Org Mode Compact Guide ¶

2.1 Headlines ¶

Headlines define the structure of an outline tree. The headlines in Org start on the left margin¹ with one or more stars followed by a space. For example:

* Top level headline
** Second level
*** Third level
    some text
*** Third level
    more text
* Another top level headline

Note that a headline named after org-footnote-section, which defaults to ‘Footnotes’, is considered as special. A subtree with this headline will be silently ignored by exporting functions.

Some people find the many stars too noisy and would prefer an outline that has whitespace followed by a single star as headline starters. See Miscellaneous for a setup to realize this.

2.2 Visibility Cycling ¶

Outlines make it possible to hide parts of the text in the buffer. Org uses just two commands, bound to TAB and S-TAB (org-cycle and org-shifttab) to change the visibility in the buffer.

TAB (org-cycle)

Subtree cycling: Rotate current subtree among the states

,-> FOLDED -> CHILDREN -> SUBTREE --.
'-----------------------------------'

When called with a prefix argument (C-u TAB), or with the Shift key, global cycling is invoked.

S-TAB (org-global-cycle)

C-u TAB (org-cycle)

Global cycling: Rotate the entire buffer among the states

,-> OVERVIEW -> CONTENTS -> SHOW ALL --.
'--------------------------------------'

C-u C-u C-u TAB (org-show-all)

Show all, including drawers.

When Emacs first visits an Org file, the global state is set to showeverything, i.e., all file content is visible. This can be configured through the variable org-startup-folded, or on a per-file basis by adding a ‘STARTUP’ keyword to ‘overview’, ‘content’, ‘showall’, ‘showeverything’ or ‘show<n>levels’ (n = 2..5) like this:

#+STARTUP: content

2.3 Motion ¶

The following commands jump to other headlines in the buffer.

C-c C-n (org-next-visible-heading)

Next heading.

C-c C-p (org-previous-visible-heading)

Previous heading.

C-c C-f (org-backward-heading-same-level)

Next heading same level.

C-c C-b (outline-backward-same-level)

Previous heading same level.

C-c C-u (outline-up-heading)

Backward to higher level heading.

2.4 Structure Editing ¶

M-RET (org-meta-return)

Insert new heading with same level as current. If point is in a plain list item, a new item is created (see Plain Lists). When this command is used in the middle of a line, the line is split and the rest of the line becomes the new headline².

M-S-RET (org-insert-todo-heading)

Insert new TODO entry with same level as current heading.

TAB (org-cycle) in new

empty entry

In a new entry with no text yet, TAB cycles through reasonable levels.

M-LEFT (org-metaleft)

M-RIGHT (org-metaright)

Promote or demote current heading by one level.

M-UP (org-move-subtree-up)

M-DOWN (org-move-subtree-down)

Move subtree up or down, i.e., swap with previous or next subtree of same level.

C-c C-w (org-refile)

Refile entry or region to a different location. See Refile and Copy.

C-x n s (org-narrow-to-subtree)

C-x n w (widen)

Narrow buffer to current subtree and widen it again.

When there is an active region (Transient Mark mode), promotion and demotion work on all headlines in the region.

2.5 Sparse Trees ¶

An important feature of Org mode is the ability to construct sparse trees for selected information in an outline tree, so that the entire document is folded as much as possible, but the selected information is made visible along with the headline structure above it³. Just try it out and you will see immediately how it works.

Org mode contains several commands creating such trees, all these commands can be accessed through a dispatcher:

C-c / (org-sparse-tree)

This prompts for an extra key to select a sparse-tree creating command.

C-c / r (org-occur)

Occur. Prompts for a regexp and shows a sparse tree with all matches. Each match is also highlighted; the highlights disappear by pressing C-c C-c.

The other sparse tree commands select headings based on TODO keywords, tags, or properties and will be discussed later in this manual.

2.6 Plain Lists ¶

Within an entry of the outline tree, hand-formatted lists can provide additional structure. They also provide a way to create lists of checkboxes (see Checkboxes). Org supports editing such lists, and every exporter (see Exporting) can parse and format them.

Org knows ordered lists, unordered lists, and description lists.

• Unordered list items start with ‘-’, ‘+’, or ‘*’ as bullets.
• Ordered list items start with ‘1.’, or ‘1)’.
• Description list use ‘::’ to separate the term from the description.

Items belonging to the same list must have the same indentation on the first line. An item ends before the next line that is indented like its bullet/number, or less. A list ends when all items are closed, or before two blank lines. An example:

* Lord of the Rings
  My favorite scenes are (in this order)
  1. The attack of the Rohirrim
  2. Eowyn's fight with the witch king
     + this was already my favorite scene in the book
     + I really like Miranda Otto.
  Important actors in this film are:
  - Elijah Wood :: He plays Frodo
  - Sean Astin :: He plays Sam, Frodo's friend.

The following commands act on items when point is in the first line of an item (the line with the bullet or number).

TAB (org-cycle)

Items can be folded just like headline levels.

M-RET (org-insert-heading)

Insert new item at current level. With a prefix argument, force a new heading (see Structure Editing).

