org-mode-mirror/ORGWEBPAGE/Changes.org

Org-mode list of user-visible changes

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Version 6.34

Incompatible changes

Tags in org-agenda-auto-exclude-function must be lower case.

When defining an org-agenda-auto-exclude-function, you need to be aware that tag that is being passed into the function is always lower case - even if it was defined in upper case originally.

Details

Support for creating BEAMER presentations from Org-mode documents

Org-mode documents or subtrees can now be converted directly in to BEAMER presentation. Turning a tree into a simple presentations is straight forward, and there is also quite some support to make richer presentations as well. See the BEAMER section in the manual for more details.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion about BEAMER support and how it should work. This was a great example for how this community can achieve a much better result than any individual could.

Hyperlinks

Add Paul Sexton's org-ctags.el

Targets like <<my target>> can now be found by Emacs' etag functionality, and Org-mode links can be used to to link to etags, also in non-Org-mode files. For details, see the file org-ctags.el.

This feature uses a new hook org-open-link-functions which will call function to do something special with text links.

Thanks to Paul Sexton for this contribution.

Add Jan Böker's org-docview.el

This new module allows links to various file types using docview, where Emacs displays images of document pages. Docview link types can point to a specific page in a document, for example to page 131 of the Org-mode manual:

[[docview:~/.elisp/org/doc/org.pdf::131][Org-Mode Manual]]

Thanks to Jan Böker for this contribution.

New link types that force special ways of opening the file

• file+sys:/path/to/file will use the system to open the file, like double-clicking would.

• file+emacs:/path/to/file will force opening the linked file with Emacs.

This was a request by John Wiegley.

Open all links in a node

When using C-c C-o on a headline to get a list of links in the entry, pressing RET will open all links. This allows something like projects to be defined, with a number of files that have to be opened by different applications.

This was a request by John Wiegley.

Agenda Views

Improve the logic of the search view.

The logic of search views is changed a bit. See the docstring of the function or-search-view.

These changes resulted from a discussion with Matt Lundin.

New face for entries from the Emacs diary

Entries that enter the Agenda through the Emacs diary now get the face org-agenda-diary.

This was a request by Thierry Volpiatto.

New function `org-diary-class' to schedule classes with skipped weeks.

This was a request by Daniel Martins.

Empty matcher means prompt in agenda custom commands

When an agenda custom command has an empty string as MATCH element, so far this would lead to a meaningless search using an empty matcher. Now an empty (or white) string will be interpreted just like a nil matcher, i.e. the user will be prompted for the match.

Agenda: Selectively remove some tags from agenda display

If you use tags very extensively, you might want to exclude some from being displayed in the agenda, in order to keep the display compact. See the new option org-agenda-hide-tags-regexp for details.

This was largely a patch by Martin Pohlack.

Export

Direct export of only the current subtree

Pressing 1 after C-c C-e and before the key that selects the export backend, only the current subtree will be exported, exactly as it you had selected it first with C-c @. So for example, C-c C-e 1 b will export the current subtree to HTML and open the result in the browser.

Direct export of enclosing node

Pressing SPC after C-c C-e and before the key that selects the export backend, the enclosing subree that is set up for subtree export will be exported, exactly as it you had selected it first with C-c @. So for example, C-c C-e SPC d will find the enclosing node with a LaTeX_CLASS property or an EXPORT_FILE_NAME property and export that.

Caching export images

Images that are created for example using LaTeX or ditaa for inclusion into exported files are now cached. This works by adding a hash to the image name, that reflects the source code and all relevant settings. So as long as the hash does not change, the image does not have to be made again. His can lead to a substantial reduction in export/publishing times.

Thanks to Eric Schulte for a patch to this effect.

Preserving line breaks for export no longer works

ASCII export always preserves them - no other export format does. We had attempted to use \obeylines for this in LaTeX, but that does create too many problems.

New symbols \EUR and \checkmark

\EUR symbols from Marvosym package, and \checkmark are now supported symbols in Org-mode, i.e. they will be exported properly to the various backends.

