Org-mode list of user-visible changes

A plain list will be exported as a description list if the first item in the list has a term and the description, separated by " :: ". For example

 Emacs software by Carsten Dominik
 - RefTeX    :: Support for LaTeX Labels, References, Citations
 - CDLaTeX   :: more LaTeX functionality for Emacs
 - TeXmathp  :: checking LaTeX buffers for Math mode.
 - ORG       :: An Emacs mode for notes and projet planning.
 - CONSTANTS :: An Emacs package for inserting the definition of
                natural constants and units into a buffer.
 - IDLWAVE   :: The Emacs modes for editing and
                running IDL and WAVE CL files.

will be rendered as

Emacs software by Carsten Dominik

RefTeX

Support for LaTeX Labels, References, Citations

CDLaTeX

more LaTeX functionality for Emacs

TeXmathp

checking LaTeX buffers for Math mode.

ORG

An Emacs mode for notes and projet planning.

CONSTANTS

An Emacs package for inserting the definition of natural constants and units into a buffer.

IDLWAVE

The Emacs modes for editing and running IDL and WAVE CL files.

This works now in the HTML exporter, we still need to supoort it with the LaTeX and ASCII exporters.

For quoting an entire paragraph as a citation, use

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

which will render as

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler – Albert Einstein

You can now get code examples fontified like they would be fontified in an Emacs Buffer, and export the result to HTML. To do so, wrap the code examples into the following structure:

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

In the export, this will then look like this (if you are now looking at the ASCII export and do not see anything interesting, go and check out the HTML version at http://orgmode.org/Changes.html).

(defun org-xor (a b)
  "Exclusive or."
  (if a (not b) b))

The string after the BEGIN_SRC is the name of the major emacs mode that should be used to fontify the code example, without the "-mode" at the end of the mode name. For example, if you are writing an Org tutorial with Org examples included, you would use "org" as the language identifier - in fact, I have used just that in the example above.

Currently this works only for HTML export, and requires the htmlize.el package, version 1.34 or later. For other backends, such structures are simply exported as EXAMPLE.

A line like

 #+INCLUDE "file" markup lang

will lead to the inclusion of the contents of FILE at the moment of publishing. FILE should be surrounded by double quotes, this is obligatory if it contains space characters. The parameters MARKUP and LANG are optional. MARKUP can be "example", "quote", or "src". If it is "src", LANG should be the name of the Emacs mode to be used for fontifying the code. For example:

 Here is my /.emacs/ file:
 #+INCLUDE "~/.emacs" src emacs-lisp

Previously, the default was to not include text in an org-mode buffer before the first headline. From now on, the default it to include it. If you like the old default better, customize the variable org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading or set the value on a per-file basis with

 #+OPTIONS: skip:t

If you would like to share the Org setup between a number of files, you can now store in-buffer setup in a file and simply point to that file from each file that should read it. If you write in a buffer

 #+SETUPFILE: "path/to/setup.org"

then this file will be scanned for in-buffer options like #+STARTUP, #+TITLE, or #+OPTIONS.

From now on, it makes no difference is you write #+STARTUP or #+startup, to make these lines less imposing. Similarly for all other in-buffer keywords.

As a new experimental feature, Org now supports completion of structural elements like #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE in a special way. It work by typing, for example "<e" and then pressing TAB, on an otherwise empty line. "<e" will expand into a complete EXAMPLE template, with the cursor positioned in the middle. Currently supported templates are:

 <s   #+begin_src
 <e   #+begin_example
 <q   #+begin_quote
 <v   #+begin_verse
 <l   #+begin_latex
 <L   #+latex:
 <h   #+begin_html
 <H   #+html:
 <a   #+begin_ascii
 <i   #+include

This is an experimental feature, please comment! See also below under org-mtags.el.

When Emacs opens an Org mode buffer, the outline visibility is set to a startup value that is taken from the variable org-startup-folded, or from a #+STARTUP setting in the buffer. After this has happened, the buffer will now also be scanned for entries with a VISIBILITY property. Wherever such a property is found, the corresponding subtree will get its visibility adjusted. Allowed values for the property are:

folded

Fold the subtree

children

Show the text after the headline, and the headlines of all direct children

content

Show all headlines in the tree, but no text below any headline

all

Show the entire subtree

For example, I am using this for the huge Changes.org file that is the source for the list of visible changes you are reading right now. The top-most entry in this file always describes the changes in my current working version. The start of this section currently looks like this:

* Version 6.03
  :PROPERTIES:
    :VISIBILITY: content
  :END:
** Overview

This was a proposal by Ben Alexander.

The command C-u C-u TAB will switch back to the startup visibility of the buffer.

Org now remembers the last 5 tasks that you clocked into, to make it easier to clock back into a task after interrupting it for another task.

• C-u C-u C-c C-x C-i (or C-u C-u I from the agenda) will clock into that task and mark it as current default task.
• C-u C-c C-x C-i (or C-u I from the agenda) will offer a list of recently clocked tasks, including the default task, for selection. d selects the default task, i selects the task that was interrupted by the task that is currently being clocked. 1,… selects a recent task. When you select a task, you will be clocked into it.
• You can use C-u C-c C-x C-j to jump to any of these tasks.

