion
        (forward-line 1)
        (while (and (not has-subtask)
                    (< (point) subtree-end)
                    (re-search-forward "^\*+ " subtree-end t))
          (when (member (org-get-todo-state) org-todo-keywords-1)
            (setq has-subtask t))))
      (and is-a-task (not has-subtask)))))

(defun bh/is-subproject-p ()
  "Any task which is a subtask of another project"
  (let ((is-subproject)
        (is-a-task (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)))
    (save-excursion
      (while (and (not is-subproject) (org-up-heading-safe))
        (when (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) org-todo-keywords-1)
          (setq is-subproject t))))
    (and is-a-task is-subproject)))

(defun bh/list-sublevels-for-projects-indented ()
  "Set org-tags-match-list-sublevels so when restricted to a subtree we list all subtasks.
  This is normally used by skipping functions where this variable is already local to the agenda."
  (if (marker-buffer org-agenda-restrict-begin)
      (setq org-tags-match-list-sublevels 'indented)
    (setq org-tags-match-list-sublevels nil))
  nil)

(defun bh/list-sublevels-for-projects ()
  "Set org-tags-match-list-sublevels so when restricted to a subtree we list all subtasks.
  This is normally used by skipping functions where this variable is already local to the agenda."
  (if (marker-buffer org-agenda-restrict-begin)
      (setq org-tags-match-list-sublevels t)
    (setq org-tags-match-list-sublevels nil))
  nil)

(defvar bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks t)

(defun bh/toggle-next-task-display ()
  (interactive)
  (setq bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks (not bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks))
  (when  (equal major-mode 'org-agenda-mode)
    (org-agenda-redo))
  (message "%s WAITING and SCHEDULED NEXT Tasks" (if bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks "Hide" "Show")))

(defun bh/skip-stuck-projects ()
  "Skip trees that are not stuck projects"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max)))))
      (if (bh/is-project-p)
          (let* ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
                 (has-next ))
            (save-excursion
              (forward-line 1)
              (while (and (not has-next) (< (point) subtree-end) (re-search-forward "^\\*+ NEXT " subtree-end t))
                (unless (member "WAITING" (org-get-tags-at))
                  (setq has-next t))))
            (if has-next
                nil
              next-headline)) ; a stuck project, has subtasks but no next task
        nil))))

(defun bh/skip-non-stuck-projects ()
  "Skip trees that are not stuck projects"
  ;; (bh/list-sublevels-for-projects-indented)
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max)))))
      (if (bh/is-project-p)
          (let* ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
                 (has-next ))
            (save-excursion
              (forward-line 1)
              (while (and (not has-next) (< (point) subtree-end) (re-search-forward "^\\*+ NEXT " subtree-end t))
                (unless (member "WAITING" (org-get-tags-at))
                  (setq has-next t))))
            (if has-next
                next-headline
              nil)) ; a stuck project, has subtasks but no next task
        next-headline))))

(defun bh/skip-non-projects ()
  "Skip trees that are not projects"
  ;; (bh/list-sublevels-for-projects-indented)
  (if (save-excursion (bh/skip-non-stuck-projects))
      (save-restriction
        (widen)
        (let ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
          (cond
           ((bh/is-project-p)
            nil)
           ((and (bh/is-project-subtree-p) (not (bh/is-task-p)))
            nil)
           (t
            subtree-end))))
    (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))

(defun bh/skip-non-tasks ()
  "Show non-project tasks.
Skip project and sub-project tasks, habits, and project related tasks."
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max)))))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-task-p)
        nil)
       (t
        next-headline)))))

(defun bh/skip-project-trees-and-habits ()
  "Skip trees that are projects"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        subtree-end)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-projects-and-habits-and-single-tasks ()
  "Skip trees that are projects, tasks that are habits, single non-project tasks"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max)))))
      (cond
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        next-headline)
       ((and bh/hide-scheduled-and-waiting-next-tasks
             (member "WAITING" (org-get-tags-at)))
        next-headline)
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        next-headline)
       ((and (bh/is-task-p) (not (bh/is-project-subtree-p)))
        next-headline)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-project-tasks-maybe ()
  "Show tasks related to the current restriction.
When restricted to a project, skip project and sub project tasks, habits, NEXT tasks, and loose tasks.
When not restricted, skip project and sub-project tasks, habits, and project related tasks."
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let* ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
           (next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max))))
           (limit-to-project (marker-buffer org-agenda-restrict-begin)))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        next-headline)
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((and (not limit-to-project)
             (bh/is-project-subtree-p))
        subtree-end)
       ((and limit-to-project
             (bh/is-project-subtree-p)
             (member (org-get-todo-state) (list "NEXT")))
        subtree-end)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-project-tasks ()
  "Show non-project tasks.
Skip project and sub-project tasks, habits, and project related tasks."
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let* ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((bh/is-project-subtree-p)
        subtree-end)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-non-project-tasks ()
  "Show project tasks.
Skip project and sub-project tasks, habits, and loose non-project tasks."
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let* ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t)))
           (next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max)))))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        next-headline)
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((and (bh/is-project-subtree-p)
             (member (org-get-todo-state) (list "NEXT")))
        subtree-end)
       ((not (bh/is-project-subtree-p))
        subtree-end)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-projects-and-habits ()
  "Skip trees that are projects and tasks that are habits"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    (let ((subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
      (cond
       ((bh/is-project-p)
        subtree-end)
       ((org-is-habit-p)
        subtree-end)
       (t
        nil)))))

(defun bh/skip-non-subprojects ()
  "Skip trees that are not projects"
  (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (outline-next-heading))))
    (if (bh/is-subproject-p)
        nil
      next-headline)))

My archiving procedure has changed. I used to move entire subtrees to a separate archive file for the project. Task subtrees in FILE.org get archived to FILE.org_archive using the a y command in the agenda.

I still archive to the same archive file as before but now I archive any done state todo task that is old enough to archive. Tasks to archive are listed automatically at the end of my block agenda and these are guaranteed to be old enough that I've already billed any time associated with these tasks. This cleans up my project trees and removes the old tasks that are no longer interesting. The archived tasks get extra property data created during the archive procedure so that it is possible to reconstruct exactly where the archived entry came from in the rare case where you want to unarchive something.

My archive files are huge but so far I haven't found a need to split them by year (or decade) :)

Archivable tasks show up in the last section of my block agenda when a new month starts. Any tasks that are done but have no timestamps this month or last month (ie. they are over 30 days old) are available to archive. Timestamps include closed dates, notes, clock data, etc - any active or inactive timestamp in the task.

Archiving is trivial. Just mark all of the entries in the block agenda using the m key and then archive them all to the appropriate place with B $. This normally takes less than 5 minutes once a month.

I no longer use an ARCHIVE property in my subtrees. Tasks can just archive normally to the Archived Tasks heading in the archive file.

The following setting ensures that task states are untouched when they are archived. This makes it possible to archive tasks that are not marked DONE. By default tasks are archived under the heading * Archived Tasks in the archive file.

This archiving function does not keep your project trees intact. It archives done state tasks after they are old enough to they are removed from the main org file. It should be possible to reconstruct the original tree from the archive detail properties but I've never needed to do this yet. The archived detail is very useful the few times a year I actually need to look for some archived data but most of the time I just move it out of the way and keep it for historical purposes.

(setq org-archive-mark-done nil)
(setq org-archive-location "%s_archive::* Archived Tasks")

(defun bh/skip-non-archivable-tasks ()
  "Skip trees that are not available for archiving"
  (save-restriction
    (widen)
    ;; Consider only tasks with done todo headings as archivable candidates
    (let ((next-headline (save-excursion (or (outline-next-heading) (point-max))))
          (subtree-end (save-excursion (org-end-of-subtree t))))
      (if (member (org-get-todo-state) org-todo-keywords-1)
          (if (member (org-get-todo-state) org-done-keywords)
              (let* ((daynr (string-to-int (format-time-string "%d" (current-time))))
                     (a-month-ago (* 60 60 24 (+ daynr 1)))
                     (last-month (format-time-string "%Y-%m-" (time-subtract (current-time) (seconds-to-time a-month-ago))))
                     (this-month (format-time-string "%Y-%m-" (current-time)))
                     (subtree-is-current (save-excursion
                                           (forward-line 1)
                                           (and (< (point) subtree-end)
                                                (re-search-forward (concat last-month "\\|" this-month) subtree-end t)))))
                (if subtree-is-current
                    subtree-end ; Has a date in this month or last month, skip it
                  nil))  ; available to archive
            (or subtree-end (point-max)))
        next-headline))))

The only time I set the ARCHIVE tag on a task is to prevent it from opening by default because it has tons of information I don't really need to look at on a regular basis. I can open the task with C-TAB if I need to see the gory details (like a huge table of data related to the task) but normally I don't need that information displayed.

Archiving monthly works well for me. I keep completed tasks around for at least 30 days before archiving them. This keeps current clocking information for the last 30 days out of the archives. This keeps my files that contribute to the agenda fairly current (this month, and last month, and anything that is unfinished). I only rarely visit tasks in the archive when I need to pull up ancient history for something.

Archiving keeps my main working files clutter-free. If I ever need the detail for the archived tasks they are available in the appropriate archive file.

The new exporter created by Nicolas Goaziou was introduced in org 8.0.

I have the following setup for the exporters I use.

Alphabetical listing options need to be set before the exporters are loaded for filling to work correctly.