Allow LaTeX_CLASS_OPTIONS to set options, also from a property

You can set the options to the \documentclass command on a per-file basis, using

#+LaTeX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [11pt]

or on a per-tree basis using the corresponding property. The defined string will replace the default options entirely.

The encoding of LaTeX files is now handled property

Org now makes sure that the encoding used by the file created through the export mechanism is reflected correctly in the

\usepackage[CODINGSYSTEM]{inputenc}

command. So as long as the org-export-latex-classes definition contains an \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} statement, that statement will be modified so that the correct option is used.

If you wan to use special encodings, for example utf8x instead of utf8, see the variable org-export-latex-inputenc-alist.

This was a request by Francesco Pizzolante.

Property API enhancements

Make a new special property BLOCKED, indicating if entry is blocked

A new special property BLOCKED returns "t" when the entry is blocked from switching the TODO state to a DONE state.

This was a request by John Wiegley.

New hooks for external support for allowed property values

It is now possible to hook into Org in order to provide the allowed values for any property with a lisp function. See the docstring of the variable org-property-allowed-value-functions

Allow unrestricted completion on properties

When listing the allowed values for a property, for example with a :name_ALL: property, completion on these values enforces that one of the values will be chosen. Now, if you add ":ETC" to the list of allowed values, it will be interpreted as a switch, and the completion will be non-restrictive, so you can also choose to type a new value.

Changes to Org-babel

• The documentation for Org-babel has been drastically improved and is available on Worg at http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/

• Source-code block names are now exported to HTML and LaTeX

• Org-babel functions are now bound to keys behind a common key prefix (see http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/reference.php#sec-5)

• Results are now foldable with TAB

• Header argument values can now be lisp forms

• Readable aliases for #+srcname: and #+resname:

• Sha1 hash based caching of results in buffer

• Can now index into variable values

• org-babel-clojure now supports multiple named sessions

Miscellaneous changes

Make C-c r C customize remember templates

C-c r C is now a shortcut for

 M-x customize-variable RET org-remember-templates RET

This was a proposal by Adam Spiers.

Use John Gruber's regular expression for URL's

We now use a better regexp to spot plain links in text. This regexp is adopted from John Gruber's blogpost.

Thanks to William Henney for the pointer.

Implement tag completion of all tags in all agenda files

The new option org-complete-tags-always-offer-all-agenda-tags makes Org complete all tags from all agenda files if non-nil. Usually, setting it locally to t in org-remember buffers is the most useful application of this new feature.

Thanks to Tassilo Horn for a patch to this effect.

Version 6.33

Incompatible changes

Reorganize key bindings for archiving

The following keys now do archiving

C-c C-x C-a

archive using the command specified in org-archive-default-command. This variable is by default set to org-archive-subtree, which means arching to the archive file.

The three specific archiving commands are available through

C-c C-x C-s

archive to archive file

C-c C-x a

toggle the archive tag

C-c C-x A

move to archive sibling

These bindings work the same in an Org file, and in the agenda.

In addition:

• In the agenda you can also use a to call the default archiving command, but you need to confirm the command with y so that this cannot easily happen by accident.

• For backward compatibility, C-c $ in an org-mode file, and $ in the agenda buffer continue to archive to archive file.

Details

Level indentation cycling new empty entries and plain list items

To speed up data entry, TAB now behaves special in an empty headline, i.e. if the current line only contains the headline starter stars, maybe a TOD keyword, but no further content. This is usually the situation just after creating a new headline with M-RET or M-S-RET.

Then, TAB will first make the current entry a child of the entry above, then a parent, then a grand parent etc until it reaches top level. Yet another TAB and you will be back at the initial level at which the headline was created.

New plain list items behave in just the same way.

Sounds strange? Try it, it is insanely fast when entering data. If you still don't like it, turn it off by customizing org-cycle-level-after-item/entry-creation.

Thanks to Samuel Wales and John Wiegley for ideas that contributed to this new feature.