M-S-RET (org-insert-todo-heading)

Insert a new item with a checkbox (see Checkboxes).

M-UP (org-move-item-up)

M-DOWN (org-move-item-down)

Move the item including subitems up/down (swap with previous/next item of same indentation). If the list is ordered, renumbering is automatic.

M-LEFT (org-do-promote)

M-RIGHT (org-do-demote)

Decrease/increase the indentation of an item, leaving children alone.

M-S-LEFT (org-promote-subtree)

M-S-RIGHT (org-demote-subtree)

Decrease/increase the indentation of the item, including subitems.

C-c C-c (org-toggle-checkbox)

If there is a checkbox (see Checkboxes) in the item line, toggle the state of the checkbox. Also verify bullets and indentation consistency in the whole list.

C-c - (org-cycle-list-bullet)

Cycle the entire list level through the different itemize/enumerate bullets (‘-’, ‘+’, ‘*’, ‘1.’, ‘1)’).

5.1 Basic TODO Functionality ¶

Any headline becomes a TODO item when it starts with the word ‘TODO’, for example:

*** TODO Write letter to Sam Fortune

The most important commands to work with TODO entries are:

C-c C-t (org-todo)

Rotate the TODO state of the current item among

,-> (unmarked) -> TODO -> DONE --.
'--------------------------------'

The same rotation can also be done “remotely” from the agenda buffer with the t command key (see Commands in the Agenda Buffer).

S-RIGHT (org-shiftright)

S-LEFT (org-shiftleft)

Select the following/preceding TODO state, similar to cycling.

C-c / t (org-show-todo-tree)

View TODO items in a sparse tree (see Sparse Trees). Folds the entire buffer, but shows all TODO items—with not-DONE state—and the headings hierarchy above them.

M-x org-agenda t (org-todo-list)

Show the global TODO list. Collects the TODO items (with not-DONE states) from all agenda files (see Agenda Views) into a single buffer. See The Global TODO List, for more information.

S-M-RET (org-insert-todo-heading)

Insert a new TODO entry below the current one.

Changing a TODO state can also trigger tag changes. See the docstring of the option org-todo-state-tags-triggers for details.

5.2 Multi-state Workflow ¶

You can use TODO keywords to indicate sequential working progress states:

(setq org-todo-keywords
      '((sequence "TODO" "FEEDBACK" "VERIFY" "|" "DONE" "DELEGATED")))

The vertical bar separates the ‘TODO’ keywords (states that need action) from the ‘DONE’ states (which need no further action). If you do not provide the separator bar, the last state is used as the ‘DONE’ state. With this setup, the command C-c C-t cycles an entry from ‘TODO’ to ‘FEEDBACK’, then to ‘VERIFY’, and finally to ‘DONE’ and ‘DELEGATED’.

Sometimes you may want to use different sets of TODO keywords in parallel. For example, you may want to have the basic ‘TODO=/=DONE’, but also a workflow for bug fixing. Your setup would then look like this:

(setq org-todo-keywords
      '((sequence "TODO(t)" "|" "DONE(d)")
        (sequence "REPORT(r)" "BUG(b)" "KNOWNCAUSE(k)" "|" "FIXED(f)")))

The keywords should all be different, this helps Org mode to keep track of which subsequence should be used for a given entry. The example also shows how to define keys for fast access of a particular state, by adding a letter in parenthesis after each keyword—you will be prompted for the key after C-c C-t.

To define TODO keywords that are valid only in a single file, use the following text anywhere in the file.

#+TODO: TODO(t) | DONE(d)
#+TODO: REPORT(r) BUG(b) KNOWNCAUSE(k) | FIXED(f)
#+TODO: | CANCELED(c)

After changing one of these lines, use C-c C-c with the cursor still in the line to make the changes known to Org mode.

5.3 Progress Logging ¶

To record a timestamp and a note when changing a TODO state, call the command org-todo with a prefix argument.

C-u C-c C-t (org-todo)

Prompt for a note and record a the time of the TODO state change.

Org mode can also automatically record a timestamp and optionally a note when you mark a TODO item as DONE, or even each time you change the state of a TODO item. This system is highly configurable, settings can be on a per-keyword basis and can be localized to a file or even a subtree. For information on how to clock working time for a task, see Clocking Work Time.

Closing items ¶

The most basic logging is to keep track of when a certain TODO item was marked as done. This can be achieved with⁴

(setq org-log-done 'time)

Then each time you turn an entry from a TODO (not-done) state into any of the DONE states, a line ‘CLOSED: [timestamp]’ is inserted just after the headline.

If you want to record a note along with the timestamp, use⁵

(setq org-log-done 'note)

You are then be prompted for a note, and that note is stored below the entry with a ‘Closing Note’ heading.

Tracking TODO state changes ¶

You might want to keep track of TODO state changes. You can either record just a timestamp, or a time-stamped note for a change. These records are inserted after the headline as an itemized list. When taking a lot of notes, you might want to get the notes out of the way into a drawer. Customize the variable org-log-into-drawer to get this behavior.