(setq org-alphabetical-lists t)

;; Explicitly load required exporters
(require 'ox-html)
(require 'ox-latex)
(require 'ox-ascii)

Org-babel makes it easy to generate decent graphics using external packages like ditaa, graphviz, PlantUML, and others.

The setup is really easy. ditaa is provided with the org-mode source. You'll have to install the graphviz and PlantUML packages on your system.

(setq org-ditaa-jar-path "~/git/org-mode/contrib/scripts/ditaa.jar")
(setq org-plantuml-jar-path "~/java/plantuml.jar")

(add-hook 'org-babel-after-execute-hook 'bh/display-inline-images 'append)

; Make babel results blocks lowercase
(setq org-babel-results-keyword "results")

(defun bh/display-inline-images ()
  (condition-case nil
      (org-display-inline-images)
    (error nil)))

(org-babel-do-load-languages
 (quote org-babel-load-languages)
 (quote ((emacs-lisp . t)
         (dot . t)
         (ditaa . t)
         (R . t)
         (python . t)
         (ruby . t)
         (gnuplot . t)
         (clojure . t)
         (sh . t)
         (ledger . t)
         (org . t)
         (plantuml . t)
         (latex . t))))

; Do not prompt to confirm evaluation
; This may be dangerous - make sure you understand the consequences
; of setting this -- see the docstring for details
(setq org-confirm-babel-evaluate nil)

; Use fundamental mode when editing plantuml blocks with C-c '
(add-to-list 'org-src-lang-modes (quote ("plantuml" . fundamental)))

Now you just create a begin-src block for the appropriate tool, edit the text, and build the pictures with C-c C-c. After evaluating the block results are displayed. You can toggle display of inline images with C-c C-x C-v

I disable startup with inline images because when I access my org-files from an SSH session without X this breaks (say from my Android phone) it fails when trying to display the images on a non-X session. It's much more important for me to be able to access my org files from my Android phone remotely than it is to see images on startup.

;; Don't enable this because it breaks access to emacs from my Android phone
(setq org-startup-with-inline-images nil)

ditaa is a great tool for quickly generating graphics to convey ideas and ditaa is distributed with org-mode! All of the graphics in this document are automatically generated by org-mode using plain text source.

Artist mode makes it easy to create boxes and lines for ditaa graphics.

The source for a ditaa graphic looks like this in org-mode:

#+begin_src ditaa :file some_filename.png :cmdline -r -s 0.8
  <context of ditaa source goes here>
#+end_src

Here's an example without the #+begin_src and #+end_src lines.

    +-----------+        +---------+  
    |    PLC    |        |         |                
    |  Network  +<------>+   PLC   +<---=---------+ 
    |    cRED   |        |  c707   |              | 
    +-----------+        +----+----+              | 
                              ^                   | 
                              |                   | 
                              |  +----------------|-----------------+
                              |  |                |                 |
                              v  v                v                 v
      +----------+       +----+--+--+      +-------+---+      +-----+-----+       Windows clients
      |          |       |          |      |           |      |           |      +----+      +----+
      | Database +<----->+  Shared  +<---->+ Executive +<-=-->+ Operator  +<---->|cYEL| . . .|cYEL|
      |   c707   |       |  Memory  |      |   c707    |      | Server    |      |    |      |    |
      +--+----+--+       |{d} cGRE  |      +------+----+      |   c707    |      +----+      +----+
         ^    ^          +----------+             ^           +-------+---+
         |    |                                   |                        
         |    +--------=--------------------------+                    
         v                                                             
+--------+--------+                                                         
|                 |                                                         
| Millwide System |            -------- Data ---------                      
| cBLU            |            --=----- Signals ---=--                      
+-----------------+                                                         

Graphviz is another great tool for creating graphics in your documents.

The source for a graphviz graphic looks like this in org-mode:

#+begin_src dot :file some_filename.png :cmdline -Kdot -Tpng
  <context of graphviz source goes here>
#+end_src

digraph G {
  size="8,6"
  ratio=expand
  edge [dir=both]
  plcnet [shape=box, label="PLC Network"]
  subgraph cluster_wrapline {
    label="Wrapline Control System"
    color=purple
    subgraph {
    rank=same
    exec
    sharedmem [style=filled, fillcolor=lightgrey, shape=box]
    }
    edge[style=dotted, dir=none]
    exec -> opserver
    exec -> db
    plc -> exec
    edge [style=line, dir=both]
    exec -> sharedmem
    sharedmem -> db
    plc -> sharedmem
    sharedmem -> opserver
  }
  plcnet -> plc [constraint=false]
  millwide [shape=box, label="Millwide System"]
  db -> millwide

  subgraph cluster_opclients {
    color=blue
    label="Operator Clients"
    rankdir=LR
    labelloc=b
    node[label=client]
    opserver -> client1
    opserver -> client2
    opserver -> client3
  }
}

The -Kdot is optional (defaults to dot) but you can substitute other graphviz types instead here (ie. twopi, neato, circo, etc).

I have just started using PlantUML which is built on top of Graphviz. I'm still experimenting with this but so far I like it a lot. The todo state change diagrams in this document are created with PlantUML.

The source for a PlantUML graphic looks like this in org-mode:

#+begin_src plantuml :file somefile.png
  <context of PlantUML source goes here>
#+end_src

Org-mode exports the current file to one of the standard formats by invoking an export function. The standard key binding for this is C-c C-e followed by the key for the type of export you want.

This works great for single files or parts of files – if you narrow the buffer to only part of the org-mode file then you only get the narrowed detail in the export.

I mainly use publishing for publishing multiple files or projects. I don't want to remember where the created export file needs to move to and org-mode projects are a great solution to this.

The http://doc.norang.ca website (and a bunch of other files that are not publicly available) are all created by editing org-mode files and publishing the project the file is contained in. This is great for people like me who want to figure out the details once and forget about it. I love stuff that Just Works(tm).

I have 5 main projects I use org-mode publishing for currently:

• norang (website)
• doc.norang.ca (website, published documents)
• doc.norang.ca/private (website, non-published documents)
• www.norang.ca/tmp (temporary publishing site for testing org-mode stuff)
• org files (which are selectively included by other websites)

Here's my publishing setup:

; experimenting with docbook exports - not finished
(setq org-export-docbook-xsl-fo-proc-command "fop %s %s")
(setq org-export-docbook-xslt-proc-command "xsltproc --output %s /usr/share/xml/docbook/stylesheet/nwalsh/fo/docbook.xsl %s")
;
; Inline images in HTML instead of producting links to the image
(setq org-html-inline-images t)
; Do not use sub or superscripts - I currently don't need this functionality in my documents
(setq org-export-with-sub-superscripts nil)
; Use org.css from the norang website for export document stylesheets
(setq org-html-head-extra "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"http://doc.norang.ca/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />")
(setq org-html-head-include-default-style nil)
; Do not generate internal css formatting for HTML exports
(setq org-export-htmlize-output-type (quote css))
; Export with LaTeX fragments
(setq org-export-with-LaTeX-fragments t)
; Increase default number of headings to export
(setq org-export-headline-levels 6)

; List of projects
; norang       - http://www.norang.ca/
; doc          - http://doc.norang.ca/
; org-mode-doc - http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html and associated files
; org          - miscellaneous todo lists for publishing
(setq org-publish-project-alist
      ;
      ; http://www.norang.ca/  (norang website)
      ; norang-org are the org-files that generate the content
      ; norang-extra are images and css files that need to be included
      ; norang is the top-level project that gets published
      (quote (("norang-org"
               :base-directory "~/git/www.norang.ca"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/www.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :recursive t
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function org-html-publish-to-html
               :style-include-default nil
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"norang.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :author-info nil
               :creator-info nil)
              ("norang-extra"
               :base-directory "~/git/www.norang.ca/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/www.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :base-extension "css\\|pdf\\|png\\|jpg\\|gif"
               :publishing-function org-publish-attachment
               :recursive t
               :author nil)
              ("norang"
               :components ("norang-org" "norang-extra"))
              ;
              ; http://doc.norang.ca/  (norang website)
              ; doc-org are the org-files that generate the content
              ; doc-extra are images and css files that need to be included
              ; doc is the top-level project that gets published
              ("doc-org"
               :base-directory "~/git/doc.norang.ca/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :recursive nil
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function (org-html-publish-to-html org-org-publish-to-org)
               :style-include-default nil
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :author-info nil
               :creator-info nil)
              ("doc-extra"
               :base-directory "~/git/doc.norang.ca/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :base-extension "css\\|pdf\\|png\\|jpg\\|gif"
               :publishing-function org-publish-attachment
               :recursive nil
               :author nil)
              ("doc"
               :components ("doc-org" "doc-extra"))
              ("doc-private-org"
               :base-directory "~/git/doc.norang.ca/private"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs/private"
               :recursive nil
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function (org-html-publish-to-html org-org-publish-to-org)
               :style-include-default nil
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :auto-sitemap t
               :sitemap-filename "index.html"
               :sitemap-title "Norang Private Documents"
               :sitemap-style "tree"
               :author-info nil
               :creator-info nil)
              ("doc-private-extra"
               :base-directory "~/git/doc.norang.ca/private"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs/private"
               :base-extension "css\\|pdf\\|png\\|jpg\\|gif"
               :publishing-function org-publish-attachment
               :recursive nil
               :author nil)
              ("doc-private"
               :components ("doc-private-org" "doc-private-extra"))
              ;
              ; Miscellaneous pages for other websites
              ; org are the org-files that generate the content
              ("org-org"
               :base-directory "~/git/org/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/org"
               :recursive t
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function org-html-publish-to-html
               :style-include-default nil
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :author-info nil
               :creator-info nil)
              ;
              ; http://doc.norang.ca/  (norang website)
              ; org-mode-doc-org this document
              ; org-mode-doc-extra are images and css files that need to be included
              ; org-mode-doc is the top-level project that gets published
              ; This uses the same target directory as the 'doc' project
              ("org-mode-doc-org"
               :base-directory "~/git/org-mode-doc/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :recursive t
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function (org-html-publish-to-html)
               :plain-source t
               :htmlized-source t
               :style-include-default nil
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :author-info nil
               :creator-info nil)
              ("org-mode-doc-extra"
               :base-directory "~/git/org-mode-doc/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/doc.norang.ca/htdocs"
               :base-extension "css\\|pdf\\|png\\|jpg\\|gif\\|org"
               :publishing-function org-publish-attachment
               :recursive t
               :author nil)
              ("org-mode-doc"
               :components ("org-mode-doc-org" "org-mode-doc-extra"))
              ;
              ; http://doc.norang.ca/  (norang website)
              ; org-mode-doc-org this document
              ; org-mode-doc-extra are images and css files that need to be included
              ; org-mode-doc is the top-level project that gets published
              ; This uses the same target directory as the 'doc' project
              ("tmp-org"
               :base-directory "/tmp/publish/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/www.norang.ca/htdocs/tmp"
               :recursive t
               :section-numbers nil
               :table-of-contents nil
               :base-extension "org"
               :publishing-function (org-html-publish-to-html org-org-publish-to-org)
               :html-head "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"http://doc.norang.ca/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
               :plain-source t
               :htmlized-source t
               :style-include-default nil
               :auto-sitemap t
               :sitemap-filename "index.html"
               :sitemap-title "Test Publishing Area"
               :sitemap-style "tree"
               :author-info t
               :creator-info t)
              ("tmp-extra"
               :base-directory "/tmp/publish/"
               :publishing-directory "/ssh:www-data@www:~/www.norang.ca/htdocs/tmp"
               :base-extension "css\\|pdf\\|png\\|jpg\\|gif"
               :publishing-function org-publish-attachment
               :recursive t
               :author nil)
              ("tmp"
               :components ("tmp-org" "tmp-extra")))))

