From: Alexander Poslavsky <alexander.poslavsky@gmail.com>
To: emacs-orgmode <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
Subject: Basic orgmode tutorial
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:59:11 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <10AEC517-6BBA-4436-B567-D1D5AB6A78C8@gmail.com> (raw)
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Hello,
lately there is some talk about a basic org-mode tutorial. Something simpler then the documentation, that will help a person new to emacs and org-mode start using org. I would like to put the following on worg, if people would think something like this would fit the bill. What do you think? If the response is positive then I would add more chapters to it.
greetings,
alex
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#+TITLE: Org-mode tutorial
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
Org-mode, as the it says on the [[http://orgmode.org/ ][official web page]] is for keeping notes,
maintaining ToDo lists, doing project planning, and authoring with a
fast and effective plain-text system. Beginning with Emacs 22.2 and
XEmacs 22.1 it has been part of Emacs. The following is a simple
tutorial to help you get started using Emacs and org-mode.
* The absolute minimum you need to know about Emacs
The absolute minimum you need to know about Emacs, to be able to do
/anything/, is more then you need to know about many other
applications. But, you might compare it to a regular toy and
lego. Lego is harder to begin with (you start with a box with little
plastic pieces), but in the long run, you can do more with it.
Emacs is heavy on shortcuts. starting out, that is rather
annoying, but in time you'll notice you start to use the mouse less
and less, and you actually start to work quicker.
All the basic things can be done, with the mouse, from the menu,
open file, save file , etc. You will notice, however, that in time it
is faster to use shortcuts, and leave your hands on the keyboard.
Emacs uses a lot of double shortcuts, so instead of Alt-F and
Alt-S, like most applications, it uses *Control-X Control-F* and
*Control-X Control-S*, this seems rather counter-productive in the
beginning, but you'll get used to it.
*Note:* Key abbreviations:
- *M* - Alt (used to be called Meta on ancient keyboards, that's why)
- *C* - Control
- *S* - Shift
- *C-x f* - means holding both Control /and/ x, then release Control
and press f
** What version of Emacs should you choose?
If it is all the same to you, then choose Emacs over XEmacs (if
you disagree then you know already enough to skip this
paragraph). Here are some links to help:
- [[http://aquamacs.org/][Aquamacs: Emacs for Mac OS X]] (my favourite)
- [[http://homepage.mac.com/zenitani/emacs-e.html][Carbon Emacs for OSX]]
- [[http://Emacsformacosx.com/][Regular Emacs for OS X]]
- [[http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/windows/Emacs/][Emacs for MS Windows]]
On Linux, just use your package manager to install Emacs. On Debian:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
sudo apt-get install emacs
#+END_SRC
** Configuration
The biggest pain, when you just begin with Emacs, is the
configuration. There is not really a menu for it (you might later
hear there is, but they are lying, that menu is really there to
trap innocent people), you need to edit a text-file. The location
of that config-file (and even the name) is different on different
OSes, but the text in it is mostly the same, across platforms. Many
people actually use the same config-file on different OSes and even
over many years, so in the long run, it is for the best!
Location of the configuration file:
- Aquamacs: ~/Library/Preferences/Aquamacs Emacs/Preferences.el
- Regular emacs on Linux or OS X: ~/.emacs
- On Windows: c:\emacs\.emacs.d\init.txt
([[http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/math/alee/emacs/emacs.html][according to this example installation]])
* Starting org-mode
New shortcuts used in this chapter:
- *C-x b* - switch to document (buffer)
- *C-x s* - save document
- *C-x f* - open document
** Our first org-mode document
By now, we know enough to start our first org-mode document. Start
up Emacs. If you have a completely new Emacs install, then you
should see the Emacs splash-screen. It has a couple of shortcuts,
to the Emacs tutorial and some other documents, but for now, we
don't need any of that.
To start a new document, use the following short-cut: *C-x b*,
which will offer you to open another document (or buffer as it is
called in Emacs), type *1.org*. This will give you a brand-new,
empty document.
To save the document, either press the save icon, or press *C-x s*,
call it 1.org.
Emacs does not actually understand you are editing an org-mode
document, yet. To enable org-mode on your current document, type
: M-x org-mode
Which will enable the org-mode on the current document.
To make Emacs understand that this is an org-mode document, when it
opens up the document, add the following to the top of your document:
#+BEGIN_SRC org
# -*- mode: org -*-
#+END_SRC
Those are minuses, /not/ underscores.
This will enable org-mode for this document, no matter what the
file-ending is.
To enable org-mode to always work on all your org-files, you have
to edit your Emacs configuration, we do that in the following paragraph.
** Our first edit to our Emacs configuration
Open your Emacs configuration file (see [[Configuration]]), to open it
in Emacs, use *C-x f* (open file), and put the following in it:
#+BEGIN_SRC elisp
;; -*- mode: elisp -*-
;;disable the splash screen (to enable it agin, replace the t with 0)
(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)
;;enable syntax highlighting
(global-font-lock-mode t)
;;;;org-mode configuration
;;enable org-mode
(require 'org)
;;make org-mode work with files ending in .org
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.org$" . org-mode))
#+END_SRC
Restart Emacs.
