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[emacs.git] / doc / misc / remember.texi

\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename ../../info/remember
@settitle Remember Manual
@c %**end of header

@dircategory Emacs
@direntry
* Remember: (remember). Simple information manager for Emacs
@end direntry

@syncodeindex fn cp

@copying
This manual is for Remember Mode, version 1.9

Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
Free Software Foundation, Inc.

@quotation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual'',
and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.  A copy of the license
is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.

(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to copy and
modify this GNU manual.  Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
@end quotation
@end copying

@titlepage
@title Guide to Remember Mode
@subtitle a simple information manager
@subtitle for Emacs and XEmacs

@c The following two commands
@c start the copyright page.
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage

@c So the toc is printed at the start
@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top, Preface, (dir), (dir)
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@top Remember

@insertcopying
@end ifnottex

@menu
* Preface::                     About the documentation.
* Introduction::                What is Remember Mode?
* Installation::                How to install Remember.
* Implementation::              How Remember came into existence.
* Quick Start::                 Get started using Remember.
* Function Reference::          Interactive functions in remember.el.
* Keystrokes::                  Keystrokes bound in Remember Mode.
* Backends::                    Backends for saving notes.
* GNU Free Documentation License::  The license for this documentation.
* Concept Index::               Search for terms.

@detailmenu
 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Backends

* Text File::                   Saving to a text file.
* Diary::                       Saving to a Diary file.
* Mailbox::                     Saving to a mailbox.
* Org::                         Saving to an Org Mode file.

@end detailmenu
@end menu

@node Preface, Introduction, Top, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Preface

This document describes remember-el, which was written by John Wiegley,
was once maintained by Sacha Chua, and is now maintained by the Emacs
developers.

This document is a work in progress, and your contribution will be
greatly appreciated.

@node Introduction, Installation, Preface, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Introduction

Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use databases
for is really just a way to extend the power of our memory, to be able
to remember what our conscious mind may not currently have access to.

There are many different databases out there---and good ones---which
this mode is not trying to replace.  Rather, it's how that data gets
there that's the question.  Most of the time, we just want to say
"Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to buy dinner for the
cats tonight."  That's the FACT.  How it's stored is really the
computer's problem.  But at this point in time, it's most definitely
also the user's problem, and sometimes so laboriously so that people
just let data slip, rather than expend the effort to record it.

``Remember'' is a mode for remembering data.  It uses whatever
back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but its main
intention is to allow you to express as @emph{little} structure as
possible up front.  If you later want to express more powerful
relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at
first too implicit to be recognized, you can ``study'' the data later
and rearrange it.  But the initial ``just remember this'' impulse
should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as possible.

Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't
@emph{actually} increase the amount of quality material that you turn
out, in the long run?  Perhaps it's because the time we save
electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another; the
tool should never dominate one's focus.  As the mystic Faridu'd-Din
`Attar wrote: ``Be occupied as little as possible with things of the
outer world but much with things of the inner world; then right action
will overcome inaction.''

If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where brainstorming
would focus on the @emph{ideas} involved---rather than the structuring
and format of those ideas, or having to stop your current flow of work
in order to record them---it would map much more closely to how the mind
(well, at least mine) works, and hence would eliminate that very
manual-ness which computers from the very beginning have been championed
as being able to reduce.

@node Installation, Implementation, Introduction, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Installation

Installing Remember Mode is as simple as adding the following lines to
your Emacs configuration file (usually @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} or
@file{~/.emacs}).

@lisp
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/remember")
(require 'remember)
@end lisp

@node Implementation, Quick Start, Installation, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Implementation

Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being very
powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of ``front-end'' work before
that data was really available.  The problem with BBDB, or keeping up
a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different functions to
record the data, and it always takes time to stop what you're doing,
format the data in the manner expected by that particular data
interface, and then resume your work.

With ``remember'', you just hit @kbd{M-x remember} (you'd probably
want to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like @kbd{C-x
M-r}), slam in your text however you like, and then hit @kbd{C-c C-c}.
It will file the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing.

Indexing is to data what ``studying'' is in the real world.  What you do
when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize certain
relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make use of those
relationships.  Expressing that a certain quote you remembered was a
literary quote, and that you want the ability to pull up all quotes of a
literary nature, is what studying does.  This is a more labor intensive
task than the original remembering of the data, and it's typical in real
life to set aside a special period of time for doing this work.

``Remember'' works in the same way.  When you enter data, either by
typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected region,
it will store that data---unindexed, uninterpreted---in a data pool.
It will also try to remember as much context information as possible
(any text properties that were set, where you copied it from, when,
how, etc).  Later, you can walk through your accumulated set of data
(both organized, and unorganized) and easily begin moving things
around, and making annotations that will express the full meaning of
that data, as far as you know it.

Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and it
would be nice if ``remember'' could do it as elegantly as possible,
rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize your
hierarchy.  Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience and user
feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as possible.

@node Quick Start, Function Reference, Implementation, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Quick Start

@itemize

@item
Load @file{remember.el}.