; I'm lazy and don't want to remember the name of the project to publish when I modify
; a file that is part of a project.  So this function saves the file, and publishes
; the project that includes this file
;
; It's bound to C-S-F12 so I just edit and hit C-S-F12 when I'm done and move on to the next thing
(defun bh/save-then-publish (&optional force)
  (interactive "P")
  (save-buffer)
  (org-save-all-org-buffers)
  (let ((org-html-head-extra)
        (org-html-validation-link "<a href=\"http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer\">Validate XHTML 1.0</a>"))
    (org-publish-current-project force)))

(global-set-key (kbd "C-s-<f12>") 'bh/save-then-publish)

The main projects are norang, doc, doc-private, org-mode-doc, and tmp. These projects publish directly to the webserver directory on a remote web server that serves the site. Publishing one of these projects exports all modified pages, generates images, and copies the resulting files to the webserver so that they are immediately available for viewing.

The http://doc.norang.ca/ site contains subdirectories with client and private documentation that are restricted by using Apache Basic authentication. I don't create links to these sites from the publicly viewable pages. http://doc.norang.ca/someclient/ would show the index for any org files under ~/git/doc.norang.ca/someclient/ if that is set up as a viewable website. I use most of the information myself but give access to clients if they are interested in the information/notes that I keep about their systems.

This works great for me - I know where my notes are and I can access them from anywhere on the internet. I'm also free to share notes with other people by simply giving them the link to the appropriate site.

All I need to remember to do is edit the appropriate org file and publish it with C-S-F12 – not exactly hard :)

I added a temporary publishing site for testing exports and validation. This is the tmp site which takes files from /tmp/publish and exports those files to a website publishing directory. This makes it easy to try new throw-away things on a live server.

This is a collection of export and publishing related settings that I use.

I use skeletons with abbrev-mode to quickly add preconfigured blocks to my Emacs edit buffers.

I have blocks for creating:

• generic blocks in org-mode
• plantuml blocks in org-mode
  • plantuml activity diagram block in org-mode
  • plantuml sequence diagram block in org-mode
• graphviz dot blocks in org-mode
• ditaa blocks in org-mode
• elisp source blocks in org-mode

I still use < e TAB and < s TAB for creating example blocks and simple shell script blocks that need no further parameters.

Here's my current setup for org-mode related skeletons. Each one defines an abbrev-mode shortcut so I can type splantumlRET to create a Plantuml block. This prompts for the filename (without extension) for the generated image file.

At work I add a :tangle header to the skeleton and explicitly include the @startuml and @enduml marker lines in the skeleton so I can tangle the source file and share it with my colleagues. This makes the tangled source useable in Notepad and the PlantUML jar file running standalone.

I have put the s (src) prefix on the shortcuts to prevent abbrev-mode from trying to expand PlantUML when I'm typing it in a sentence.

For convenience in activity diagrams I added sif and sfor and just change the labels for the synchronization bars.

;; Enable abbrev-mode
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook (lambda () (abbrev-mode 1)))

;; Skeletons
;;
;; sblk - Generic block #+begin_FOO .. #+end_FOO
(define-skeleton skel-org-block
  "Insert an org block, querying for type."
  "Type: "
  "#+begin_" str "\n"
  _ - \n
  "#+end_" str "\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sblk" "" 'skel-org-block)

;; splantuml - PlantUML Source block
(define-skeleton skel-org-block-plantuml
  "Insert a org plantuml block, querying for filename."
  "File (no extension): "
  "#+begin_src plantuml :file " str ".png :cache yes\n"
  _ - \n
  "#+end_src\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "splantuml" "" 'skel-org-block-plantuml)

(define-skeleton skel-org-block-plantuml-activity
  "Insert a org plantuml block, querying for filename."
  "File (no extension): "
  "#+begin_src plantuml :file " str "-act.png :cache yes :tangle " str "-act.txt\n"
  (bh/plantuml-reset-counters)
  "@startuml\n"
  "skinparam activity {\n"
  "BackgroundColor<<New>> Cyan\n"
  "}\n\n"
  "title " str " - \n"
  "note left: " str "\n"
  "(*) --> \"" str "\"\n"
  "--> (*)\n"
  _ - \n
  "@enduml\n"
  "#+end_src\n")

(defvar bh/plantuml-if-count 0)

(defun bh/plantuml-if () 
  (incf bh/plantuml-if-count)
  (number-to-string bh/plantuml-if-count))

(defvar bh/plantuml-loop-count 0)

(defun bh/plantuml-loop () 
  (incf bh/plantuml-loop-count)
  (number-to-string bh/plantuml-loop-count))

(defun bh/plantuml-reset-counters ()
  (setq bh/plantuml-if-count 0
        bh/plantuml-loop-count 0)
  "")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sact" "" 'skel-org-block-plantuml-activity)

(define-skeleton skel-org-block-plantuml-activity-if
  "Insert a org plantuml block activity if statement"
  "" 
  "if \"\" then\n"
  "  -> [condition] ==IF" (setq ifn (bh/plantuml-if)) "==\n"
  "  --> ==IF" ifn "M1==\n"
  "  -left-> ==IF" ifn "M2==\n"
  "else\n"
  "end if\n"
  "--> ==IF" ifn "M2==")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sif" "" 'skel-org-block-plantuml-activity-if)

(define-skeleton skel-org-block-plantuml-activity-for
  "Insert a org plantuml block activity for statement"
  "Loop for each: " 
  "--> ==LOOP" (setq loopn (bh/plantuml-loop)) "==\n"
  "note left: Loop" loopn ": For each " str "\n"
  "--> ==ENDLOOP" loopn "==\n"
  "note left: Loop" loopn ": End for each " str "\n" )

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sfor" "" 'skel-org-block-plantuml-activity-for)

(define-skeleton skel-org-block-plantuml-sequence
  "Insert a org plantuml activity diagram block, querying for filename."
  "File appends (no extension): "
  "#+begin_src plantuml :file " str "-seq.png :cache yes :tangle " str "-seq.txt\n"
  "@startuml\n"
  "title " str " - \n"
  "actor CSR as \"Customer Service Representative\"\n"
  "participant CSMO as \"CSM Online\"\n"
  "participant CSMU as \"CSM Unix\"\n"
  "participant NRIS\n"
  "actor Customer"
  _ - \n
  "@enduml\n"
  "#+end_src\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sseq" "" 'skel-org-block-plantuml-sequence)

;; sdot - Graphviz DOT block
(define-skeleton skel-org-block-dot
  "Insert a org graphviz dot block, querying for filename."
  "File (no extension): "
  "#+begin_src dot :file " str ".png :cache yes :cmdline -Kdot -Tpng\n"
  "graph G {\n"
  _ - \n
  "}\n"
  "#+end_src\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sdot" "" 'skel-org-block-dot)

;; sditaa - Ditaa source block
(define-skeleton skel-org-block-ditaa
  "Insert a org ditaa block, querying for filename."
  "File (no extension): "
  "#+begin_src ditaa :file " str ".png :cache yes\n"
  _ - \n
  "#+end_src\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "sditaa" "" 'skel-org-block-ditaa)

;; selisp - Emacs Lisp source block
(define-skeleton skel-org-block-elisp
  "Insert a org emacs-lisp block"
  ""
  "#+begin_src emacs-lisp\n"
  _ - \n
  "#+end_src\n")

(define-abbrev org-mode-abbrev-table "selisp" "" 'skel-org-block-elisp)

I also use abbrev-mode when taking notes at work. I tend to write 'i' followed by initials for people which get expanded to their complete name in my notes. So if I write imm it gets automatically expanded to Mickey Mouse as I type. To create an abbreviation just type in the short form followed by C-x a i l to create an abbreviation for the current mode I'm in.

