6 ms·

Deft -- easy note taking for Emacs

142 points by superbobry 15y ago

Deft is an Emacs mode for quickly browsing, filtering, and editing directories of plain text notes, inspired by Notational Velocity []. It was designed for increased productivity when writing and taking notes by making it fast and simple to find the right file at the right time and by automating many of the usual tasks such as creating new files and saving files. [] http://notational.net

timsally 15y ago
Available via Marmalade as well: http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/deft http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/deft Just spent a few minutes playing around with it. I like the simplicity, nice work. One thought I had is that you could enter Deft mode whenever you cd into a directory with a .deft configuration file. This file could have a title for the top of the Deft view and perhaps the ability to specify what columns you want displayed. In this way you can have different directories for notes about different topics.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
- amjith 15y ago
  As rauchg mentioned look at vimwiki. http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/ http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/
  - alexg0 15y ago
    But that does not run in Emacs
eschulte 15y ago
no org-mode support?
- josephkern 15y ago
  Sure there is. "You can also customize the major mode that Deft uses to edit files, either through M-x customize-group or by adding something like the following to your .emacs file: (setq deft-text-mode 'markdown-mode)" All you need to do is: (setq deft-text-mode 'org-mode) Or any other major mode for that matter.
Rauchg 15y ago
If you are a vim user, I recommend vimwiki: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2226 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2226
Estragon 15y ago
My notes have gotten pretty extensive and sprawling, so I have a cron job which every hour indexes all org-mode and python files with swish[1]. It's pretty hacky, but I've integrated this with emacs's dired-mode, so that I get a clickable list[2]. It's an absolute life saver, at times. [1] http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html [2] http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA
- hollerith 15y ago
  Clickable urls: http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA
  - Estragon 15y ago
    Thanks, I did that for the formatting, without really thinking about the impact on the links.
honza 15y ago
Emacs post at the top of HN? Sweet.
phzbOx 15y ago
It's when I see gems like these that I feel like spending time to learn emacs. I've tried a couple of times.. but it is so damn hard. I feel like vim keybindings are burnt in my memory/fingers.. and it makes it so unproductive to relearn something totally different. Any vim power user successfully switched to Emacs? If so, did you switch back missing Vim or you're still using emacs and couldn't be happier? (I'm still interested in the reverse side.. where Emacs power users switched back to vim).
- honza 15y ago
  Exact same situation here. :)
- tsm 15y ago
  I'm a vim user who started to really get into Lisp (and now ML for school). Emacs (especially with SLIME) is really the Right Thing for Lisp, so I started using it. I've definitely gotten to the point where `C-a C-k` is as well burned into my fingers as `dd` is...it's just that a) `dd` seems like a more natural keybinding--both because I'd rather double-tap a home row button than involve three fingers and two hands, and because, if you do stop to think about it, `dd` makes sense--`d` means delete, and a double-tap usually makes something apply to a whole line. (Of course, `dd` / `C-a C-k` is just an example--this applies in general.) b) There's more of a zen to vim. It's been discussed before, but it's worth repeating--vim commands form a language with nouns and verbs. `w` means word and `(` means sentence. Now you know two commands. `d` means delete, `y` means yank, and `c` means change. Now you know 8 commands--`w`, `dw`, `yw`, `cw`, `(`, `d(`, etc. And adding a few more "nouns" brings you up to several dozen with minimal effort. Emacs has no direct equivalent * . So I like emacs for the ecosystem, I like it for the freakish integration it can achieve between a REPL and a source file...as they say, it's a great operating system--it just needs a good editor. * - This is not quite true--emacs does try to do sane things with the use of `C` and `M`. `C-f` means "forward one character", and `M-f` means "forward one word"--a "bigger" form of the same thing. In the same way, `C-d` deletes a character and `M-d` deletes a word. But now you want to delete a line? Time to learn something completely new. Edited to make a lame effort to fix my formatting problems...thus the asterisks surrounded by a sea of whitespace.
alexg0 15y ago
I use https://github.com/cefstat/simplenote.el https://github.com/cefstat/simplenote.el to synchronize with simplenote service and on mobile device and Notational Velocity. Deft seems little more refined, and simplenote.el has not been updated for a while, but would be nice if it synced with simplenote.
- cefstat 15y ago
