9 ms·

Let's Get Going with Org-Mode

293 points by luu 8y ago

davidhunter 8y ago
"utility room" - hello from a fellow Brit :)
- midgetjones 8y ago
  Or the "futility room", as my Dad would call it.
  - appsonthemove 8y ago
    Ha! That is a very apt description. My wife feels quite overwhelmed by ours at the moment. We can just about squeeze in to get to the piles of Play-Doh and the washing machine. I never stopped to think that a utility room was a British thing :)
Lewton 8y ago
I use beorg I like beorg But I’m beginning to think the correct solution for emacs org mode on iOS is something where I have a server running emacs with all my configurations and customizations, while the app is just a dumb ui that sends the commands to the server for processing. Beorg, or any app that isn’t a full blown emacs implementation (which will never be allowed in the Apple app Store) will never be able to fit my customized workflow fully Edit: just noticed there’s no mention of beorg in the article so my comment might seem a little schizophrenic :-p
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  > Edit: just noticed there’s no mention of beorg in the article so my comment might seem a little schizophrenic :-p It's there in the URL, and in the top left corner of the site :).
- appsonthemove 8y ago
  I'm not so sure that Apple wouldn't allow Emacs on the App Store - they are a lot more pragmatic than they used to be. There is a project called iSH which is currently on TestFlight - it gives you Linux via a usermode x86 emulator. It would be strange for Apple to approve for TestFlight if there was no chance of it ever being approved for the App Store.
  - ashton314 8y ago
    Beorg is halfway there with a sweet little Scheme REPL that you can use to customize the app and write scripts. If anyone makes a full-blown emacs for iOS that works well, I will buy it.
midgetjones 8y ago
This looks really good! I used to use org mode as part of my daily workflow, but now that I don't have to submit timesheets I've got out of the habit. At the time, though, it was wonderful. Once I'd spent some time getting used to org-clock, it becamse a much less intrusive workflow than switching apps to log time. Plus, you get beautiful tables at the end of it detailing your day, and all your notes for each item if you need them. I even wrote some (probably terrible) elisp to collect my day's time data and post the items to our timesheet API. Mainly so I could show off to my colleagues, but also something I would never even attempt in Vim. Edit: found it! https://pastebin.com/6EksUxAh https://pastebin.com/6EksUxAh
- decasteve 8y ago
  Any deficiency in the elisp is made up for by this: (insert ":(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)") Well done!
- aasasd 8y ago
  Hmmm. Personally I'm currently using Toggl: even though the backend is proprietary, the Mac tool is lightweight, well designed and, curiously, open source. However, I could use some divorce from proprietary services sucking up my detailed time records. Could anyone please comment as to how Org-clock's recording interface compares to Toggl? Especially, can it respect me going afk and count it as a break after five minutes? Toggl has a great dialog for this, amounting to ‘stop or continue.’ As for the reporting side, I mostly need just a summary of my time-wasting achievements over a week. I suppose that Org-clock doesn't leave the confines of Emacs itself? Which must limit its abilities in measuring the activity.
  - username223 8y ago
    See the variable "org-clock-idle-time". This is Emacs, so of course there is an option. I'm not sure if I would use org-clock unless I were already programming in Emacs, but since that's mostly what I'm doing, it works great to keep track of contracting time.
    - 8y ago
LandR 8y ago
I love emacs on linux but it always seems so slow for me on Windows and the scrolling feels janky.
- teddyh 8y ago
  To fix scrolling: M-x customize-variable mouse-wheel-progressive-speed Toggle it off, then click on State/Save for Future Sessions.
  - teddyh 8y ago
    For reference, it is possible to do the same thing completely from the top level menu option “Options”/“Customize Emacs”/“Top-level Customization Group”: From there, click “Editing”, then “Mouse”, then scroll down to “Mouse Wheel Progressive Speed” and click the arrow at the start of the line to fold out that option. Then do as described above; i.e. toggle the option off and click the “State” button menu and choose “Save for Future Sessions”.
rntksi 8y ago
I love articles that explain by providing examples with how to click via a menu. I use the keyboard extensively, but learn via menu items, mouse clicks, ... first, only then will I find shortcuts to do things I want to do.
- all2 8y ago
  This is like learning music on the piano; one handed and slow. Perfect each band's performance, then put them together.
riazrizvi 8y ago
I find emacs too slow on Mac, so I use vim (actually nvim) with jceb’s vim-orgmode. Good enough emulation for me.
- snicker7 8y ago
  If startup time is the issue, you can use emacsclient for near instant starts.
- ubermonkey 8y ago
  This is solvable. Which build are you using?
Quequau 8y ago
I've been using Org Mode ever since I saw that Literate DevOps presentation... and I'm not even in DevOps at all. It's just that using emacs and Org Mode creates the most usable documentation for recording what I've figured out and done that I've ever seen. I'm sort of surprised it's not more popular because the productivity gains are pretty damn amazing.
