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1 | \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- |
2 | @c %**start of header | |
3 | @setfilename ../../info/remember | |
4 | @settitle Remember Manual | |
15f3eb73 | 5 | @syncodeindex fn cp |
5dc584b5 | 6 | @c %**end of header |
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7 | |
8 | @copying | |
9 | This manual is for Remember Mode, version 1.9 | |
10 | ||
5df4f04c | 11 | Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 |
dcb8ac09 | 12 | Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
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13 | |
14 | @quotation | |
15 | Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document | |
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16 | under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or |
17 | any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no | |
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18 | Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual'', |
19 | and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license | |
20 | is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''. | |
21 | ||
22 | (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and | |
23 | modify this GNU manual. Buying copies from the FSF supports it in | |
24 | developing GNU and promoting software freedom.'' | |
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25 | @end quotation |
26 | @end copying | |
27 | ||
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28 | @dircategory Emacs |
29 | @direntry | |
62e034c2 | 30 | * Remember: (remember). Simple information manager for Emacs. |
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31 | @end direntry |
32 | ||
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33 | @titlepage |
34 | @title Guide to Remember Mode | |
35 | @subtitle a simple information manager | |
36 | @subtitle for Emacs and XEmacs | |
37 | ||
38 | @c The following two commands | |
39 | @c start the copyright page. | |
40 | @page | |
41 | @vskip 0pt plus 1filll | |
42 | @insertcopying | |
43 | @end titlepage | |
44 | ||
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45 | @contents |
46 | ||
47 | @ifnottex | |
48 | @node Top, Preface, (dir), (dir) | |
49 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
50 | @top Remember | |
51 | ||
52 | @insertcopying | |
53 | @end ifnottex | |
54 | ||
55 | @menu | |
56 | * Preface:: About the documentation. | |
57 | * Introduction:: What is Remember Mode? | |
58 | * Installation:: How to install Remember. | |
59 | * Implementation:: How Remember came into existence. | |
60 | * Quick Start:: Get started using Remember. | |
15f3eb73 | 61 | * Function Reference:: Interactive functions in remember.el. |
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62 | * Keystrokes:: Keystrokes bound in Remember Mode. |
63 | * Backends:: Backends for saving notes. | |
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64 | * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation. |
65 | * Concept Index:: Search for terms. | |
66 | ||
67 | @detailmenu | |
68 | --- The Detailed Node Listing --- | |
69 | ||
70 | Backends | |
71 | ||
72 | * Text File:: Saving to a text file. | |
bec9b2f5 | 73 | * Diary:: Saving to a Diary file. |
15f3eb73 | 74 | * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox. |
bec9b2f5 | 75 | * Org:: Saving to an Org Mode file. |
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76 | |
77 | @end detailmenu | |
78 | @end menu | |
79 | ||
80 | @node Preface, Introduction, Top, Top | |
81 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
82 | @chapter Preface | |
83 | ||
84 | This document describes remember-el, which was written by John Wiegley, | |
85 | was once maintained by Sacha Chua, and is now maintained by the Emacs | |
86 | developers. | |
87 | ||
88 | This document is a work in progress, and your contribution will be | |
89 | greatly appreciated. | |
90 | ||
91 | @node Introduction, Installation, Preface, Top | |
92 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
93 | @chapter Introduction | |
94 | ||
95 | Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use databases | |
96 | for is really just a way to extend the power of our memory, to be able | |
97 | to remember what our conscious mind may not currently have access to. | |
98 | ||
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99 | There are many different databases out there---and good ones---which |
100 | this mode is not trying to replace. Rather, it's how that data gets | |
101 | there that's the question. Most of the time, we just want to say | |
102 | "Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to buy dinner for the | |
103 | cats tonight." That's the FACT. How it's stored is really the | |
104 | computer's problem. But at this point in time, it's most definitely | |
105 | also the user's problem, and sometimes so laboriously so that people | |
106 | just let data slip, rather than expend the effort to record it. | |
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107 | |
108 | ``Remember'' is a mode for remembering data. It uses whatever | |
