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Can I get a quick rundown on why Org Mode is better (easier/faster/more organized/whatever you prefer) than a ~/TODO.md file? I use this format: ``` ## yyyy-

Can I get a quick rundown on why Org Mode is better (easier/faster/more organized/whatever you prefer) than a ~/TODO.md file? I use this format: ``` ## yyyy-mm-dd name of the homework - for tasks that have to be done ! for tasks that contain a warning, careful, beware > for tasks I am waiting for others to give me output about ? for tasks I am not sure about v for tasks I've completed x for tasks i won't do, WONTFIX ``` so, for example, today i'd have: ``` ## 2020-05-25 orgmode > ask about orgmode on hn v rant on hn about my own flatfile task management x install emacs ? look if orgmode can be tested on vi ```

michaericalribo 6y ago
In short: org mode is software that sits on top of the markup language, and lets you interact in sophisticated, semantic ways with the information in a file. The markup is just markdown, modulo a few conventions. The power of org mode is manipulating the data / text / content you have written and marked up
- rgoulter 6y ago
  > In short: org mode is software that sits on top of the markup language, and lets you interact in sophisticated, semantic ways with the information in a file. As one example of this, org mode makes it easy to collapse/expand the content of a task.
  - michaericalribo 6y ago
    That’s a good point—the software provides new types of UI, too! I had been thinking about rearranging text and org-capture, but you’re right that another excellent feature is the ability to view and interact with text fluidly and easily
chapium 6y ago
Org-mode does nifty things like letting you plop a date tag anywhere and indexing it for reminders later, like 5 day outlook. Its basically text only onenote.
LandR 6y ago
In org-mode I can stop and start time running against a task and when I'm done get a breakdown of the total time spent on that task. I can close tasks and it automatically update when I closed them. I can use keyboard shortcuts to cycle through what state a task is in. e.g. TODO, DONE, BLOCKED etc. I can assign types to the task, and update these with a few simple keyboard shortcuts. If I have a list of tasks, e.g. TODO Foo [0/3] - [ ] A - [ ] B - [ ] C As I mark off A, B or C, the total on Foo [0/3] will auto update. I can plan my week ahead org-mode agenda,where it will auto generate my week. I can see reports based on what I did and didn't get finished. I can archive this data off to an archive file. I can easily create plaintext tables that will auto format for me to fit stuff, I can do calculations in them (as these plaintext tables are basically spreadsheets). All through just typing text and learning some keyboard shortcuts. And its always just plain text, I can open it in any editor and what I see will make sense. Can write code in line in a number of languages (e.g. Ruby, LISP etc) and have it executed in the file.
- darau1 6y ago
  Can I use org-mode without emacs?
  - LandR 6y ago
    I've never tried org-mode without emacs, but this says you can get an equivalent in other editors like Atom and VS Code. https://opensource.com/article/19/1/productivity-tool-org-mode https://opensource.com/article/19/1/productivity-tool-org-mo... I don't know how customisable it would be in those editors. My org-mode is pretty customized via my emacs config and I don't know if they would support agenda.
    - darau1 6y ago
      Thanks, I'll take a look
  - erikcw 6y ago
    Organice[0] is one option. Works well on mobile also. [0] https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice
adimitrov 6y ago
Agenda (custom search expressions and aggregation for all kinds of notes), capture buffers (quickly take notes while doing something else), time tracking, column mode (hierarchically sum up time spent and other properties), easily link items to files, even emails or RSS entries, tags, solid latex-export (you can just \textem{mix latex markup in like that}, I don't even write Latex anymore), org-babel, which is kinda like Jupyter, but for everything, including R, Python, etc. in-line image support (works with Latex, so you can have in-line formulas in your latex documents. This is surprisingly useful if you take math-y notes), org-ref which is like bibtex, but for org, and sane, so you can easily manage citations and sources … seriously. The list is so long. That's just off the top of my head. Granted, some of this is more useful in academia, but depending on how much research you do, it can come in handy at any time.
sinkasapa 6y ago
For me the advantage is that I mostly use org-mode for other reasons, like note taking, but when it makes sense to integrate TODO functionality, which comes up frequently while taking notes, it is there and I don't need an additional app using some other database which I then need to synchronize with my note taking system.

michaericalribo 6y ago

In short: org mode is software that sits on top of the markup language, and lets you interact in sophisticated, semantic ways with the information in a file. The markup is just markdown, modulo a few conventions. The power of org mode is manipulating the data / text / content you have written and marked up

rgoulter 6y ago
> In short: org mode is software that sits on top of the markup language, and lets you interact in sophisticated, semantic ways with the information in a file. As one example of this, org mode makes it easy to collapse/expand the content of a task.
- michaericalribo 6y ago
  That’s a good point—the software provides new types of UI, too! I had been thinking about rearranging text and org-capture, but you’re right that another excellent feature is the ability to view and interact with text fluidly and easily

chapium 6y ago

Org-mode does nifty things like letting you plop a date tag anywhere and indexing it for reminders later, like 5 day outlook. Its basically text only onenote.

LandR 6y ago

In org-mode I can stop and start time running against a task and when I'm done get a breakdown of the total time spent on that task. I can close tasks and it automatically update when I closed them. I can use keyboard shortcuts to cycle through what state a task is in. e.g. TODO, DONE, BLOCKED etc. I can assign types to the task, and update these with a few simple keyboard shortcuts. If I have a list of tasks, e.g. TODO Foo [0/3] - [ ] A - [ ] B - [ ] C As I mark off A, B or C, the total on Foo [0/3] will auto update. I can plan my week ahead org-mode agenda,where it will auto generate my week. I can see reports based on what I did and didn't get finished. I can archive this data off to an archive file. I can easily create plaintext tables that will auto format for me to fit stuff, I can do calculations in them (as these plaintext tables are basically spreadsheets). All through just typing text and learning some keyboard shortcuts. And its always just plain text, I can open it in any editor and what I see will make sense. Can write code in line in a number of languages (e.g. Ruby, LISP etc) and have it executed in the file.

darau1 6y ago
Can I use org-mode without emacs?
- LandR 6y ago
  I've never tried org-mode without emacs, but this says you can get an equivalent in other editors like Atom and VS Code. https://opensource.com/article/19/1/productivity-tool-org-mode https://opensource.com/article/19/1/productivity-tool-org-mo... I don't know how customisable it would be in those editors. My org-mode is pretty customized via my emacs config and I don't know if they would support agenda.
  - darau1 6y ago
    Thanks, I'll take a look
- erikcw 6y ago
  Organice[0] is one option. Works well on mobile also. [0] https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice

adimitrov 6y ago

Agenda (custom search expressions and aggregation for all kinds of notes), capture buffers (quickly take notes while doing something else), time tracking, column mode (hierarchically sum up time spent and other properties), easily link items to files, even emails or RSS entries, tags, solid latex-export (you can just \textem{mix latex markup in like that}, I don't even write Latex anymore), org-babel, which is kinda like Jupyter, but for everything, including R, Python, etc. in-line image support (works with Latex, so you can have in-line formulas in your latex documents. This is surprisingly useful if you take math-y notes), org-ref which is like bibtex, but for org, and sane, so you can easily manage citations and sources … seriously. The list is so long. That's just off the top of my head. Granted, some of this is more useful in academia, but depending on how much research you do, it can come in handy at any time.

sinkasapa 6y ago

For me the advantage is that I mostly use org-mode for other reasons, like note taking, but when it makes sense to integrate TODO functionality, which comes up frequently while taking notes, it is there and I don't need an additional app using some other database which I then need to synchronize with my note taking system.