The Compact Org-Mode Guide: by Carsten Dominik
The Compact Org-Mode Guide: by Carsten Dominik
by Carsten Dominik
Copyright
c 20102017 Free Software Foundation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections,
with the Front-Cover Texts being A GNU Manual, and with the Back-Cover
Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
GNU Free Documentation License in the full Org manual, which is distributed
together with the compact guide.
(a) The FSFs Back-Cover Text is: You have the freedom to copy and modify
this GNU manual.
i
Short Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Document Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4 Hyperlinks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5 TODO Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6 Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7 Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8 Dates and Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9 Capture - Refile - Archive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10 Agenda Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
11 Markup for rich export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
12 Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
13 Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
14 Working with source code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
15 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
A GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
1 Introduction
1.1 Preface
Org is a mode for keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, and doing project planning with
a fast and effective plain-text system. It is also an authoring and publishing system, and it
supports working with source code for literal programming and reproducible research.
This document is a much compressed derivative of the comprehensive Org-mode manual.
It contains all basic features and commands, along with important hints for customization.
It is intended for beginners who would shy back from a 200 page manual because of sheer
size.
1.2 Installation
Important: If you are using a version of Org that is part of the Emacs distribution, please
skip this section and go directly to Section 1.3 [Activation], page 1.
If you have downloaded Org from the Web, either as a distribution .zip or .tar file, or
as a Git archive, it is best to run it directly from the distribution directory. You need to
add the lisp subdirectories to the Emacs load path. To do this, add the following line to
.emacs:
(setq load-path (cons "~/path/to/orgdir/lisp" load-path))
(setq load-path (cons "~/path/to/orgdir/contrib/lisp" load-path))
If you have been using git or a tar ball to get Org, you need to run the following command
to generate autoload information. command:
make autoloads
1.3 Activation
Add the following lines to your .emacs file. The last four lines define global keys for some
commands please choose suitable keys yourself.
;; The following lines are always needed. Choose your own keys.
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
(global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
(global-set-key "\C-cc" 'org-capture)
(global-set-key "\C-cb" 'org-iswitchb)
Files with extension .org will be put into Org mode automatically.
1.4 Feedback
If you find problems with Org, or if you have questions, remarks, or ideas about it, please
mail to the Org mailing list [email protected]. For information on how to submit
bug reports, see the main manual.
Chapter 2: Document Structure 2
2 Document Structure
Org is based on Outline mode and provides flexible commands to edit the structure of the
document.
2.1 Outlines
Org is implemented on top of Outline mode. Outlines allow a document to be organized
in a hierarchical structure, which (at least for me) is the best representation of notes and
thoughts. An overview of this structure is achieved by folding (hiding) large parts of the
document to show only the general document structure and the parts currently being worked
on. Org greatly simplifies the use of outlines by compressing the entire show/hide function-
ality into a single command, org-cycle, which is bound to the TAB key.
2.2 Headlines
Headlines define the structure of an outline tree. The headlines in Org start with one or
more stars, on the left margin1 . For example:
* Top level headline
** Second level
*** 3rd level
some text
*** 3rd level
more text
1
See the variable org-special-ctrl-a/e to configure special behavior of C-a and C-e in headlines.
Chapter 2: Document Structure 3
2.4 Motion
The following commands jump to other headlines in the buffer.
C-c C-n Next heading.
C-c C-p Previous heading.
C-c C-f Next heading same level.
C-c C-b Previous heading same level.
C-c C-u Backward to higher level heading.
2
If you do not want the line to be split, customize the variable org-M-RET-may-split-line.
Chapter 2: Document Structure 4
3
See also the variable org-show-context-detail to decide how much context is shown around each match.
Chapter 2: Document Structure 5
M-S-up/down
Move the item including subitems up/down (swap with previous/next item of
same indentation). If the list is ordered, renumbering is automatic.
M-left/M-right
Decrease/increase the indentation of an item, leaving children alone.
