1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename ../../info/remember
4 @settitle Remember Manual
9 * Remember: (remember). Simple information manager for Emacs
15 This manual is for Remember Mode, version 1.9
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
20 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
21 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
22 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
23 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
24 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
25 Free Documentation License''.
30 @title Guide to Remember Mode
31 @subtitle a simple information manager
32 @subtitle for Emacs and XEmacs
34 @c The following two commands
35 @c start the copyright page.
37 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
41 @c So the toc is printed at the start
45 @node Top, Preface, (dir), (dir)
46 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
53 * Preface:: About the documentation.
54 * Introduction:: What is Remember Mode?
55 * Installation:: How to install Remember.
56 * Implementation:: How Remember came into existence.
57 * Quick Start:: Get started using Remember.
58 * Function Reference:: Interactive functions in remember.el.
59 * Keystrokes:: Keystrokes bound in Remember Mode.
60 * Backends:: Backends for saving notes.
61 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
62 * Concept Index:: Search for terms.
65 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
69 * Text File:: Saving to a text file.
70 * Diary:: Saving to a Diary file.
71 * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox.
72 * Org:: Saving to an Org Mode file.
77 @node Preface, Introduction, Top, Top
78 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
81 This document describes remember-el, which was written by John Wiegley,
82 was once maintained by Sacha Chua, and is now maintained by the Emacs
85 This document is a work in progress, and your contribution will be
88 @node Introduction, Installation, Preface, Top
89 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
92 Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use databases
93 for is really just a way to extend the power of our memory, to be able
94 to remember what our conscious mind may not currently have access to.
96 There are many different databases out there---and good ones---which
97 this mode is not trying to replace. Rather, it's how that data gets
98 there that's the question. Most of the time, we just want to say
99 "Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to buy dinner for the
100 cats tonight." That's the FACT. How it's stored is really the
101 computer's problem. But at this point in time, it's most definitely
102 also the user's problem, and sometimes so laboriously so that people
103 just let data slip, rather than expend the effort to record it.
105 ``Remember'' is a mode for remembering data. It uses whatever
106 back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but its main
107 intention is to allow you to express as @emph{little} structure as
108 possible up front. If you later want to express more powerful
109 relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at
110 first too implicit to be recognized, you can ``study'' the data later
111 and rearrange it. But the initial ``just remember this'' impulse
112 should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as possible.
114 Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't
115 @emph{actually} increase the amount of quality material that you turn
116 out, in the long run? Perhaps it's because the time we save
117 electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another; the
118 tool should never dominate one's focus. As the mystic Faridu'd-Din
119 `Attar wrote: ``Be occupied as little as possible with things of the
120 outer world but much with things of the inner world; then right action
121 will overcome inaction.''
123 If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where brainstorming
124 would focus on the @emph{ideas} involved---rather than the structuring
125 and format of those ideas, or having to stop your current flow of work
126 in order to record them---it would map much more closely to how the mind
127 (well, at least mine) works, and hence would eliminate that very
128 manual-ness which computers from the very beginning have been championed
129 as being able to reduce.
131 @node Installation, Implementation, Introduction, Top
132 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
133 @chapter Installation
135 Installing Remember Mode is as simple as adding the following lines to
136 your Emacs configuration file (usually @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} or
140 (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/remember")
144 @node Implementation, Quick Start, Installation, Top
145 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
146 @chapter Implementation
148 Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being very
149 powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of ``front-end'' work before
150 that data was really available. The problem with BBDB, or keeping up
151 a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different functions to
152 record the data, and it always takes time to stop what you're doing,
153 format the data in the manner expected by that particular data
154 interface, and then resume your work.
156 With ``remember'', you just hit @kbd{M-x remember} (you'd probably
157 want to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like @kbd{C-x
158 M-r}), slam in your text however you like, and then hit @kbd{C-c C-c}.
159 It will file the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing.
161 Indexing is to data what ``studying'' is in the real world. What you do
162 when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize certain
163 relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make use of those
164 relationships. Expressing that a certain quote you remembered was a
165 literary quote, and that you want the ability to pull up all quotes of a
166 literary nature, is what studying does. This is a more labor intensive
167 task than the original remembering of the data, and it's typical in real
168 life to set aside a special period of time for doing this work.
170 ``Remember'' works in the same way. When you enter data, either by
171 typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected region,
172 it will store that data---unindexed, uninterpreted---in a data pool.
173 It will also try to remember as much context information as possible
174 (any text properties that were set, where you copied it from, when,
175 how, etc). Later, you can walk through your accumulated set of data
176 (both organized, and unorganized) and easily begin moving things
177 around, and making annotations that will express the full meaning of
178 that data, as far as you know it.
180 Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and it
181 would be nice if ``remember'' could do it as elegantly as possible,
182 rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize your
183 hierarchy. Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience and user
184 feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as possible.
