Bastien's Worg page

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Here I store thoughts and code about Org, along with links to some tutorials I wrote.

Table of Contents

Webpages published with Org

Tutorials

Remarks on "What makes a good GTD list manager?"

I've read this inspiring article by Kelly Forrister: "What makes a good GTD list manager?" Let's see how Org-mode qualifies: 

Sorting lists by context - many programs have a "category" feature that
will easily support this.

Yes. Sorting by contexts is at heart of Org-mode, and can be implemented in various ways. Context can be set as a tag, a category, or any other property of an item: you can then easily narrow your org file to a view where only selected tags are presented, or define an agenda view to only present what is relevant to the context. 

Ability to assign a due date - not forcing it on all of them, but allowing
it for those that need it.

C-c C-d assigns a due date in org-mode buffers or in agenda views. You can also select several items in an agenda view and change the due date of all of them in one keystroke. 

Portable for on the go access - can be synched to a handheld or printed.

Check MobileOrg – both for Android and iPhone. 

Easily accessible - less than 60 seconds to get something in/out.

Emacs starts quite fast these days. So I guess the 60 seconds test is okay with Org. 

More attractive to you than repelling - you've got to like the system
you're entrusting your brain to.

Subjective, of course, but I like Org. 

Doesn't force priority codes - if you know GTD, you know that forcing
priority codes is old news and rarely accurate anyway.

Org doesn't force anything. Priority codes are easy to add and remove, and it's easy to sort agenda view (or items in a subtree) depending on priority cookies, but you're not forced to. 

Place to capture additional notes - attached to an item to capture relevant
info related to the item.

Check out C-c C-z to add a note to an item from an org-mode buffer (org-add-note) or from an agenda view (org-agenda-add-note). This comes as a complement to the general org-capture mechanism (see the manual). Notes can also be added depending on the TODO state change: check org-log-* variables: check the summary of in-buffer settings and the family of logdone, lognotedone, ... options. 

Ability to search and sort in various ways.

Well, it's so central in Org it doesn't really need a comment. Only check out this great documentation page by Matt Lundin. 

Robust enough to handle all of your stuff.

Org is as robust as any plain text file. Do this qualify? :)

My configuration

Here is my Org configuration.

Agenda variables

VariableValueWhy?
org-agenda-file-regexp"\\.org\\'"
org-agenda-files'("~/org/bzg.org" "~/install/git/Worg/worg-todo.org")
org-agenda-include-diarynilI don't use the diary anymore
org-agenda-remove-tagstDon't clutter the agenda view
org-agenda-restore-windows-after-quittI think this should be the default
org-agenda-skip-deadline-if-donet
org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-donet
org-agenda-skip-timestamp-if-donet
org-agenda-sorting-strategy'((agenda time-up priority-down category-keep) (todo priority-down category-keep) (tags priority-down category-keep) (search category-keep))
org-agenda-start-on-weekday1Week starts on monday, right?
org-combined-agenda-icalendar-file"~/org/org.ics"I want to use a single file
org-deadline-warning-days7
org-icalendar-include-todo'all
org-stuck-projects'("+LEVEL=1" ("NEXT" "TODO" "DONE"))
org-scheduled-past-days100
 
(setq org-agenda-custom-commands
      '(;; Daily agenda view
        (" " "Today" agenda "List of tasks for today" 
         ((org-agenda-ndays 1)
          (org-deadline-warning-days 3)
          (org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))

        ;; Everything that has a NEXT keyword
        ("," . "NEXT")
        (",," tags-todo "Status={Work}/NEXT" nil)
        (",!" tags-todo "-Status={Work}/NEXT" nil)
        (",+" tags-todo "Status={Leisure}/NEXT" nil)
        (",?" tags-todo "Status={GTD}/NEXT" nil)
        (",#" tags-todo "Status={WOT}/NEXT" nil)
        (",*" todo "NEXT" nil)

        ;; Everything that has a TODO keyword
        (";" . "TODO")
        (";;" tags-todo "Status={Work}/TODO" nil)
        (";!" tags-todo "-Status={Work}/TODO" nil)
        (";+" tags-todo "Status={Leisure}/TODO" nil)
        (";?" tags-todo "Status={GTD}/TODO" nil)
        (";#" tags-todo "Status={WOT}/TODO" nil)
        (";*" todo "TODO" nil)

        ;; Everything that has a NEXT or a TODO keyword
        ("." . "NEXT|TODO")
        (".." tags-todo "Status={Work}/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        (".!" tags-todo "-Status={Work}/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        (".+" tags-todo "Status={Leisure}/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        (".?" tags-todo "Status={GTD}/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        (".#" tags-todo "Status={WOT}/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        (".*" todo "NEXT|TODO" nil)