- krychu 8y ago
  Could you share how you use it exactly?
  - Quequau 8y ago
    I use it more or less exactly how it was described here: http://howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html http://howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html The only real additions relate to internal tools which we developed for our work (I do sensor development and integration).
    - cheez 8y ago
      I've been using org-mode for years, including w/ Babel and this guy blew me out of the water. Amazing.
    - bloopernova 8y ago
      That is really, really nice. Thank you for sharing that link.
  - philsnow 8y ago
    I recently experimented with using org-babel blocks with AWS Athena queries in them (and evaluating them into :result blocks with C-c C-c) instead of putting the queries into my shell history. The nice thing about this setup is I can keep notes really easily alongside the queries, and the output is right there in the :results blocks. It's kind of like a jupyter / ipython notebook, but for _any command_.
tangue 8y ago
I was a bit shocked to see the author using the gui :) If you're already into Emacs the David O'Toole is better imho https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/orgtutorial_dto.html https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/orgtutorial_dto.html
- appsonthemove 8y ago
  There are so many fantastic Org mode tutorials for users already familiar with Emacs. My goal here was to show users who've never touched Emacs before - and might be a little scared of it! - that it isn't really that hard. Most tutorials I've seen jump straight into configuring the agenda keyboard shortcut in a users Emacs configuration file. This would put the uses I'm trying to reach off straight away. I intend a follow up article where keyboard shortcuts are used - and enforce they are a big part of the reason that Org mode can be so much more efficient than other task management solutions.
  - gnufied 8y ago
    Of all the org mode apps, I like UI and ux of beorg most. But since I have android as my main device, 8 can't use it. Any plans for android port?
    - appsonthemove 8y ago
      It's unlikely I will do an Android port any time soon - the likelihood is that beorg will stay iOS only. Orgzly is a great app for Android.
    - bloopernova 8y ago
      Seconding Orgzly for Android, I use it every day and it's very reliable and straightforward to use.
    - zenlot 8y ago
      Or you can use: Termux and Emacs in Android
  - georgebcrawford 8y ago
euroclydon 8y ago
org mode is a nice place to write a resume or quick white paper. It’s easy to embed sequence diagrams with plant uml. Then send it to html or pdf, but I’d like to have an export to ms word or google docs for sharing. I know you can copy and paste the html output, but the styling comes out wrong in word. I want the word default Title 1,2,3 styling.
- mruts 8y ago
  Pandoc supports conversion from org to ms word.
  - globuous 8y ago
    And org exporter to odf which i assume gdpcs and word read by now !
  - bachmeier 8y ago
    Just to expand on this, as a direct org -> docx conversion might not deliver what is desired, it's easy to create your own docx template for Pandoc. You can add a keyboard shortcut to call Pandoc using that template with the current file.
- nnq 8y ago
  > diagrams with plant uml ...any tip on getting that working faster? (it takes seconds!!!) I generally prefer to edit the plantuml markup and see the diagram update instantly (like ~<200ms) on the other half split. This is the workflow I have with VSCode + Markdown Preview Enhanced. I prefer org mode deeper structure instead of markdown, but this kinds of usability stuff (there's also horrible latex formulas rendering, a thousand small papercuts that are fixable but nobody has time for that). From a practical perspective nothing just works out-of-the box the way I want on Emacs, and I'm just to lazy to properly customize everything...
  - cheez 8y ago
    Did you try disabling the splash screen?
RMPR 8y ago
Despite being shocked (maybe it's not the right word) by the keyboardless use, I just want to add that for mobile users there is orgzly which allows you to access your org files.
- RMPR 8y ago
  access your org files.= use org mode on mobile
  - aasasd 8y ago
    Still one of just a few good outliners on Android. Weird that the field is so sparsely occupied: good fast outliners were in use on Windows in early 2000s, but it took until Workflowy for more people to get interested.
- Infernal 8y ago
  Maybe you didn't notice, but the domain this tutorial is hosted on is for the iOS app "beorg", which allows you to access and edit .org files via iCloud/Dropbox/WebDAV/Box (though Box requires an in-app purchase).
- legooolas 8y ago
  On Android recently I've been more tempted to just use "termux" and to run emacs and org-mode locally, using git to sync files back-and-forth. The main pain there is going to be the key combos required, which aren't exactly mobile-friendly, but they can be reconfigured...
  - aasasd 8y ago
    If you're gonna be so masochistic, could at least slap Evil-mode on it.
neilv 8y ago
If someone isn't quite ready for org-mode, but wants to try a lightweight todo list (and more) with some powerful features, there's the todo.txt format, which works with a variety of tools. (Or you might use org-mode for work projects, but todo.txt for personal.) http://todotxt.org/ http://todotxt.org/ There are many programs that support todo.txt, including multiple Emacs modes. For one of the Emacs modes, I have a few tweaks to the format and Emacs that let me use it as a lightweight todo list, calendar, and day planner. https://github.com/avillafiorita/todotxt-mode https://github.com/avillafiorita/todotxt-mode https://www.neilvandyke.org/todotxt/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/todotxt/