Speed commands at the start of a headline

If you set the variable org-use-speed-commands, the cursor position at the beginning of a headline (i.e. before the first star) becomes special. Single keys execute special commands in this place, for example outline navigation with f, b, n, and p, equivalent to the corresponding C-c C-f, C-c C-b, C-c C-n, and C-c C-f commands. The full list of commands can be seen by pressing ? at the special location. More commands can be added and existing ones modified by configuring the variable org-speed-commands-user.

This was a request by John Wiegley, based on similar speed navigation in allout.el.

Logging changes in scheduling and deadline time stamps

Setting the variables org-log-reschedule and org-log-redeadline to either time or note will arrange for recording a logbook entry whenever a scheduling date or deadline is changed.

This was a request by Rick Moynihan.

File remember notes into a date tree

Remember notes can now be filed to a location in a date tree. A date tree is an outline tree with years as top levels, months as level 2 headings, and days as level three headings. These are great for journals and for recording appointments and other loose dates because it will be easy to find all entries referencing a particular date, and it will be easy to archive all such entry from last year, for example.

To select date tree filing, set the HEADLINE part of the remember template to the symbol date-tree. The date tree will be build in the file on top level. However, if the file contains an entry with a non-nil DATE_TREE property, then the tree will be build under that headline.

New commands to create entries from agenda and calendar

If you make the variable org-agenda-diary-file point to an org-mode file, the i key in both the agenda buffer and in the Emacs calendar will be made to insert entries into that Org file. The dates at the cursor and the mark are being used when making entries for specific dates or blocks. In the new file, anniversaries will be collected under a special headline, and day/block entries will be filed into a date tree (see previous section).

This was a request by Stephen Eglen.

A new freemind exporter has been integrated with Org-mode

org-freemind.el has a number of entry points (for details, see the source code), but you can also use Org's C-c C-e m to export a file or a selected subtree.

Thanks to Lennart Borgman for this contribution. An earlier version of this file was part of the nxhtml package, under the name freemind.el.

Drawers are now exported properly

Drawers are now exported when the configuration requires it, i.e. if the variable `org-export-with-drawers' is t or a list containing the drawers to export.

Min/Max/Mean age operators in Column View.

This lets you see how much time has passed since the specified timestamp property each entry. The three operators (@min, @max, @mean) show either the age of the youngest or oldest entry or the average age of the children.

Thanks to James TD Smith for a patch to this effect.

Allow source code block indentation to be preserved

If org-src-preserve-indentation is non-nil, or if a block has a -i switch, then the behavior of org-exp-blocks is altered as follows:

1. Indentation is not removed before passing the block contents to the block-transforming plugin.

2. The result returned by the plugin is not re-indented.

3. Editing the source code block with C-c ' preserves it's indentation.

Thanks to Dan Davison for this feature.

Frame/window control when switching to source code edit buffer.

When switching to a source code editing buffer with C-c ', you can now control the frame / window setup using the new variable org-src-window-setup.

Thanks to Dan Davison for this feature.

Refile an entry to the current clock

You can now quickly refile an entry to become a child of the entry currently being clocked. The keys for doing this are C-2 C-c C-w.

This was a request by Bernt Hansen.

Make C-c C-o open the attachment directory is there are no links

If there is no link in an entry, C-c C-o will now open the attachment directory instead.

This was a request/patch by John Wiegley.

org-mac-iCal.el: work with calendar "groups"

Some calendar systems (Google, Zimbra) handle subscriptions to multiple calendars (or to an account) by grouping them under a single caldav directory in the calendar tree. org-mac-iCal used to assumes there is only one ics file created per caldav directory, so while it creates all of the needed merged ics files, it only copies one of them to ~/Library/Calendar before importing the contents into the diary.

Thanks to Doug Hellmann for a patch to fix this.

New module org-learn.el in the contrib directory

The file implements the learning algorithm described at http://supermemo.com/english/ol/sm5.htm, which is a system for reading material according to "spaced repetition". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition for more details.

Thanks to John Wiegley for this contribution.

New contributed package org-git-link.el

org-git-link.el defines two new link types. The git link type is meant to be used in the typical scenario and mimics the file link syntax as closely as possible. The gitbare link type exists mostly for debugging reasons, but also allows e.g. linking to files in a bare git repository for the experts.