For state logging, Org mode expects configuration on a per-keyword basis. This is achieved by adding special markers ‘!’ (for a timestamp) and ‘@’ (for a note) in parentheses after each keyword. For example:

#+TODO: TODO(t) WAIT(w@/!) | DONE(d!) CANCELED(c@)

defines TODO keywords and fast access keys, and also request that a time is recorded when the entry is set to ‘DONE’, and that a note is recorded when switching to ‘WAIT’ or ‘CANCELED’. The same syntax works also when setting org-todo-keywords.

5.4 Priorities ¶

If you use Org mode extensively, you may end up with enough TODO items that it starts to make sense to prioritize them. Prioritizing can be done by placing a priority cookie into the headline of a TODO item, like this

*** TODO [#A] Write letter to Sam Fortune

Org mode supports three priorities: ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’. ‘A’ is the highest, ‘B’ the default if none is given. Priorities make a difference only in the agenda.

C-c , (org-priority)

Set the priority of the current headline. Press A, B or C to select a priority, or SPC to remove the cookie.

S-UP (org-priority-up)

S-DOWN (org-priority-down)

Increase/decrease the priority of the current headline.

5.5 Breaking Tasks Down into Subtasks ¶

It is often advisable to break down large tasks into smaller, manageable subtasks. You can do this by creating an outline tree below a TODO item, with detailed subtasks on the tree. To keep an overview of the fraction of subtasks that have already been marked as done, insert either ‘[/]’ or ‘[%]’ anywhere in the headline. These cookies are updated each time the TODO status of a child changes, or when pressing C-c C-c on the cookie. For example:

* Organize Party [33%]
** TODO Call people [1/2]
*** TODO Peter
*** DONE Sarah
** TODO Buy food
** DONE Talk to neighbor

5.6 Checkboxes ¶

Every item in a plain list (see Plain Lists) can be made into a checkbox by starting it with the string ‘[ ]’. Checkboxes are not included into the global TODO list, so they are often great to split a task into a number of simple steps.

Here is an example of a checkbox list.

* TODO Organize party [2/4]
  - [-] call people [1/2]
    - [ ] Peter
    - [X] Sarah
  - [X] order food

Checkboxes work hierarchically, so if a checkbox item has children that are checkboxes, toggling one of the children checkboxes makes the parent checkbox reflect if none, some, or all of the children are checked.

The following commands work with checkboxes:

C-c C-c, C-u C-c C-c (org-toggle-checkbox)

Toggle checkbox status or—with prefix argument—checkbox presence at point.

M-S-RET (org-insert-todo-heading)

Insert a new item with a checkbox. This works only if point is already in a plain list item (see Plain Lists).

8.1 Timestamps ¶

A timestamp is a specification of a date—possibly with a time or a range of times—in a special format, either ‘<2003-09-16 Tue>’ or ‘<2003-09-16 Tue 09:39>’ or ‘<2003-09-16 Tue 12:00-12:30>’. A timestamp can appear anywhere in the headline or body of an Org tree entry. Its presence causes entries to be shown on specific dates in the agenda (see The Weekly/Daily Agenda). We distinguish:

Plain timestamp; Event; Appointment

A simple timestamp just assigns a date/time to an item. This is just like writing down an appointment or event in a paper agenda. There can be multiple timestamps in an item.

* Meet Peter at the movies
  <2006-11-01 Wed 19:15>
* Discussion on climate change
  <2006-11-02 Thu 20:00-22:00>
* My days off
  <2006-11-03 Fri>
  <2006-11-06 Mon>

Timestamp with repeater interval

A timestamp may contain a repeater interval, indicating that it applies not only on the given date, but again and again after a certain interval of N hours (h), days (d), weeks (w), months (m), or years (y). The following shows up in the agenda every Wednesday:

* Pick up Sam at school
  <2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w>

Diary-style expression entries

For more complex date specifications, Org mode supports using the special expression diary entries implemented in the Emacs Calendar package. For example, with optional time:

* 22:00-23:00 The nerd meeting on every 2nd Thursday of the month
  <%%(diary-float t 4 2)>

Time range

Time range is a timestamp having two time units connected by ‘-’

* Discussion on climate change
  <2006-11-02 Thu 10:00-12:00>

Time/Date range

Two timestamps connected by ‘--’ denote a range. In the agenda, the headline is shown on the first and last day of the range, and on any dates that are displayed and fall in the range. The first example specifies just the dates of the range while the second example specifies a time range for each date.

** Meeting in Amsterdam
   <2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu>
** This weeks committee meetings
   <2004-08-23 Mon 10:00-11:00>--<2004-08-26 Thu 10:00-11:00>

Inactive timestamp

Just like a plain timestamp, but with square brackets instead of angular ones. These timestamps are inactive in the sense that they do not trigger an entry to show up in the agenda.

* Gillian comes late for the fifth time
  [2006-11-01 Wed]

8.2 Creating Timestamps ¶

For Org mode to recognize timestamps, they need to be in the specific format. All commands listed below produce timestamps in the correct format.