- criddell 8y ago
  Taskpaper is another text based task management system that works just about anywhere.
- appsonthemove 8y ago
  I wrote a (mostly unbiased) article comparing todo.txt and Org mode a while ago. https://medium.com/@mgkennard/a-comparison-of-two-plain-text-task-managers-a5c2ab31af16 https://medium.com/@mgkennard/a-comparison-of-two-plain-text...
- v_lisivka 8y ago
  I use just plain text file opened in plain text editor with following conventions: # Topic [ ] A task. @tag #ticket [ ] A subtask. [ ] A sub-sub-task. [+] Completed task. [-] Failed task. [.] Partially completed task. WIP. [!] Urgent task. [^] High priority task. Easy to store. Easy to share. Easy to edit at any device with plain text editor. The only feature I miss is grouping of sub-tasks. For example, I may want to group all subtasks from all projects(topics), which I need to do at place X (e.g. at parents home), so I will prepare for them. I cannot select them all without using of SQL engine or grep like tool. If editor can highlight a search term, it helps, but for long lists it easy to miss.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
rthomas6 8y ago
How does org-mode compare to Todoist + gcal? Does it solve a different problem?
- bachmeier 8y ago
  I used to use org-mode as a task manager/calendar. As you can see from the manual[1], it has features that overlap with Evernote more than Todoist. Todoist works well as a way to capture things that need future processing during the busy times of your day, and for getting notifications, but it is limited beyond that. {Disclosure: I'm a current Todoist Premium user and use it heavily.} [1] https://orgmode.org/manual/ https://orgmode.org/manual/
- appsonthemove 8y ago
  Depending on your point of view, Org mode has the advantage of being plain text and free software. It is a system you could still be using in 10-15 years time. Todoist might be have bought by Microsoft (or similar) by then and discontinued. This is probably a good reason why Org mode is appealing to academics who may be on a research project for many years - you need to be using something that is going to stay the course. Org mode does a lot more than Todoist (literate programming, spreadsheet features which I personally use in project proposals for calculating costings, exporting complex documents, logging time, ...) However all that power might be a distraction depending on what you need the tool for :)
istjohn 8y ago
Slightly off topic, but I love the Org-mode feature of [[A link description][file:~/my-file::a line in the file]] style links. Is there an easy way to get just that feature in all my files? I'd love to be able to have Org links in code comments, for example, but I don't want to use Org code blocks.
- ashton314 8y ago
  Yes! You just have to bind the function `org-open-at-point-global` to a keystroke. This is what I have in my .emacs file: (global-set-key (kbd "C-c L") 'org-insert-link-global) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c O") 'org-open-at-point-global)
  - istjohn 8y ago
    Awesome! Thank you! I'm new to Emacs, and the transition has been a bear, but things like this are well-worth the price of admission.
- aasasd 8y ago
  The rumor is, there's an ‘org-protocol’ feature that allows any program on the system call actions of Org-mode. Presumably that either includes opening files, or would include if someone added such an action.
yigitdemirag 8y ago
I am surprised that nobody mentioned spacemacs[1] and its org-mode support. If you are used to vim shortcuts but want to give a chance to fully-supported org-mode, you should definitely try spacemacs. Still, I don't think I am ever going to use spacemacs to write code, but for note-taking(with inline LaTeX preview)/todo/calendar, I am 100% happy with it. [1] http://spacemacs.org/ http://spacemacs.org/
- mpwoz 8y ago
  +1 to this, coming from vim I found spacemacs' defaults pretty painless. I only use it for org-mode right now, still do most of my heavy editing in other tools but it's already been extremely useful for note-taking and todo tracking. I can also recommend pandoc[1], I've used it to convert some org-mode documents into various wiki/markdown formats for presenting to others. [1] https://pandoc.org https://pandoc.org
- pimeys 8y ago
  Or if you find spacemacs to be too heavy and confusing, doom emacs is a good alternative with its beautiful Makefile system. https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs
- asciimov 8y ago
  I want to like spacemacs, I really do, but using spacemacs is like having a bipolar cat. One moment it is nice and warm and cuddly, the next moment it's randomly knifing you and trying to assert dominance by missing the box.
  - iLemming 8y ago
    Spacemacs doesn't magically liberate you from having to learn Emacs - it simply makes certain things more obvious, but also it obscures some other things. Be patient with it and you'll be rewarded. Whenever something breaks on my config due to an upstream change (a package gets updated with a breaking change) it usually takes me less than 2 minutes to triage that and find a workaround. It doesn't happen very often and I update packages multiple times a week.
purplezooey 8y ago
He must be English because he uses the word 'rubbish'.