109 | back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but its main | |
110 | intention is to allow you to express as @emph{little} structure as | |
111 | possible up front. If you later want to express more powerful | |
112 | relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at | |
113 | first too implicit to be recognized, you can ``study'' the data later | |
114 | and rearrange it. But the initial ``just remember this'' impulse | |
115 | should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as possible. | |
116 | ||
117 | Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't | |
118 | @emph{actually} increase the amount of quality material that you turn | |
119 | out, in the long run? Perhaps it's because the time we save | |
120 | electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another; the | |
121 | tool should never dominate one's focus. As the mystic Faridu'd-Din | |
122 | `Attar wrote: ``Be occupied as little as possible with things of the | |
123 | outer world but much with things of the inner world; then right action | |
124 | will overcome inaction.'' | |
125 | ||
126 | If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where brainstorming | |
127 | would focus on the @emph{ideas} involved---rather than the structuring | |
128 | and format of those ideas, or having to stop your current flow of work | |
129 | in order to record them---it would map much more closely to how the mind | |
130 | (well, at least mine) works, and hence would eliminate that very | |
131 | manual-ness which computers from the very beginning have been championed | |
132 | as being able to reduce. | |
133 | ||
134 | @node Installation, Implementation, Introduction, Top | |
135 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
136 | @chapter Installation | |
137 | ||
138 | Installing Remember Mode is as simple as adding the following lines to | |
139 | your Emacs configuration file (usually @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} or | |
140 | @file{~/.emacs}). | |
141 | ||
142 | @lisp | |
143 | (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/remember") | |
144 | (require 'remember) | |
145 | @end lisp | |
146 | ||
147 | @node Implementation, Quick Start, Installation, Top | |
148 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
149 | @chapter Implementation | |
150 | ||
151 | Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being very | |
152 | powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of ``front-end'' work before | |
153 | that data was really available. The problem with BBDB, or keeping up | |
154 | a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different functions to | |
155 | record the data, and it always takes time to stop what you're doing, | |
156 | format the data in the manner expected by that particular data | |
157 | interface, and then resume your work. | |
158 | ||
159 | With ``remember'', you just hit @kbd{M-x remember} (you'd probably | |
160 | want to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like @kbd{C-x | |
161 | M-r}), slam in your text however you like, and then hit @kbd{C-c C-c}. | |
162 | It will file the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing. | |
163 | ||
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164 | Indexing is to data what ``studying'' is in the real world. What you do |
165 | when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize certain | |
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166 | relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make use of those |
167 | relationships. Expressing that a certain quote you remembered was a | |
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168 | literary quote, and that you want the ability to pull up all quotes of a |
169 | literary nature, is what studying does. This is a more labor intensive | |
170 | task than the original remembering of the data, and it's typical in real | |
171 | life to set aside a special period of time for doing this work. | |
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172 | |
173 | ``Remember'' works in the same way. When you enter data, either by | |
174 | typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected region, | |
175 | it will store that data---unindexed, uninterpreted---in a data pool. | |
176 | It will also try to remember as much context information as possible | |
177 | (any text properties that were set, where you copied it from, when, | |
178 | how, etc). Later, you can walk through your accumulated set of data | |
179 | (both organized, and unorganized) and easily begin moving things | |
180 | around, and making annotations that will express the full meaning of | |
181 | that data, as far as you know it. | |
182 | ||
183 | Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and it | |
184 | would be nice if ``remember'' could do it as elegantly as possible, | |
185 | rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize your | |
186 | hierarchy. Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience and user | |