The only thing you have to be careful with is not to use a common word for your abbreviation since abbrev-mode will try to expand it everytime you enter it. I found this annoying when I used plantuml as one of my abbreviations.

I also use skeletons and abbrev-mode for C source files at work. This works really well for me.

There is more than one way to do this. Use what works for you.

Various customizations affect how the agenda views show task details. This section shows each of the customizations I use in my workflow.

Checklists are great for repeated tasks with lots of things that need to be done. For a long time I was manually resetting the check boxes to unchecked when marking the repeated task DONE but no more! There's a contributed org-checklist that can uncheck the boxes automagically when the task is marked done.

Add the following to your .emacs

(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/git/org-mode/contrib/lisp"))

(require 'org-checklist)

and then to use it in a task you simply set the property RESET_CHECK_BOXES to t like this

* TODO Invoicing and Archive Tasks [0/7]
  DEADLINE: <2009-07-01 Wed +1m -0d> 
  :PROPERTIES:
  :RESET_CHECK_BOXES: t
  :END:

  - [ ] Do task 1
  - [ ] Do task 2
  ...
  - [ ] Do task 7

Backups that you have to work hard at don't get done.

I lost a bunch of data over 10 years ago due to not having a working backup solution. At the time I said I'm not going to lose any important data ever again. So far so good :)

My backups get done religiously. What does this have to do with org-mode? Not much really, other than I don't spend time doing backups – they just happen – which saves me time for other more interesting things.

My backup philosophy is to make it possible to recover your data – not necessarily easy. It doesn't have to be easy/fast to do the recovery because I'll rarely have to recover data from the backups. Saving time for recovery doesn't make sense to me. I want the backup to be fast and painless since I do those all the time.

I set up an automated network backup over 10 years ago that is still serving me well today. All of my systems gets daily backups to a network drive. These are collected monthly and written to an external removable USB disk.

Once a month my task for backups prompts me to move the current collection of montly backups to the USB drive for external storage. Backups take minimal effort currently and I'm really happy about that.

Since then git came into my life, so backups of git repositories that are on multiple machines is much less critical than it used to be. There is an automatic backup of everything pushed to the remote repository.

Blocked tasks are tasks that have subtasks which are not in a done todo state. Blocked tasks show up in a grayed font by default in the agenda.

To enable task blocking set the following variable:

(setq org-enforce-todo-dependencies t)

This setting prevents tasks from changing to DONE if any subtasks are still open. This works pretty well except for repeating tasks. I find I'm regularly adding TODO tasks under repeating tasks and not all of the subtasks need to be complete before the next repeat cycle.

You can override the setting temporarily by changing the task with C-u C-u C-u C-c C-t but I never remember that. I set a permanent property on the repeated tasks as follows:

* TODO New Repeating Task
  SCHEDULED: <2009-06-16 Tue +1w>
  :PROPERTIES:
  :NOBLOCKING: t
  :END:
  ...
** TODO Subtask  

This prevents the New Repeating Task from being blocked if some of the items under it are not complete.

Occassionally I need to complete tasks in a given order. Org-mode has a property ORDERED that enforces this for subtasks.

* TODO Some Task
  :PROPERTIES:
  :ORDERED: t
  :END:
** TODO Step 1
** TODO Step 2
** TODO Step 3  

In this case you need to complete Step 1 before you can complete Step 2, etc. and org-mode prevents the state change to a done task until the preceding tasks are complete.

This section describes various org-mode settings I use to control how tasks are displayed while I work on my org mode files.

Attachments are great for getting large amounts of data related to your project out of your org-mode files. Before attachments came along I was including huge blocks of SQL code in my org files to keep track of changes I made to project databases. This bloated my org file sizes badly.

Now I can create the data in a separate file and attach it to my project task so it's easily located again in the future.

I set up org-mode to generate unique attachment IDs with org-id-method as follows:

(setq org-id-method (quote uuidgen))

Say you want to attach a file x.sql to your current task. Create the file data in /tmp/x.sql and save it.

Attach the file with C-c C-a a and enter the filename: x.sql. This generates a unique ID for the task and adds the file in the attachment directory.

* Attachments                                                        :ATTACH:
  :PROPERTIES:
  :Attachments: x.sql
  :ID:       f1d38e9a-ff70-4cc4-ab50-e8b58b2aaa7b
  :END:  

The attached file is saved in data/f1/d38e9a-ff70-4cc4-ab50-e8b58b2aaa7b/. Where it goes exactly isn't important for me – as long as it is saved and retrievable easily. Org-mode copies the original file /tmp/x.sql into the appropriate attachment directory.

Tasks with attachments automatically get an ATTACH tag so you can easily find tasks with attachments with a tag search.

To open the attachment for a task use C-c C-a o. This prompts for the attachment to open and TAB completion works here.

The ID changes for every task header when a new ID is generated.

It's possible to use named directories for attachments but I haven't needed this functionality yet – it's there if you need it.

I store my org-mode attachments with my org files in a subdirectory data. These are automatically added to my git repository along with any other org-mode changes I've made.

Deadlines and due dates are a fact or life. By default I want to see deadlines in the agenda 30 days before the due date.

The following setting accomplishes this:

(setq org-deadline-warning-days 30)

This gives me plenty of time to deal with the task so that it is completed on or before the due date.

I also use deadlines for repeating tasks. If the task repeats more often than once per month it would be always bugging me on the agenda view. For these types of tasks I set an explicit deadline warning date as follows:

* TODO Pay Wages
  DEADLINE: <2009-07-01 Wed +1m -0d>   

This example repeats monthly and shows up in the agenda on the day it is due (with no prior warning). You can set any number of lead days you want on DEADLINES using -Nd where N is the number of days in advance the task should show up in the agenda. If no value is specified the default org-deadline-warning-days is used.

I generate org-mode tables with details of task specifications and record structures for some of my projects. My clients like to use spreadsheets for this type of detail.

It's easy to share the details of the org-mode table by exporting in HTML but that isn't easy for anyone else to work with if they need to edit data.

To solve this problem I export my table as comma delimited values (CSV) and then send that to the client (or read it into a spreadsheet and email the resulting spreadsheet file).

Org-mode can export tables as TAB or comma delimited formats. I set the default format to CSV with:

(setq org-table-export-default-format "orgtbl-to-csv")

Exporting to CSV format is the only one I use and this provides the default so I can just hit RETURN when prompted for the format.

To export the following table I put the cursor inside the table and hit M-x org-table-export which prompts for a filename and the format which defaults to orgtbl-to-csv from the setting above.

This creates the file with the following data

One,Two,Three
1,1,2
3,6,5
fred,kpe,mary
234.5,432.12,324.3

Links to emails, web pages, and other files are sprinkled all over my org files. The following setting control how org-mode handles opening the link.

(setq org-link-frame-setup (quote ((vm . vm-visit-folder)
                                   (gnus . org-gnus-no-new-news)
                                   (file . find-file))))

; Use the current window for C-c ' source editing
(setq org-src-window-setup 'current-window)

I like to keep links in the same window so that I don't end up with a ton of frames in my window manager. I normally work in a full-screen window and having links open in the same window just works better for me.

If I need to work in multiple files I'll manually create the second frame with C-x 5 2 or split the window with C-x 4 2 or C-X 4 3. When I visit files in Emacs I normally want to replace the current window with the new content.

Most of my logging is controlled by the global org-todo-keywords

My logging settings are set as follows:

(setq org-log-done (quote time))
(setq org-log-into-drawer t)
(setq org-log-state-notes-insert-after-drawers nil)

My org-todo-keywords are set as follows:

(setq org-todo-keywords
      (quote ((sequence "TODO(t)" "NEXT(n)" "|" "DONE(d)")
              (sequence "WAITING(w@/!)" "HOLD(h@/!)" "|" "CANCELLED(c@/!)" "PHONE" "MEETING"))))

This adds a log entry whenever a task moves to any of the following states:

• to or out of DONE status
• to WAITING status (with a note) or out of WAITING status
• to HOLD status
• to CANCELLED status (with a note) or out of CANCELLED status

I keep clock times and states in the LOGBOOK drawer to keep my tasks uncluttered. If a task is WAITING then the reason for why it is waiting is near the top of the LOGBOOK and unfolding the LOGBOOK drawer provides that information. From the agenda simply hitting SPC on the task will reveal the LOGBOOK drawer.

Org-mode has this great new feature for signalling alarms when the estimated time for a task is reached. I use this to limit the amount of time I spend on a task during the day.

As an example, I've been working on this document for over two months now. I want to get it finished but I can't just work on it solely until it's done because then nothing else gets done. I want to do a little bit every day but limit the total amount of time I spend documenting org-mode to an hour a day.

To this end I have a task

* NEXT Document my use of org-mode
  :LOGBOOK:...
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CLOCK_MODELINE_TOTAL: today
  :Effort:   1:00
  :END:  

The task has an estimated effort of 1 hour and when I clock in the task it gives me a total in the mode-line like this

--:**  org-mode.org   91% (2348,73) Git:master  (Org Fly yas Font)-----[0:35/1:00 (Document my use of org-mode)]-------

I've spent 35 minutes of my 1 hour so far today on this document and other help on IRC.