293 points by luu 8y ago

davidhunter 8y ago

"utility room" - hello from a fellow Brit :)

midgetjones 8y ago
Or the "futility room", as my Dad would call it.
- appsonthemove 8y ago
  Ha! That is a very apt description. My wife feels quite overwhelmed by ours at the moment. We can just about squeeze in to get to the piles of Play-Doh and the washing machine. I never stopped to think that a utility room was a British thing :)

Lewton 8y ago

I use beorg I like beorg But I’m beginning to think the correct solution for emacs org mode on iOS is something where I have a server running emacs with all my configurations and customizations, while the app is just a dumb ui that sends the commands to the server for processing. Beorg, or any app that isn’t a full blown emacs implementation (which will never be allowed in the Apple app Store) will never be able to fit my customized workflow fully Edit: just noticed there’s no mention of beorg in the article so my comment might seem a little schizophrenic :-p

TeMPOraL 8y ago
> Edit: just noticed there’s no mention of beorg in the article so my comment might seem a little schizophrenic :-p It's there in the URL, and in the top left corner of the site :).
appsonthemove 8y ago
I'm not so sure that Apple wouldn't allow Emacs on the App Store - they are a lot more pragmatic than they used to be. There is a project called iSH which is currently on TestFlight - it gives you Linux via a usermode x86 emulator. It would be strange for Apple to approve for TestFlight if there was no chance of it ever being approved for the App Store.
- ashton314 8y ago
  Beorg is halfway there with a sweet little Scheme REPL that you can use to customize the app and write scripts. If anyone makes a full-blown emacs for iOS that works well, I will buy it.