  I'm the author of simplenote.el. Deft looks very interesting and I am happy that simplenote.el was of some use to Jason for writing Deft. As a sidenote, I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear that people are using simplenote.el; this was just a small personal project that I put on github on a whim. You should not expect much more to happen with simplenote.el since I don't feel very motivated to work on it anymore. When I first wrote simplenote.el the Simplenote app and platform were perfect. Since then Simplenote has changed to a direction that I don't like (tags, different pay model) [1]. Furthermore, I have been lately traveling a lot to China and Appspot is blocked there. This limits the usefulness of Simplenote. I do plan to rewrite simplenote.el for Simplenote's API2 and clean up the code but at the moment I don't plan to add any new features. In particular, I don't plan to add any support for tags. Of course everybody is welcome to fork simplenote.el and continue its development. [1]: I understand that most Simplenote users are happy with these changes and actually Simperium has done a great job in adding features in an unobtrusive way.
  - josephkern 15y ago
    I was using simplenote.el for a bit as well, your efforts are greatly appreciated. :-)
  - alexg0 15y ago
    I appreciate you creating simplenote.el. I understand disagreeing with direction platform taken, particularly if you are personally unable to take advantage of it. As far as forking, would you consider merging in tag support into your version, if someone were to send you a patch?
SoftwareMaven 15y ago
Hmm. Deft, org-mode, Dropbox, and MobileOrg might just made the perfect desktop/mobile note system. Definitely setting this one up!
matthewsnyder 15y ago
Thank you so much for this. This immediately replaced my usage of org-velocity. I used this function to convert my (10,000 line) velocity.org file into separate files for Deft: (defun generate-files-from-velocity (buffername) (save-excursion (switch-to-buffer buffername) (org-map-entries (lambda () (progn (org-mark-subtree) (if (and (= 1 (org-outline-level)) (org-export-get-title-from-subtree)) (let* ((title (downcase (org-export-get-title-from-subtree))) (filename (replace-regexp-in-string " " "-" (concat title ".org")))) (append-to-file (region-beginning) (region-end) (concat "~/Documents/Org/Notes/" filename))))))))) (generate-files-from-velocity "velocity.org")
- basman 15y ago
  I haven't used either of these, but they seem to fill a useful niche. What do you find are the pros and cons of deft vs. org-velocity?
  - matthewsnyder 15y ago
    The advantage for me is entirely in terms of separating notes into separate files; something that Deft does and org-velocity isn't really built for. I was planning on implementing something like that for org-velocity, but with the arrival of Deft I no longer have to.
SeanLuke 15y ago
Why are the rows hard-set to 80 columns? Is there a way to change this value, or better yet, have it auto-fill to the width of the window?
- ordinary 15y ago
  I don't use Deft, so YMMV, but it sounds like you're looking for visual-line-mode. Interactively: M-x visual-line-mode Or in your .emacs: (add-hook 'deft-mode-hook 'enable-visual-line-mode) You'll probably need to set deft-line-width to some number that's larger than the most columns you ever have in a frame, because from a quick glance it looks like Deft has some magic of its own.
Loic 15y ago
If you need a bit more, that is, todo lists, planning, etc. while keeping a way to easily edit text documents, you also have Org-Mode http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/ Do not try to setup Org-Mode if you are new to Emacs, you will feel a bit overwhelmed (at least I was), but once you get used to Emacs and Org-Mode, it is a pleasure to use it. I use it for GTD, day planner and notes taking like here: http://notes.ceondo.com http://notes.ceondo.com
- pavpanchekha 15y ago
  I think the key thing about Org-mode is to not read the documentation. All you need to start is stars and the tab key. The docs have a way of dumping keybindings onto you. Org mode has a lot of features --- don't try to read the manual through. Just start using it and every time you think of a feature you would like, look it up in the manual.
  - ottbot 15y ago
    This is probably good advice, and I think I'll give org-mode another try without trying to build it around someone else's setup. I've been using emacs for years, but could never quite make an habit out of org mode. I think deft handling simple org files might be a good way to get started.
    - pavpanchekha 15y ago
      I kept trying to start with a todo list in Org-mode, and it was never worth it. Instead, I ended up getting into Org-mode through using it as a markup (it supports inline LaTeX!) and only later learned some of the shortcuts. I've just started using C-RET and similar to add outline nodes, for example; similarly C-. and C-d and such. Now I use Org-mode heavily for literate programming as well. One of the reasons I love Emacs and Org-mode so much is that it never forces you to use its features. For the right approach and for the power user, this is beautiful.
    - josephkern 15y ago
      Yeah, don't follow other people's guides to get started. Just realize that org-mode has so many features (including Literate Programming) it's easy to get lost. Just start by using it as an outliner, when your files get too big or you need to start keeping TODO lists, look into agenda views, then capture, then ... well you know. Start as simple as possible, and when things break, or don't do what you need, spend 15 minutes and make them work.