M-S-left/right
Decrease/increase the indentation of the item, including subitems.
C-c C-c If there is a checkbox (see Section 5.6 [Checkboxes], page 12) in the item line,
toggle the state of the checkbox. Also verify bullets and indentation consistency
in the whole list.
C-c - Cycle the entire list level through the different itemize/enumerate bullets (-,
+, *, 1., 1)).
2.8 Footnotes
A footnote is defined in a paragraph that is started by a footnote marker in square brackets
in column 0, no indentation allowed. The footnote reference is simply the marker in square
brackets, inside text. For example:
The Org homepage[fn:1] now looks a lot better than it used to.
...
[fn:1] The link is: http://orgmode.org
The following commands handle footnotes:
C-c C-x f The footnote action command. When the cursor is on a footnote reference,
jump to the definition. When it is at a definition, jump to the (first) reference.
Otherwise, create a new footnote. When this command is called with a prefix
argument, a menu of additional options including renumbering is offered.
C-c C-c Jump between definition and reference.
Further reading
Chapter 2 of the manual
Sacha Chuas tutorial
Chapter 3: Tables 6
3 Tables
Org comes with a fast and intuitive table editor. Spreadsheet-like calculations are supported
in connection with the Emacs calc package (see the Emacs Calculator manual for more
information about the Emacs calculator).
Org makes it easy to format tables in plain ASCII. Any line with | as the first non-
whitespace character is considered part of a table. | is also the column separator. A table
might look like this:
| Name | Phone | Age |
|-------+-------+-----|
| Peter | 1234 | 17 |
| Anna | 4321 | 25 |
A table is re-aligned automatically each time you press TAB or RET or C-c C-c inside the
table. TAB also moves to the next field (RET to the next row) and creates new table rows
at the end of the table or before horizontal lines. The indentation of the table is set by the
first line. Any line starting with |- is considered as a horizontal separator line and will be
expanded on the next re-align to span the whole table width. So, to create the above table,
you would only type
|Name|Phone|Age|
|-
and then press TAB to align the table and start filling in fields. Even faster would be to
type |Name|Phone|Age followed by C-c RET.
When typing text into a field, Org treats DEL, Backspace, and all character keys in a
special way, so that inserting and deleting avoids shifting other fields. Also, when typing
immediately after the cursor was moved into a new field with TAB, S-TAB or RET, the field
is automatically made blank.
Creation and conversion
C-c | Convert the active region to table. If every line contains at least one TAB
character, the function assumes that the material is tab separated. If every line
contains a comma, comma-separated values (CSV) are assumed. If not, lines
are split at whitespace into fields.
If there is no active region, this command creates an empty Org table. But its
easier just to start typing, like |Name|Phone|Age C-c RET.
Re-aligning and field motion
C-c C-c Re-align the table without moving the cursor.
TAB Re-align the table, move to the next field. Creates a new row if necessary.
S-TAB Re-align, move to previous field.
RET Re-align the table and move down to next row. Creates a new row if necessary.
Column and row editing
M-left
M-right Move the current column left/right.
M-S-left Kill the current column.
M-S-right
Insert a new column to the left of the cursor position.
Chapter 3: Tables 7
M-up
M-down Move the current row up/down.
M-S-up Kill the current row or horizontal line.
M-S-down Insert a new row above the current row. With a prefix argument, the line is
created below the current one.
C-c - Insert a horizontal line below current row. With a prefix argument, the line is
created above the current line.
C-c RET Insert a horizontal line below current row, and move the cursor into the row
below that line.
C-c ^ Sort the table lines in the region. The position of point indicates the column
to be used for sorting, and the range of lines is the range between the nearest
horizontal separator lines, or the entire table.
Further reading
Chapter 3 of the manual
Bastiens table tutorial
Bastiens spreadsheet tutorial
Erics plotting tutorial
Chapter 4: Hyperlinks 8
4 Hyperlinks
Like HTML, Org provides links inside a file, external links to other files, Usenet articles,
emails, and much more.