When moving an entry using structure editing commands, archiving commands, or the special subtree cut-and-paste commands C-c C-x C-w and C-c C-x C-y, the running clock marker and all clock history markers will be moved with the subtree. Now you can start a clock in a remember buffer and keep the clock running while filing the note away. See also the variable `org-remember-clock-out-on-exit'.

bbdb-anniversaries is now much faster, thanks to a new approach using a hash for birthdays. Thanks to Thomas Baumann for a patch to this effect.

Do people think any of these should become core?

org-eval.el

This new module allows to include the result of the evaluation of Lisp code (and other scripting languages) into the buffer, similar to the <lisp> tag of Emacs Wiki and Muse.

org-mtags.el

This new modules allows you to use Muse-like tags for some structure definitions in Org. For example, instead of

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
...
#+END_EXAMPLE

you can write

<example>
...
</example>

In fact, I myself find these easier to type and to look at. Also, it will allow you to more easily move text and files back and forth between Org and Muse. For a list of supported structure elements, see the commentary in the file commentary in the file org-mtags.el.

If you load this module and use the "<i" etc completion described above, the Muse form will automatically be inserted.

Many bug fixes again. Will this ever stop?

I had already given up on this, but Greg Chernev (who implemented noutline.el for XEmacs and in this way kept Org alive on XEmacs) has done it again and provided the patches to make column view work under XEmacs. There are still some problems, but the basics work and we will iron out the remaining issues, hopefully soon.

If any of the columns has a summary type defined, turning on column view in the agenda will show summaries for these columns. Org will first visit all relevant agenda files and make sure that the computations of this property are up to date. This is also true for the special CLOCKSUM property. Org will then sum the values displayed in the agenda. In the daily/weekly agenda, the sums will cover a single day, in all other views they cover the entire block. It is vital to realize that the agenda may show the same entry multiple times (for example as scheduled and as a deadline), and it may show two entries from the same hierarchy (for example a parent and it's child). In these cases, the summation in the agenda will lead to incorrect results because some values will count double.

If you want to plan your work in a very detailed way, or if you need to produce offers with quotations of the estimated work effort, you may want to assign effort estimates to entries. If you are also clocking your work, you may later want to compare the planned effort with the actual working time. Effort estimates can now be stored in a special property Effort, displayed side-to-side with clock sums, and also be summed over a day, in order to show the planned work load of a day. See the manual for more details.

Property searches can now choose a number of different operators for comparing values. These operators are `=', `<>', `<', `<=', `>', and `>='.

When the search term uses the operator with plain number like +Effort>=2.7, then the property value is converted to a number and a numerical comparison takes place.

When the search term uses a string on the right hand side of the operator, a string comparison is done: +PRIORITY<"C".

Finally, if the right hand side is enclosed in curly braces, a regexp match is done: aaa={regexp}. In this case you should use only the `=' or `<>' operators, meaning "does match" or "does not match", respectively.

This was a triggered with a request by Dan Davison.

If the value of the customization variable org-agenda-text-search-extra-files contains the symbol agenda-archives as the first element in the list, all archive files of all agenda files will be added to the list of files to search. This is relevant for the search view C-c a s, as well as for the agenda files multi-occur command C-c a /.

There are new values for the :scope parameter of a clock table. This can now be file-with-archives and agenda-with-archives, in order to collect information not only from the current file or all agenda files, but also from all archive files that are currently used by these files.

The options available for radio tables using orgtbl-mode have been expanded. You may use several reception points and formats for the same table, you may have special formatting in the last line of the table, and many table parameters may be functions, so that more general transformations are possible. Jason Riedy provided a patch for this, and he will hopefully come up with some examples. Thanks!

In the distribution files as well as in the GIT repository, the lisp files are now located in a subdirectory "lisp", and the documentation files are located in a subdirectory "doc". If you are running Org directly from the unpacked distribution archive (zip or tar file, or GIT repository), you need to modify your settings for load-path accordingly.

In the distribution files as well as in the GIT repository, the lisp files are now located in a subdirectory "lisp", and the documentation files are located in a subdirectory "doc". If you are running Org directly from the unpacked distribution archive (zip or tar file, or GIT repository), you need to modify your settings for load-path accordingly.

Org-mode has now a system for loading modules by simply configuring an option that lists all the modules you want to use. Customize the variable `org-modules'. That variable lists both modules that are part of the Org-mode core (and in this way part of Emacs), and modules that are contributed packages. Contributed modules will only be available when you have installed them properly (most likely by downloading the distribution and adding /path/to/orgdir/contrib/lisp to your load path).

There is a new method to archive entries in the current file: By moving it to a sibling called the Archive Sibling. That sibling has the heading "Archive" and also carries the ARCHIVE tag. This can be a great way to do archiving inside a project, to get parts of the project out of the way and to wait with true archiving (moving to another file) until the entire project is done. Archiving to a sibling keeps much of the context, for example inherited tags and approximate tree position in tact.

The key binding for the is "C-c C-x A", and from the agenda buffer you can simply use "A".

Thanks to Ilya Shlyakhter for this rather clever idea.