I set up an alarm so the Star Trek door chime goes off when the total estimated time is hit. (Yes I'm a Trekkie :) )

(setq org-clock-sound "/usr/local/lib/tngchime.wav")

When the one hour time limit is hit the alarm sound goes off and a message states that I should be done working on this task. If I switch tasks and try to clock in this task again I get the sound each and every time I clock in the task. This nags me to go work on something else :)

You can use similar setups for repeated tasks. By default the last repeat time is recorded as a property when a repeating task is marked done. For repeating tasks the mode-line clock total counts since the last repeat time by default. This lets you accumulate time over multiple days and counts towards your estimated effort limit.

John Wiegley recently added support for Habit tracking to org-mode.

I have lots of habits (some bad) but I'd still like to improve and build new good habits. This is what habit tracking is for. It shows a graph on the agenda of how well you have been doing on developing your habits.

I have habits like:

• Hand wash the dishes
• 30 minute brisk walk
• Clean the house

etc. and most of these need a push to get done regularly. Logging of the done state needs to be enabled for habit tracking to work.

A habit is just like a regular task except it has a special PROPERTY value setting and a special SCHEDULED date entry like this:

* TODO Update Org Mode Doc
  SCHEDULED: <2009-11-21 Sat .+7d/30d>
  [2009-11-14 Sat 11:45]
  :PROPERTIES:
  :STYLE: habit
  :END:  

This marks the task as a habit and separates it from the regular task display on the agenda. When you mark a habit done it shows up on your daily agenda the next time based on the first interval in the SCHEDULED entry (.+7d)

The special SCHEDULED entry states that I want to do this every day but at least every 2 days. If I go 3 days without marking it DONE it shows up RED on the agenda indicating that I have been neglecting this habit.

The world isn't going to end if you neglect your habits. You can hide and display habits quickly using the K key on the agenda.

These are my settings for habit tracking.

; Enable habit tracking (and a bunch of other modules)
(setq org-modules (quote (org-bbdb
                          org-bibtex
                          org-crypt
                          org-gnus
                          org-id
                          org-info
                          org-jsinfo
                          org-habit
                          org-inlinetask
                          org-irc
                          org-mew
                          org-mhe
                          org-protocol
                          org-rmail
                          org-vm
                          org-wl
                          org-w3m)))

; position the habit graph on the agenda to the right of the default
(setq org-habit-graph-column 50)

During the day I'll turn off the habit display in the agenda with K. This is a persistent setting and since I leave my Emacs running for days at a time my habit display doesn't come back. To make sure I look at the habits daily I have the following settings to redisplay the habits in the agenda each day. This turns the habit display on again at 6AM each morning.

(run-at-time "06:00" 86400 '(lambda () (setq org-habit-show-habits t)))

I tend to keep habits under a level 1 task * Habits with a special logging property that only logs changes to the DONE state. This allows me to cancel a habit and not record a timestamp for it since that messes up the habit graph. Cancelling a habit just to get it off my agenda because it's undoable (like get up before 6AM) should not mark the habit as done today. I only cancel habits that repeat every day.

My habit tasks look as follows - and I tend to have one in every org file that can have habits defined

* Habits
  :PROPERTIES:
  :LOGGING:  DONE(!)
  :ARCHIVE:  %s_archive::* Habits
  :END:  

I use git to synchronize my org-mode files between my laptop and my workstation. This normally requires saving all the current changes, pushing to a bare repo, and fetching on the other system. After that I need to revert all of my org-mode files to get the updated information.

I used to use org-revert-all-org-buffers but have since discovered global-auto-revert-mode. With this setting any files that change on disk where there are no changes in the buffer automatically revert to the on-disk version.

This is perfect for synchronizing my org-mode files between systems.

(global-auto-revert-mode t)

I used to keep my encrypted data like account passwords in a separate GPG encrypted file. Now I keep them in my org-mode files with a special tag instead. Encrypted data is kept in the org-mode file that it is associated with.

org-crypt allows you to tag headings with a special tag crypt and org-mode can keep data in these headings encrypted when saved to disk. You decrypt the heading temporarily when you need access to the data and org-mode re-encrypts the heading as soon as you save the file.

I use the following setup for encryption:

(require 'org-crypt)
; Encrypt all entries before saving
(org-crypt-use-before-save-magic)
(setq org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance (quote ("crypt")))
; GPG key to use for encryption
(setq org-crypt-key "F0B66B40")

M-x org-decrypt-entry will prompt for the passphrase associated with your encryption key and replace the encrypted data where the point is with the plaintext details for your encrypted entry. As soon as you save the file the data is re-encrypted for your key. Encrypting does not require prompting for the passphrase - that's only for looking at the plain text version of the data.

I tend to have a single level 1 encrypted entry per file (like * Passwords). I prevent the crypt tag from using inheritance so that I don't have encrypted data inside encrypted data. I found M-x org-decrypt-entries prompting for the passphrase to decrypt data over and over again (once per entry to decrypt) too inconvenient.

I leave my entries encrypted unless I have to look up data - I decrypt on demand and then save the file again to re-encrypt the data. This keeps the data in plain text as short as possible.

There's an exciting feature called org-speed-commands in the org-mode.

Speed commands allow access to frequently used commands when on the beginning of a headline - similar to one-key agenda commands. Speed commands are user configurable and org-mode provides a good set of default commands.

I have the following speed commands set up in addition to the defaults. I don't use priorities so I override the default settings for the 1, 2, and 3 keys. I also disable cycling with 'c' and add 'q' as a quick way to get back to the agenda and update the current view.

(setq org-use-speed-commands t)
(setq org-speed-commands-user (quote (("0" . ignore)
                                      ("1" . ignore)
                                      ("2" . ignore)
                                      ("3" . ignore)
                                      ("4" . ignore)
                                      ("5" . ignore)
                                      ("6" . ignore)
                                      ("7" . ignore)
                                      ("8" . ignore)
                                      ("9" . ignore)

                                      ("a" . ignore)
                                      ("d" . ignore)
                                      ("h" . bh/hide-other)
                                      ("i" progn
                                       (forward-char 1)
                                       (call-interactively 'org-insert-heading-respect-content))
                                      ("k" . org-kill-note-or-show-branches)
                                      ("l" . ignore)
                                      ("m" . ignore)
                                      ("q" . bh/show-org-agenda)
                                      ("r" . ignore)
                                      ("s" . org-save-all-org-buffers)
                                      ("w" . org-refile)
                                      ("x" . ignore)
                                      ("y" . ignore)
                                      ("z" . org-add-note)

                                      ("A" . ignore)
                                      ("B" . ignore)
                                      ("E" . ignore)
                                      ("F" . bh/restrict-to-file-or-follow)
                                      ("G" . ignore)
                                      ("H" . ignore)
                                      ("J" . org-clock-goto)
                                      ("K" . ignore)
                                      ("L" . ignore)
                                      ("M" . ignore)
                                      ("N" . bh/narrow-to-org-subtree)
                                      ("P" . bh/narrow-to-org-project)
                                      ("Q" . ignore)
                                      ("R" . ignore)
                                      ("S" . ignore)
                                      ("T" . bh/org-todo)
                                      ("U" . bh/narrow-up-one-org-level)
                                      ("V" . ignore)
                                      ("W" . bh/widen)
                                      ("X" . ignore)
                                      ("Y" . ignore)
                                      ("Z" . ignore))))

(defun bh/show-org-agenda ()
  (interactive)
  (if org-agenda-sticky
      (switch-to-buffer "*Org Agenda( )*")
    (switch-to-buffer "*Org Agenda*"))
  (delete-other-windows))

The variable org-speed-commands-default sets a lot of useful defaults for speed command keys. The default keys I use the most are I and O for clocking in and out and t to change todo state.

J jumps to the current or last clocking task.

c and C are disabled so they self insert. I use TAB and S-TAB for cycling - I don't need c and C as well. TAB works everywhere while c and C only works on the headline and sometimes I accidentally cycle when I don't intend to.

Org protocol is a great way to create capture notes in org-mode from other applications. I use this to create tasks to review interesting web pages I visit in Firefox.

I have a special capture template set up for org-protocol to use (set up with the w key).

My org-mode setup for org-protocol is really simple. It enables org-protocol and creates a single org-protocol capture template as described in Capture Templates.

(require 'org-protocol)

The bulk of the setup is in the Firefox application so that C-c c on a page in Firefox will trigger the org-protocol capture template with details of the page I'm currently viewing in firefox.

I set up org-protocol in firefox as described in Keybindings for Firefox.

The following setting was mainly for editing yasnippets where I want to be able to expand a snippet but stay on the same line. I used this mainly for replacing short strings or initials with full names for people during meeting notes. I now use abbrev-mode- for this and no longer need this setting.

(setq require-final-newline nil)

When I save a file in Emacs I want a final newline - this fits better with the source code projects I work on. This is the setting I use now:

(setq require-final-newline t)

I insert inactive timestamps when working on org-mode files.

For remember tasks the timestamp is in the remember template but for regular structure editing I want the timestamp automatically added when I create the headline.

I have a function that is run by an org-mode hook to automatically insert the inactive timestamp whenever a headline is created.

Adding the timestamp can be controlled by f9 T which toggles the creation of the timestamp on and off for new headlines.