[[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/][GNU Emacs]]
If the description is a file name or URL that points to an image, HTML export (see
Section 12.4 [HTML export], page 29) will inline the image as a clickable button. If there
is no description at all and the link points to an image, that image will be inlined into the
exported HTML file.
5 TODO Items
Org mode does not require TODO lists to live in separate documents. Instead, TODO items
are part of a notes file, because TODO items usually come up while taking notes! With Org
mode, simply mark any entry in a tree as being a TODO item. In this way, information is
not duplicated, and TODO items remain in the context from which they emerged.
Org mode providing methods to give you an overview of all the things that you have to
do, collected from many files.
The keywords should all be different, this helps Org mode to keep track of which sub-
sequence should be used for a given entry. The example also shows how to define keys for
fast access of a particular state, by adding a letter in parenthesis after each keywordyou
will be prompted for the key after C-c C-t.
To define TODO keywords that are valid only in a single file, use the following text
anywhere in the file.
#+TODO: TODO(t) | DONE(d)
#+TODO: REPORT(r) BUG(b) KNOWNCAUSE(k) | FIXED(f)
#+TODO: | CANCELED(c)
After changing one of these lines, use C-c C-c with the cursor still in the line to make
the changes known to Org mode.
Closing items
The most basic logging is to keep track of when a certain TODO item was finished. This is
achieved with1 .
(setq org-log-done 'time)
Then each time you turn an entry from a TODO (not-done) state into any of the DONE
states, a line CLOSED: [timestamp] will be inserted just after the headline. If you want
to record a note along with the timestamp, use2
(setq org-log-done 'note)
You will then be prompted for a note, and that note will be stored below the entry with a
Closing Note heading.
5.4 Priorities
If you use Org mode extensively, you may end up with enough TODO items that it starts
to make sense to prioritize them. Prioritizing can be done by placing a priority cookie into
the headline of a TODO item, like this
*** TODO [#A] Write letter to Sam Fortune
Org mode supports three priorities: A, B, and C. A is the highest, B the default if
none is given. Priorities make a difference only in the agenda.
C-c , Set the priority of the current headline. Press A, B or C to select a priority,
or SPC to remove the cookie.
S-up/dwn Increase/decrease priority of current headline
5.6 Checkboxes
Every item in a plain list (see Section 2.7 [Plain lists], page 4) can be made into a checkbox
by starting it with the string [ ]. Checkboxes are not included in the global TODO list,
so they are often great to split a task into a number of simple steps. Here is an example of
a checkbox list.
* TODO Organize party [1/3]
- [-] call people [1/2]
- [ ] Peter
- [X] Sarah
- [X] order food
Checkboxes work hierarchically, so if a checkbox item has children that are checkboxes,
toggling one of the children checkboxes will make the parent checkbox reflect if none, some,
or all of the children are checked.
The following commands work with checkboxes:
C-c C-c Toggle checkbox status or (with prefix arg) checkbox presence at point.
M-S-RET Insert a new item with a checkbox. This works only if the cursor is already in
a plain list item (see Section 2.7 [Plain lists], page 4).
Further reading
Chapter 5 of the manual
David OTooles introductory tutorial
Charles Caves GTD setup
Chapter 6: Tags 13
6 Tags
An excellent way to implement labels and contexts for cross-correlating information is to
assign tags to headlines. Org mode has extensive support for tags.
Every headline can contain a list of tags; they occur at the end of the headline. Tags are
normal words containing letters, numbers, _, and @. Tags must be preceded and followed
by a single colon, e.g., :work:. Several tags can be specified, as in :work:urgent:. Tags
will by default be in bold face with the same color as the headline.
