248 lines
9 KiB
Markdown
248 lines
9 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Emacs and Org-mode"
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author = ["Elia el Lazkani"]
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date = 2020-08-22
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lastmod = 2020-08-22
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tags = ["emacs", "org-mode", "configuration"]
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categories = ["text-editors"]
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draft = false
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I have recently found out, late I know, that the _VSCode_ distribution of the so called _Code - OSS_ is exactly that; a distribution.
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Let me make it clear, the _VSCode_ binaries you download from **Microsoft** has an upstream the **GitHub repository** named [VSCode](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode) but in fact is not exactly the same code.
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**Microsoft** has already added a few gifts for you, including **telemetry**, not cool huh ?!
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Well, they tell you this in the documentation, urrrmmm [somewhere](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Differences-between-the-repository-and-Visual-Studio-Code).
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<!--more-->
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At the same time, I was giving _Jupyter Notebook_ a try. I worked on my previous post in it before writing down the final result as a blog post.
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But at the back of my mind, there was always [Org-mode](https://orgmode.org/).
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Putting one and one together, you've guessed it. I have moved to **Emacs**... again... for the umm I can't remember time.
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But this time, it is different ! I hope...
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## Back story {#back-story}
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I was using _Jupyter Notebooks_ as a way to write down notes. Organize things.
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I had a work around the _output_ and was able to clean it.
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But let's face it, it might work but it is designed more towards other goals.
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I want to write notes and the best way to work with notes is to keep in the text, literally.
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I found a _VSCode_ extension that can handle _Org-mode_ in some capacity (I haven't tested it) so I decided to switch to _Emacs_ and keep the extention as a backup.
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## Emacs Distribution of Doom {#emacs-distribution-of-doom}
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Haha ! Very funny, I know. I went with [Doom](https://github.com/hlissner/emacs-doom-themes).
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Why? You may ask. I don't really have a good answer for you except the following.
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- I didn't want to start from scratch, I wanted something with batteries included.
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- At the same time, I've tried _Doom_ before and I like how it does things.
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It is logical to me while at the same time very configurable.
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- I was able to get up and running very quickly. Granted, my needs are few.
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- I got _Python_ and _Golang_ auto-completion and _evil_ mode. I'm good to go !
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Now let's dig down to my main focus here. Sure I switched editors but it was for a reason; **Org-mode**.
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## Org-mode Configuration {#org-mode-configuration}
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I will be talking about two different configuartion options here.
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I am new to emacs so I will try to explain everything.
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The two options are related to the difference between a _vanilla_ configuration and _Doom_'s version of the configuration.
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The differences are minor but they are worth talking about.
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### New Org File {#new-org-file}
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If you've used _Org-mode_ before and created _org files_, you already know that you need to set a few values at the top of the file. These include the _title_, _author_, _description_ and a different other values to change setting and/or behavior.
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It is a bit of a manual labor to write these few lines at the beginning of every file. I wanted to automate that. So I got inspiration from [shakthimaan](https://gitlab.com/shakthimaan/operation-blue-moon).
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I used his method to create a small `define-skeleton` for a header.
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It looks something like this.
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```emacs-lisp
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(define-skeleton generate-new-header-org
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"Prompt for title, description and tags"
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nil
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'(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: "))
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'(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: "))
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'(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: "))
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'(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: "))
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"#+TITLE: " title \n
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"#+AUTHOR: " author \n
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"#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n
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"#+TAGS: " tags \n
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)
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```
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You can use this later with `M-x` + `genrate-new-header-org`.
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<div class="admonition note">
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<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
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`M-x` is the **Meta** key and **x** combination.
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Your **Meta** key can differ between the **Alt** on _Linux_ and **Command** on _Mac OS X_.
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`M-x` will open a prompt for you to write in. Write the name you gave the skeleton, in this case it is `generate-new-header-org` and then hit the _Return_.
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</div>
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### New Task {#new-task}
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[shakthimaan](https://gitlab.com/shakthimaan/operation-blue-moon) already created something for this. It looks like the following.
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```emacs-lisp
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;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task=
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(define-skeleton insert-org-entry
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"Prompt for task, estimate and category"
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nil
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'(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: "))
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'(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: "))
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'(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: "))
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'(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: "))
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'(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s"))
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"** " task \n
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":PROPERTIES:" \n
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":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n
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":ACTUAL:" \n
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":OWNER: " owner \n
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":ID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":END:")
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```
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This can also be used like the one above with `M-x` + `insert-org-entry`.