* Keep track of lists and notes
New shortcuts used in this chapter:
- *TAB* / *S-TAB* - (un)fold
- *M-up/down* - move a headline up or down
- *M-left/right* - promote or demote a headline
- *M-RET* - insert a new headline
- *C-x s* - save file
- *C-h t* - Emacs tutorial
Now that we have configured Emacs to work with org-mode document, we
can actually start using it. Let's begin with an outline that will
help us get to know org-mode. Start a new document (*C-x b), call it
2.org, and copy and paste the following in it:
#+BEGIN_SRC org
#-*- mode: org -*-
#+STARTUP: showall
* Welcome to org-mode
Welcome, and thanks for trying out Org-mode. Making outlines in
org is very simple. It is just text! Just start typing.
* This is a headline, it starts with one or more stars
A heading has one star, a sub-heading two, etc.
* Working with lists
** Moving around in our outline
** Moving around headlines
#+END_SRC
Save the file (*C-x s*) as 1.org, and you will notice that the
colors change, syntax highlighting is turned on, and Emacs
understands you are working in org-mode.
Now, let's really start working with org-mode!
** Working with lists
List are great for brainstorming and to keep track of things. Also
it helps keeping the big picture in mind when taking notes.
The first thing we will do is folding, especially when you have a
long document, this is very useful. In our example document, go to
the first headline (just use the arrow keys), *Welcome to
org-mode*, end press *TAB*, and now press *S-TAB*. *Tab* will fold
and unfold parts or, using shift, the whole document.
The basic idea of brainstorming is to write a list of items. Then,
later, you might want to change the order of your items, for
example in order of importance. To move a headline up or down, use
*M-up/down*, try it on any of the headlines. Notice that your list
folds in, showing only headings, to give a general overview of
the document, and you don't get lost in the details.
Next we will promote and demote headings. For example you might
make *This is a headline, it starts with one or more stars*, a
sub-heading of *Working with lists*, moving it down, and then using
*M-right* to demote it.
Last, to add a new headline, press *M-RET*.
** Working with notes
To keep notes, there is some markup to make things stand out a bit
more. You can use the following markup:
: You can make words *bold*, /italic/, _underlined_, =code= and ~verbatim~, and, if you must, +strike-through+.
It will look like this:
You can make words *bold*, /italic/, _underlined_, =code= and
~verbatim~, and, if you must, +strike-through+.
If you like what you see so far, the it might be a good idea to do
the Emacs tutorial, that comes with Emacs itself (*C-h t*). The
tutorial will teach you some Emacs shortcuts, used to move around
in your documents.
* Working with todo items
New shortcuts used in this chapter:
- *S-left/right* - cycle workflow
- *C-c C-v* - show todos in current document
** Basic todo functionality
The biggest use-case of org-mode is using it to keep track of
todos. To start working with todos you don't have to do anything,
just add the TODO keyword in a headline:
#+BEGIN_SRC org
** TODO buy airplane
#+END_SRC
To speed up working with todo-list there is the following shortcut,
- *S-left/right*
which will cycle through: *TODO* - *DONE* and empty.
Imagine that you have a large document, with scattered all over the
document todo entries, *C-c C-v* will show only your current todos,
and folding the rest away.
** Configuring todos
*** In the file itself
Org-mode files can be configured by adding workflow states to the
beginning of the file, like so:
#+BEGIN_SRC org
#+TODO: TODO IN-PROGRESS WAITING DONE
#+END_SRC
The line shoud be at the top of file, there should /not/ be any
empty lines between the top and the #+TODO line.
To activate the new workflow, either reopen the file, or go to the
top of the file (any line starting with #) and press *C-c C-c*.
Try copying the workflow to your test-file 1.org, seeing it helps
understanding what you can do with it.
*** In the Emacs-config file
Adding the workflow states to every org-file you create gets
boring soon, so it also possible to do this in your config
file. Add the following /after/ the (require 'org) line:
#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(setq org-todo-keywords
'((sequence "TODO" "IN-PROGRESS" "WAITING" "DONE")))
#+END_SRC
To activate the workflow states, restart Emacs.
* Agendas
* Reading the org-mode documentation
Org-mode is well documented. The fastest way to read the org-mode
documentation right in Emacs, in the so-called info-browser.
to call the info browser, use *C-h i*, and use *TAB* to jump from
hyperlink, to hyperlink.
To move around in the info-browser use:
- u -- up
- n -- next
- p -- previous
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next reply other threads:[~2010-03-22 18:59 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2010-03-22 18:59 Alexander Poslavsky [this message]
2010-03-22 20:09 ` Basic orgmode tutorial Adam
2010-03-22 20:51 ` John Hendy
2010-03-22 21:47 ` Alexander Poslavsky
2010-03-22 21:56 ` Dan Davison
2010-03-23 17:37 ` Memnon Anon
2010-03-23 18:14 ` Richard Riley
2010-03-23 19:40 ` Alexander Poslavsky
2010-03-23 22:07 ` Russell Adams
2010-03-24 10:52 ` Carsten Dominik
2010-03-24 17:18 ` Russell Adams
2010-03-24 19:07 ` Dan Davison
2010-03-24 20:49 ` Memnon Anon
2010-03-25 7:33 ` Carsten Dominik
2010-03-24 23:07 ` Stefan Vollmar
2010-04-09 22:07 ` Thomas S. Dye
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