From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Bernt Hansen Subject: Re: I must be missing something... Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:07:51 -0400 Message-ID: <871vptnuvc.fsf@gollum.intra.norang.ca> References: <87hbypo68p.fsf@gollum.intra.norang.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ME5ju-0001t8-2D for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:08:02 -0400 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ME5jq-0001sP-Ah for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:08:01 -0400 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=44616 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1ME5jq-0001sJ-5I for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:07:58 -0400 Received: from mho-01-ewr.mailhop.org ([204.13.248.71]:59894) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1ME5jp-0002nA-DN for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:07:57 -0400 In-Reply-To: (David Abrahams's message of "Tue\, 09 Jun 2009 13\:50\:45 -0400") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: David Abrahams Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org David Abrahams writes: > on Tue Jun 09 2009, Bernt Hansen wrote: > >> David Abrahams writes: >>> I've been using and studying org mode for a few months now, and though >>> it seems to have great potential, some things still escape me. For >>> example, do my DONE items simply accumulate forever in todo.org? I know >>> there's an archiving feature... do I move those done items manually to >>> an archive when I no longer need to see them? >> >> Stuff accumulates and I personally archive subtrees manually once/month. > > I have a lot of "degenerate subtrees" (items with no sub-items). You > just do those one-at-a-time? If there are lots I just make a keyboard macro that archives the current subtree. Another possible option (untested) is if you move them all together you can duplicate (or create) the parent task and then promote it. This moves * DONE Task 1 to archive * DONE Task 2 to archive ... * DONE Task n to archive to * New Fake Parent Task ** DONE Task 1 to archive ** DONE Task 2 to archive ... ** DONE Task n to archive and then archive the new fake parent once including all of its subtasks. The keyboard macro works pretty well for me - except blank lines sometime mess up cursor positioning for the next task to archive - so be careful your point is on or in a task you want to archive before repeating it. This shows up for a few tasks each month (with blank lines before the task) but I haven't spent any time trying to improve the situation yet. > >>> Also, how do I manage my projects? Org mode seems to "want" to put >>> everything in one big file. I know I *can* separate trees by file, but >>> it doesn't seem to be very convenient to do so. For example, if I'm >>> visiting a project file, is there a way to get an agenda view on just >>> /that/ file without having to modify org-agenda-files? >> >> I recently wrote about this here. >> http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#LimitingAgendaView >> Maybe that will help? > > It hits a lot of things in the general area of what I need, but the > specific thing I wanted to do was to temporarily remove all tasks that > live in a particular file from the agenda. I was able to get a similar > functionality by putting a unique tag on the root item in that file and > the using org-agenda-filter-by-tag to filter it out, but that seemed a > bit indirect. I just use #+FILETAGS: for this and filter away the file I want to remove. I haven't explored if there is a way to have the filter remembered between agenda views until I restore it (similar to the agenda restriction lock) but I'm thinking that functionality probably does not exist today. Right now I have a bunch of deadlines on my farm.org file cluttering up my agenda view so I'm regularly doing C-c a a / - f to hide the @farm tagged tasks. I want to see everything else but those. I could drop the farm.org file from my agenda but I'll probably forget to restore it in time. Filtering works for me in the interim until I find a better solution. > >>> I know I'm being a bit vague, but so far the basic operations of >>> org-mode, which were very fast to use at first, haven't "scaled up" very >>> easily to handle my whole life, and I'm not sure how to get there. >>> >>> Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give, >> >> I've been using org-mode for years and I use it for everything. A >> description of my work flow and setup for org-mode is at >> http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html in case that's useful. > > I've been through that material several times already; thank you _very_ > much for writing it. You're most welcome :). Playing with publishing is (almost) fun. >Maybe I just need to keep working with it to learn > more. I find it's hard to take the time to do that when you're really > trying to use org mode to get other stuff done! Yes I can see that. Org-mode is huge (in functionality and the way you can approach a problem). The best advice I can give is start small and build on what you know until you end up with something that works for you. If my document can help give you ideas to get there that's great! Regards, Bernt