        ;; Everything that is in progress
        (":" . "In progress")
        ("::" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}Status={Work}")
        (":!" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}-Status={Work}")
        (":+" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}+Status={Leisure}")
        (":?" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}+Status={GTD}")
        (":#" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}+Status={WOT}")
        (":*" tags-todo "+Progress={[0-9]+%}"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))

        ;; Everything that has a "Read" tag
        ("R" tags-todo "Status={Work}+Read/NEXT" ; shortcut for `C-c a r ,'
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down effort-up))))
        ("r" . "Read")
        ("rr" tags-todo "Status={Work}+Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r." tags-todo "Read/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        ("r," tags-todo "Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r;" tags-todo "Read/TODO" nil)
        ("r:" tags "+Progress={[0-9]+%}+Read" nil)
        ("r!" tags-todo "-Status={Work}+Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r+" tags-todo "+Status={Leisure}+Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r?" tags-todo "+Status={GTD}+Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r#" tags-todo "+Status={WOT}+Read/NEXT" nil)
        ("r*" tags "Read"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
;;      ("r_" tags "Read+LEVEL<3" nil)
        ("rF" tags "+Read+@Offline" nil)
        ("r@" tags "+Read+Mail" nil)

        ;; Everything that has a "Write" tag
        ("W" tags-todo "Status={Work}+Write/NEXT"  ; shortcut for `C-c a w ,'
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down effort-up))))
        ("w" . "Write")
        ("ww" tags-todo "Status={Work}+Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("w." tags-todo "Write/NEXT|TODO" nil)
        ("w," tags-todo "Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("w;" tags-todo "Write/TODO" nil)
        ("w:" tags "+Progress={[0-9]+%}+Write" nil)
        ("w!" tags-todo "-Status={Work}+Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("w+" tags-todo "+Status={Leisure}+Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("w?" tags-todo "+Status={GTD}+Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("w#" tags-todo "+Status={WOT}+Write/NEXT" nil)
        ("wo" tags "+Write+@Online" nil)
        ("w@" tags "+Write+Mail" nil)
        ("w*" tags "Write" 
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))

        ;; Working on bugs
        ("b" . "Bug")
        ("bb" tags-todo "+Bug"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("b," tags-todo "+Bug/NEXT"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("b." tags-todo "+Bug/NEXT|TODO"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("b;" tags-todo "+Bug/TODO"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("b:" tags-todo "+Bug+Progress={[0-9]+%}"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))

        ;; Working on code
        ("$" . "Code")
        ("$$" tags-todo "+Code"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("$," tags-todo "+Code/NEXT"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("$." tags-todo "+Code/NEXT|TODO"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("$;" tags-todo "+Code/TODO"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("$:" tags-todo "+Code+Progress={[0-9]+%}"
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))

        ;; Others contexts
        ("F" tags "@Offline" 
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("p" tags "Print" 
         ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("?" todo "WAITING")
        ("D" todo "DELEGATED")
        ("v" tags "Watch" ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("g" tags "Blog" ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("l" tags "Listen" ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down))))
        ("@" tags "Mail" ((org-agenda-sorting-strategy '(time-up todo-state-up priority-down)))) ;; necessary?
        ))

Export variables

VariableValueWhy?
org-export-default-language"fr"Nobody's perfect
org-export-highlight-first-table-linet
org-export-html-extension"php"I use this for my website
org-export-html-style""
org-export-html-style-default""
org-export-html-with-timestampt
org-export-skip-text-before-1st-headingnil
org-export-with-LaTeX-fragmentst
org-export-with-archived-treesnil
org-export-with-drawers'("HIDE")
org-export-with-section-numbersnil
org-export-with-sub-superscripts'{}
org-export-with-tags'not-in-toc
org-export-with-timestampst
 
(setq org-publish-project-alist
      '(
        ("homepage"
         :base-directory "~/org/homepage/"
         :base-extension "org"
         :publishing-directory "/home/guerry/public_html/org/homepage/"
         :publishing-function org-publish-org-to-html
         :section-numbers nil
         :table-of-contents nil
         :style "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"u/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
         :auto-preamble t
         :auto-postamble nil
         :xml_declaration "<?php echo '<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"%s\"?>'; ?>")
        ("homepage_articles"
         :base-directory "~/org/homepage/articles/"
         :base-extension "org"
         :publishing-directory "/home/guerry/public_html/org/homepage/articles/"
         :publishing-function org-publish-org-to-html
         :section-numbers nil
         :table-of-contents nil
         :style "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"../u/org.css\" type=\"text/css\" />"
         :auto-preamble t
         :auto-postamble nil
         :xml_declaration "<?php echo '<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"%s\"?>'; ?>")))