142 points by superbobry 15y ago

timsally 15y ago

Available via Marmalade as well: http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/deft http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/deft Just spent a few minutes playing around with it. I like the simplicity, nice work. One thought I had is that you could enter Deft mode whenever you cd into a directory with a .deft configuration file. This file could have a title for the top of the Deft view and perhaps the ability to specify what columns you want displayed. In this way you can have different directories for notes about different topics.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

amjith 15y ago
As rauchg mentioned look at vimwiki. http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/ http://code.google.com/p/vimwiki/
- alexg0 15y ago
  But that does not run in Emacs

eschulte 15y ago

no org-mode support?

josephkern 15y ago
Sure there is. "You can also customize the major mode that Deft uses to edit files, either through M-x customize-group or by adding something like the following to your .emacs file: (setq deft-text-mode 'markdown-mode)" All you need to do is: (setq deft-text-mode 'org-mode) Or any other major mode for that matter.

Rauchg 15y ago

If you are a vim user, I recommend vimwiki: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2226 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2226

Estragon 15y ago

My notes have gotten pretty extensive and sprawling, so I have a cron job which every hour indexes all org-mode and python files with swish[1]. It's pretty hacky, but I've integrated this with emacs's dired-mode, so that I get a clickable list[2]. It's an absolute life saver, at times. [1] http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html [2] http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA

hollerith 15y ago
Clickable urls: http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html http://swish-e.org/docs/swish-search.html http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA http://pastebin.com/xeDbjKhA
- Estragon 15y ago
  Thanks, I did that for the formatting, without really thinking about the impact on the links.

honza 15y ago

Emacs post at the top of HN? Sweet.

phzbOx 15y ago

It's when I see gems like these that I feel like spending time to learn emacs. I've tried a couple of times.. but it is so damn hard. I feel like vim keybindings are burnt in my memory/fingers.. and it makes it so unproductive to relearn something totally different. Any vim power user successfully switched to Emacs? If so, did you switch back missing Vim or you're still using emacs and couldn't be happier? (I'm still interested in the reverse side.. where Emacs power users switched back to vim).

honza 15y ago
Exact same situation here. :)
tsm 15y ago
I'm a vim user who started to really get into Lisp (and now ML for school). Emacs (especially with SLIME) is really the Right Thing for Lisp, so I started using it. I've definitely gotten to the point where `C-a C-k` is as well burned into my fingers as `dd` is...it's just that a) `dd` seems like a more natural keybinding--both because I'd rather double-tap a home row button than involve three fingers and two hands, and because, if you do stop to think about it, `dd` makes sense--`d` means delete, and a double-tap usually makes something apply to a whole line. (Of course, `dd` / `C-a C-k` is just an example--this applies in general.) b) There's more of a zen to vim. It's been discussed before, but it's worth repeating--vim commands form a language with nouns and verbs. `w` means word and `(` means sentence. Now you know two commands. `d` means delete, `y` means yank, and `c` means change. Now you know 8 commands--`w`, `dw`, `yw`, `cw`, `(`, `d(`, etc. And adding a few more "nouns" brings you up to several dozen with minimal effort. Emacs has no direct equivalent * . So I like emacs for the ecosystem, I like it for the freakish integration it can achieve between a REPL and a source file...as they say, it's a great operating system--it just needs a good editor. * - This is not quite true--emacs does try to do sane things with the use of `C` and `M`. `C-f` means "forward one character", and `M-f` means "forward one word"--a "bigger" form of the same thing. In the same way, `C-d` deletes a character and `M-d` deletes a word. But now you want to delete a line? Time to learn something completely new. Edited to make a lame effort to fix my formatting problems...thus the asterisks surrounded by a sea of whitespace.

alexg0 15y ago

I use https://github.com/cefstat/simplenote.el https://github.com/cefstat/simplenote.el to synchronize with simplenote service and on mobile device and Notational Velocity. Deft seems little more refined, and simplenote.el has not been updated for a while, but would be nice if it synced with simplenote.