midgetjones 8y ago

This looks really good! I used to use org mode as part of my daily workflow, but now that I don't have to submit timesheets I've got out of the habit. At the time, though, it was wonderful. Once I'd spent some time getting used to org-clock, it becamse a much less intrusive workflow than switching apps to log time. Plus, you get beautiful tables at the end of it detailing your day, and all your notes for each item if you need them. I even wrote some (probably terrible) elisp to collect my day's time data and post the items to our timesheet API. Mainly so I could show off to my colleagues, but also something I would never even attempt in Vim. Edit: found it! https://pastebin.com/6EksUxAh https://pastebin.com/6EksUxAh

decasteve 8y ago
Any deficiency in the elisp is made up for by this: (insert ":(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)") Well done!
aasasd 8y ago
Hmmm. Personally I'm currently using Toggl: even though the backend is proprietary, the Mac tool is lightweight, well designed and, curiously, open source. However, I could use some divorce from proprietary services sucking up my detailed time records. Could anyone please comment as to how Org-clock's recording interface compares to Toggl? Especially, can it respect me going afk and count it as a break after five minutes? Toggl has a great dialog for this, amounting to ‘stop or continue.’ As for the reporting side, I mostly need just a summary of my time-wasting achievements over a week. I suppose that Org-clock doesn't leave the confines of Emacs itself? Which must limit its abilities in measuring the activity.
- username223 8y ago
  See the variable "org-clock-idle-time". This is Emacs, so of course there is an option. I'm not sure if I would use org-clock unless I were already programming in Emacs, but since that's mostly what I'm doing, it works great to keep track of contracting time.
  - 8y ago

LandR 8y ago

I love emacs on linux but it always seems so slow for me on Windows and the scrolling feels janky.

teddyh 8y ago
To fix scrolling: M-x customize-variable mouse-wheel-progressive-speed Toggle it off, then click on State/Save for Future Sessions.
- teddyh 8y ago
  For reference, it is possible to do the same thing completely from the top level menu option “Options”/“Customize Emacs”/“Top-level Customization Group”: From there, click “Editing”, then “Mouse”, then scroll down to “Mouse Wheel Progressive Speed” and click the arrow at the start of the line to fold out that option. Then do as described above; i.e. toggle the option off and click the “State” button menu and choose “Save for Future Sessions”.

rntksi 8y ago

I love articles that explain by providing examples with how to click via a menu. I use the keyboard extensively, but learn via menu items, mouse clicks, ... first, only then will I find shortcuts to do things I want to do.

all2 8y ago
This is like learning music on the piano; one handed and slow. Perfect each band's performance, then put them together.

riazrizvi 8y ago

I find emacs too slow on Mac, so I use vim (actually nvim) with jceb’s vim-orgmode. Good enough emulation for me.

snicker7 8y ago
If startup time is the issue, you can use emacsclient for near instant starts.
ubermonkey 8y ago
This is solvable. Which build are you using?

Quequau 8y ago

I've been using Org Mode ever since I saw that Literate DevOps presentation... and I'm not even in DevOps at all. It's just that using emacs and Org Mode creates the most usable documentation for recording what I've figured out and done that I've ever seen. I'm sort of surprised it's not more popular because the productivity gains are pretty damn amazing.

krychu 8y ago
Could you share how you use it exactly?
- Quequau 8y ago
  I use it more or less exactly how it was described here: http://howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html http://howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html The only real additions relate to internal tools which we developed for our work (I do sensor development and integration).
  - cheez 8y ago
    I've been using org-mode for years, including w/ Babel and this guy blew me out of the water. Amazing.
  - bloopernova 8y ago
    That is really, really nice. Thank you for sharing that link.
- philsnow 8y ago
  I recently experimented with using org-babel blocks with AWS Athena queries in them (and evaluating them into :result blocks with C-c C-c) instead of putting the queries into my shell history. The nice thing about this setup is I can keep notes really easily alongside the queries, and the output is right there in the :results blocks. It's kind of like a jupyter / ipython notebook, but for _any command_.

