how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

Hello,

the short question is: how can I easily unschedule a task when in the
agenda view?  C-c C-s allows me to re-schedule (as do shifted arrow
keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
item.



(only read the following if you wish to know about my GTD approach)

The longer motivating reason for wanting this is that the need arises
from how I handle my list of todo items.  In my default TODO sequence,
one of the entries is WAITING (aka delegated to somebody else, the one
benefit of having a team of people working for me ;-).  When I switch
a todo item to this state from TODO or INPROGRESS, where I had
scheduled the activity for some date (usually the current date), I
would like to unschedule it.  The activity is now somebody else's
responsibility for the time being so I don't want to have it visible!
(I may still have a deadline attached to it, of course).

John Wiegley's tutorial (which is excellent!) addresses the issue of
delegation by scheduling the task for himself to remind him to ping
the person responsible for the task now.  I could do this (and do do
this sometimes) but I would rather not in general.

I've gone through the manual, the mailing list and the other tutorials
but have missed any easy solution to this.  Obviously, I can simply
visit the item in the org file and delete the schedule entry but I'm
always loathe to leave the agenda view if I don't have to!

Ideally, it would be nice if one could attach actions (beyond logbook
recording) to todo state changes, actions like "unschedule this item
when switching to WAITING state" and I'm sure there are others...  but
having this capability is not critical of course.

Thanks,
eric

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Benjamin Andresen]

Hey Eric,

Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> Hello,
>
> the short question is: how can I easily unschedule a task when in the
> agenda view?  C-c C-s allows me to re-schedule (as do shifted arrow
> keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
> item.

C-u C-c C-s on the item in the agenda will remove the SCHEDULED entry.

I know of no way to Bulk UnSchedule things though. The best bet you have
for that scenario is to use a keyboard macro. Obvious drawbacks to this
is that you have to manually skip entries that you don't want
UnScheduled. This is where bulk actions shine.

> Thanks,
> eric

br,
benny

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Paul Mead]

Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> Hello,
>
> the short question is: how can I easily unschedule a task when in the
> agenda view?  C-c C-s allows me to re-schedule (as do shifted arrow
> keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
> item.
>
C-u C-c C-s?

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:41:55 +0000,
Paul Mead wrote:
> 
> Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> > the short question is: how can I easily unschedule a task when in the
> > agenda view?  C-c C-s allows me to re-schedule (as do shifted arrow
> > keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
> > item.
> >
> C-u C-c C-s?

D'uh.  <blush>  Works perfectly.

Thanks for the speedy response.

I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?  If not, it
might be worth adding, say:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
With an argument, this command unschedules the item.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

to the entry on C-c C-s in section 10.5 of the org-manual and to C-c
C-d if the same applies to deadlines?

Re: Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Manish]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 6:07 PM, Eric S Fraga  wrote:
[...]
>> > keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
>> > item.
>> >
>> C-u C-c C-s?
>
> D'uh.  <blush>  Works perfectly.
>
> Thanks for the speedy response.
>
> I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?

Section 8.3.1, para 2

-- 
Manish

Re: Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:14:40 +0530,
Manish wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 6:07 PM, Eric S Fraga  wrote:
> > I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?
> 
> Section 8.3.1, para 2

Okay:

* TODO I must get more effective in my use of Emacs info mode!
  SCHEDULED: Like, now!

Thanks!

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Benjamin Andresen]

Hey Eric,

Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:41:55 +0000,
> Paul Mead wrote:
>> 
>> Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>> 
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > the short question is: how can I easily unschedule a task when in the
>> > agenda view?  C-c C-s allows me to re-schedule (as do shifted arrow
>> > keys) but sometimes I simply want to remove the schedule entry for the
>> > item.
>> >
>> C-u C-c C-s?
>
> D'uh.  <blush>  Works perfectly.
>
> Thanks for the speedy response.
>
> I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?

It's commented on here: (info "(org)Inserting deadline/schedule")
Also here, (in org-mode): C-h k C-c C-s

> If not, it might be worth adding, say:
>
> to the entry on C-c C-s in section 10.5 of the org-manual and to C-c
> C-d if the same applies to deadlines?

Good question... I don't know how often you should repeat the same
information at different places to make looking up stuff easier.

And I don't know if info files can have more specific links than just
nodes. The same way org does it with an isearch text on top.

br,
benny

Re: Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:47:14 +0100,
Benjamin Andresen wrote:
> > I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?
> 
> It's commented on here: (info "(org)Inserting deadline/schedule")
> Also here, (in org-mode): C-h k C-c C-s

Ah, true!  But in agenda view, the help information is:

,----
| C-c C-s runs the command org-agenda-schedule, which is an interactive
| compiled Lisp function in `org-agenda.el'.
| 
| It is bound to C-c C-s, <menu-bar> <Agenda> <Deadline/Schedule>
| <Schedule>.
| 
| (org-agenda-schedule arg)
| 
| Schedule the item at point.
`----

so there is no mention of the argument here (i.e. here we have "arg"
with no explanation which maybe should have given me a hint...).  In
any case, it would be good to have both help entries the same?