187 | feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as possible. | |
188 | ||
7d3f6f1a | 189 | @node Quick Start, Function Reference, Implementation, Top |
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190 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up |
191 | @chapter Quick Start | |
192 | ||
193 | @itemize | |
194 | ||
195 | @item | |
196 | Load @file{remember.el}. | |
197 | ||
198 | @item | |
199 | Type @kbd{M-x remember}. The @samp{*Remember*} buffer should be | |
200 | displayed. | |
201 | ||
202 | @item | |
203 | Type in what you want to remember. The first line will be treated as | |
204 | the headline, and the rest of the buffer will contain the body of the | |
205 | note. | |
206 | ||
207 | @item | |
6159985a | 208 | Type @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{remember-finalize}) to save the note and close |
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209 | the @samp{*Remember*} buffer. |
210 | @end itemize | |
211 | ||
6159985a | 212 | By default, @code{remember-finalize} saves the note in @file{~/.notes}. |
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213 | You can edit it now to see the remembered and timestamped note. You |
214 | can edit this file however you want. New entries will always be added | |
215 | to the end. | |
216 | ||
217 | To remember a region of text, use the universal prefix. @kbd{C-u M-x | |
218 | remember} displays a @samp{*Remember*} buffer with the region as the | |
219 | initial contents. | |
220 | ||
221 | As a simple beginning, you can start by using the Text File backend, | |
222 | keeping your @file{~/.notes} file in outline-mode format, with a final | |
223 | entry called @samp{* Raw data}. Remembered data will be added to the | |
224 | end of the file. Every so often, you can move the data that gets | |
225 | appended there into other files, or reorganize your document. | |
226 | ||
227 | You can also store remembered data in other backends. | |
228 | (@pxref{Backends}) | |
229 | ||
230 | Here is one way to map the remember functions in your @file{.emacs} to | |
231 | very accessible keystrokes facilities using the mode: | |
232 | ||
233 | @lisp | |
234 | (autoload 'remember ``remember'' nil t) | |
235 | (autoload 'remember-region ``remember'' nil t) | |
236 | ||
237 | (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> r") 'remember) | |
238 | (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> R") 'remember-region) | |
239 | @end lisp | |
240 | ||
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241 | By default, remember uses the first annotation returned by |
242 | @code{remember-annotation-functions}. To include all of the annotations, | |
243 | set @code{remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag} to non-nil. | |
244 | ||
245 | @defopt remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag | |
246 | Non-nil means use all annotations returned by | |
247 | @code{remember-annotation-functions}. | |
248 | @end defopt | |
249 | ||
250 | You can write custom functions that use a different set of | |
251 | remember-annotation-functions. For example: | |
252 | ||
253 | @lisp | |
254 | (defun my/remember-with-filename () | |
255 | "Always use the filename." | |
256 | (interactive) | |
257 | (let ((remember-annotation-functions '(buffer-file-name))) | |
258 | (call-interactively 'remember))) | |
259 | @end lisp | |
260 | ||
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261 | @node Function Reference, Keystrokes, Quick Start, Top |
262 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
263 | @chapter Function Reference | |
264 | ||
265 | @file{remember.el} defines the following interactive functions: | |
266 | ||
267 | @defun remember initial | |
268 | Remember an arbitrary piece of data. With a prefix, it will use the | |
269 | region as @var{initial}. | |
270 | @end defun | |
271 | ||
272 | @defun remember-region beg end | |
273 | If called from within the remember buffer, @var{beg} and @var{end} are | |
274 | ignored, and the entire buffer will be remembered. If called from any | |
275 | other buffer, that region, plus any context information specific to | |
276 | that region, will be remembered. | |
277 | @end defun | |
278 | ||
279 | @defun remember-clipboard | |
280 | Remember the contents of the current clipboard. This is most useful | |
281 | for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows applications. | |
282 | @end defun | |
283 | ||
6159985a | 284 | @defun remember-finalize |
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285 | Remember the contents of the current buffer. |
286 | @end defun | |
287 | ||
288 | @defun remember-mode | |
289 | This enters the major mode for output from @command{remember}. This | |
290 | buffer is used to collect data that you want remember. Just hit | |
291 | @kbd{C-c C-c} when you're done entering, and it will go ahead and file | |
292 | the data for latter retrieval, and possible indexing. | |
293 | @end defun | |
294 | ||
295 | @node Keystrokes, Backends, Function Reference, Top | |
296 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
297 | @chapter Keystroke Reference | |