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### Doom specific configuration {#doom-specific-configuration}
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Whatever defined so far should work if you just add it to your configuration but if you use _Doom_ it would a nice touch to integrate it with the workflow.
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In `~/.doom.d/config.el`, wrap the previous definitions with `(after! org)`.
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It's a nice touch to add these skeletons after _Org-mode_ has loaded.
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```emacs-lisp
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(after! org
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;; Create a skeleton to generate header org
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(define-skeleton generate-new-header-org
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"Prompt for title, description and tags"
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nil
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'(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: "))
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'(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: "))
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'(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: "))
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'(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: "))
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"#+TITLE: " title \n
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"#+AUTHOR: " author \n
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"#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n
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"#+TAGS: " tags \n)
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;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task=
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(define-skeleton insert-org-entry
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"Prompt for task, estimate and category"
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nil
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'(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: "))
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'(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: "))
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'(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: "))
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'(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: "))
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'(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s"))
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"** " task \n
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":PROPERTIES:" \n
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":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n
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":ACTUAL:" \n
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":OWNER: " owner \n
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":ID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":END:")
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)
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```
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<div class="admonition warning">
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<p class="admonition-title">warning</p>
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If you modify any file in `~/.doom.d/`, do not forget to run `doom sync` and `doom doctor` to update and check your configuration respectively.
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</div>
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### Final touches {#final-touches}
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I wanted to add it to the menu system that comes with _Doom_ so I included the following in my `(after! ...)` block.
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```emacs-lisp
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;; Add keybindings with the leader menu for everything above
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(map! :map org-mode-map
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(:leader
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(:prefix ("m", "+<localleader>")
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:n :desc "Generate New Header Org" "G" 'generate-new-header-org
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:n :desc "New Task Entry" "N" 'insert-org-entry
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))
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)
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```
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Making the final configuration look like the following.
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```emacs-lisp
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(after! org
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;; Create a skeleton to generate header org
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(define-skeleton generate-new-header-org
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"Prompt for title, description and tags"
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nil
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'(setq title (skeleton-read "Title: "))
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'(setq author (skeleton-read "Author: "))
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'(setq description (skeleton-read "Description: "))
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'(setq tags (skeleton-read "tags: "))
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"#+TITLE: " title \n
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"#+AUTHOR: " author \n
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"#+DESCRIPTION: " description \n
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"#+TAGS: " tags \n)
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;; Create a new skeleton to generate a new =Task=
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(define-skeleton insert-org-entry
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"Prompt for task, estimate and category"
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nil
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'(setq task (skeleton-read "Task: "))
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'(setq estimate (skeleton-read "Estimate: "))
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'(setq owner (skeleton-read "Owner: "))
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'(setq category (skeleton-read "Category: "))
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'(setq timestamp (format-time-string "%s"))
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"** " task \n
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":PROPERTIES:" \n
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":ESTIMATED: " estimate \n
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":ACTUAL:" \n
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":OWNER: " owner \n
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":ID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":TASKID: " category "." timestamp \n
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":END:")
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(map! (:when (featurep! :lang org)
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(:map org-mode-map
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(:localleader
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:n :desc "Generate New Header Org" "G" 'generate-new-header-org
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:n :desc "New Task Entry" "N" 'insert-org-entry
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))
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))
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)
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```
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## What do I do now ? {#what-do-i-do-now}
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You might be asking yourself at this point, what does this all mean ?
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What do I do with this ? Where do I go ?
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Well here's the thing. You find yourself wanting to create a new _org file_.
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You do so in emacs and follow it with `M-x` + `generate-new-header-org` (or `SPC m G` in **Doom**). _Emacs_ will ask you a few questions in the bottom left corner and once you answer then, your header should be all set.
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You can follow that with `M-x` + `insert-org-entry` (or `SPC m N`) to generate a task. This will also ask you for input in the bottom left corner.
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## Conclusion {#conclusion}
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This should help me pick up the usage of _Org-mode_ faster. It is also a good
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idea if you've already configured your _Emacs_ to read all your _org file_ for a
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wider **agenda** view.
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