emacs - org agenda notes

Org Agenda

https://orgmode.org/manual/Agenda-Commands.html

For additional help, look at the file org-agenda.el If you don’t know where it is, you can navigate to it using describe-function e.g. describe-function org-agenda-list

Use C-' to cycle through the agenda files (org-cycle-agenda-files)

Org Agenda Scheduling tasks and setting deadlines to tasks

https://orgmode.org/manual/Agenda-Commands.html

https://orgmode.org/manual/Deadlines-and-Scheduling.html

C-c C-s to schedule

When you want to schedule an item with Ctrl-c Ctrl-s, if you want to assign a time in addition to the date, enter the date manually and enter the time after the date. e.g. 2023-02-25 8PM and the time will also be inserted in the schedule in the org file.

C-c C-d to set a deadline

If you really need to do the tasks, but there’s no point in seeing it in today’s task list because you can’t do it today anyway, use C-c C-s (org-agenda-schedule) to reschedule the task. If you’re only moving it a couple of days ahead, use S-right (org-agenda-later) to move it forward, and S-left (org-agenda-earlier) if you overshoot.

How to represent the same task on multiple days that do not follow any pattern?

To represent the same task on multiple days that do not follow a repeating pattern in Emacs Org Agenda, you can use individual timestamps for each occurrence. This method ensures each instance of the task appears on the specific days you designate without relying on repeating intervals.

e.g.

* TODO Prepare presentation slides
SCHEDULED: <2025-10-01 Wed>
SCHEDULED: <2025-10-03 Fri>
SCHEDULED: <2025-10-07 Tue>

Org Agenda Views

Agenda Views - First, you need to add your Org file to your Org agenda by using the command C-c [. Then, type Meta-x org-agenda to be presented with options for different views.

Filtering/limiting agenda items https://orgmode.org/manual/Filtering_002flimiting-agenda-items.html

Different options for looking at org-agenda

1. org-timeblock (I am using this right now. I set it up to load at emacs start-up and it works great.)
   1. Pros:
      1. gives a nice timeblock view
   2. Cons:
      1. Not showing the procrastinated items in the list.
      2. Not showing daily items in the default view. If we want to see them, we have to use either org-timeblock-list-mode or org-timeblock-toggle-timeblock-list) (to see the GUI and the list side-by-side).
      3. The defaults are not great
2. default view
   1. Pros:
      1. We can perform actions like marking tasks done, scheduling them to a different time/day right from this view without having to navigate anywhere else.
      2. verbose
   2. Cons:
      1. No GUI view
3. calfw:open-org-calendar
   1. Pros:
      1. gives a calendar view of the agenda
   2. Cons:
      1. No hourly timeblock view
4. org-timeblock-list-mode
   1. Pros:
      1. shows a nice view of the org-agenda.
   2. Cons:
      1. Same cons as that of org-timeblock

How to know what we did on a specific day?

1. M-x org-agenda view.
2. M-x org-agenda-go-to-date and pick a date.
3. Press [ for that day.
4. It will show all activities with inactive timestamps.

Show the Org-mode agenda on Emacs start-up

You can use after-init-hook to run a piece of code after initialization has finished. To run (org-agenda-list) after init, use:

(add-hook 'after-init-hook 'org-agenda-list)