C-c . (org-timestamp)

Prompt for a date and insert a corresponding timestamp. When point is at an existing timestamp in the buffer, the command is used to modify this timestamp instead of inserting a new one. When this command is used twice in succession, a time range is inserted. With a prefix argument, it also adds the current time.

C-c ! (org-timestamp-inactive)

Like C-c ., but insert an inactive timestamp that does not cause an agenda entry.

S-LEFT (org-timestamp-down-day)

S-RIGHT (org-timestamp-up-day)

Change date at point by one day.

S-UP (org-timestamp-up)

S-DOWN (org-timestamp-down)

On the beginning or enclosing bracket of a timestamp, change its type. Within a timestamp, change the item under point. Point can be on a year, month, day, hour or minute. When the timestamp contains a time range like ‘15:30-16:30’, modifying the first time also shifts the second, shifting the time block with constant length. To change the length, modify the second time.

When Org mode prompts for a date/time, it accepts any string containing some date and/or time information, and intelligently interprets the string, deriving defaults for unspecified information from the current date and time. You can also select a date in the pop-up calendar. See the manual for more information on how exactly the date/time prompt works.

8.3 Deadlines and Scheduling ¶

A timestamp may be preceded by special keywords to facilitate planning:

C-c C-d (org-deadline)

Insert ‘DEADLINE’ keyword along with a time stamp, in the line following the headline.

Meaning: the task—most likely a TODO item, though not necessarily—is supposed to be finished on that date.

On the deadline date, the task is listed in the agenda. In addition, the agenda for today carries a warning about the approaching or missed deadline, starting org-deadline-warning-days before the due date, and continuing until the entry is marked as done. An example:

*** TODO write article about the Earth for the Guide
    DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun>
    The editor in charge is [[bbdb:Ford Prefect]]

C-c C-s (org-schedule)

Insert ‘SCHEDULED’ keyword along with a stamp, in the line following the headline.

Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date⁷.

The headline is listed under the given date⁸. In addition, a reminder that the scheduled date has passed is present in the compilation for today, until the entry is marked as done, i.e., the task is automatically forwarded until completed.

*** TODO Call Trillian for a date on New Years Eve.
    SCHEDULED: <2004-12-25 Sat>

Some tasks need to be repeated again and again. Org mode helps to organize such tasks using a so-called repeater in a ‘DEADLINE’, ‘SCHEDULED’, or plain timestamps. In the following example:

** TODO Pay the rent
   DEADLINE: <2005-10-01 Sat +1m>

the ‘+1m’ is a repeater; the intended interpretation is that the task has a deadline on ‘<2005-10-01>’ and repeats itself every (one) month starting from that time.

8.4 Clocking Work Time ¶

Org mode allows you to clock the time you spend on specific tasks in a project.

C-c C-x C-i (org-clock-in)

Start the clock on the current item (clock-in). This inserts the ‘CLOCK’ keyword together with a timestamp. When called with a C-u prefix argument, select the task from a list of recently clocked tasks.

C-c C-x C-o (org-clock-out)

Stop the clock (clock-out). This inserts another timestamp at the same location where the clock was last started. It also directly computes the resulting time in inserts it after the time range as ‘=>HH:MM’.

C-c C-x C-e (org-clock-modify-effort-estimate)

Update the effort estimate for the current clock task.

C-c C-x C-q (org-clock-cancel)

Cancel the current clock. This is useful if a clock was started by mistake, or if you ended up working on something else.

C-c C-x C-j (org-clock-goto)

Jump to the headline of the currently clocked in task. With a C-u prefix argument, select the target task from a list of recently clocked tasks.

The l key may be used in the agenda (see The Weekly/Daily Agenda) to show which tasks have been worked on or closed during a day.

9.1 Capture ¶

Capture lets you quickly store notes with little interruption of your work flow. You can define templates for new entries and associate them with different targets for storing notes.

Setting up capture ¶

The following customization sets a default target⁹ file for notes.

(setq org-default-notes-file (concat org-directory "/notes.org"))

You may also define a global key for capturing new material (see Activation).

Using capture ¶

M-x org-capture (org-capture)

Start a capture process, placing you into a narrowed indirect buffer to edit.

C-c C-c (org-capture-finalize)

Once you have finished entering information into the capture buffer, C-c C-c returns you to the window configuration before the capture process, so that you can resume your work without further distraction.

C-c C-w (org-capture-refile)

Finalize the capture process by refiling the note to a different place (see Refile and Copy).

C-c C-k (org-capture-kill)

Abort the capture process and return to the previous state.

Capture templates ¶

You can use templates for different types of capture items, and for different target locations. Say you would like to use one template to create general TODO entries, and you want to put these entries under the heading ‘Tasks’ in your file ‘~/org/gtd.org’. Also, a date tree in the file ‘journal.org’ should capture journal entries. A possible configuration would look like:

(setq org-capture-templates
      '(("t" "Todo" entry (file+headline "~/org/gtd.org" "Tasks")
         "* TODO %?\n  %i\n  %a")
        ("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/org/journal.org")
         "* %?\nEntered on %U\n  %i\n  %a")))

If you then press t from the capture menu, Org will prepare the template for you like this:

* TODO
  [[file:LINK TO WHERE YOU INITIATED CAPTURE]]

During expansion of the template, special %-escapes¹⁰ allow dynamic insertion of content. Here is a small selection of the possibilities, consult the manual for more.

