The version of org-mode that came with my version of Emacs (24.5.2) is 8.2.10. I have installed version 8.3.1 from ELPA and added this to my init file: (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/org-20150803") (require 'org) When I check the version of org in Emacs, it says: Org-mode version 8.2.10 (release_8.2.10 @ /home/meir/.emacs.d/elpa/org-20150803/) That is, it reports the old version and the new directory... (the built-in version is located in /usr/local/share/emacs/24.5/lisp/org) Here is the relevant portion of my init file (there is nothing before this portion): (require 'cl) ;; Org-mode that was shipped with Emacs (setq load-path (remove-if (lambda (x) (string-match-p "org$" x)) load-path)) ;; ELPA (setq load-path (remove-if (lambda (x) (string-match-p "org-20" x)) load-path)) (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/org-20150803") (require 'package) (add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/") t) (package-initialize) (require 'org) How do I get Emacs to load the new version of org-mode?