Tags / TODO / Remember / Logging

VariableValueWhy?
org-fast-tag-selection-single-key'expertGood to be an expert somewhere
org-tag-alist'(("Read" . ?r) ("Write" . ?w) ("Watch" . ?v) ("Blog" . ?g) ("Listen" . ?l) ("Code" . ?c) ("Bug" . ?b) ("@HOME" . ?H) ("@LAB" . ?L) ("@Online" . ?O) ("@Offline" . ?F) ("Mail" . ?m) ("Print" . ?p))
org-tags-column-74
org-tags-match-list-sublevelst
org-todo-keywords'((type "NEXT" "TODO" "WAITING" " " "DONE" "DELEGATED" "CANCELED"))
org-use-fast-todo-selectiont
org-use-property-inheritancet
org-use-tag-inheritancet
org-log-into-drawert
org-log-note-headings'((done . "CLOSING NOTE %t") (state . "State %-12s %t") (clock-out . ""))
org-remember-default-headline"Notes"
org-remember-store-without-promptt
 
(setq org-remember-templates 
      '(; caps are for projects I'm active on
        ("Eyrolles" ?E "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Eyrolles" nil)
        ("UID" ?U "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "UID" nil)
        ("Webmaster" ?W "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Webmaster" nil)
        ("OLPC" ?O "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "OLPC" nil)
        ; small letters for other projects:
        ("Parkway" ?p "* TODO %a\n\n%i%!" "~/org/bzg.org" "Parkway" nil)
        ("Basement" ?b "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Basement" nil)
        ("Garden" ?g "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Garden" nil)
        ("Attic" ?a "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Attic" nil)
        ("Emacs" ?e "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Emacs" nil)
        ("Infos" ?i "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?%!" "~/org/bzg.org" "Infos" nil)
        ("Compas" ?c "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Compas" nil)
        ("ITIC" ?t "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "ITIC" nil)
        ("WikiProf" ?w "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Wikiprof" nil)
        ("Org" ?o "* TODO %a\n\n%i%?" "~/org/bzg.org" "Org" nil)))

Other variables

VariableValueWhy?
org-confirm-elisp-link-functionnil
org-confirm-shell-link-functionnil
org-context-in-file-linkst
org-cycle-include-plain-listsnilAvoid confusion. Cycling is just for headlines
org-default-notes-file"~/org/notes.org"(I don't use this anyway…)
org-directory"~/org/"
org-drawers'("PROPERTIES" "CLOCK" "HIDE")I just added "HIDE" to the defaults.
org-ellipsisnil
org-email-link-description-format"%c: %.50s"%.50s is a bit too much perhaps
org-fontify-done-headlinet
org-fontify-emphasized-textt
org-footnote-define-inlinetI recommend reading more about Org footnotes
org-hide-emphasis-markersnilKeep Org plain text, no WYSIWYG.
org-link-frame-setup'((gnus . gnus) (file . find-file-other-window))
org-link-mailto-program'(browse-url-mail "mailto:%a?subject=%s")
org-priority-start-cycle-with-defaultnil
org-refile-targets'((org-agenda-files . (:maxlevel . 2)))
org-refile-use-outline-patht
org-return-follows-linkt
org-reverse-note-ordert
org-show-following-heading'((default nil) (occur-tree t))
org-show-hierarchy-above'((default nil) (occur-tree t))
org-show-hierarchy-above'((default nil) (tags-tree . t))
org-special-ctrl-a/e'reversed
org-special-ctrl-kt
 
(setq org-link-abbrev-alist
      '(("google"   . "http://www.google.com/search?q=%s")
        ("googledef" . "http://www.google.fr/search?q=define%3A%s")
        ("googlemap" . "http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=fr&q=%s&ie=UTF8&iwloc=addr&om=1")
        ("homepage"  . "http://www.cognition.ens.fr/~guerry/%s.html")
        ("delicious" . "http://delicious.com/tag/%s")
        ("mydelicious" . "http://delicious.com/bzg/%s")
        ("wpfr" . "http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s")
        ("wpen" . "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s")
        ("emacswiki" . "http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki?search=%s")))

Documentation from the http://orgmode.org/worg/ website (either in its HTML format or in its Org format) is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.3 or later. The code examples and css stylesheets are licensed under the GNU General Public License v3 or later.