This fascinating program allows a completely new viewing experience for web pages created from Org files. The same document can be viewed in different ways, and switching between the views as well as navigation uses single-key commands.

One of the view types is an Info-like interface where you can jump through the sections of the document with the `n' and `p' keys (and others). There is also a folding interface where you can fold the document much like you can fold it in org-mode in Emacs, and cycle through the visibility both locally and globally.

To set this up, all you need to do is to make sure that org-infojs.el gets loaded (customize the variable org-modules to check). Then add this line to the buffer:

 #+INFOJS_OPT: view:info

In that line, you can configure the initial view and other settings. Available views are info for the info-like interface, and overview, content, and showall for the folding interface. See the manual for more details. The JavaScript program is served from http://orgmode.org/org-info.js, and your exported HTML files will automatically get it from there. However, you may want to be independent of the existence and stability of orgmode.org and install a copy locally. Then you need to change the path from which the script is loaded, either by using something like

 #+INFOJS_OPT: view:info path:../scripts/org-info.js

or by configuring the variable org-infojs-options.

For details see the documentation provided by Sebastian Rose together with org-info.js.

• The export of internal links to HTML now works a lot better. Most internal links that work while editing an Org file inside Emacs will now also work the the corresponding HTML file.
• You can run many of the export commands in the background by using `C-c C-u C-c C-e' in order to start the process. RIght now this will only work if "emacs" is the right command to get to your Emacs executable - I hope to make this less system dependent in the future.

Both these are based on requests by Ilya Shlyakhter.

• The clocktable is now much more flexible and user friendly when trying to specify the time block that should be considered when constructing the table.

  The :block parameter to the table can now look like any of these:

  :block	meaning
  2008	The entire year 2008
  2008-04	The month April 2008
  2008-04-02	The day April 2, 2008
  2008-W14	ISO-Week 14 in 2008
  today	Today
  today-5	The day five days ago
  thisweek	The current week
  thisweek-2	Two weeks ago
  thismonth	The current month
  thismonth-12	Same month, last year
  lastmonth	Same as thismonth-1

  What is more, you can now use the S-left and S-right keys to shift the time block around. The cursor needs to be in the #+BEGIN: clocktable line for this to work. If the current block is today, S-left with switch to yesterday. If the current block is 2008-W14, S-right will switch to the following week.

• When the clocktable is collecting from several files, the total time for each file will now also be listed. This was a request from Bernt Hansen.
• If you turn on the new clock report mode with the "R" key in the agenda, a clock table will be attached to the agenda, showing the clock report for the file scope and time interval of the agenda view. To turn this on permanently, configure the variable org-agenda-start-with-clock report-mode. To modify the properties of the table, in particular the :maxlevel depth, configure org-agenda-clockreport-parameter-plist.

The agenda now shows the ISO week for the displayed dates, in the form W08 for week 8.

The keys d, w, m, and y in the agenda view now accept prefix arguments. Remember that in the agenda, you can directly type a prefix argument by typing a number, no need to press C-u first. The prefix argument may be used to jump directly to a specific day of the year, ISO week, month, or year, respectively. For example, 32 d jumps to February 1st, 9 w to ISO week number 9. When setting day, week, or month view, a year may be encoded in the prefix argument as well. For example, 200712 w will jump to week 12 in the year 2007. If such a year specification has only one or two digits, it will be mapped to the interval 1938-2037.

When entering a date at the date prompt, you may now also specify an ISO week. For example

 w4              Monday of week 4
 fri w4          Friday of week 4
 w4-5            Same as above
 2012 w4 fri     Friday of week 4 in 2012.
 2012-W04-5      Same as above

So far I have not implemented the effect of `org-read-date-prefer-future' on this functionality, because it seemed too magic for me. I'd appreciate comments on this issue: Should `org-read-date-prefer-future' also push dates into the next year if the week you are entering has already passed in the current year? For consistency I guess this should be the case, but I cannot quite wrap my head around it.

I hope but am not entirely convinced that this will behave sanely also during the first/last week of a year. Please test extensively and report back.

This was a request by Thomas Baumann.

• Calling search view with a C-u prefix will make it match only in TODO entries.
• The single quote is no longer considered a word character during search, so that searching for the word "Nasim" will also match in "Nasim's".

• Inheritance of tags can now be limited to a subset of all tags, using the variable org-use-tag-inheritance. This variable may now be a regular expression or a list to select the inherited tags. Thanks to Michael Ekstrand for this excellent proposal.

  The regexp option is also implemented for org-use-property-inheritance, so that you can now select properties for inheritance my name.

• The INHERIT flag to the function org-entry-get can be set to the symbol selective. If this is the case, then the value of the property will be retrieved using inheritance if and only if the setting in org-use-property-inheritance selects the property for inheritance.
• There are now special faces for the date lines in the agenda/timeline buffers, and another special face for days that fall on a weekend: org-agenda-date and org-agenda-date-weekend. Both these faces are initially similar to the org-agenda-structure face, but you can customize them freely.
• When an entry already has a scheduling or deadline time stamp, calling `C-c C-s' or `C-c C-d', respectively, will now use that old date as the default, and you can can use the "++4d" syntax to invoke shifts relative to that default date. Simply pressing RET at the prompt will keep the default date, not switch to today.