7 Properties
Properties are key-value pairs associated with an entry. They live in a special drawer with
the name PROPERTIES. Each property is specified on a single line, with the key (surrounded
by colons) first, and the value after it:
* CD collection
** Classic
*** Goldberg Variations
:PROPERTIES:
:Title: Goldberg Variations
:Composer: J.S. Bach
:Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
:NDisks: 1
:END:
You may define the allowed values for a particular property :Xyz: by setting a property
:Xyz_ALL:. This special property is inherited, so if you set it in a level 1 entry, it will
apply to the entire tree. When allowed values are defined, setting the corresponding property
becomes easier and is less prone to typing errors. For the example with the CD collection,
we can predefine publishers and the number of disks in a box like this:
* CD collection
:PROPERTIES:
:NDisks_ALL: 1 2 3 4
:Publisher_ALL: "Deutsche Grammophon" Philips EMI
:END:
or globally using org-global-properties, or file-wide like this:
#+PROPERTY: NDisks_ALL 1 2 3 4
C-c C-x p Set a property. This prompts for a property name and a value.
C-c C-c d Remove a property from the current entry.
To create sparse trees and special lists with selection based on properties, the same
commands are used as for tag searches (see Section 6.4 [Tag searches], page 14). The
syntax for the search string is described in Section 10.3.3 [Matching tags and properties],
page 22.
Further reading
Chapter 7 of the manual
Bastien Guerrys column view tutorial
Chapter 8: Dates and Times 16
8.1 Timestamps
A timestamp is a specification of a date (possibly with a time or a range of times) in a
special format, either <2003-09-16 Tue> or <2003-09-16 Tue 09:39> or <2003-09-16
Tue 12:00-12:30>. A timestamp can appear anywhere in the headline or body of an Org
tree entry. Its presence causes entries to be shown on specific dates in the agenda (see
Section 10.3.1 [Weekly/daily agenda], page 21). We distinguish:
Plain timestamp; Event; Appointment
A simple timestamp just assigns a date/time to an item. This is just like writing down an
appointment or event in a paper agenda.
* Meet Peter at the movies
<2006-11-01 Wed 19:15>
* Discussion on climate change
<2006-11-02 Thu 20:00-22:00>
Timestamp with repeater interval
A timestamp may contain a repeater interval, indicating that it applies not only on the
given date, but again and again after a certain interval of N days (d), weeks (w), months
(m), or years (y). The following will show up in the agenda every Wednesday:
* Pick up Sam at school
<2007-05-16 Wed 12:30 +1w>
Diary-style sexp entries
For more complex date specifications, Org mode supports using the special sexp diary entries
implemented in the Emacs calendar/diary package. For example
* The nerd meeting on every 2nd Thursday of the month
<%%(diary-float t 4 2)>
Time/Date range
Two timestamps connected by -- denote a range.
** Meeting in Amsterdam
<2004-08-23 Mon>--<2004-08-26 Thu>
Inactive timestamp
Just like a plain timestamp, but with square brackets instead of angular ones. These
timestamps are inactive in the sense that they do not trigger an entry to show up in the
agenda.
* Gillian comes late for the fifth time
[2006-11-01 Wed]
C-c . Prompt for a date and insert a corresponding timestamp. When the cursor is
at an existing timestamp in the buffer, the command is used to modify this
timestamp instead of inserting a new one. When this command is used twice in
succession, a time range is inserted. With a prefix, also add the current time.
C-c ! Like C-c ., but insert an inactive timestamp that will not cause an agenda
entry.
S-left/right
Change date at cursor by one day.
S-up/down
Change the item under the cursor in a timestamp. The cursor can be on a
year, month, day, hour or minute. When the timestamp contains a time range
like 15:30-16:30, modifying the first time will also shift the second, shifting
the time block with constant length. To change the length, modify the second
time.
When Org mode prompts for a date/time, it will accept any string containing some
date and/or time information, and intelligently interpret the string, deriving defaults for
unspecified information from the current date and time. You can also select a date in
the pop-up calendar. See the manual for more information on how exactly the date/time
prompt works.
9.1 Capture
Orgs lets you store quick notes with little interruption of your work flow. You can define
templates for new entries and associate them with different targets for storing notes.