(defvar bh/insert-inactive-timestamp t)

(defun bh/toggle-insert-inactive-timestamp ()
  (interactive)
  (setq bh/insert-inactive-timestamp (not bh/insert-inactive-timestamp))
  (message "Heading timestamps are %s" (if bh/insert-inactive-timestamp "ON" "OFF")))

(defun bh/insert-inactive-timestamp ()
  (interactive)
  (org-insert-time-stamp nil t t nil nil nil))

(defun bh/insert-heading-inactive-timestamp ()
  (save-excursion
    (when bh/insert-inactive-timestamp
      (org-return)
      (org-cycle)
      (bh/insert-inactive-timestamp))))

(add-hook 'org-insert-heading-hook 'bh/insert-heading-inactive-timestamp 'append)

Everytime I create a heading with M-RET or M-S-RET the hook invokes the function and it inserts an inactive timestamp like this

* <point here>
  [2009-11-22 Sun 18:45]  

This keeps an automatic record of when tasks are created which I find very useful.

I also have a short cut key defined to invoke this function on demand so that I can insert the inactive timestamp anywhere on demand.

(global-set-key (kbd "<f9> t") 'bh/insert-inactive-timestamp)

To prevent the timestamps from being exported in documents I use the following setting

(setq org-export-with-timestamps nil)

The following setting make RET insert a new line instead of opening links. This setting is a love-hate relationship for me. When it first came out I immediately turned it off because I wanted to insert new lines in front of my links and RET would open the link instead which at the time I found extremely annoying. Since then I've retrained my fingers to hit RET at the end of the previous line.

(setq org-return-follows-link t)

The current clocking task is displayed on the modeline. If this has an estimated time and we run over the limit I make this stand out on the modeline by changing the background to red as follows

(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(org-mode-line-clock ((t (:foreground "red" :box (:line-width -1 :style released-button)))) t))

I take meeting notes with org-mode. I record meeting conversations in point-form using org-mode lists. If action items are decided on in the meeting I'll denote them with a bullet and a TODO: or DONE: flag.

A meeting is a task and it is complete when the meeting is over. The body of the task records all of the interesting meeting details. If TODO items are created in the meeting I make separate TODO tasks from those.

I use abbrev-mode to change people's initials to full names quickly during the meeting. This avoids mistyping people's names in meeting notes and speeds up note taking.

I use the function bh/prepare-meeting-notes to prepare the meeting notes for emailing to the participants (in a fixed-width font like "Courier New"). As soon as the meeting is over the notes are basically ready for distribution – there's no need to waste lots of time rewriting the minutes before they go out. I haven't bothered with fancy HTML output – the content is more important than the style.

* TODO Sample Meeting
  - Attendees
    - [ ] Joe
    - [X] Larry
    - [X] Mary
    - [X] Fred
  - Joe is on vacation this week
  - Status Updates
    + Larry
      - did this
      - and that
      - TODO: Needs to follow up on this
    + Mary
      - got a promotion for her recent efforts
    + Fred
      - completed all his tasks 2 days early
      - needs more work
      - DONE: everything  

* TODO Sample Meeting
   - Attendees
     - [ ] Joe
     - [X] Larry
     - [X] Mary
     - [X] Fred
   - Joe is on vacation this week
   - Status Updates
     + Larry
       - did this
       - and that
>>>>>>>> TODO: Needs to follow up on this
     + Mary
       - got a promotion for her recent efforts
     + Fred
       - completed all his tasks 2 days early
       - needs more work
>>>>>>>> DONE: everything  

Here is the formatting function. Just highlight the region for the notes and it turns tabs into spaces, and highlights todo items. The resulting notes are in the kill buffer ready to paste to another application.

(defun bh/prepare-meeting-notes ()
  "Prepare meeting notes for email
   Take selected region and convert tabs to spaces, mark TODOs with leading >>>, and copy to kill ring for pasting"
  (interactive)
  (let (prefix)
    (save-excursion
      (save-restriction
        (narrow-to-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
        (untabify (point-min) (point-max))
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (while (re-search-forward "^\\( *-\\\) \\(TODO\\|DONE\\): " (point-max) t)
          (replace-match (concat (make-string (length (match-string 1)) ?>) " " (match-string 2) ": ")))
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (kill-ring-save (point-min) (point-max))))))

I'm finding I use org-occur C-c / / a lot when trying to find details in my org-files. The following setting keeps the highlighted results of the search even after modifying the text. This allows me to edit the file without having to reissue the org-occur command to find the other matches in my file. C-c C-c removes the highlights.

(setq org-remove-highlights-with-change nil)

Setting this variable to t will automatically remove the yellow highlights as soon as the buffer is modified.

I've gone back to automatically removing the highlights with change which is the default setting. I've been using regular M-x occur a lot more lately to find things in any Emacs buffer.

(setq org-remove-highlights-with-change t)

I use the org-mode info documentation from the git repository so I set up emacs to find the info files from git before the regular (out of date) system versions.

(add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "~/git/org-mode/doc")

By default org-mode prefers dates in the future. This means that if today's date is May 2 and you enter a date for April 30th (2 days ago) org-mode will jump to April 30th of next year. I used to find this annoying when I wanted to look at what happened last Friday since I have to specify the year. Now I've trained my fingers to go back relatively in the agenda with b so this isn't really an issue for me anymore.

To make org-mode prefer the current year when entering dates set the following variable

(setq org-read-date-prefer-future nil)

I now have this variable set to 'time so times before now (with no date specified) will default to tomorrow..

(setq org-read-date-prefer-future 'time)

I take point-form notes during meetings. Having the same list bullet for every list level makes it hard to read the details when lists are indented more than 3 levels.

Org-mode has a way to automatically change the list bullets when you change list levels.

(setq org-list-demote-modify-bullet (quote (("+" . "-")
                                            ("*" . "-")
                                            ("1." . "-")
                                            ("1)" . "-")
                                            ("A)" . "-")
                                            ("B)" . "-")
                                            ("a)" . "-")
                                            ("b)" . "-")
                                            ("A." . "-")
                                            ("B." . "-")
                                            ("a." . "-")
                                            ("b." . "-"))))

I don't like the indented view for sublevels on a tags match in the agenda but I want to see all matching tasks (including sublevels) when I do a agenda tag search (F12 m).

To make all of the matched headings for a tag show at the same level in the agenda set the following variable:

(setq org-tags-match-list-sublevels t)

I use babel for including source blocks in my documents with

#+begin_src LANG
,  ...
#+end_src

where LANG specifies the language to use (ditaa, dot, sh, emacs-lisp, etc) This displays the language contents fontified in both the org-mode source buffer and the exported document.

See this Git Repository synchronization in this document for an example..

This is a great feature! Persistent agenda filters means if you limit a search with / TAB SomeTag the agenda remembers this filter until you change it.

Enable persistent filters with the following variable

(setq org-agenda-persistent-filter t)

The current filter is displayed in the modeline as {+SomeTag} so you can easily see what filter currently applies to your agenda view.

I use this with FILETAGS to limit the displayed results to a single client or context.

Everyone so often something will come along that is really important and you know you want to be able to find it back fast sometime in the future.

For these types of notes and tasks I add a special :FLAGGED: tag. This tag gets a special fast-key ? which matches the search key in the agenda for flagged items. See Tags for the setup of org-tag-alist for the FLAGGED entry.

Finding flagged entries is then simple - just F12 ? and you get them all.

The following setting makes org-mode open mailto: links using compose-mail.

(setq org-link-mailto-program (quote (compose-mail "%a" "%s")))

It's possible to create mail from an org-mode subtree. I use C-c M-o to start an email message with the details filled in from the current subtree. I use this for repeating reminder tasks where I need to send an email to someone else. The email contents are already contained in the org-mode subtree and all I need to do is C-c M-o and any minor edits before sending it off.

I discovered smex for IDO-completion for M-x commands after reading a post of the org-mode mailing list. I actually use M-x a lot now because IDO completion is so easy.

Here's the smex setup I use

(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d"))
(require 'smex)
(smex-initialize)

(global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x x") 'smex)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-X") 'smex-major-mode-commands)

I've started using emacs bookmarks to save a location and return to it easily. Normally I want to get back to my currently clocking task and that's easy - just hit F11. When I'm working down a long checklist I find it convenient to set a bookmark on the next item to check, then go away and work on it, and return to the checkbox to mark it done.

I use Emacs bookmarks for this setup as follows:

;; Bookmark handling
;;
(global-set-key (kbd "<C-f6>") '(lambda () (interactive) (bookmark-set "SAVED")))
(global-set-key (kbd "<f6>") '(lambda () (interactive) (bookmark-jump "SAVED")))

When I want to save the current location I just hit C-f6 and then I can return to it with f6 anytime. I overwrite the same bookmark each time I set a new position.

I'm experimenting with sending mime mail from org. I've added C-c M=o key bindings in the org-mode-hook to generate mail from an org-mode subtree.

(require 'org-mime)

I skip multiple timestamps for the same entry in the agenda view with the following setting.

(setq org-agenda-skip-additional-timestamps-same-entry t)

This removes the clutter of extra state change log details when multiple timestamps exist in a single entry.

I drop the old A3/B4 style references from tables when editing with the following setting.

(setq org-table-use-standard-references (quote from))

To get consistent applications for opening tasks I set the org-file-apps variable as follows:

(setq org-file-apps (quote ((auto-mode . emacs)
                            ("\\.mm\\'" . system)
                            ("\\.x?html?\\'" . system)
                            ("\\.pdf\\'" . system))))

This uses the entries defined in my system mailcap settings when opening file extensions. This gives me consistent behaviour when opening an link to some HTML file with C-c C-o or when previewing an export.

Org mode can fold (cycle) plain lists.