  This was an omission in the earlier implementation, spotted by Wanrong Lin. Thanks!

• File names in remember templates can be relative, if they are, they will be interpreted relative to org-directory.
• The handling of the clipboard when inserting into remember templates is now much better, and gives more control on what should be inserted with new %-escapes:
  • %c - Now always insert the head of the kill ring, never the X clipboard.
  • %x - Insert the content of the X clipboard. This is the first non-empty value from the PRIMARY, SECONDARY and CLIPBOARD X clipboards.
  • %^C - This allows the user to choose between any of the clipboard values available, the kill ring head, and the initial region if set.
  • %^L - Like %^C, but this inserts an org link using the selected value.

  Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

• Table export to an internal file can now use a format specification, similar to the formats that are used by orgtbl radio tables. The default format is in the variable org-table-export-default-format. You can use properties TABLE_EXPORT_FILE and TABLE_EXPORT_FORMAT to specify the file name to which the export should go, and a local format. For example:

   :PROPERTIES:
   :TABLE_EXPORT_FILE: ~/xx.txt
   :TABLE_EXPORT_FORMAT: orgtbl-to-generic :splice t :sep "\t"
   :END:
  

  Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

• Entries can be sorted by TODO keyword, and the order is given by the definition sequence of the TODO keywords in the variable org-todo-keywords, or in the #+TODO line. Use the "o" key when sorting with C-c ^.

  Thanks to James TD Smith for this patch.

`C-c a s' now invokes a special agenda view that can be used to search notes by keyword and regular expressions. In particular, it does not require a single regular expression or string to search for, but it can search for a number keywords or regexps that can occur in arbitrary sequence in the entry. The search knows the boundaries of an entry, can use simple Boolean logic and is reasonably fast. For example, the search string

 +computer +wifi -ethernet -{8\.11[bg]}

will search for 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. If the first character of the search string is an asterisk, the search will only look at headlines - otherwise it will look at the headine and the text below it, up to the next (possibly sub-) heading.

The command searches all agenda files, and in addition the files listed in org-agenda-text-search-extra-files.

I find it very useful to define a custom command to do such a search only in a limited number of files (my notes files), like this:

 ("N" "Search notes" search ""
   ((org-agenda-files '("~/org/notes.org" "~/org/computer.org"))
    (org-agenda-text-search-extra-files nil)))

• Phil Jackson's org-irc.el is now part of the Org-mode core, which means it will become part of Emacs soon.
• The new development model already starts to pay off, a number of interesting extensions are now part of the distribution. Check the file CONTRIB/README for a list.
• There is a new variable `org-default-extensions'. Configuring this variable makes it very easy to load these default extensions - eventually this will be expanded to cover contributed extensions as well.

• Remember template definitions now allow six elements. The last element defines the contexts in which the template should be offered. It can be a list of major modes, a function, t or nil. If it is a list of major-mode, the template will be available only when org-remember is called from a buffer in one of these modes. If it is a function, the template will be offered only if the function returns `t' when called in the current buffer. A value of t or nil for this element means select this template in any context.

  One possible application for this would be to have several templates all using the same selection letter, and choosing the right one based on context. For example, think of tasks describing a bug in a source code file. With the following configuration we make sure that the bug reports are filed into the appropriate sections of the target file.

   (setq org-remember-templates
    '(("Elisp" ?b "* %a\n\n%i%?" "~/bugs.org" "Elisp bugs" (emacs-lisp-mode))
      ("C Bugs" ?b "* %a\n\n%i%?" "~/bugs.org" "C bugs" (cc-mode))))
  

  See (info "(org)Remember templates") for details.

• `C-c -' has now more functions:
  • In a table, add a hline as before
  • In an item list, cycle bullet type as before
  • In a normal line, turn it into an item
  • In a headline, turn it into an item
  • If there is an active region, turn each line into an item. But if the first region line is already an item, remove item markers from all lines.

  Based on proposals by Bastien.

• `C-c *' has now more functions
  • in a table, recompute, as before
  • in a normal line, convert it to a sub heading.
  • at an item, convert it into a subheading
  • if there is an active region, convert all lines in the region to headlines. However, if the first lie already is a heading, remove the stars from all lines int he region.

  Based on proposals by Bastien.

• The value variable org-time-stamp-rounding-minutes is now a list of two values. The first applies when creating a new time stamp. The second applies when modifying a timestamp with S-up/down. The default for this new task is 5 minutes, but 15 may also be a very good value for many people. If S-up/down is used on a time stamp where the minute part is not compatible with this granularity it will be made so. You can bypass this by using a prefix argument to exactly specify the number of minutes to shift.

  This was a proposal by Adam Spiers.

• New repeaters that shift a date relative to today, or that make sure that the next date is in the future. For example:

  ** TODO Call Father
     DEADLINE: <2008-02-10 Sun ++1w>
     Marking this DONE will shift the date by at least one week,
     but also by as many weeks as it takes to get this date into
     the future.  However, it stays on a Sunday, even if you called
     and marked it done on Saturday.
  ** TODO Check the batteries in the smoke detectors
     DEADLINE: <2005-11-01 Tue .+1m>
     Marking this DONE will shift the date to one month after
     today.
  