Using capture
C-c c Start a capture process, placing you into a narrowed indirect buffer to edit.
C-c C-c Once you are done entering information into the capture buffer, C-c C-c will
return you to the window configuration before the capture process, so that you
can resume your work without further distraction.
C-c C-w Finalize by moving the entry to a refile location (see section 9.2).
C-c C-k Abort the capture process and return to the previous state.
Capture templates
You can use templates to generate different types of capture notes, and to store them in
different places. For example, if you would like to store new tasks under a heading Tasks
in file TODO.org, and journal entries in a date tree in journal.org you could use:
(setq org-capture-templates
'(("t" "Todo" entry (file+headline "~/org/gtd.org" "Tasks")
"* TODO %?\n %i\n %a")
("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/org/journal.org")
"* %?\nEntered on %U\n %i\n %a")))
In these entries, the first string is the key to reach the template, the second is a short
description. Then follows the type of the entry and a definition of the target location for
storing the note. Finally, the template itself, a string with %-escapes to fill in information
based on time and context.
When you call M-x org-capture, Org will prompt for a key to select the template (if
you have more than one template) and then prepare the buffer like
* TODO
[[file:link to where you were when initiating capture]]
1
Using capture templates, you get finer control over capture locations, see [Capture templates], page 19.
Chapter 9: Capture - Refile - Archive 20
During expansion of the template, special %-escapes2 allow dynamic insertion of content.
Here is a small selection of the possibilities, consult the manual for more.
%a annotation, normally the link created with org-store-link
%i initial content, the region when capture is called with C-u.
%t, %T timestamp, date only, or date and time
%u, %U like above, but inactive timestamps
9.3 Archiving
When a project represented by a (sub)tree is finished, you may want to move the tree out
of the way and to stop it from contributing to the agenda. Archiving is important to keep
your working files compact and global searches like the construction of agenda views fast.
The most common archiving action is to move a project tree to another file, the archive file.
C-c C-x C-a
Archive the current entry using org-archive-default-command.
C-c C-x C-s or short C-c $
Archive the subtree starting at the cursor position to the location given by
org-archive-location.
The default archive location is a file in the same directory as the current file, with
the name derived by appending _archive to the current file name. For information and
examples on how to change this, see the documentation string of the variable org-archive-
location. There is also an in-buffer option for setting this variable, for example
#+ARCHIVE: %s_done::
Further reading
Chapter 9 of the manual
Sebastian Roses tutorial for capturing from a web browser
2
If you need one of these sequences literally, escape the % with a backslash.
Chapter 10: Agenda Views 21
10 Agenda Views
Due to the way Org works, TODO items, time-stamped items, and tagged headlines can be
scattered throughout a file or even a number of files. To get an overview of open action items,
or of events that are important for a particular date, this information must be collected,
sorted and displayed in an organized way. There are several different views, see below.
The extracted information is displayed in a special agenda buffer. This buffer is read-
only, but provides commands to visit the corresponding locations in the original Org files,
and even to edit these files remotely. Remote editing from the agenda buffer means, for
example, that you can change the dates of deadlines and appointments from the agenda
buffer. The commands available in the Agenda buffer are listed in Section 10.4 [Agenda
commands], page 23.
Emacs contains the calendar and diary by Edward M. Reingold. Org-mode understands
the syntax of the diary and allows you to use diary sexp entries directly in Org files:
* Birthdays and similar stuff
#+CATEGORY: Holiday
%%(org-calendar-holiday) ; special function for holiday names
#+CATEGORY: Ann
%%(diary-anniversary 5 14 1956)1 Arthur Dent is %d years old
%%(diary-anniversary 10 2 1869) Mahatma Gandhi would be %d years old
Org can interact with Emacs appointments notification facility. To add all the appoint-
ments of your agenda files, use the command org-agenda-to-appt. See the docstring for
details.