Thanks to Raimar Finken for this contribution.

org-annotation-helper.el and org-browser-url.e. have been removed

Please switch to org-protocol.el, into which contains the same functionality in a more general framework.

The contributed org-export-freemind package has been removed.

Org now contains a new freemind exporter, org-freemind.el.

Org-babel Changes

• Clojure is supported [Thanks to Joel Boehland]

• Perl is supported

• Ruby and Python now respond to the :file header argument

• Added :results_switches header argument for passing switches through to raw src blocks

• Preserve indentation in source blocks on export and tangle

• Possible to evaluate noweb reference on tangling or code block evaluation

• Allowing multiple noweb references on a single line

• Cleaned up the passing of parameter values from Org-babel to language specific functions

Version 6.32

Rewrite of org-mobile.org, for MobileOrg 1.0 (build 20)

MobileOrg is currently under review at the iPhone App Store. You will need Org-mode version 6.32 to interact with it.

Added support for habit consistency tracking

org-habit.el contains new code to track habits. Please configure the variable org-modules to activate it. When active, habits (a special TODO entry) will be displayed in the agenda together with a "consistency graph". Habit tracking is described in a new manual section.

Thanks to John Wiegley for this contribution.

New context-aware tag auto-exclusion

After writing a function relating to location and context information, you will be able to press / RET in the agenda to exclude tasks that cannot be done in the current context. For details, see the information about filtering in the manual.

Thanks to John Wiegley for a patch to this effect.

New clock resolving tools

When clocking into a new task while no clock is running, Org now checks for orphaned CLOCK lines and offers to repair these before starting the clock. You can also configure this feature to check for idle time and prompt you to subtract that time from the running timer.

See the new manual section for more details.

Thanks to John Wiegley for a patch to this effect.

Mutually exclusive tag groups can now have a name in the tags interface

The customize interface allows to optionally add a string to the beginning or end of such a group.

Thanks to James TD Smith for a patch to this effect.

Agenda Search view: Search for substrings

The default in search view (C-c a s)is now that the search expression is searched for as a substring, i.e. the different words must occur in direct sequence, and it may be only part of a word. If you want to look for a number of separate keywords with Boolean logic, all words must be preceded by + or -.

This was, more-or-less, requested by John Wiegley.

Make space and backspace scroll the show window in the agenda

Pressing SPC again after using it to show an agenda item in another window will make the entire subtree visible, and show scroll it. Backspace and DEL will scroll back.

This was a request by Eric Fraga.

File tags are now offered for completion during a tag prompts

Requested by Matt Lundin.

Make `- SPC' an agenda filter that selects entries without any tags

Request by John Wiegley.

Better way to edit multi-line macro definitions

The editing tool key C-c ' now also edits #+MACRO definitions, including multiline macros.

Restructured Manual

The manual has been slightly reorganized. The archiving stuff, which was - somewhat obscurely - hidden in the Document Structure chapter, has been moved into the new chapter Capture-Refile-Archive. Also, there is a new chapter Markup which contains both the markup rules (moved there from the Export chapter) and the documentation for embedded LaTeX.

Improved figure placement in LaTeX and HTML export

Text can now be wrapped around figures. See the manual for details.

Allow date to be shifted into the future if time given is earlier than now

By setting

    (setq org-read-date-prefer-future 'time)

you indicate to Org that, if you only give a time at the date/time prompt, and if this time is earlier then the current time, then the date of tomorrow will be assumed to be valid for this event. A similar mechanism was already in place for dates, but now you can make it work for times as well.

Collected changes in org-babel

• Source blocks can now reference source-blocks in other files using filepath:srcname syntax.

• Inline code blocks like src_python{2+2} are now exported

• Remote source block calls using the #+lob: srcname(arg=val) syntax can now be exported.

• When :file is supplied with an R block, graphics are automatically sent to file and linked from the org buffer, thus appearing on export. The image format is obtained from the filename extension. Possible values are .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff, .bmp, .pdf, .ps, .postscript, defaulting to png.

• Results can be returned as parseable code using :results code, and as pretty-printed code using :results pp (emacs-lisp, python, ruby). Thanks to Benny Andresen for the idea and patch for emacs-lisp.