9.2 Refile and Copy ¶

When reviewing the captured data, you may want to refile or to copy some of the entries into a different list, for example into a project. Cutting, finding the right location, and then pasting the note is cumbersome. To simplify this process, you can use the following special command:

C-c C-w (org-agenda-refile)

Refile the entry or region at point. This command offers possible locations for refiling the entry and lets you select one with completion. The item (or all items in the region) is filed below the target heading as a subitem.

By default, all level 1 headlines in the current buffer are considered to be targets, but you can have more complex definitions across a number of files. See the variable org-refile-targets for details.

C-u C-c C-w (org-agenda-refile)

Use the refile interface to jump to a heading.

C-u C-u C-c C-w (org-refile-goto-last-stored)

Jump to the location where org-refile last moved a tree to.

C-c M-w (org-refile-copy)

Copying works like refiling, except that the original note is not deleted.

9.3 Archiving ¶

When a project represented by a (sub)tree is finished, you may want to move the tree out of the way and to stop it from contributing to the agenda. Archiving is important to keep your working files compact and global searches like the construction of agenda views fast.

The most common archiving action is to move a project tree to another file, the archive file.

C-c C-x C-a (org-archive-subtree-default)

Archive the current entry using the command specified in the variable org-archive-default-command.

C-c C-x C-s or short C-c $ (org-archive-subtree)

Archive the subtree starting at point position to the location given by org-archive-location.

The default archive location is a file in the same directory as the current file, with the name derived by appending ‘_archive’ to the current file name. You can also choose what heading to file archived items under, with the possibility to add them to a datetree in a file. For information and examples on how to specify the file and the heading, see the documentation string of the variable org-archive-location.

There is also an in-buffer option for setting this variable, for example:

#+ARCHIVE: %s_done::

10.1 Agenda Files ¶

The information to be shown is normally collected from all agenda files, the files listed in the variable org-agenda-files.

C-c [ (org-agenda-file-to-front)

Add current file to the list of agenda files. The file is added to the front of the list. If it was already in the list, it is moved to the front. With a prefix argument, file is added/moved to the end.

C-c ] (org-remove-file)

Remove current file from the list of agenda files.

C-'

C-, (org-cycle-agenda-files)

Cycle through agenda file list, visiting one file after the other.

10.2 The Agenda Dispatcher ¶

The views are created through a dispatcher, accessible with M-x org-agenda, or, better, bound to a global key (see Activation). It displays a menu from which an additional letter is required to execute a command. The dispatcher offers the following default commands:

a

Create the calendar-like agenda (see The Weekly/Daily Agenda).

t

T

Create a list of all TODO items (see The Global TODO List).

m

M

Create a list of headlines matching a given expression (see Matching Tags and Properties).

s ¶

Create a list of entries selected by a boolean expression of keywords and/or regular expressions that must or must not occur in the entry.

10.3 The Weekly/Daily Agenda ¶

The purpose of the weekly/daily agenda is to act like a page of a paper agenda, showing all the tasks for the current week or day.

M-x org-agenda a (org-agenda-list)

Compile an agenda for the current week from a list of Org files. The agenda shows the entries for each day.

Org mode understands the syntax of the diary and allows you to use diary expression entries directly in Org files:

* Holidays
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CATEGORY: Holiday
  :END:
%%(org-calendar-holiday)   ; special function for holiday names

* Birthdays
  :PROPERTIES:
  :CATEGORY: Ann
  :END:
%%(org-anniversary 1956  5 14) Arthur Dent is %d years old
%%(org-anniversary 1869 10  2) Mahatma Gandhi would be %d years old

Org can interact with Emacs appointments notification facility. To add the appointments of your agenda files, use the command org-agenda-to-appt.

10.4 The Global TODO List ¶

The global TODO list contains all unfinished TODO items formatted and collected into a single place. Remote editing of TODO items lets you can change the state of a TODO entry with a single key press. For commands available in the TODO list, see Commands in the Agenda Buffer.

M-x org-agenda t (org-todo-list)

Show the global TODO list. This collects the TODO items from all agenda files (see Agenda Views) into a single buffer.

M-x org-agenda T (org-todo-list)

Like the above, but allows selection of a specific TODO keyword.

10.5 Matching Tags and Properties ¶

If headlines in the agenda files are marked with tags (see Tags), or have properties (see Properties), you can select headlines based on this metadata and collect them into an agenda buffer. The match syntax described here also applies when creating sparse trees with C-c / m.

M-x org-agenda m (org-tags-view)

Produce a list of all headlines that match a given set of tags. The command prompts for a selection criterion, which is a boolean logic expression with tags, like ‘+work+urgent-withboss’ or ‘work|home’ (see Tags). If you often need a specific search, define a custom command for it (see The Agenda Dispatcher).