  Proposed by Wanrong Lin and Rainer Stengle.

• There is a new :link parameter for the clocktable. When set, the headlines listed in the table will be links to the original headlines.
• There is a new :content parameter that is passed to the writer function of the dynamic block. Use this parameter to pass the previous content of the block to the writer function, in case you want to make the outcome dependent on the previous content.

• New way to limit iCalendar export to the entries captured in an agenda view. This is done by "writing" the agenda view using `C-x C-w' to a file with extension .ics.

  This was a request by Kyle Sexton.

• Due to a popular revolt shortly after the 5.22 release, M-RET can again be used to split a line so that the rest of the line becomes the new heading. However, if you do this in a heading containing tags, the tags will stay in the old line.

  Customize the variable org-M-RET-may-split-line if you don't want this command to split a line in the middle. The same variable also influences line splitting in items and in tables.

• There are three new hooks:

  org-follow-link-hook: runs after following a link org-publish-before-export-hook: runs before export org-publish-after-export-hook: runs after export

There is now more control over which state changes are being logged in what way. Please read carefully the corresponding sections in the manual. Basically:

• The variable `org-log-done' has been simplified, it no longer influences logging state changes and clocking out.
• There is a new variable for triggering note-taking when clocking out an item: `org-log-note-clock-out'.
• Logging of state changes now has to be configured on a pre-keyword basis, either in `org-todo-keywords' or in the #+TODO in-buffer setting.
• These per-keyword settings allow more control. For example

   WAIT(w@)    Record a note when entering this state.
   WAIT(w!)    Record a timestamp when entering this state.
   WAIT(w@/!)  Recore a note when entering and timestamp
               when leaving this state.  This is great for
               getting a record when switching *back* from
                WAIT to TODO.
   WAIT(/!)    Record a timestamp when leaving this state.
               Here we not even define a fast access
               character, but just the logging stuff.
  

This was triggered by requests from Wanrong Lin and Bernt Hansen.

• M-RET no longer brakes a line in the middle, it will make a new line after the current or (if cursor is at the beginning of the line) before the current line.
• RET, when executed in a headline after the main text and before the tags will leave the tags in the current line and create a new line below the current one.

• The use of prefix arguments for the commands `org-remember' and `org-refile' has been normalized.
• The clock can now safely be used in a remember buffer.
• The variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive' introduced only in 5.19 is already obsolete. Please use `org-remember-interactive-interface' instead.
• It is no longer necessary to update the refiling targets.
• Automatic isearch in `org-goto'.
• Outline-path-completion as alternative org-goto interface.

• Checkboxes now work hierarchically.
• `C-k' can now behave specially in headlines.
• Repeater for tasks in plain timestamps.
• All clock intervals of an item show in agenda/timeline.
• New parameter :step for clocktable, to get daily reports.
• Never loose a repeaded scheduled item from the agenda.
• Archiving a subtree now stores the outline path in a property.
• Links to messages in Apple Mail.
• Bug fixes.

• The use of prefix arguments for the commands `org-remember' and `org-refile' has been normalized:
  • when called without prefix argument, the command does its normal job, starting a remember note or refiling a tree.
  • when called with a single C-u prefix, these commands can be used to select a target location and to jump there. In the case of `org-remember', you will be prompted for a template and then Emacs jumps to the default target location or this template. In the case of `org-refile', you select a location from the refile target list and jump there.
  • when called with two prefixes (`C-u C-u'), the command jumps to the location last used for storing a note or a moved tree.
• When the clock is running inside an remember buffer, storing the remember buffer with `C-c C-c' will automatically clock out. This was inspired by a request by Rainer Stengle.
• The variable `org-remember-use-refile-when-interactive' introduced only in 5.19 is already obsolete. Please use `org-remember-interactive-interface' instead. This new variable does select the interface that is used to select the target for a remember note in an interactive way. Possible values are:
  • `outline': Use an outline of the document to select a location.
  • `outline-path-completion': Use completion of an outline path to select a location.
  • `refile': Offer the `org-refile-targets' as possible targets.
• It is no longer necessary to update the refiling targets - they are always current.
• In `org-goto', typing characters now automatically starts isearch from the beginning of the buffer. The isearch is special also because it only matches in headline. This goes some way toward saving org-goto from being removed from Org-mode. Thanks to Piotr Zielinski for the code, and sorry that it took me so long to put it in. If you prefer to use single letters n,p,f,b,u,q for navigation as before, configure the variable `org-goto-auto-isearch'.
• Outline-path-completion is now available as an alternative interface in the command `org-goto'. Please select the default interface you'd like to use with the new variable `org-goto-interface'. You can then select the alternative interface with a prefix argument to `C-c C-j' (org-goto). I am considering to make outline-path-completion the default interface. Comments?

• Checkboxes now work hierarchically. When a plain-list item with a checkbox has children with checkboxes, the status of the item's checkbox is calculated from the children, each time a checkbox is toggled with C-c C-c. Thanks to Miguel A. Figueroa-Villanueva for a patch to this effect.
• There is a new variable `org-special-ctrl-k'. When set, `C-k' will behave specially in headlines:
  • When the cursor is at the beginning of a headline, kill the entire line and possible the folded subtree below the line.
  • When in the middle of the headline text, kill the headline up to the tags.
  • When after the headline text, kill the tags.