> > If not, it might be worth adding, say:
> >
> > to the entry on C-c C-s in section 10.5 of the org-manual and to C-c
> > C-d if the same applies to deadlines?
> 
> Good question... I don't know how often you should repeat the same
> information at different places to make looking up stuff easier.

True.  There is a point of diminishing return.  

For me, at least, if the same information had been available in the
help entry for the key sequence in the agenda view as in normal org
mode, I would have found it as that's the first thing I do tend to
check.

Thanks,
eric

Re: Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Eric and others,  I have improved he documentation in all mentioned  
places.

Also, I have made `C-u B s' bulk-unschedule stuff.

HTH

- Carsten

On Jan 14, 2010, at 1:56 PM, Eric S Fraga wrote:

> At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:47:14 +0100,
> Benjamin Andresen wrote:
>>> I do have a question: is this anywhere in the manual?
>>
>> It's commented on here: (info "(org)Inserting deadline/schedule")
>> Also here, (in org-mode): C-h k C-c C-s
>
> Ah, true!  But in agenda view, the help information is:
>
> ,----
> | C-c C-s runs the command org-agenda-schedule, which is an  
> interactive
> | compiled Lisp function in `org-agenda.el'.
> |
> | It is bound to C-c C-s, <menu-bar> <Agenda> <Deadline/Schedule>
> | <Schedule>.
> |
> | (org-agenda-schedule arg)
> |
> | Schedule the item at point.
> `----
>
> so there is no mention of the argument here (i.e. here we have "arg"
> with no explanation which maybe should have given me a hint...).  In
> any case, it would be good to have both help entries the same?
>
>>> If not, it might be worth adding, say:
>>>
>>> to the entry on C-c C-s in section 10.5 of the org-manual and to C-c
>>> C-d if the same applies to deadlines?
>>
>> Good question... I don't know how often you should repeat the same
>> information at different places to make looking up stuff easier.
>
> True.  There is a point of diminishing return.
>
> For me, at least, if the same information had been available in the
> help entry for the key sequence in the agenda view as in normal org
> mode, I would have found it as that's the first thing I do tend to
> check.
>
> Thanks,
> eric
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

- Carsten

Re: Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:42:51 +0100,
Carsten Dominik wrote:
> 
> Hi Eric and others,  I have improved he documentation in all mentioned
> places.
> 
> Also, I have made `C-u B s' bulk-unschedule stuff.
> 
> HTH
> 
> - Carsten

Thanks!

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Manish]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Eric S Fraga wrote:
[...]
> Ideally, it would be nice if one could attach actions (beyond logbook
> recording) to todo state changes, actions like "unschedule this item
> when switching to WAITING state" and I'm sure there are others...  but
> having this capability is not critical of course.

There is a hook "org-after-todo-state-change-hook" that is called
after the state of a TODO item is changed.  So may be org-schedule can
be called to remove the SCHEDULED time on state change to WAITING?

http://orgmode.org/worg/org-configs/org-hooks.php#sec-1.13

Best,
-- 
Manish

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:07:34 +0530,
Manish wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Eric S Fraga wrote:
> [...]
> > Ideally, it would be nice if one could attach actions (beyond logbook
> > recording) to todo state changes, actions like "unschedule this item
> > when switching to WAITING state" and I'm sure there are others...  but
> > having this capability is not critical of course.
> 
> There is a hook "org-after-todo-state-change-hook" that is called
> after the state of a TODO item is changed.  So may be org-schedule can
> be called to remove the SCHEDULED time on state change to WAITING?
> 
> http://orgmode.org/worg/org-configs/org-hooks.php#sec-1.13
> 
> Best,
> -- 
> Manish

I just *knew* that org-mode would already support what I wanted.  Why
I didn't think of looking at the hooks, I'm not sure.  Thanks for this
pointer.  I'm off to play with it!

Re: how to unschedule a task in agenda view?

[Eric S Fraga]

At Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:07:34 +0530,
Manish wrote:
> 
> There is a hook "org-after-todo-state-change-hook" that is called
> after the state of a TODO item is changed.  So may be org-schedule can
> be called to remove the SCHEDULED time on state change to WAITING?
> 
> http://orgmode.org/worg/org-configs/org-hooks.php#sec-1.13

This works like a charm:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(add-hook 'org-after-todo-state-change-hook
	  '(lambda ()
	     ;; remove the scheduled date/time if present as the activity is no longer mine
	     ;; based on a suggestion by Manish on the org-mode mailing list
	     (if (string= state "WAITING") (org-schedule t))))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Thanks again,
eric