M-x org-agenda M (org-tags-view)

Like m, but only select headlines that are also TODO items.

A search string can use Boolean operators ‘&’ for AND and ‘|’ for OR. ‘&’ binds more strongly than ‘|’. Parentheses are currently not implemented. Each element in the search is either a tag, a regular expression matching tags, or an expression like ‘PROPERTY OPERATOR VALUE’ with a comparison operator, accessing a property value. Each element may be preceded by ‘-’ to select against it, and ‘+’ is syntactic sugar for positive selection. The AND operator ‘&’ is optional when ‘+’ or ‘-’ is present. Here are some examples, using only tags.

‘+work-boss’

Select headlines tagged ‘work’, but discard those also tagged ‘boss’.

‘work|laptop’

Selects lines tagged ‘work’ or ‘laptop’.

‘work|laptop+night’

Like before, but require the ‘laptop’ lines to be tagged also ‘night’.

You may also test for properties at the same time as matching tags, see the manual for more information.

10.6 Search View ¶

This agenda view is a general text search facility for Org mode entries. It is particularly useful to find notes.

M-x org-agenda s (org-search-view) ¶

This is a special search that lets you select entries by matching a substring or specific words using a boolean logic.

For example, the search string ‘computer equipment’ matches entries that contain ‘computer equipment’ as a substring.

Search view can also search for specific keywords in the entry, using Boolean logic. The search string ‘+computer +wifi -ethernet -{8\.11[bg]}’ matches note entries that contain the keywords ‘computer’ and ‘wifi’, but not the keyword ‘ethernet’, and which are also not matched by the regular expression ‘8\.11[bg]’, meaning to exclude both ‘8.11b’ and ‘8.11g’.

Note that in addition to the agenda files, this command also searches the files listed in org-agenda-text-search-extra-files.

10.7 Commands in the Agenda Buffer ¶

Entries in the agenda buffer are linked back to the Org file or diary file where they originate. You are not allowed to edit the agenda buffer itself, but commands are provided to show and jump to the original entry location, and to edit the Org files “remotely” from the agenda buffer. This is just a selection of the many commands, explore the agenda menu and the manual for a complete list.

Motion ¶

n (org-agenda-next-line)

Next line (same as DOWN and C-n).

p (org-agenda-previous-line)

Previous line (same as UP and C-p).

View/Go to Org file ¶

SPC (org-agenda-show-and-scroll-up)

Display the original location of the item in another window. With a prefix argument, make sure that drawers stay folded.

TAB (org-agenda-goto)

Go to the original location of the item in another window.

RET (org-agenda-switch-to)

Go to the original location of the item and delete other windows.

Change display ¶

o (delete-other-windows)

Delete other windows.

v d or short d (org-agenda-day-view)

Switch to day view.

v w or short w (org-agenda-week-view)

Switch to week view.

f (org-agenda-later)

Go forward in time to display the span following the current one. For example, if the display covers a week, switch to the following week.

b (org-agenda-earlier)

Go backward in time to display earlier dates.

. (org-agenda-goto-today)

Go to today.

j (org-agenda-goto-date)

Prompt for a date and go there.

v l or v L or short l (org-agenda-log-mode)

Toggle Logbook mode. In Logbook mode, entries that were marked as done while logging was on (see the variable org-log-done) are shown in the agenda, as are entries that have been clocked on that day. When called with a C-u prefix argument, show all possible logbook entries, including state changes.

r

g (org-agenda-redo)

Recreate the agenda buffer, for example to reflect the changes after modification of the timestamps of items.

s (org-save-all-org-buffers) ¶

Save all Org buffers in the current Emacs session, and also the locations of IDs.

Remote editing ¶

0--9

Digit argument.

t (org-agenda-todo)

Change the TODO state of the item, both in the agenda and in the original Org file.

C-k (org-agenda-kill)

Delete the current agenda item along with the entire subtree belonging to it in the original Org file.

C-c C-w (org-agenda-refile)

Refile the entry at point.

a (org-agenda-archive-default-with-confirmation)

Archive the subtree corresponding to the entry at point using the default archiving command set in org-archive-default-command.

$ (org-agenda-archive)

Archive the subtree corresponding to the current headline.

C-c C-s (org-agenda-schedule)

Schedule this item. With a prefix argument, remove the scheduling timestamp

C-c C-d (org-agenda-deadline)

Set a deadline for this item. With a prefix argument, remove the deadline.

S-RIGHT (org-agenda-do-date-later)

Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day into the future.

S-LEFT (org-agenda-do-date-earlier)

Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day into the past.

I (org-agenda-clock-in)

Start the clock on the current item.

O (org-agenda-clock-out)

Stop the previously started clock.

X (org-agenda-clock-cancel)

Cancel the currently running clock.

J (org-agenda-clock-goto)

Jump to the running clock in another window.

Quit and exit ¶

q (org-agenda-quit)

Quit agenda, remove the agenda buffer.

x (org-agenda-exit)

Exit agenda, remove the agenda buffer and all buffers loaded by Emacs for the compilation of the agenda.