cefstat 15y ago
I'm the author of simplenote.el. Deft looks very interesting and I am happy that simplenote.el was of some use to Jason for writing Deft. As a sidenote, I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear that people are using simplenote.el; this was just a small personal project that I put on github on a whim. You should not expect much more to happen with simplenote.el since I don't feel very motivated to work on it anymore. When I first wrote simplenote.el the Simplenote app and platform were perfect. Since then Simplenote has changed to a direction that I don't like (tags, different pay model) [1]. Furthermore, I have been lately traveling a lot to China and Appspot is blocked there. This limits the usefulness of Simplenote. I do plan to rewrite simplenote.el for Simplenote's API2 and clean up the code but at the moment I don't plan to add any new features. In particular, I don't plan to add any support for tags. Of course everybody is welcome to fork simplenote.el and continue its development. [1]: I understand that most Simplenote users are happy with these changes and actually Simperium has done a great job in adding features in an unobtrusive way.
- josephkern 15y ago
  I was using simplenote.el for a bit as well, your efforts are greatly appreciated. :-)
- alexg0 15y ago
  I appreciate you creating simplenote.el. I understand disagreeing with direction platform taken, particularly if you are personally unable to take advantage of it. As far as forking, would you consider merging in tag support into your version, if someone were to send you a patch?

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

Hmm. Deft, org-mode, Dropbox, and MobileOrg might just made the perfect desktop/mobile note system. Definitely setting this one up!

matthewsnyder 15y ago

Thank you so much for this. This immediately replaced my usage of org-velocity. I used this function to convert my (10,000 line) velocity.org file into separate files for Deft: (defun generate-files-from-velocity (buffername) (save-excursion (switch-to-buffer buffername) (org-map-entries (lambda () (progn (org-mark-subtree) (if (and (= 1 (org-outline-level)) (org-export-get-title-from-subtree)) (let* ((title (downcase (org-export-get-title-from-subtree))) (filename (replace-regexp-in-string " " "-" (concat title ".org")))) (append-to-file (region-beginning) (region-end) (concat "~/Documents/Org/Notes/" filename))))))))) (generate-files-from-velocity "velocity.org")

basman 15y ago
I haven't used either of these, but they seem to fill a useful niche. What do you find are the pros and cons of deft vs. org-velocity?
- matthewsnyder 15y ago
  The advantage for me is entirely in terms of separating notes into separate files; something that Deft does and org-velocity isn't really built for. I was planning on implementing something like that for org-velocity, but with the arrival of Deft I no longer have to.

SeanLuke 15y ago

Why are the rows hard-set to 80 columns? Is there a way to change this value, or better yet, have it auto-fill to the width of the window?

ordinary 15y ago
I don't use Deft, so YMMV, but it sounds like you're looking for visual-line-mode. Interactively: M-x visual-line-mode Or in your .emacs: (add-hook 'deft-mode-hook 'enable-visual-line-mode) You'll probably need to set deft-line-width to some number that's larger than the most columns you ever have in a frame, because from a quick glance it looks like Deft has some magic of its own.

Loic 15y ago

If you need a bit more, that is, todo lists, planning, etc. while keeping a way to easily edit text documents, you also have Org-Mode http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/ Do not try to setup Org-Mode if you are new to Emacs, you will feel a bit overwhelmed (at least I was), but once you get used to Emacs and Org-Mode, it is a pleasure to use it. I use it for GTD, day planner and notes taking like here: http://notes.ceondo.com http://notes.ceondo.com

pavpanchekha 15y ago
I think the key thing about Org-mode is to not read the documentation. All you need to start is stars and the tab key. The docs have a way of dumping keybindings onto you. Org mode has a lot of features --- don't try to read the manual through. Just start using it and every time you think of a feature you would like, look it up in the manual.
- ottbot 15y ago
  This is probably good advice, and I think I'll give org-mode another try without trying to build it around someone else's setup. I've been using emacs for years, but could never quite make an habit out of org mode. I think deft handling simple org files might be a good way to get started.
  - pavpanchekha 15y ago
    I kept trying to start with a todo list in Org-mode, and it was never worth it. Instead, I ended up getting into Org-mode through using it as a markup (it supports inline LaTeX!) and only later learned some of the shortcuts. I've just started using C-RET and similar to add outline nodes, for example; similarly C-. and C-d and such. Now I use Org-mode heavily for literate programming as well. One of the reasons I love Emacs and Org-mode so much is that it never forces you to use its features. For the right approach and for the power user, this is beautiful.
  - josephkern 15y ago
    Yeah, don't follow other people's guides to get started. Just realize that org-mode has so many features (including Literate Programming) it's easy to get lost. Just start by using it as an outliner, when your files get too big or you need to start keeping TODO lists, look into agenda views, then capture, then ... well you know. Start as simple as possible, and when things break, or don't do what you need, spend 15 minutes and make them work.