8.3 Deadlines and scheduling

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

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

C-c C-d

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

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

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

SCHEDULED
Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date¹.

C-c C-s

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

The headline will be listed under the given date². In addition, a reminder that the scheduled date has passed will be present in the compilation for today, until the entry is marked DONE. I.e. the task will automatically be forwarded until completed.

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

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

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

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