Re:A CEO's Guide to Emacs (2015)
by BeetleB on Tuesday May 10, 2022 @12:21AM
(#31323420)
> I really can't say I have understood, what exactly org-mode is supposed to be.
It's primarily two things:
1. A markup syntax
2. a TODO manager. It's flexible enough that you can come up with your own custom TODO workflows (e.g. GTD, etc). You can do queries on a fair amount of metadata to construct your TODO list.
In support of all that, it has good table features (you can do spreadsheet like functionality in them), code management (execute source code blocks similar to Jupyter, but you can have code in multiple languages communicate with one other), link to just about anything (with a bit of setup, I can even link to Outlook emails). While in the middle of your work, you can capture notes and/or TODOs and have them filed away in the appropriate file and location within that file.[1] Finally, you can export into many formats (I don't write pure LaTeX any more - I always export an org file to LaTeX).
Example of a simple thing I do.
I read an email. It contains actionable information. With a keystroke, I create a TODO item in org mode, which contains a link to the email. Later when browsing my TODOs, I have access to the context.
Likewise, I'm reading an article in Chrome/Firefox, and I want to file it away for some reason. With a click on a bookmarklet, it sends the URL and related info to Org mode in Emacs and it is filed away.
A more sophisticated example that required some elisp: I take meeting minutes at work. Any time something comes up where a TODO is assigned to a person, I hit a keystroke and type in the TODO. It finds the heading called "Action Items" for that particular meeting and files it there. At the end of the meeting, I export the minutes into HTML or Word and email it out.
It's primarily two things:
1. A markup syntax
2. a TODO manager. It's flexible enough that you can come up with your own custom TODO workflows (e.g. GTD, etc). You can do queries on a fair amount of metadata to construct your TODO list.
In support of all that, it has good table features (you can do spreadsheet like functionality in them), code management (execute source code blocks similar to Jupyter, but you can have code in multiple languages communicate with one other), link to just about anything (with a bit of setup, I can even link to Outlook emails). While in the middle of your work, you can capture notes and/or TODOs and have them filed away in the appropriate file and location within that file.[1] Finally, you can export into many formats (I don't write pure LaTeX any more - I always export an org file to LaTeX).
Example of a simple thing I do.
I read an email. It contains actionable information. With a keystroke, I create a TODO item in org mode, which contains a link to the email. Later when browsing my TODOs, I have access to the context.
Likewise, I'm reading an article in Chrome/Firefox, and I want to file it away for some reason. With a click on a bookmarklet, it sends the URL and related info to Org mode in Emacs and it is filed away.
A more sophisticated example that required some elisp: I take meeting minutes at work. Any time something comes up where a TODO is assigned to a person, I hit a keystroke and type in the TODO. It finds the heading called "Action Items" for that particular meeting and files it there. At the end of the meeting, I export the minutes into HTML or Word and email it out.