-begins with a recognizable time of day, Emacs can warn you, several
-minutes beforehand, that that appointment is pending. Emacs alerts you
-to the appointment by displaying a message in the mode line.
-
-@vindex diary-hook
-@findex appt-make-list
- To enable appointment notification, you must enable the time display
-feature of Emacs, @kbd{M-x display-time} (@pxref{Mode Line}). You must
-also add the function @code{appt-make-list} to the
-@code{diary-hook}, like this:
-
-@example
-(add-hook 'diary-hook 'appt-make-list)
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-Adding this text to your @file{.emacs} file does the whole job:
-
-@example
-(display-time)
-(add-hook 'diary-hook 'appt-make-list)
-(diary 0)
-@end example
-
- With these preparations done, when you display the diary (either with
-the @kbd{d} command in the calendar window or with the @kbd{M-x diary}
-command), it sets up an appointment list of all the diary entries found
-with recognizable times of day, and reminds you just before each of
-them.
+begins with a recognizable time of day, Emacs can warn you several
+minutes beforehand that that appointment is pending. Emacs alerts you
+to the appointment by displaying a message in your chosen format, as
+specified by the variable @code{appt-display-format}. If the value
+of @code{appt-audible} is non-nil, an audible reminder is also given.
+
+@findex appt-activate
+ To enable appointment notification, call the function
+@code{appt-activate} with a positive argument. This sets up an
+appointment list for today from the diary file, giving all diary entries
+found with recognizable times of day, and reminds you just before each
+of them. Calling @code{appt-activate} with a negative argument disables
+the appointment package.