Feature Request: Per-file attachment directories

Feature Request: Per-file attachment directories

[Daniel E. Doherty]

Org Mode-erists:

I like the attachment facility of Org for organizing external files
related to a project, but it seems to lack an obvious feature.

I use a separate org file for each major project, which in my case are
law suits.  I would like to have a custom attachment directory specified
at the top of the file for all attachments related to the project, have
it inherited by all headings, and be able to specify a custom directory
for a heading relative to that file-wide attachment directory.

I have tried this:

#+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR_INHERIT: t
#+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR: ~/cases/Client Name/Case Name/

but it does not work.  When I C-c C-a f to open up the attachment
directory on a headline, it gives me an ID-based directory in the data
directory instead of the file-wide default.

Also, when I C-c C-a s to set a custom attachment directory, it defaults
to my org directory.

Using the data directory would be fine if I only wanted to access files
through Org Mode (and perhaps I should), but I occassionaly have to open
a file from outside emacs (say, a spreadsheet from excel on a Windows
machine) and finding the file in the ID-based heirarchy is tough.

How hard would this be to implement?  With this, I can thing of my
org-mode file as a kind of annotated dired for a project.

Regards,
-- 
====================================================
Daniel E. Doherty
ded-law@ddoherty.net

Re: Feature Request: Per-file attachment directories

[Charles]

Daniel,

On 9/24/2012 10:57 AM, Daniel E. Doherty wrote:
> Org Mode-erists:
>
> I like the attachment facility of Org for organizing external files
> related to a project, but it seems to lack an obvious feature.
>
> I use a separate org file for each major project, which in my case are
> law suits.  I would like to have a custom attachment directory specified
> at the top of the file for all attachments related to the project, have
> it inherited by all headings, and be able to specify a custom directory
> for a heading relative to that file-wide attachment directory.
>
> I have tried this:
>
> #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR_INHERIT: t
> #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR: ~/cases/Client Name/Case Name/
>
> but it does not work.  When I C-c C-a f to open up the attachment
> directory on a headline, it gives me an ID-based directory in the data
> directory instead of the file-wide default.
>
> Also, when I C-c C-a s to set a custom attachment directory, it defaults
> to my org directory.
>
> Using the data directory would be fine if I only wanted to access files
> through Org Mode (and perhaps I should), but I occassionaly have to open
> a file from outside emacs (say, a spreadsheet from excel on a Windows
> machine) and finding the file in the ID-based heirarchy is tough.
>
> How hard would this be to implement?  With this, I can thing of my
> org-mode file as a kind of annotated dired for a project.
>
> Regards,
The following does not answer you request or question, but like you I 
use Org Mode for legal work (I'm a freelance paralegal).

Have you thought about working entirely in Org Mode, including 
spreadsheets and then exporting. For instance Jambunathan's odt export. 
Or you can copy a region into a your preferred office suite's word 
processor, spreadsheet,etc.

Charlie Millar

Re: Feature Request: Per-file attachment directories

[Nick Dokos]

Daniel E. Doherty <ded-law@ddoherty.net> wrote:

> 
> Org Mode-erists:
> 
> I like the attachment facility of Org for organizing external files
> related to a project, but it seems to lack an obvious feature.
> 
> I use a separate org file for each major project, which in my case are
> law suits.  I would like to have a custom attachment directory specified
> at the top of the file for all attachments related to the project, have
> it inherited by all headings, and be able to specify a custom directory
> for a heading relative to that file-wide attachment directory.
> 
> I have tried this:
> 
> #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR_INHERIT: t
> #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR: ~/cases/Client Name/Case Name/
> 
> but it does not work.  When I C-c C-a f to open up the attachment
> directory on a headline, it gives me an ID-based directory in the data
> directory instead of the file-wide default.
> 

Try losing the colons around the property names - the following seems to work
OK (modulo the possible problem of filenames starting with . - I had to rename
.emacs -> dot.emacs for it to work):

,----
| #+PROPERTY: ATTACH_DIR ./attachments
| 
| 
| * bar														:ATTACH:
|   :PROPERTIES:
|   :Attachments: dot.emacs
|   :END:
| 
| Make an attachment.
`----

Nick


> Also, when I C-c C-a s to set a custom attachment directory, it defaults
> to my org directory.
> 
> Using the data directory would be fine if I only wanted to access files
> through Org Mode (and perhaps I should), but I occassionaly have to open
> a file from outside emacs (say, a spreadsheet from excel on a Windows
> machine) and finding the file in the ID-based heirarchy is tough.
> 
> How hard would this be to implement?  With this, I can thing of my
> org-mode file as a kind of annotated dired for a project.
> 
> Regards,
> -- 
> ====================================================
> Daniel E. Doherty
> ded-law@ddoherty.net
> 

Re: Feature Request: Per-file attachment directories

[Nick Dokos]

Nick Dokos <nicholas.dokos@hp.com> wrote:

> Daniel E. Doherty <ded-law@ddoherty.net> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Org Mode-erists:
> > 
> > I like the attachment facility of Org for organizing external files
> > related to a project, but it seems to lack an obvious feature.
> > 
> > I use a separate org file for each major project, which in my case are
> > law suits.  I would like to have a custom attachment directory specified
> > at the top of the file for all attachments related to the project, have
> > it inherited by all headings, and be able to specify a custom directory
> > for a heading relative to that file-wide attachment directory.
> > 
> > I have tried this:
> > 
> > #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR_INHERIT: t
> > #+PROPERTY: :ATTACH_DIR: ~/cases/Client Name/Case Name/

One more thing: I have no idea if spaces in the pathname are going to be
a problem.  A cursory test indicates that it's probably OK:
(org-entry-get nil "ATTACH-DIR") returns the whole pathname, spaces and
everything. But if things break, that's one thing that you might want to
change before giving up.

Nick

> > 
> > but it does not work.  When I C-c C-a f to open up the attachment
> > directory on a headline, it gives me an ID-based directory in the data
> > directory instead of the file-wide default.
> > 
> 
> Try losing the colons around the property names - the following seems to work
> OK (modulo the possible problem of filenames starting with . - I had to rename
> .emacs -> dot.emacs for it to work):
> 
> ,----
> | #+PROPERTY: ATTACH_DIR ./attachments
> | 
> | 
> | * bar														:ATTACH:
> |   :PROPERTIES:
> |   :Attachments: dot.emacs
> |   :END:
> | 
> | Make an attachment.
> `----
> 
> Nick
> 
> 
> > Also, when I C-c C-a s to set a custom attachment directory, it defaults
> > to my org directory.
> > 
> > Using the data directory would be fine if I only wanted to access files
> > through Org Mode (and perhaps I should), but I occassionaly have to open
> > a file from outside emacs (say, a spreadsheet from excel on a Windows
> > machine) and finding the file in the ID-based heirarchy is tough.
> > 
> > How hard would this be to implement?  With this, I can thing of my
> > org-mode file as a kind of annotated dired for a project.
> > 
> > Regards,
> > -- 
> > ====================================================
> > Daniel E. Doherty
> > ded-law@ddoherty.net
> > 
>