10.8 Custom Agenda Views ¶

The first application of custom searches is the definition of keyboard shortcuts for frequently used searches, either creating an agenda buffer, or a sparse tree (the latter covering of course only the current buffer).

Custom commands are configured in the variable org-agenda-custom-commands. You can customize this variable, for example by pressing C from the agenda dispatcher (see The Agenda Dispatcher). You can also directly set it with Emacs Lisp in the Emacs init file. The following example contains all valid agenda views:

(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(("w" todo "WAITING")
        ("u" tags "+boss-urgent")
        ("v" tags-todo "+boss-urgent")))

The initial string in each entry defines the keys you have to press after the dispatcher command in order to access the command. Usually this is just a single character. The second parameter is the search type, followed by the string or regular expression to be used for the matching. The example above will therefore define:

w

as a global search for TODO entries with ‘WAITING’ as the TODO keyword.

u

as a global tags search for headlines tagged ‘boss’ but not ‘urgent’.

v

The same search, but limiting it to headlines that are also TODO items.

11.1 Paragraphs ¶

Paragraphs are separated by at least one empty line. If you need to enforce a line break within a paragraph, use ‘\\’ at the end of a line.

To preserve the line breaks, indentation and blank lines in a region, but otherwise use normal formatting, you can use this construct, which can also be used to format poetry.

#+BEGIN_VERSE
 Great clouds overhead
 Tiny black birds rise and fall
 Snow covers Emacs

    ---AlexSchroeder
#+END_VERSE

When quoting a passage from another document, it is customary to format this as a paragraph that is indented on both the left and the right margin. You can include quotations in Org documents like this:

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

If you would like to center some text, do it like this:

#+BEGIN_CENTER
Everything should be made as simple as possible, \\
but not any simpler
#+END_CENTER

11.2 Emphasis and Monospace ¶

You can make words ‘*bold*’, ‘/italic/’, ‘_underlined_’, ‘=verbatim=’ and ‘~code~’, and, if you must, ‘+strike-through+’. Text in the code and verbatim string is not processed for Org specific syntax; it is exported verbatim.

11.3 Embedded LaTeX ¶

For scientific notes which need to be able to contain mathematical symbols and the occasional formula, Org mode supports embedding LaTeX code into its files. You can directly use TeX-like syntax for special symbols, enter formulas and entire LaTeX environments.

The radius of the sun is R_sun = 6.96 x 10^8 m.  On the other hand,
the radius of Alpha Centauri is R_{Alpha Centauri} = 1.28 x R_{sun}.

\begin{equation}                        % arbitrary environments,
x=\sqrt{b}                              % even tables, figures
\end{equation}                          % etc

If $a^2=b$ and \( b=2 \), then the solution must be
either $$ a=+\sqrt{2} $$ or \[ a=-\sqrt{2} \].

11.4 Literal examples ¶

You can include literal examples that should not be subjected to markup. Such examples are typeset in monospace, so this is well suited for source code and similar examples.

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
  Some example from a text file.
#+END_EXAMPLE

For simplicity when using small examples, you can also start the example lines with a colon followed by a space. There may also be additional whitespace before the colon:

Here is an example
   : Some example from a text file.

If the example is source code from a programming language, or any other text that can be marked up by Font Lock in Emacs, you can ask for the example to look like the fontified Emacs buffer.

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

To edit the example in a special buffer supporting this language, use C-c ' to both enter and leave the editing buffer.

11.5 Images ¶

An image is a link to an image file that does not have a description part, for example

./img/cat.jpg

If you wish to define a caption for the image and maybe a label for internal cross references (see Hyperlinks), make sure that the link is on a line by itself and precede it with ‘CAPTION’ and ‘NAME’ keywords as follows:

#+CAPTION: This is the caption for the next figure link (or table)
#+NAME:   fig:SED-HR4049
[[./img/a.jpg]]

11.6 Creating Footnotes ¶

A footnote is defined in a paragraph that is started by a footnote marker in square brackets in column 0, no indentation allowed. The footnote reference is simply the marker in square brackets, inside text. For example:

The Org website[fn:1] now looks a lot better than it used to.
...
[fn:1] The link is: https://orgmode.org

The following commands handle footnotes:

C-c C-x f (org-footnote-action)

The footnote action command. When point is on a footnote reference, jump to the definition. When it is at a definition, jump to the (first) reference. Otherwise, create a new footnote. When this command is called with a prefix argument, a menu of additional options including renumbering is offered.

C-c C-c (org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c)

Jump between definition and reference.

12.1 The Export Dispatcher ¶

The export dispatcher is the main interface for Org’s exports. A hierarchical menu presents the currently configured export formats. Options are shown as easy toggle switches on the same screen.

C-c C-e (org-export-dispatch)

Invokes the export dispatcher interface.

Org exports the entire buffer by default. If the Org buffer has an active region, then Org exports just that region.

12.2 Export Settings ¶

The exporter recognizes special lines in the buffer which provide additional information. These lines may be put anywhere in the file:

#+TITLE: I'm in the Mood for Org

Most proeminent export options include:

Option keyword sets can be inserted from the export dispatcher (see The Export Dispatcher) using the ‘Insert template’ command by pressing #.

