A timestamp may be preceded by special keywords to facilitate planning:
org-deadline)Insert ‘DEADLINE’ keyword along with a time stamp, in the line following the headline.
Meaning: the task—most likely a TODO item, though not necessarily—is supposed to be finished on that date.
On the deadline date, the task is listed in the agenda. In
addition, the agenda for today carries a warning about the
approaching or missed deadline, starting org-deadline-warning-days
before the due date, and continuing until the entry is marked as
done. An example:
*** TODO write article about the Earth for the Guide
DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun>
The editor in charge is [[bbdb:Ford Prefect]]
org-schedule)Insert ‘SCHEDULED’ keyword along with a stamp, in the line following the headline.
Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date7.
The headline is listed under the given date8. In addition, a reminder that the scheduled date has passed is present in the compilation for today, until the entry is marked as done, i.e., the task is automatically 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 timestamps. 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.
This is quite different from what is normally understood by scheduling a meeting, which is done in Org by just inserting a time stamp without keyword.
It will still be listed on that date after it has been marked
as done. If you do not like this, set the variable
org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done.