  This is following a proposal by Piotr Zielinski.

• You can now also have a plain (as opposed to deadline or scheduled) repeater timestamp in a task. Switching the task to DONE will now also shift a plain time stamp. This was a request by Austin Frank.
• If an entry is clocked multiple times, it will now show up several times in the agenda and timeline buffers, when log-mode is on. This was a proposal by Jurgen Defurne.
• The clock table accepts a new parameter :step. This parameter can be `day' or `week' and will result in separate tables for each day or week in the requested time interval. This was triggered by a proposal by Sacha Chua in her blog.
• A time-stamp with a repeater now no longer refers to the date closest to the current day. Instead, it means either today or the most recent match. This change makes sure that overdue scheduled or deadline items never disappear from the agenda. With the previous convention, an overdue scheduled item would disappear. For example, a weekly item scheduled for Sunday would appear as overdue until Wednesday, and the suddenly disappear until next Sunday. Now the item will show up as "Sched 7x" on Saturday. From Sunday on it will be in the list as "Scheduled", i.e. old sins will be forgiven. This follows a request by Warong, Dennis and Bernt.
• Archiving a subtree now creates an additional property, ARCHIVE_OLPATH. This property contains the "path" in the outline tree to the archived entry, as it was in the original file. For example, archiving Fix the door in the following hierarchy

   * Tasks
   ** HOME
   *** Garage
   **** Fix the door
  

  will file is with the following property

   :ARCHIVE_PATH: Task/HOME/Garage
  

  Note that you can configure (i.e. limit) the information that gets stored upon archiving with the variable `org-archive-save-context-info'.

• New file `org-mac-message.el' by John Wiegley to create links for messages in Apple Mail, and to follow these links.
• Bug fixes.

• When cutting, pasting, or moving subtrees and items, the empty lines before the subtree/item now belong to the part and will be moved with it. There is one exception to this rule: If the first child is moved down (or, equivalently, the second is moved up), the amount of empty lines above the first child to be moved along with it is limited by the number of empty lines below it. This sounds complicated, but it allows to have extra empty space before the first child and still have good behavior of the subtree motion commands.
• Plain lists items work the same.

I believe we have finally nailed this one. Thanks to Daniel Pittman for bring this up again and to Eric Schulte for pointing out that it is the empty lines before an entry that really count.

This change was non-trivial, please give it a good test and let me know about any problems.

• The new command `org-remember-goto-last-stored' will jump to the location of the remember note stored most recently. If you have `org-remember' on a key like `C-c r', then you can go to the location with a double prefix arg: `C-u C-u C-c r'. This was a proposal by Rainer Stengele.
• Template items that are being prompted for can now specify a default value and a completion table. Furthermore, previous inputs at a specific prompt are captured in a history variable. For example:

   %^{Author|Roald Dahl|Thomas Mann|Larry Niven}
  

  will prompt for an author name. Pressing RET without typing anything will select "Roald Dahl". Completion will give you any of the three names. And a history will be kept, so you can use the arrow keys to get to previous input. The history is tied to the prompt. By using the same prompt in different templates, you can build a history across templates. The ideas for this came from proposals by Bastien and Adam.

• When a remember template contains the string `%!', the note will be stored immediately after all template parts have been filled in, so you don't even have to press `C-c C-c'. The was a proposal by Adam Spiers.

• `org-refile-targets' has a new parameter to specify a maximum level for target selection. Thanks to Wanrong Lin for this proposal.
• When the new option `org-refile-use-outline-path' is set, refile targets will be presented like a file path to the completion interface: "level 1/level 2/level 3". This may be the fastest interface yet to get to a certain outline entry. Do we need to use this interface in other places? Thanks to Jose Ruiz for this proposal.

You can now permanently lock the agenda construction to a certain scope, like a file or a subtree. So instead of pressing "<" for each command in the agenda dispatcher, you only once select a restriction scope. All subsequent agenda commands will than respect this restriction. For example, you can use this at work, to limit agendas to your work file or tree, and at home to limit to the home file or tree. Or you can use it during the day in order to focus in on certain projects.

You select a scope with the command `C-c C-x <', which restricts to the current subtree. When called with a `C-u' prefix, the restriction is to the current file. You can also make restrictions from the speedbar frame, see below.

When making a new restriction and an agenda window is currently visible, it will immediately be updated to reflect the new scope. If you like you can display an agenda view and then watch it change in various scopes.

To get rid of the restriction, use the command "C-c C-x >". Or press ">" in the agenda dispatcher. Also, and use of "<" in the dispatcher will disable the restriction lock and select a new restriction.

Thanks to Rick Moynihan for triggering this development.

• Org-mode now supports Imenu. For example, with the setting

   (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 
      (lambda () 'imenu-add-to-menubar "Imenu"))
  

  a menu will be created in each Org-mode buffer that provides access to all level 1 and level 2 headings. The depth of the menu can be set with the variable `org-imenu-depth'.