186 @node Quick Start, Function Reference, Implementation, Top
187 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
193 Load @file{remember.el}.
196 Type @kbd{M-x remember}. The @samp{*Remember*} buffer should be
200 Type in what you want to remember. The first line will be treated as
201 the headline, and the rest of the buffer will contain the body of the
205 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{remember-finalize}) to save the note and close
206 the @samp{*Remember*} buffer.
209 By default, @code{remember-finalize} saves the note in @file{~/.notes}.
210 You can edit it now to see the remembered and timestamped note. You
211 can edit this file however you want. New entries will always be added
214 To remember a region of text, use the universal prefix. @kbd{C-u M-x
215 remember} displays a @samp{*Remember*} buffer with the region as the
218 As a simple beginning, you can start by using the Text File backend,
219 keeping your @file{~/.notes} file in outline-mode format, with a final
220 entry called @samp{* Raw data}. Remembered data will be added to the
221 end of the file. Every so often, you can move the data that gets
222 appended there into other files, or reorganize your document.
224 You can also store remembered data in other backends.
227 Here is one way to map the remember functions in your @file{.emacs} to
228 very accessible keystrokes facilities using the mode:
231 (autoload 'remember ``remember'' nil t)
232 (autoload 'remember-region ``remember'' nil t)
234 (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> r") 'remember)
235 (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> R") 'remember-region)
238 By default, remember uses the first annotation returned by
239 @code{remember-annotation-functions}. To include all of the annotations,
240 set @code{remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag} to non-nil.
242 @defopt remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
243 Non-nil means use all annotations returned by
244 @code{remember-annotation-functions}.
247 You can write custom functions that use a different set of
248 remember-annotation-functions. For example:
251 (defun my/remember-with-filename ()
252 "Always use the filename."
254 (let ((remember-annotation-functions '(buffer-file-name)))
255 (call-interactively 'remember)))
258 @node Function Reference, Keystrokes, Quick Start, Top
259 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
260 @chapter Function Reference
262 @file{remember.el} defines the following interactive functions:
264 @defun remember initial
265 Remember an arbitrary piece of data. With a prefix, it will use the
266 region as @var{initial}.
269 @defun remember-region beg end
270 If called from within the remember buffer, @var{beg} and @var{end} are
271 ignored, and the entire buffer will be remembered. If called from any
272 other buffer, that region, plus any context information specific to
273 that region, will be remembered.
276 @defun remember-clipboard
277 Remember the contents of the current clipboard. This is most useful
278 for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows applications.
281 @defun remember-finalize
282 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
286 This enters the major mode for output from @command{remember}. This
287 buffer is used to collect data that you want remember. Just hit
288 @kbd{C-c C-c} when you're done entering, and it will go ahead and file
289 the data for latter retrieval, and possible indexing.
292 @node Keystrokes, Backends, Function Reference, Top
293 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
294 @chapter Keystroke Reference
296 @file{remember.el} defines the following keybindings by default:
300 @item C-c C-c (`remember-finalize')
301 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
303 @item C-c C-k (`remember-destroy')
304 Destroy the current *Remember* buffer.
306 @item C-x C-s (`remember-finalize')
307 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
311 @node Backends, GNU Free Documentation License, Keystrokes, Top
312 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
315 You can save remembered notes to a variety of backends.
318 * Text File:: Saving to a text file.
319 * Diary:: Saving to a Diary file.
320 * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox.
321 * Org:: Saving to an Org Mode file.
324 @node Text File, Diary, Backends, Backends
325 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
326 @section Saving to a Text File
327 @cindex text file, saving to
329 @subheading Insinuation
332 (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-append-to-file))
337 @defopt remember-data-file
338 The file in which to store unprocessed data.
341 @defopt remember-leader-text
342 The text used to begin each remember item.
345 @node Diary, Mailbox, Text File, Backends
346 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
347 @section Saving to a Diary file
348 @cindex diary, integration
350 @subheading Insinuation
353 (require 'remember-diary)
354 (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-diary-extract-entries)
359 @defopt remember-diary-file
360 File for extracted diary entries.
363 @node Mailbox, Org, Diary, Backends
364 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
365 @section Saving to a Mailbox
366 @cindex mailbox, saving to
368 @subheading Insinuation
371 (add-to-list 'remember-handler-functions 'remember-store-in-mailbox)
376 @defopt remember-mailbox
377 The file in which to store remember data as mail.
380 @defopt remember-default-priority
381 The default priority for remembered mail messages.
384 @node Org, , Mailbox, Backends
385 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
386 @section Saving to an Org Mode file
387 @cindex org mode, integration
389 For instructions on how to integrate Remember with Org Mode,
390 consult @ref{Remember, , , org}.
392 @node GNU Free Documentation License, Concept Index, Backends, Top
393 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
394 @include doclicense.texi
396 @node Concept Index, , GNU Free Documentation License, Top
397 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
405 arch-tag: 5b980db0-20cc-4167-b845-52dc11d53b9f