(setq org-cycle-include-plain-lists t)

I find this setting useful when I have repeating tasks with lots of sublists with checkboxes. I can fold the completed list entries and focus on what is remaining easily.

It is possible to display org-mode source blocks fontified in their native mode. This allows colourization of keywords for C and shell script source etc. If I edit the source I use C-c ' (control-c single quote) to bring up the source window which is then rendered with syntax highlighting in the native mode. This setting also shows the syntax highlighting when viewing in the org-mode buffer.

(setq org-src-fontify-natively t)

There is a shortcut key sequence in org-mode to insert structure templates quickly into your org files.

I use example and source blocks often in my org files.

I've added a block for saving email text which I copy from MS Outlook at work so I have context associated with my org-mode tasks.

The following lisp makes the blocks lowercase instead of the default upper case in org-mode.

(setq org-structure-template-alist
      (quote (("s" "#+begin_src ?\n\n#+end_src" "<src lang=\"?\">\n\n</src>")
              ("e" "#+begin_example\n?\n#+end_example" "<example>\n?\n</example>")
              ("q" "#+begin_quote\n?\n#+end_quote" "<quote>\n?\n</quote>")
              ("v" "#+begin_verse\n?\n#+end_verse" "<verse>\n?\n</verse>")
              ("c" "#+begin_center\n?\n#+end_center" "<center>\n?\n</center>")
              ("l" "#+begin_latex\n?\n#+end_latex" "<literal style=\"latex\">\n?\n</literal>")
              ("L" "#+latex: " "<literal style=\"latex\">?</literal>")
              ("h" "#+begin_html\n?\n#+end_html" "<literal style=\"html\">\n?\n</literal>")
              ("H" "#+html: " "<literal style=\"html\">?</literal>")
              ("a" "#+begin_ascii\n?\n#+end_ascii")
              ("A" "#+ascii: ")
              ("i" "#+index: ?" "#+index: ?")
              ("I" "#+include %file ?" "<include file=%file markup=\"?\">"))))

NEXT keywords are for tasks and not projects. I've added a function to the todo state change hook and clock in hook so that any parent tasks marked NEXT automagically change from NEXT to TODO since they are now projects and not tasks.

(defun bh/mark-next-parent-tasks-todo ()
  "Visit each parent task and change NEXT states to TODO"
  (let ((mystate (or (and (fboundp 'org-state)
                          state)
                     (nth 2 (org-heading-components)))))
    (when mystate
      (save-excursion
        (while (org-up-heading-safe)
          (when (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) (list "NEXT"))
            (org-todo "TODO")))))))

(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook 'bh/mark-next-parent-tasks-todo 'append)
(add-hook 'org-clock-in-hook 'bh/mark-next-parent-tasks-todo 'append)

Startup in folded view.

(setq org-startup-folded t)

I used to use content view by default so I could review org subtrees before archiving but my archiving workflow has changed so I no longer need this manual step.

The following setting adds alphabetical lists like

a. item one
b. item two

(setq org-alphabetical-lists t)

In order for filling to work correctly this needs to be set before the exporters are loaded.

orgstruct++-mode is enabled in Gnus message buffers to aid in creating structured email messages.

(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'orgstruct++-mode 'append)
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill 'append)
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'bbdb-define-all-aliases 'append)
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'orgtbl-mode 'append)
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell 'append)
(add-hook 'message-mode-hook
          '(lambda () (setq fill-column 72))
          'append)

flyspell-mode is enabled for almost everything to help prevent creating documents with spelling errors.

;; flyspell mode for spell checking everywhere
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell 'append)

;; Disable keys in org-mode
;;    C-c [ 
;;    C-c ]
;;    C-c ;
;;    C-c C-x C-q  cancelling the clock (we never want this)
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
          '(lambda ()
             ;; Undefine C-c [ and C-c ] since this breaks my
             ;; org-agenda files when directories are include It
             ;; expands the files in the directories individually
             (org-defkey org-mode-map "\C-c[" 'undefined)
             (org-defkey org-mode-map "\C-c]" 'undefined)
             (org-defkey org-mode-map "\C-c;" 'undefined)
             (org-defkey org-mode-map "\C-c\C-x\C-q" 'undefined))
          'append)

(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
          (lambda ()
            (local-set-key (kbd "C-c M-o") 'bh/mail-subtree))
          'append)

(defun bh/mail-subtree ()
  (interactive)
  (org-mark-subtree)
  (org-mime-subtree))

I do not preserve indentation for source blocks mainly because this doesn't look nice with indented org-files. The only reason I've found to preserve indentation is when TABs in files need to be preserved (e.g. Makefiles). I don't normally edit these files in org-mode so I leave this setting turned off.

I've changed the default block indentation so that it is not indented from the text in the org file. This allows editing source blocks in place without requiring use of C-c ' so that code lines up correctly.

(setq org-src-preserve-indentation nil)
(setq org-edit-src-content-indentation 0)

The following setting prevents accidentally editing hidden text when the point is inside a folded region. This can happen if you are in the body of a heading and globally fold the org-file with S-TAB

I find invisible edits (and undo's) hard to deal with so now I can't edit invisible text. C-c C-r (org-reveal) will display where the point is if it is buried in invisible text to allow editing again.

(setq org-catch-invisible-edits 'error)

I use utf-8 as the default coding system for all of my org files.

(setq org-export-coding-system 'utf-8)
(prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-charset-priority 'unicode)
(setq default-process-coding-system '(utf-8-unix . utf-8-unix))

The default for clock durations has changed to include days which is 24 hours. At work I like to think of a day as 6 hours of work (the rest of the time is lost in meetings and other overhead on average) so displaying clock durations in days doesn't make sense to me.

The following setting displays clock durations (from C-c C-x C-d in hours and minutes.

(setq org-time-clocksum-format
      '(:hours "%d" :require-hours t :minutes ":%02d" :require-minutes t))

The following setting creates a unique task ID for the heading in the PROPERTY drawer when I use C-c l. This allows me to move the task around arbitrarily in my org files and the link to it still works.

(setq org-id-link-to-org-use-id 'create-if-interactive-and-no-custom-id)

This was a cute idea but I find archiving entire complete subtrees better. I don't mind having a bunch of tasks marked DONE (but not archived)

Strike-through emphasis is just unreadable and tends to only show up when pasting data from other files into org-mode. This just removes the strike-through completely which I find a lot nicer.

(setq org-emphasis-alist (quote (("*" bold "<b>" "</b>")
                                 ("/" italic "<i>" "</i>")
                                 ("_" underline "<span style=\"text-decoration:underline;\">" "</span>")
                                 ("=" org-code "<code>" "</code>" verbatim)
                                 ("~" org-verbatim "<code>" "</code>" verbatim))))

I don't currently write documents that need subscripts and superscript support. I disable handling of _ and ^ for subscript and superscripts with

(setq org-use-sub-superscripts nil)

Yasnippet is cool but I don't use this anymore. I've replaced yasnippet with a combination of abbrev-mode and skeletons which are available by default in Emacs.

The following description applies to yasnippet version 0.5.10. The setup requirements may have changed with newer versions.

You type the snippet name and TAB and yasnippet expands the name with the contents of the snippet text - substituting snippet variables as appropriate.

Yasnippet comes with lots of snippets for programming languages. I used a few babel related snippets with org-mode.

I downloaded and installed the unbundled version of yasnippet so that I can edit the predefined snippets. I unpacked the yasnippet software in my ~/.emacs.d/plugins directory, renamed yasnippet0.5.10 to yasnippet and added the following setup in my .emacs:

(add-to-list 'load-path (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/plugins"))

(require 'yasnippet)
(yas/initialize)
(yas/load-directory "~/.emacs.d/plugins/yasnippet/snippets")

;; Make TAB the yas trigger key in the org-mode-hook and enable flyspell mode and autofill
(add-hook 'org-mode-hook
          (lambda ()
            ;; yasnippet
            (make-variable-buffer-local 'yas/trigger-key)
            (org-set-local 'yas/trigger-key [tab])
            (define-key yas/keymap [tab] 'yas/next-field-group)
            ;; flyspell mode for spell checking everywhere
            (flyspell-mode 1)
            ;; auto-fill mode on
            (auto-fill-mode 1)))

I used snippets for the following:

• begin for generic #+begin_ blocks
• dot for graphviz
• uml for PlantUML graphics
• sh for bash shell scripts
• elisp for emacs lisp code
• initials of a person converts to their full name I used this while taking meeting notes

Here is the definition for the begin snippet:

org-mode Yasnippet: ~/.emacs.d/plugins/yasnippet/snippets/text-mode/org-mode/begin

#name : #+begin_...#+end_
# --     
#+begin_$1 $2
$0
#+end_$1

I used this to create #+begin_* blocks like

• #+begin_example
• #+begin_src
• etc.

Simply type begin and then TAB it replaces the begin text with the snippet contents. Then type src TAB emacs-lisp TAB and your snippet block is done. I've shortened this specific sequence to just elisp TAB since I use it fairly often.

Hit C-c SingeQuote(') and insert whatever emacs-lisp code you need. While in this block you're in a mode that knows how to format and colourize emacs lisp code as you enter it which is really nice. C-c SingleQuote(') exits back to org-mode. This recognizes any emacs editing mode so all you have to do is enter the appropriate mode name for the block.

dot

#dot : #+begin_src dot ... #+end_src
# --
#+begin_src dot :file $1 :cmdline -Kdot -Tpng
$0
#+end_src

uml

#uml : #+begin_src plantuml ... #+end_src
# --
#+begin_src plantuml :file $1
$0
#+end_src

sh

#sh: #+begin_src sh ... #+end_src
# --
#+begin_src sh :results output
$0
#+end_src

elisp

#elisp : #+begin_src emacs-lisp ...#+end_src emacs-lisp
# --
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
$0
#+end_src

This is a great time saver.