• When :file filename is supplied, :exports file is unnecessary

• Header args are taken from org-file-properties in addition to properties active in the subtree.

• :noweb header argument now expands noweb references before source-block evaluation.

• Tangling honours the new org variable org-src-preserve-indentation, so that correct code is output for a language like python that depends on indentation.

Changes in org-exp-blocks.el

• Interblocks export has been simplified.

• Support for R code (begin_R blocks and inline \R{}) has been removed. Please use org-babel instead.

Version 6.31

Org-babel is now part of the Org distribution

Org-babel provides the ability to execute source code in many different languages within org-mode documents. The results of code execution – text, tables and graphics – can be integrated into Org-mode documents and can be automatically updated during publishing. Since Org-babel allows execution of arbitrary code, the range of tasks that can be addressed from within an Org mode file becomes very large. Examples of ways in which Org-babel might be used include

• Documenting a task that involves some programming so that it is automatically repeatable

• Creating dynamic (executable) reports that respond to changes in the underlying data (Reproducible Research)

• Exportation of code contained in an Org-mode document into regular source code files (Literate Programming)

Additionally, Org-babel provides a programming environment within Org files, in which data can be transmitted between parameterised source code blocks in different languages, as well as between source code blocks and Org-mode tables.

A simple API is defined so that users can add support for new "languages" (broadly construed). Languages currently supported are:

• asymptote

• css

• ditaa

• dot

• emacs-lisp

• gnuplot

• haskell

• ocaml

• python

• R

• ruby

• sass

• sh

• sql

Org-babel was designed and implemented Eric Schulte with continued significant help on both accounts from Dan Davison.

MobileOrg support

Richard Morelands iPhone/iPod Touch program MobileOrg can view Org files, mark entries as DONE, flag entries for later attention, and capture new entries on the road. Org-mode has now support to produce a staging area where MobileOrg can download its files, and to integrate changes done on the phone in a half automatic, half interactive way. See the new appendix B in the manual for more information.

Indented lines starting with "#+ " are treated as comments

To allow comments in plain lists without breaking the list structure, you can now have indented comment lines that start with "#+ ".

New STARTUP keyword `showeverything'

This will make even drawer contents visible upon startup. Requested by Jeff Kowalczyk.

New contributed package org-invoice.el

This package collects clocking information for billing customers.

Thanks to Peter Jones for this contribution.

Encrypting subtrees

org-crypt.el by John Wiegley and Peter Jones allows encryption of individual subtrees in Org-mode outlines. Thanks to John and Peter for this contribution.

Agenda: Support for including a link in the category string

The category (as specified by an #+CATEGORY line or CATEGORY property can contain a bracket link. While this sort-of worked in the past, it now is officially supported and should cause no problems in agenda display or update. The link can be followed by clicking on it, or with C-c C-o 0.

This was a request by Peter Westlake.

Version 6.30

Inconsistent changes

Agenda now uses f and b to move through time

Up to now, the Org-mode agenda used the cursor keys left and right to switch the agenda view forward an backward through time. However, many people found this confusing, and others wanted to be able to do cursor motion in the agenda, for example to select text. Therefore, after an extensive discussion on emacs-orgmode@gnu.org, it was decided to use the b and f keys instead, and to let the cursor keys do cursor motion again.

Agenda follow mode is now on the F key

This was necessary to free up the f key, see above.

Details

Maintenance

New command to submit a bug report

There is now a special command M-x org-submit-bug-report. This command will create a mail buffer with lots of useful details. In particular, it contains complete version information for Emacs and Org-mode. It will also (if you agree to it) contain all non-standard settings of org-mode and outline-mode related variables. Even if you do not sent your emails from within Emacs, please still use this command to generate the information and then copy it into your mail program.

The command will not generate and include a *Backtrace* buffer, please do this yourself if you have hit an error. For more information, see the feedback section of the manual.

New contributed package org-track.el

This package allows to keep up-to-date with current Org development, using only Emacs on-board means. So if you don't want or cannot use git, but still want to run the latest and hottest Org-mode, this is for you.