Match syntax
A search string can use Boolean operators & for AND and | for OR. & binds more strongly
than |. Parentheses are currently not implemented. Each element in the search is either
a tag, a regular expression matching tags, or an expression like PROPERTY OPERATOR VALUE
with a comparison operator, accessing a property value. Each element may be preceded by
-, to select against it, and + is syntactic sugar for positive selection. The AND operator
& is optional when + or - is present. Here are some examples, using only tags.
+work-boss
Select headlines tagged :work:, but discard those also tagged :boss:.
1
Note that the order of the arguments (month, day, year) depends on the setting of calendar-date-style.
Chapter 10: Agenda Views 23
work|laptop
Selects lines tagged :work: or :laptop:.
work|laptop+night
Like before, but require the :laptop: lines to be tagged also :night:.
You may also test for properties at the same time as matching tags, see the manual for
more information.
TAB Go to the original location of the item in another window. Under Emacs 22,
mouse-1 will also work for this.
RET Go to the original location of the item and delete other windows.
Change display
o Delete other windows.
d/w Switch to day/week view.
f and b Go forward/backward in time to display the following org-agenda-current-
span days. For example, if the display covers a week, switch to the follow-
ing/previous week.
. Go to today.
j Prompt for a date and go there.
v l or short l
Toggle Logbook mode. In Logbook mode, entries that were marked DONE
while logging was on (variable org-log-done) are shown in the agenda, as are
entries that have been clocked on that day. When called with a C-u prefix,
show all possible logbook entries, including state changes.
r or g Recreate the agenda buffer, to reflect the changes.
s Save all Org buffers in the current Emacs session, and also the locations of IDs.
Secondary filtering and query editing
/ Filter the current agenda view with respect to a tag. You are prompted for a
letter to select a tag. Press - first to select against the tag.
\ Narrow the current agenda filter by an additional condition.
Remote editing (see the manual for many more commands)
0--9 Digit argument.
t Change the TODO state of the item, in the agenda and in the org file.
C-k Delete the current agenda item along with the entire subtree belonging to it in
the original Org file.
C-c C-w Refile the entry at point.
C-c C-x C-a or short a
Archive the subtree corresponding to the entry at point using the default archiv-
ing command set in org-archive-default-command.
C-c C-x C-s or short $
Archive the subtree corresponding to the current headline.
C-c C-s Schedule this item, with prefix arg remove the scheduling timestamp
C-c C-d Set a deadline for this item, with prefix arg remove the deadline.
S-right and S-left
Change the timestamp associated with the current line by one day.
I Start the clock on the current item.
Chapter 10: Agenda Views 25
Table of contents
The table of contents is normally inserted directly before the first headline of the file.
#+OPTIONS: toc:2 (only to two levels in TOC)
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil (no TOC at all)
-- AlexSchroeder
#+END_VERSE
When quoting a passage from another document, it is customary to format this as
a paragraph that is indented on both the left and the right margin. You can include
quotations in Org-mode documents like this:
#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Everything should be made as simple as possible,
but not any simpler -- Albert Einstein
#+END_QUOTE
If you would like to center some text, do it like this:
Chapter 11: Markup for rich export 27
#+BEGIN_CENTER
Everything should be made as simple as possible, \\
but not any simpler
#+END_CENTER
Comment lines
Lines starting with zero or more whitespace characters followed by # and a whitespace are
treated as comments and, as such, are not exported.
Likewise, regions surrounded by #+BEGIN_COMMENT ... #+END_COMMENT are not ex-
ported.
Finally, a COMMENT keyword at the beginning of an entry, but after any other keyword
or priority cookie, comments out the entire subtree. The command below helps changing
the comment status of a headline.
C-c ; Toggle the COMMENT keyword at the beginning of an entry.
For simplicity when using small examples, you can also start the example lines with a
colon followed by a space. There may also be additional whitespace before the colon:
Here is an example
: Some example from a text file.