@item
Type @kbd{M-x remember}. The @samp{*Remember*} buffer should be
displayed.

@item
Type in what you want to remember. The first line will be treated as
the headline, and the rest of the buffer will contain the body of the
note.

@item
Type @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{remember-finalize}) to save the note and close
the @samp{*Remember*} buffer.
@end itemize

By default, @code{remember-finalize} saves the note in @file{~/.notes}.
You can edit it now to see the remembered and timestamped note. You
can edit this file however you want. New entries will always be added
to the end.

To remember a region of text, use the universal prefix. @kbd{C-u M-x
remember} displays a @samp{*Remember*} buffer with the region as the
initial contents.

As a simple beginning, you can start by using the Text File backend,
keeping your @file{~/.notes} file in outline-mode format, with a final
entry called @samp{* Raw data}. Remembered data will be added to the
end of the file. Every so often, you can move the data that gets
appended there into other files, or reorganize your document.

You can also store remembered data in other backends.
(@pxref{Backends})

Here is one way to map the remember functions in your @file{.emacs} to
very accessible keystrokes facilities using the mode:

@lisp
(autoload 'remember ``remember'' nil t)
(autoload 'remember-region ``remember'' nil t)

(define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> r") 'remember)
(define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> R") 'remember-region)
@end lisp

By default, remember uses the first annotation returned by
@code{remember-annotation-functions}. To include all of the annotations,
set @code{remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag} to non-nil.

@defopt remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
Non-nil means use all annotations returned by
@code{remember-annotation-functions}.
@end defopt

You can write custom functions that use a different set of
remember-annotation-functions. For example:

@lisp
(defun my/remember-with-filename ()
 "Always use the filename."
 (interactive)
 (let ((remember-annotation-functions '(buffer-file-name)))
  (call-interactively 'remember)))
@end lisp

@node Function Reference, Keystrokes, Quick Start, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Function Reference

@file{remember.el} defines the following interactive functions:

@defun remember initial
Remember an arbitrary piece of data. With a prefix, it will use the
region as @var{initial}.
@end defun

@defun remember-region beg end
If called from within the remember buffer, @var{beg} and @var{end} are
ignored, and the entire buffer will be remembered.  If called from any
other buffer, that region, plus any context information specific to
that region, will be remembered.
@end defun

@defun remember-clipboard
Remember the contents of the current clipboard.  This is most useful
for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows applications.
@end defun

@defun remember-finalize
Remember the contents of the current buffer.
@end defun

@defun remember-mode
This enters the major mode for output from @command{remember}.  This
buffer is used to collect data that you want remember.  Just hit
@kbd{C-c C-c} when you're done entering, and it will go ahead and file
the data for latter retrieval, and possible indexing.
@end defun

@node Keystrokes, Backends, Function Reference, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Keystroke Reference

@file{remember.el} defines the following keybindings by default:

@table @kbd

@item C-c C-c (`remember-finalize')
Remember the contents of the current buffer.

@item C-c C-k (`remember-destroy')
Destroy the current *Remember* buffer.

@item C-x C-s (`remember-finalize')
Remember the contents of the current buffer.

@end table

@node Backends, GNU Free Documentation License, Keystrokes, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@chapter Backends

You can save remembered notes to a variety of backends.

@menu
* Text File::                   Saving to a text file.
* Diary::                       Saving to a Diary file.
* Mailbox::                     Saving to a mailbox.
* Org::                         Saving to an Org Mode file.
@end menu

@node Text File, Diary, Backends, Backends
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Saving to a Text File
@cindex text file, saving to

@subheading Insinuation

@lisp
(setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-append-to-file))
@end lisp

@subheading Options

@defopt remember-data-file
The file in which to store unprocessed data.
@end defopt

@defopt remember-leader-text
The text used to begin each remember item.
@end defopt

@node Diary, Mailbox, Text File, Backends
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Saving to a Diary file
@cindex diary, integration

@subheading Insinuation

@lisp
(add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-diary-extract-entries)
@end lisp

@subheading Options

@defopt remember-diary-file
File for extracted diary entries.
If this is nil, then @code{diary-file} will be used instead."
@end defopt

@node Mailbox, Org, Diary, Backends
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Saving to a Mailbox
@cindex mailbox, saving to

@subheading Insinuation

@lisp
(add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-store-in-mailbox)
@end lisp

@subheading Options

@defopt remember-mailbox
The file in which to store remember data as mail.
@end defopt

@defopt remember-default-priority
The default priority for remembered mail messages.
@end defopt

@node Org, , Mailbox, Backends
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@section Saving to an Org Mode file
@cindex org mode, integration

For instructions on how to integrate Remember with Org Mode,
consult @ref{Remember, , , org}.

@node GNU Free Documentation License, Concept Index, Backends, Top
@appendix GNU Free Documentation License
@include doclicense.texi

@node Concept Index,  , GNU Free Documentation License, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
@unnumbered Index

@printindex cp

@bye

@ignore
   arch-tag: 5b980db0-20cc-4167-b845-52dc11d53b9f
@end ignore