Thanks to Sebastian Rose for this contribution.

Agenda

Agenda now uses f and b to move through time

Up to now, the Org-mode agenda used the cursor keys left and right to switch the agenda view forward an backward through time. However, many people found this confusing, and others wanted to be able to do cursor motion in the agenda, for example to select text. Therefore, after an extensive discussion on emacs-orgmode@gnu.org, it was decided to use the b and f keys instead, and to let the cursor keys do cursor motion again.

Agenda follow mode is now on the F key

This was necessary to free up the f key, see above.

The agenda can be put into a dedicated frame

When the variable org-agenda-window-setup has the value other-frame, then the new frame created to show the agenda will now have the window marked as dedicated. As a consequence, exiting the agenda while the agenda is the only window on the frame will kill that frame.

This was a request by Henry Atting.

New mode to show some entry body text in the agenda

There is now a new agenda sub-mode called org-agenda-entry-text-mode. It is toggled with the E key. When active, all entries in the agenda will be accompanied by a few lines from the outline entry. The amount of text can be customized with the variable org-agenda-entry-text-maxlines.

This was a request by Anthony Fairchild, Manish, and others.

Improve following links from the agenda

C-c C-o in the agenda will now offer all links in the headline and text of an entry. If there is only a single link, it will be followed immediately.

Avoid some duplicate entries

There is a new variable that can be used to avoid some duplicate agenda entries: org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-deadline-is-shown If that is set, it avoids that an entry shows up in the agenda for today for both a scheduling and a deadline entry. See the docstring of the variables for more details.

This partially addresses a request by Samuel Wales.

Mark the running clock in the agenda.

If the entry currently being clocked is present in the agenda, it will be highlighted with the face org-agenda-clocking.

This was a request by Rainer Stengele.

Export

Allow LaTeX export to use the listings package

The LaTeX listings package can now be used for formatting fontified source code in many programming languages. For more information, see http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/16269 and http://orgmode.org/worg/org-faq.php#fontified_source_code_w_latex

Thanks to Eric Schulte for this patch.

Remove table rows that only contain width and alignment markers

The width and alignment in table columns can be set with a cookie like "<10>" or "<r>" or "<r10>". In order to keep Org from exporting such lines, the first column of a line should contain only "/". However, for convenience, there is now a special case: If the entire row contains only such markers, the line will automatically be discarded during export, even is the first column is not "/".

Allow Macro calls to span several lines.

Macro calls may now span several lines, to write several arguments in a cleaner way. The result of a macro call can also span several lines, by inserting the string "\n" (backslash followed by n) into the value in the macro definition.

These were requests by Stefan Vollmar.

Misc

Quick access to all links in an entry

If C-c C-o is called while the cursor is in a headline, but not directly on a link, then all links in the entry will be offered in a small menu. If there is only a single link, it will be followed without a prompt.

Visibility Cycling: Allow to show all empty lines after a headline

org-cycle-separator-lines can now be set to a negative value, to indicate that, if the number of empty lines before a visible entry is greater than the specified number, then all empty lines should be shown.

This was a request by "PT" whatever this means.

Allow language names to replace some strange major mode names

Sometimes a language uses a major mode which can't be guessed from it's name. There is now a new variable org-src-lang-modes which can be used to map language names to major modes when this is the case. This is used when editing a source-code block, or when exporting fontified source-code with htmlize.

Thanks to Eric Schulte for a patch to this effect.

iswitchb support for many completion prompts

This is enabled using org-completion-use-iswitchb, and follows the same model of usage as for ido users.

Thanks to John Wiegley for a patch to this effect.

New commands to set the effort property of an entry

There is now a special command, C-c C-x e to set the Effort property of an entry. From the agenda you can even use e. If you have set up allowed values for the Effort property, then using a prefix argument will directly select the nth allowed value. For example, in the agenda, 5 e will select the 5th allowed value.

This was a request by Michael Gilbert

Edit src works now better with killing buffer

Thanks to Dan Davison for a patch to this effect

Older changes

For older Changes, see Changes_old.org

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