For source code from a programming language, or any other text that can be marked up
by font-lock in Emacs, you can ask for it to look like the fontified Emacs buffer
#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun org-xor (a b)
"Exclusive or."
(if a (not b) b))
#+END_SRC
To edit the example in a special buffer supporting this language, use C-c ' to both enter
and leave the editing buffer.
\begin{equation}
x=\sqrt{b}
\end{equation}
With special setup, LATEX snippets will be included as images when exporting to HTML.
Further reading
Chapter 11 of the manual
Chapter 12: Exporting 29
12 Exporting
Org-mode documents can be exported into a variety of other formats: ASCII export for
inclusion into emails, HTML to publish on the web, LATEX/PDF for beautiful printed docu-
ments and DocBook to enter the world of many other formats using DocBook tools. There
is also export to iCalendar format so that planning information can be incorporated into
desktop calendars.
To insert HTML that should be copied verbatim to the exported file use either
#+HTML: Literal HTML code for export
or
#+BEGIN_EXPORT html
All lines between these markers are exported literally
#+END_HTML
13 Publishing
Org includes a publishing management system that allows you to configure automatic
HTML conversion of projects composed of interlinked org files. You can also configure
Org to automatically upload your exported HTML pages and related attachments, such as
images and source code files, to a web server. For detailed instructions about setup, see the
manual.
Here is an example:
(setq org-publish-project-alist
'(("org"
:base-directory "~/org/"
:publishing-directory "~/public_html"
:section-numbers nil
:table-of-contents nil
:style "<link rel=\"stylesheet\"
href=\"../other/mystyle.css\"
type=\"text/css\"/>")))
C-c C-e P x
Prompt for a specific project and publish all files that belong to it.
C-c C-e P p
Publish the project containing the current file.
C-c C-e P f
Publish only the current file.
C-c C-e P a
Publish every project.
Org uses timestamps to track when a file has changed. The above functions normally
only publish changed files. You can override this and force publishing of all files by giving
a prefix argument to any of the commands above.
Further reading
Chapter 13 of the manual
Sebastian Roses publishing tutorial
Ian Bartons Jekyll/blogging setup
Chapter 14: Working with source code 32
#+RESULTS:
: 10
Library of Babel
Use C-c C-v l to load the code blocks from an Org-mode files into the Library of Babel,
these blocks can then be evaluated from any Org-mode buffer. A collection of generally
useful code blocks is distributed with Org-mode in contrib/library-of-babel.org.
Chapter 14: Working with source code 33
Header Arguments
Many aspects of the evaluation and export of code blocks are controlled through header
arguments. These can be specified globally, at the file level, at the outline subtree level, and
at the individual code block level. The following describes some of the header arguments.
:var The :var header argument is used to pass arguments to code blocks. The
values passed to arguments can be literal values, values from org-mode tables
and literal example blocks, or the results of other named code blocks.
:results The :results header argument controls the collection, type, and handling of
code block results. Values of output or value (the default) specify how results
are collected from a code blocks evaluation. Values of vector, scalar file raw
html latex and code specify the type of the results of the code block which
dictates how they will be incorporated into the Org-mode buffer. Values of
silent, replace, prepend, and append specify handling of code block results,
specifically if and how the results should be inserted into the Org-mode buffer.
:session A header argument of :session will cause the code block to be evaluated in
a persistent interactive inferior process in Emacs. This allows for persisting
state between code block evaluations, and for manual inspection of the results
of evaluation.
:exports Any combination of the code or the results of a block can be retained on export,
this is specified by setting the :results header argument to code results none
or both.
:tangle A header argument of :tangle yes will cause a code blocks contents to be
tangled to a file named after the filename of the Org-mode buffer. An alternate
file name can be specified with :tangle filename.
:cache A header argument of :cache yes will cause associate a hash of the expanded
code block with the results, ensuring that code blocks are only re-run when
their inputs have changed.
:noweb A header argument of :noweb yes will expand noweb style references on
evaluation and tangling.