This has been replaced by org-indent-mode

I've converted my files between odd-levels-only and odd-even using the functions org-convert-to-odd-levels and org-convert-to-oddeven-levels functions a number of times. I ended up going back to odd-even levels to reduce the amount of leading whitespace on tasks. I didn't find that lining up the headlines and tasks in odd-levels-only to be all that helpful.

(setq org-odd-levels-only nil)

I used to have a STARTED and NEXT task state. These were basically the same except STARTED indicated that I've clocked some time on the task. Since then I've just moved to using NEXT for this.

The following code used to propagate the STARTED task up the project tree but I don't use this anymore.

When a task is marked STARTED (either manually or by clocking it in) the STARTED state propagates up the tree to any parent tasks of this task that are TODO or NEXT. As soon as I work on the first NEXT task in a tree the project is also marked STARTED. This helps me keep track of things that are in progress.

Here's the setup I use to propagate STARTED to parent tasks:

;; Mark parent tasks as started
(defvar bh/mark-parent-tasks-started nil)

(defun bh/mark-parent-tasks-started ()
  "Visit each parent task and change TODO states to STARTED"
  (unless bh/mark-parent-tasks-started
    (when (equal org-state "STARTED")
      (let ((bh/mark-parent-tasks-started t))
        (save-excursion
          (while (org-up-heading-safe)
            (when (member (nth 2 (org-heading-components)) (list "TODO" "NEXT"))
              (org-todo "STARTED"))))))))

(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook 'bh/mark-parent-tasks-started 'append)

I used to spend time on an open source project called BZFlag. During work for releases I want to clock the time I spend testing the new BZFlag client. I have a key binding in my window manager that runs a script which starts the clock on my testing task, runs the BZFlag client, and on exit resumes the clock on the previous clocking task.

The testing task has an ID property of dcf55180-2a18-460e-8abb-a9f02f0893be and the following elisp code starts the clock on this task.

(defun bh/clock-in-bzflagt-task ()
  (interactive)
  (bh/clock-in-task-by-id "dcf55180-2a18-460e-8abb-a9f02f0893be"))

This is invoked by a bash shell script as follows:

#!/bin/sh
emacsclient -e '(bh/clock-in-bzflagt-task)'
~/git/bzflag/trunk/bzflag/src/bzflag/bzflag -directory ~/git/bzflag/trunk/bzflag/data $*
emacsclient -e '(bh/resume-clock)'

The resume clock function just returns the clock to the previous clocking task

(defun bh/resume-clock ()
  (interactive)
  (if (marker-buffer org-clock-interrupted-task)
      (org-with-point-at org-clock-interrupted-task
        (org-clock-in))
    (org-clock-out)))

If no task was clocking bh/resume-clock just stops the clock.

With Sticky Agendas burying the buffer is the default behaviour for the q key so this is not needed anymore.

I change the q key in the agenda so instead of killing the agenda buffer it merely buries it to the end of the buffer list. This allows me to pull it back up quickly with the q speed key or f9 f9 and regenerate the results with g.

(add-hook 'org-agenda-mode-hook
          (lambda ()
            (define-key org-agenda-mode-map "q" 'bury-buffer))
          'append)

I use the agenda to figure out what to do work on next. I don't use priorities at all normally but at work I occasionally get priorities from my manager. In this case I mark my tasks with the priorities from the external source just to track the values and force the agenda to display tasks in the priority order.

I use priorities A-E where tasks without a specific priority are lowest priority E.

(setq org-enable-priority-commands t)
(setq org-default-priority ?E)
(setq org-lowest-priority ?E)

My Emacs setup saves all org buffers at 1 minute before the hour using the following code in my .emacs

(run-at-time "00:59" 3600 'org-save-all-org-buffers)

A cron job runs at the top of the hour to commit any changes just saved by the call to org-save-all-org-buffers above. I use a script to create the commits so that I can run it on demand to easily commit all modified work when moving from one machine to another.

crontab details:

0 * * * * ~/bin/org-git-sync.sh >/dev/null

I use git in all of my directories where editing a file should be tracked.

This means I can edit files with confidence. I'm free to change stuff and break things because it won't matter. It's easy to go back to a previous working version or to see exactly what changed since the last commit. This is great when editing configuration files (such as apache webserver, bind9 DNS configurations, etc.)

I find this extremely useful where your edits might break things and having git tracking the changes means if you break it you can just go back to the previous working version easily. This is also true for package upgrades for software where the upgrade modifies the configuration files.

I have every version of my edits in a local git repository.

I acquired a Eee PC 1000 HE which now serves as my main road-warrior laptop replacing my 6 year old Toshiba Tecra S1.

I have a server on my LAN that hosts bare git repositories for all of my projects. The problem I was facing is I have to leave in 5 minutes and want to make sure I have up-to-date copies of everything I work on when I take it on the road (without Internet access).

To solve this I use a server with bare git repositories on it. This includes my org-mode repositories as well as any other git repositories I'm interested in.

Just before I leave I run the git-sync script on my workstation to update the bare git repositories and then I run it again on my Eee PC to update all my local repositories on the laptop. For any repositories that give errors due to non-fast-forward merges I manually merge as required and rerun git-sync until it reports no errors. This normally takes a minute or two to do. Then I grab my Eee PC and leave. When I'm on the road I have full up-to-date history of all my git repositories.

The git-sync script replaces my previous scripts with an all-in-one tool that basically does this:

• for each repository on the current system
  • fetch objects from the remote
  • for each branch that tracks a remote branch
    • Check if the ref can be moved
      • fast-forwards if behind the remote repository and is fast-forwardable
      • Does nothing if ref is up to date
      • Pushes ref to remote repository if ref is ahead of remote repository and fast-forwardable
      • Fails if ref and remote have diverged

This automatically advances changes on my 35+ git repositories with minimal manual intervention. The only time I need to manually do something in a repository is when I make changes on my Eee PC and my workstation at the same time - so that a merge is required.

Here is the git-sync script

#!/bin/sh
#

# Local bare repository name
syncrepo=norang
reporoot=~/git

# Display repository name only once
log_repo() {
  [ "x$lastrepo" == "x$repo" ] || {
    printf "\nREPO: ${repo}\n"
    lastrepo="$repo"
  }
}

# Log a message for a repository
log_msg() {
  log_repo
  printf "  $1\n"
}

# fast-forward reference $1 to $syncrepo/$1
fast_forward_ref() {
  log_msg "fast-forwarding ref $1"
  current_ref=$(cat .git/HEAD)
  if [ "x$current_ref" = "xref: refs/heads/$1" ]
  then
    # Check for dirty index
    files=$(git diff-index --name-only HEAD --)
    git merge refs/remotes/$syncrepo/$1
  else
    git branch -f $1 refs/remotes/$syncrepo/$1
  fi
}

# Push reference $1 to $syncrepo
push_ref() {
  log_msg "Pushing ref $1"
  if ! git push --tags $syncrepo $1
  then
    exit 1
  fi
}

# Check if a ref can be moved
#   - fast-forwards if behind the sync repo and is fast-forwardable
#   - Does nothing if ref is up to date
#   - Pushes ref to $syncrepo if ref is ahead of syncrepo and fastforwardable
#   - Fails if ref and $syncrop/ref have diverged
check_ref() {
  revlist1=$(git rev-list refs/remotes/$syncrepo/$1..$1)
  revlist2=$(git rev-list $1..refs/remotes/$syncrepo/$1)
  if [ "x$revlist1" = "x" -a "x$revlist2" = "x" ]
  then
    # Ref $1 is up to date.
    :
  elif [ "x$revlist1" = "x" ]
  then
    # Ref $1 is behind $syncrepo/$1 and can be fast-forwarded.
    fast_forward_ref $1 || exit 1
  elif [ "x$revlist2" = "x" ]
  then
    # Ref $1 is ahead of $syncrepo/$1 and can be pushed.
    push_ref $1 || exit 1
  else
    log_msg "Ref $1 and $syncrepo/$1 have diverged."
    exit 1
  fi
}

# Check all local refs with matching refs in the $syncrepo
check_refs () {
  git for-each-ref refs/heads/* | while read sha1 commit ref
  do
    ref=${ref/refs\/heads\//}
    git for-each-ref refs/remotes/$syncrepo/$ref | while read sha2 commit ref2
    do
      if [ "x$sha2" != "x" -a "x$sha2" != "x" ]
      then
        check_ref $ref || exit 1
      fi
    done
  done
}

# For all repositories under $reporoot
#   Check all refs matching $syncrepo and fast-forward, or push as necessary
#   to synchronize the ref with $syncrepo
#   Bail out if ref is not fastforwardable so user can fix and rerun
time {
  retval=0
  if find $reporoot -type d -name '*.git' | { 
      while read repo
      do
        repo=${repo/\/.git/}
        cd ${repo}
        upd=$(git remote update $syncrepo 2>&1 || retval=1)
        [ "x$upd" = "xFetching $syncrepo" ] || {
          log_repo
          printf "$upd\n"
        }
        check_refs || retval=1
      done
      exit $retval
    }
  then
    printf "\nAll done.\n"
  else
    printf "\nFix and redo.\n"
  fi
}

exit $retval