tangue 8y ago

I was a bit shocked to see the author using the gui :) If you're already into Emacs the David O'Toole is better imho https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/orgtutorial_dto.html https://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/orgtutorial_dto.html

appsonthemove 8y ago
There are so many fantastic Org mode tutorials for users already familiar with Emacs. My goal here was to show users who've never touched Emacs before - and might be a little scared of it! - that it isn't really that hard. Most tutorials I've seen jump straight into configuring the agenda keyboard shortcut in a users Emacs configuration file. This would put the uses I'm trying to reach off straight away. I intend a follow up article where keyboard shortcuts are used - and enforce they are a big part of the reason that Org mode can be so much more efficient than other task management solutions.
- gnufied 8y ago
  Of all the org mode apps, I like UI and ux of beorg most. But since I have android as my main device, 8 can't use it. Any plans for android port?
  - appsonthemove 8y ago
    It's unlikely I will do an Android port any time soon - the likelihood is that beorg will stay iOS only. Orgzly is a great app for Android.
  - bloopernova 8y ago
    Seconding Orgzly for Android, I use it every day and it's very reliable and straightforward to use.
  - zenlot 8y ago
    Or you can use: Termux and Emacs in Android
- georgebcrawford 8y ago

euroclydon 8y ago

org mode is a nice place to write a resume or quick white paper. It’s easy to embed sequence diagrams with plant uml. Then send it to html or pdf, but I’d like to have an export to ms word or google docs for sharing. I know you can copy and paste the html output, but the styling comes out wrong in word. I want the word default Title 1,2,3 styling.

mruts 8y ago
Pandoc supports conversion from org to ms word.
- globuous 8y ago
  And org exporter to odf which i assume gdpcs and word read by now !
- bachmeier 8y ago
  Just to expand on this, as a direct org -> docx conversion might not deliver what is desired, it's easy to create your own docx template for Pandoc. You can add a keyboard shortcut to call Pandoc using that template with the current file.
nnq 8y ago
> diagrams with plant uml ...any tip on getting that working faster? (it takes seconds!!!) I generally prefer to edit the plantuml markup and see the diagram update instantly (like ~<200ms) on the other half split. This is the workflow I have with VSCode + Markdown Preview Enhanced. I prefer org mode deeper structure instead of markdown, but this kinds of usability stuff (there's also horrible latex formulas rendering, a thousand small papercuts that are fixable but nobody has time for that). From a practical perspective nothing just works out-of-the box the way I want on Emacs, and I'm just to lazy to properly customize everything...
- cheez 8y ago
  Did you try disabling the splash screen?

RMPR 8y ago

Despite being shocked (maybe it's not the right word) by the keyboardless use, I just want to add that for mobile users there is orgzly which allows you to access your org files.

RMPR 8y ago
access your org files.= use org mode on mobile
- aasasd 8y ago
  Still one of just a few good outliners on Android. Weird that the field is so sparsely occupied: good fast outliners were in use on Windows in early 2000s, but it took until Workflowy for more people to get interested.
Infernal 8y ago
Maybe you didn't notice, but the domain this tutorial is hosted on is for the iOS app "beorg", which allows you to access and edit .org files via iCloud/Dropbox/WebDAV/Box (though Box requires an in-app purchase).
legooolas 8y ago
On Android recently I've been more tempted to just use "termux" and to run emacs and org-mode locally, using git to sync files back-and-forth. The main pain there is going to be the key combos required, which aren't exactly mobile-friendly, but they can be reconfigured...
- aasasd 8y ago
  If you're gonna be so masochistic, could at least slap Evil-mode on it.

neilv 8y ago

If someone isn't quite ready for org-mode, but wants to try a lightweight todo list (and more) with some powerful features, there's the todo.txt format, which works with a variety of tools. (Or you might use org-mode for work projects, but todo.txt for personal.) http://todotxt.org/ http://todotxt.org/ There are many programs that support todo.txt, including multiple Emacs modes. For one of the Emacs modes, I have a few tweaks to the format and Emacs that let me use it as a lightweight todo list, calendar, and day planner. https://github.com/avillafiorita/todotxt-mode https://github.com/avillafiorita/todotxt-mode https://www.neilvandyke.org/todotxt/ https://www.neilvandyke.org/todotxt/