298 | ||
299 | @file{remember.el} defines the following keybindings by default: | |
300 | ||
301 | @table @kbd | |
302 | ||
6159985a | 303 | @item C-c C-c (`remember-finalize') |
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304 | Remember the contents of the current buffer. |
305 | ||
306 | @item C-c C-k (`remember-destroy') | |
307 | Destroy the current *Remember* buffer. | |
308 | ||
6159985a | 309 | @item C-x C-s (`remember-finalize') |
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310 | Remember the contents of the current buffer. |
311 | ||
312 | @end table | |
313 | ||
bec9b2f5 | 314 | @node Backends, GNU Free Documentation License, Keystrokes, Top |
7d3f6f1a | 315 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up |
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316 | @chapter Backends |
317 | ||
318 | You can save remembered notes to a variety of backends. | |
319 | ||
320 | @menu | |
321 | * Text File:: Saving to a text file. | |
bec9b2f5 | 322 | * Diary:: Saving to a Diary file. |
15f3eb73 | 323 | * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox. |
bec9b2f5 | 324 | * Org:: Saving to an Org Mode file. |
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325 | @end menu |
326 | ||
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327 | @node Text File, Diary, Backends, Backends |
328 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
15f3eb73 | 329 | @section Saving to a Text File |
bec9b2f5 | 330 | @cindex text file, saving to |
15f3eb73 | 331 | |
bec9b2f5 | 332 | @subheading Insinuation |
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333 | |
334 | @lisp | |
335 | (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-append-to-file)) | |
336 | @end lisp | |
337 | ||
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338 | @subheading Options |
339 | ||
15f3eb73 | 340 | @defopt remember-data-file |
bec9b2f5 | 341 | The file in which to store unprocessed data. |
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342 | @end defopt |
343 | ||
344 | @defopt remember-leader-text | |
bec9b2f5 | 345 | The text used to begin each remember item. |
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346 | @end defopt |
347 | ||
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348 | @node Diary, Mailbox, Text File, Backends |
349 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
350 | @section Saving to a Diary file | |
351 | @cindex diary, integration | |
15f3eb73 | 352 | |
bec9b2f5 | 353 | @subheading Insinuation |
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354 | |
355 | @lisp | |
bec9b2f5 | 356 | (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-diary-extract-entries) |
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357 | @end lisp |
358 | ||
bec9b2f5 | 359 | @subheading Options |
15f3eb73 | 360 | |
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361 | @defopt remember-diary-file |
362 | File for extracted diary entries. | |
3728bf03 | 363 | If this is nil, then @code{diary-file} will be used instead." |
bec9b2f5 | 364 | @end defopt |
15f3eb73 | 365 | |
bec9b2f5 | 366 | @node Mailbox, Org, Diary, Backends |
15f3eb73 | 367 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up |
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368 | @section Saving to a Mailbox |
369 | @cindex mailbox, saving to | |
15f3eb73 | 370 | |
bec9b2f5 | 371 | @subheading Insinuation |
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372 | |
373 | @lisp | |
bec9b2f5 | 374 | (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-store-in-mailbox) |
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375 | @end lisp |
376 | ||
bec9b2f5 | 377 | @subheading Options |
15f3eb73 | 378 | |
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379 | @defopt remember-mailbox |
380 | The file in which to store remember data as mail. | |
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381 | @end defopt |
382 | ||
bec9b2f5 MO |
383 | @defopt remember-default-priority |
384 | The default priority for remembered mail messages. | |
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385 | @end defopt |
386 | ||
bec9b2f5 | 387 | @node Org, , Mailbox, Backends |
15f3eb73 | 388 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up |
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389 | @section Saving to an Org Mode file |
390 | @cindex org mode, integration | |
391 | ||
392 | For instructions on how to integrate Remember with Org Mode, | |
393 | consult @ref{Remember, , , org}. | |
15f3eb73 | 394 | |
bec9b2f5 | 395 | @node GNU Free Documentation License, Concept Index, Backends, Top |
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396 | @appendix GNU Free Documentation License |
397 | @include doclicense.texi | |
398 | ||
399 | @node Concept Index, , GNU Free Documentation License, Top | |
400 | @comment node-name, next, previous, up | |
401 | @unnumbered Index | |
402 | ||
403 | @printindex cp | |
404 | ||
405 | @bye | |
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406 | |
407 | @ignore | |
408 | arch-tag: 5b980db0-20cc-4167-b845-52dc11d53b9f | |
409 | @end ignore |