:file Code blocks which output results to files (e.g. graphs, diagrams and figures) can
accept a :file filename header argument in which case the results are saved
to the named file, and a link to the file is inserted into the Org-mode buffer.
Further reading
Chapter 11.3 of the manual
The Babel site on Worg
Chapter 15: Miscellaneous 34
15 Miscellaneous
15.1 Completion
Org supports in-buffer completion with M-TAB. This type of completion does not make use
of the minibuffer. You simply type a few letters into the buffer and use the key to complete
text right there. For example, this command will complete TEX symbols after \, TODO
keywords at the beginning of a headline, and tags after : in a headline.
15.3 MobileOrg
MobileOrg is the name of the mobile companion app for Org mode, currently available for
iOS and for Android. MobileOrg offers offline viewing and capture support for an Org mode
system rooted on a real computer. It does also allow you to record changes to existing
entries.
The iOS implementation for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad series of devices, was devel-
oped by Richard Moreland. Android users should check out MobileOrg Android by Matt
Jones. The two implementations are not identical but offer similar features.
Further reading
Chapter 15 of the manual
Appendix B of the manual
Key reference card
Appendix A: GNU Free Documentation License 35
under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is
not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant
Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
The Cover Texts are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover
Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under
this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
be at most 25 words.
A Transparent copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented
in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for
revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images com-
posed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing
editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to
a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise
Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to
thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image
format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is
not Transparent is called Opaque.
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without
markup, Texinfo input format, LaTEX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly
available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed
for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF
and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited
only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or pro-
cessing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript
or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
The Title Page means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following
pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the
title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, Title Page
means the text near the most prominent appearance of the works title, preceding the
beginning of the body of the text.
The publisher means any person or entity that distributes copies of the Document
to the public.
A section Entitled XYZ means a named subunit of the Document whose title either
is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in
another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such
as Acknowledgements, Dedications, Endorsements, or History.) To Preserve
the Title of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a
section Entitled XYZ according to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that
this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to
be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties:
any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no
effect on the meaning of this License.
2. VERBATIM COPYING
Appendix A: GNU Free Documentation License 37
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or
noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license
notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and
that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use
technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies
you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies.
If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions
in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly
display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of
the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Documents license notice requires
Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on
the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher
of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title
equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition.
Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the
Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other
respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put
the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the
rest onto adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100,
you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque
copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which
the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network
protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If
you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin
distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will
remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time
you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that
edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well
before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you
with an updated version of the Document.
4. MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions
of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely
this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing
distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of
it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the
Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any,
Appendix A: GNU Free Documentation License 38
be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as
a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for
authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five
of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer
than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the
publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other
copyright notices.
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public
permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form
shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover
Texts given in the Documents license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled History, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item
stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version
as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled History in the Docu-
ment, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document
as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as
stated in the previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to
a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in
the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the
History section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published
at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the
version it refers to gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled Acknowledgements or Dedications, Preserve the Title
of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the
contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and
in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the
section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled Endorsements. Such a section may not be included
in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled Endorsements or to conflict in
title with any Invariant Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify
as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at
your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their
Appendix A: GNU Free Documentation License 39
titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Versions license notice. These
titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled Endorsements, provided it contains nothing but
endorsements of your Modified Version by various partiesfor example, statements of
peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up
to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified
Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be
added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already
includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement
made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but
you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that
added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission
to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified
Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License,
under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you
include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license
notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical
Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant
Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section
unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or
publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment
to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined
work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled History in the vari-
ous original documents, forming one section Entitled History; likewise combine any
sections Entitled Acknowledgements, and any sections Entitled Dedications. You
must delete all sections Entitled Endorsements.
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released
under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various
documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you
follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all
other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individu-
ally under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted
document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of
that document.
Appendix A: GNU Free Documentation License 40