• org-mode now supports Speedbar. This means that you can drill into the first and second level headlines of an Org-mode file right from the speedbar frame.
• You can set a restriction lock for the Org-mode agenda to a file or a subtree directly from the speedbar frame. Just press "<" with the cursor on an Org-mode file or subtree to set the lock and immediately update the agenda if it is visible. Use ">" to get rid of the lock again.

• New command `org-refile' to quickly move a note to a different place. It is bound to `C-c C-w'. The foremost application might be to put a note or task captured with `remember' into the proper list or project. The command offers a list of possible refiling targets for completion. These are headings under which the entry will be inserted as a subitem. By default, this will offer all top-level headings in the current buffer, but you can configure the variable `org-refile-targets' to get more complex definitions. For example:

   (setq org-refile-targets '((nil . (:level . 2))))
  

  selects all level 2 headlines in the current buffer as targets. And

   (setq org-refile-targets
        '((org-agenda-files . (:tag . "refile"))))
  

  searches all agenda files and selects headlines that are explicitly marked with the tag :refile: . Note that the list of targets is built upon first use only, to rebuilt it, call the command `C-c C-w' with a double prefix argument.

  This is based on an idea and example implementation by Max Mikhanosha. Many thanks Max.

• You can now use a C-u prefix on `org-remember' to jump to the location where a specific templates stores its notes. For example, if you have `org-remember' bound to `C-c r', then `C-u C-c r n' will get you to the file and headline given in the template associated with the letter "n".

  This was proposed by someone, but I have lost track who. Sorry, and thanks anyway.

• New %-escapes in remember templates:

   %c     insert the current clipboard, like C-y would do
   %(..)  evaluate Lisp expression and insert the result
   %[..]  include file
  

  Thanks to Adam Spiers and Tim O'Callaghan.

• New function `org-remember-insinuate' that makes is easier to set Org-mode specific values for remember variables. Thanks to Michael Olson for this proposal. It is equivalent to:

   (require 'remember)
   (setq remember-annotation-functions '(org-remember-annotation))
   (setq remember-handler-functions '(org-remember-handler))
   (add-hook 'remember-mode-hook 'org-remember-apply-template))
  

  You might still want to set `org-default-notes-file' to provide a default for templates without a file, and `org-directory' to show where to find other org files.

• Stacked emphasis like */bold italic/* is no longer allowed.
• You may finally emphasize a single character like *a*.
• Font-lock now can hide the emphasis markers, just like Muse does. Configure the variable `org-hide-emphasis-markers' if you want this. Showing the characters continues to be the default in Org-mode.
• Text in the "=" emphasis is now exported verbatim, i.e. no further parsing and interpretation of this text takes place. So you can write =quoted *xxx* a_x = b=. This and the following point implement a request by Daniel Clemente.
• There is a new emphasis marker "~" which marks text to be exported verbatim, without special formatting. Inside an org-mode file, this text is highlighted with the org-verbatim face. I am not happy with the face yet (currently is is like org-code, but underlined), please suggest a better one.
• Whether an emphasis environment is verbatim or not is now an extra flag in the variable `org-emphasis-alist'. If you have configured this variable, do it again by first canceling your customization to revert to the default, and then adding it again.
• New variable `org-highlight-latex-fragments-and-specials'. When turned on, Org-mode will highlight all strings that are treated in a special way by the exporters. This is great for export-oriented writing, but maybe a bit noisy for note taking, so this feature is off by default.

• `org-use-property-inheritance' may now also be a list of property names that should be treated with inheritance during searches.
• CATEGORY="work" can now be used in a tags/property search, even if the category is not specified as a property in the entry, but rather is inherited or derived from #+CATEGORY. Thanks to Adam, Tim, and Bastien for an interesting discussion around this issue.
• Summary type improvements in column view.
  • The {+} summary type can specify a printf-style output format for computed values like this: {+;%5.2f} This was triggered by a report by Levin.
  • New currency summary type {$}, which so far is just a shorthand for {+;%.2f}. Do we need to have a currency symbol in front of each value. Scott Jaderholm asked for this, but I am not sure if this is already what he meant.

There have been several small but very useful additions to the date prompt.

• While entering data at the date prompt, the current interpretation of your input is shown next to your input in the minibuffer. I find this great to understand how the input works. If you find the extra stuff in the minibuffer annoying, turn it off with `org-read-date-display-live'.
• The date prompt now prefers to select the future. If you enter a date without a month, and the day number is before today (for example, on the 16th of the month you enter "9"), Org-mode will assume next month. Similarly, if you enter a month and no year, next year will be assumed if the entered month is before the current, for example if you enter "May" in September. Thanks to John Rakestraw for this great suggestion. If you find it confusing, turn it off with `org-read-date-prefer-future'.
• When modifying an existing date using `C-c .' at the stamp, the time or time range in the stamp are now offered as default input at the prompt. This goes a long way to simplifying the modification of an existing date. Thanks to Adam Spiers for this proposal.

• You can now export special strings in HTML. Here is the list of newly performed conversions:

  Org	Description	HTML
  \\-	double backslash followed by minus	­
  --	two dashes (minuses)	–
  ---	three dashes (minuses)	—
  ...	three dots	…

  You can turn this globally on or off with `org-export-with-special-strings' or locally with "-:t" or "-:nil" in the #+OPTIONS line. Thanks to Adam Spiers for starting the discussion, and thanks to Daniel Clemente and William Henney for relevant inputs.