criddell 8y ago
Taskpaper is another text based task management system that works just about anywhere.
appsonthemove 8y ago
I wrote a (mostly unbiased) article comparing todo.txt and Org mode a while ago. https://medium.com/@mgkennard/a-comparison-of-two-plain-text-task-managers-a5c2ab31af16 https://medium.com/@mgkennard/a-comparison-of-two-plain-text...
v_lisivka 8y ago
I use just plain text file opened in plain text editor with following conventions: # Topic [ ] A task. @tag #ticket [ ] A subtask. [ ] A sub-sub-task. [+] Completed task. [-] Failed task. [.] Partially completed task. WIP. [!] Urgent task. [^] High priority task. Easy to store. Easy to share. Easy to edit at any device with plain text editor. The only feature I miss is grouping of sub-tasks. For example, I may want to group all subtasks from all projects(topics), which I need to do at place X (e.g. at parents home), so I will prepare for them. I cannot select them all without using of SQL engine or grep like tool. If editor can highlight a search term, it helps, but for long lists it easy to miss.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

rthomas6 8y ago

How does org-mode compare to Todoist + gcal? Does it solve a different problem?

bachmeier 8y ago
I used to use org-mode as a task manager/calendar. As you can see from the manual[1], it has features that overlap with Evernote more than Todoist. Todoist works well as a way to capture things that need future processing during the busy times of your day, and for getting notifications, but it is limited beyond that. {Disclosure: I'm a current Todoist Premium user and use it heavily.} [1] https://orgmode.org/manual/ https://orgmode.org/manual/
appsonthemove 8y ago
Depending on your point of view, Org mode has the advantage of being plain text and free software. It is a system you could still be using in 10-15 years time. Todoist might be have bought by Microsoft (or similar) by then and discontinued. This is probably a good reason why Org mode is appealing to academics who may be on a research project for many years - you need to be using something that is going to stay the course. Org mode does a lot more than Todoist (literate programming, spreadsheet features which I personally use in project proposals for calculating costings, exporting complex documents, logging time, ...) However all that power might be a distraction depending on what you need the tool for :)

istjohn 8y ago

Slightly off topic, but I love the Org-mode feature of [[A link description][file:~/my-file::a line in the file]] style links. Is there an easy way to get just that feature in all my files? I'd love to be able to have Org links in code comments, for example, but I don't want to use Org code blocks.

ashton314 8y ago
Yes! You just have to bind the function `org-open-at-point-global` to a keystroke. This is what I have in my .emacs file: (global-set-key (kbd "C-c L") 'org-insert-link-global) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c O") 'org-open-at-point-global)
- istjohn 8y ago
  Awesome! Thank you! I'm new to Emacs, and the transition has been a bear, but things like this are well-worth the price of admission.
aasasd 8y ago
The rumor is, there's an ‘org-protocol’ feature that allows any program on the system call actions of Org-mode. Presumably that either includes opening files, or would include if someone added such an action.

yigitdemirag 8y ago

I am surprised that nobody mentioned spacemacs[1] and its org-mode support. If you are used to vim shortcuts but want to give a chance to fully-supported org-mode, you should definitely try spacemacs. Still, I don't think I am ever going to use spacemacs to write code, but for note-taking(with inline LaTeX preview)/todo/calendar, I am 100% happy with it. [1] http://spacemacs.org/ http://spacemacs.org/

mpwoz 8y ago
+1 to this, coming from vim I found spacemacs' defaults pretty painless. I only use it for org-mode right now, still do most of my heavy editing in other tools but it's already been extremely useful for note-taking and todo tracking. I can also recommend pandoc[1], I've used it to convert some org-mode documents into various wiki/markdown formats for presenting to others. [1] https://pandoc.org https://pandoc.org
pimeys 8y ago
Or if you find spacemacs to be too heavy and confusing, doom emacs is a good alternative with its beautiful Makefile system. https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs
asciimov 8y ago
I want to like spacemacs, I really do, but using spacemacs is like having a bipolar cat. One moment it is nice and warm and cuddly, the next moment it's randomly knifing you and trying to assert dominance by missing the box.
- iLemming 8y ago
  Spacemacs doesn't magically liberate you from having to learn Emacs - it simply makes certain things more obvious, but also it obscures some other things. Be patient with it and you'll be rewarded. Whenever something breaks on my config due to an upstream change (a package gets updated with a breaking change) it usually takes me less than 2 minutes to triage that and find a workaround. It doesn't happen very often and I update packages multiple times a week.

purplezooey 8y ago

He must be English because he uses the word 'rubbish'.