12.3 Table of Contents ¶

The table of contents includes all headlines in the document. Its depth is therefore the same as the headline levels in the file. If you need to use a different depth, or turn it off entirely, set the org-export-with-toc variable accordingly. You can achieve the same on a per file basis, using the following ‘toc’ item in ‘OPTIONS’ keyword:

#+OPTIONS: toc:2          (only include two levels in TOC)
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil        (no default TOC at all)

Org normally inserts the table of contents directly before the first headline of the file.

12.4 Include Files ¶

During export, you can include the content of another file. For example, to include your ‘.emacs’ file, you could use:

#+INCLUDE: "~/.emacs" src emacs-lisp

The first parameter is the file name to include. The optional second parameter specifies the block type: ‘example’, ‘export’ or ‘src’. The optional third parameter specifies the source code language to use for formatting the contents. This is relevant to both ‘export’ and ‘src’ block types.

You can visit the included file with C-c '.

12.5 Comment Lines ¶

Lines starting with zero or more whitespace characters followed by one ‘#’ and a whitespace are treated as comments and, as such, are not exported.

Likewise, regions surrounded by ‘#+BEGIN_COMMENT’ … ‘#+END_COMMENT’ are not exported.

Finally, a ‘COMMENT’ keyword at the beginning of an entry, but after any other keyword or priority cookie, comments out the entire subtree. The command below helps changing the comment status of a headline.

C-c ; (org-toggle-comment)

Toggle the ‘COMMENT’ keyword at the beginning of an entry.

12.6 ASCII/UTF-8 Export ¶

ASCII export produces an output file containing only plain ASCII characters. This is the simplest and most direct text output. It does not contain any Org markup. UTF-8 export uses additional characters and symbols available in this encoding standards.

C-c C-e t a

C-c C-e t u (org-ascii-export-to-ascii)

Export as an ASCII file with a ‘.txt’ extension. For ‘myfile.org’, Org exports to ‘myfile.txt’, overwriting without warning. For ‘myfile.txt’, Org exports to ‘myfile.txt.txt’ in order to prevent data loss.

12.7 HTML Export ¶

Org mode contains an HTML exporter with extensive HTML formatting compatible with XHTML 1.0 strict standard.

C-c C-e h h (org-html-export-to-html)

Export as HTML file with a ‘.html’ extension. For ‘myfile.org’, Org exports to ‘myfile.html’, overwriting without warning. C-c C-e h o exports to HTML and opens it in a web browser.

The HTML export backend transforms ‘<’ and ‘>’ to ‘&lt;’ and ‘&gt;’. To include raw HTML code in the Org file so the HTML export backend can insert that HTML code in the output, use this inline syntax: ‘@@html:...@@’. For example:

@@html:<b>@@bold text@@html:</b>@@

For larger raw HTML code blocks, use these HTML export code blocks:

#+HTML: Literal HTML code for export

#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
  All lines between these markers are exported literally
#+END_EXPORT

12.8 LaTeX Export ¶

The LaTeX export backend can handle complex documents, incorporate standard or custom LaTeX document classes, generate documents using alternate LaTeX engines, and produce fully linked PDF files with indexes, bibliographies, and tables of contents, destined for interactive online viewing or high-quality print publication.

By default, the LaTeX output uses the article class. You can change this by adding an option like ‘#+LATEX_CLASS: myclass’ in your file. The class must be listed in org-latex-classes.

C-c C-e l l (org-latex-export-to-latex)

Export to a LaTeX file with a ‘.tex’ extension. For ‘myfile.org’, Org exports to ‘myfile.tex’, overwriting without warning.

C-c C-e l p (org-latex-export-to-pdf)

Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF file.

C-c C-e l o (<no corresponding named command>)

Export as LaTeX file and convert it to PDF, then open the PDF using the default viewer.

The LaTeX export backend can insert any arbitrary LaTeX code, see Embedded LaTeX. There are three ways to embed such code in the Org file and they all use different quoting syntax.

Inserting in-line quoted with @ symbols:

Code embedded in-line @@latex:any arbitrary LaTeX code@@ in a paragraph.

Inserting as one or more keyword lines in the Org file:

#+LATEX: any arbitrary LaTeX code

Inserting as an export block in the Org file, where the backend exports any code between begin and end markers:

#+BEGIN_EXPORT latex
  any arbitrary LaTeX code
#+END_EXPORT

12.9 iCalendar Export ¶

A large part of Org mode’s interoperability success is its ability to easily export to or import from external applications. The iCalendar export backend takes calendar data from Org files and exports to the standard iCalendar format.

C-c C-e c f (org-icalendar-export-to-ics)

Create iCalendar entries from the current Org buffer and store them in the same directory, using a file extension ‘.ics’.

C-c C-e c c (org-icalendar-combine-agenda-files)

Create a combined iCalendar file from Org files in org-agenda-files and write it to org-icalendar-combined-agenda-file file name.