• Comma-separated emails in #+EMAIL: are correctly exported. Thanks to Raman for pointing out this omission.

• In the agenda, a few keys have changed

   g  does now the same a "r", refresh current display,
      because "g" is the Emacs standard for "refresh"
   G  toggle the time grid, used to be "g"
   e  Execute another agenda command, pretty much the same as
      `C-c a', but shorter and keep the same agenda window.
  

• You can now select the sectioning structure of your LaTeX export by setting it either globally (`org-export-latex-default-class') or locally in each Org file (with #+LaTeX_CLASS: myclass). You can also customize the list of available classes and their sectioning structures through the new `org-export-latex-classes' option. Thanks to Daniel for discussions and suggestion on this issue.
• You can send and receive radio lists in HTML, LaTeX or TeXInfo, just as you send and receive radio tables. Check the documentation for details and examples.
• The default for `org-ellipsis' is back to nil, some people seem to have had problems with the face as a default.
• Support for pabbrev-mode, needs pabbrev version 1.1. Thanks to Phillip Lord for adapting his package to make this possible.
• New variable `org-show-entry-below' to force context-showing commands to expose the body of a headline that is being shown. Thanks to Harald Weis for pointing out this omission.

• All the bugs described by Scott Jaderholm have been fixed (at least I hope so…).
• You can now capture a column view into a dynamic block, for exporting or printing it. The column view can be
  • global, i.e. for the entire file
  • local, i.e. for the subtree where the dynamic block is
  • from an entry with a specific :ID: property.

  You can identify the entry whose column view you want to capture by assigning an :ID: property, and use that property in the dynamic block definition. For example:

   * Planning
     :PROPERTIES:
       :ID: planning-overview
     :END:
  
   [...]
  
   * The column view
   #+BEGIN: columnview :hlines 1 :id "planning-overview"
  
   #+END:
  

  Use `C-c C-x r' to insert such a dynamic block, and you will be prompted for the ID.

• When the current column format displays TODO keyword, priority or tags, these parts are stripped from the content of the ITEM column, making for more compact and readable entries. When any of these "properties" are not listed in the current column format, they are instead retained in the ITEM column.
• You can now also edit the ITEM column with `e'.

• Instead of pressing `1' to restrict an agenda command to the current buffer, or `0' to restrict it to the current subtree or region, you can now also press `<' once or twice, respectively. This frees up `1' and `0' for user commands, a request by Bastien. In fact, "<" cycles through different restriction states. "1" and "0" are still available for backward compatibility, until you bind them to custom commands.
• The access code to custom agenda commands can now contain several characters, effectively allowing to bundle several similar commands into a sub-keymap. This follows an excellent proposal by Adam Spiers. For example:

   (setq org-agenda-custom-commands
     '(("h" . "HOME + Name tag searches") ; describe prefix "h"
       ("hl" tags "+HOME+Lisa")
       ("hp" tags "+HOME+Peter")
       ("hk" tags "+HOME+Kim")))
  

• The user function option in org-agenda-custom-commands may now also be a lambda expression, following a request by Adam Spiers.

We are using a new routine for sorting entries, courtesy of John Wiegley. Many thanks to John.

• You can define your own function to extract a sorting key and in this way sort entries by anything you like.
• Entries can now be sorted according to the value of a property.
• Plain lists can be sorted.

There is now a <div>-based structure in exported HTML.

• The table of context is wrapped into a div with a class "table-of-contents".
• The outline structure is embedded in <div> elements with classes "outline-1", "outline-2" etc.
• The postamble, containing the author information and the date is wrapped into a div with class "postamble".

I am not sure if the class names are the best choice, let me know if there are more "canonical" choices.

Thanks to Mike Newman and Cezar for input, and in particular to Mike for his clearly formulated specification.

• New variable `org-agenda-window-frame-fractions' to customize the size limits of the agenda window in the case that you display the agenda window by reorganizing the frame.
• Drawers can be set on a per-file basis using

   #+DRAWERS: HIDDEN STATE PROPERTIES
  

  This will define the drawers :HIDDEN: and :STATE:. The :PROPERTY: drawer should always be part of this list, or your properties will not be folded away. Thanks to Richard G. Riley for this proposal.

• `org-agenda-fontify-priorities' may now also be an association list of priorities and faces, to specify the faces of priorities in the agenda individually.
• The variable `org-export-with-property-drawer' no longer exists, please use `org-export-with-drawers' instead. Also, the corresponding switch in the #+OPTIONS line has changed from "p" to "d". Thanks to Bastien for pointing out that we needed to handle not only the property drawer.
• M-up and M-down now move the current line up and down (if not at a headline, item or table). Among other things you can use this to re-order properties in the drawer. This was a proposal by Bastien.
• New variable `org-agenda-todo-ignore-with-date', based on a request by Wanrong Lin.
• Aborting remember template selection with C-g now kills the remember buffer and restores the old window configuration. This was a request by Nuutti Kotivuori.