Org-Mode: Capture Templates - How to Use Them?
I've Started Using Emacs's Org-Mode Often, and Finally I Get to Configure Org-Capture. However, I've Found in Most Places That One Can Configure Different...
I've started using emacs's org-mode often, and finally I get to configure org-capture.
However, I've found in most places that one can configure different templates by adding the following lines to the .emacs file:
(setq org-capture-templates
'(("t" "Todo" entry (file+headline "~/Documents/Orgfiles/gtd.org" "Tasks")
"* TODO %?\n %i\n %a")
("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree "~/Documents/Orgfiles/journal.org")
"* %?\nEntered on %U\n %i\n %a")))
Question
- What is the purpose of using these templates?
- Could you (please) illustrate their uses with some examples?
1 Answer
org-capture lets you save (quickly!) links (in a broad sense) to you work for later reference. For example, say that you work on some TeX file, and you realize that you miss a section. Instead of cutting your workflow, you simply hit M-x org-capture and save a quick note (with a link to the place in the TeX file) in your Get Things Done org-file.
In order to use this feature, you have to define certain files where you want to save those quick notes. For example, for me, the most important file is gtd.org where I accomulate all the todo's. In turn, it is useful to add this file to the agenda list (M-x org-agenda-file-to-front) so you can access easily todo lists.
The templates I use are defined as follows:
(setq org-capture-templates
(quote (("t" "todo" entry (file (concat org-directory "/gtd.org"))
"* TODO %?\n%U\n%a\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
("n" "note" entry (file (concat org-directory "/gtd.org"))
"* %? :NOTE:\n%U\n%a\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
("j" "Journal" entry (file+datetree (concat org-directory "/diary.org"))
"* %?\n%U\n" :clock-in t :clock-resume t)
)))
And I mainly use the t for the todos. In practice, I binded (or maybe it is the default) org-capture to C-c c and then C-c c t opens a buffer where I can edit the todo item. Once I'm done C-c C-c saves the note in the predefined place, and I'm thrown automatically back to the buffer and point in the buffer where I was.
As always: for example C-c means that you have to hit the CONTROC-c combination and similarly M-x means that you have to hit META-x (META is normally ALT).
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