1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
3 @setfilename remember.info
4 @settitle Remember Manual
9 * Remember: (remember). Simple information manager for Emacs
15 This manual is for Remember Mode, version 2.0
17 Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007,
18 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
22 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
23 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
24 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
25 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
26 Free Documentation License''.
31 @title Guide to Remember Mode
32 @subtitle a simple information manager
33 @subtitle for Emacs and XEmacs
35 @c The following two commands
36 @c start the copyright page.
38 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
42 @c So the toc is printed at the start
46 @node Top, Preface, (dir), (dir)
47 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
54 * Preface:: About the documentation.
55 * Introduction:: What is Remember Mode?
56 * Installation:: How to install Remember.
57 * Implementation:: How Remember came into existence.
58 * Quick Start:: Get started using Remember.
59 * Function Reference:: Interactive functions in remember.el.
60 * Keystrokes:: Keystrokes bound in Remember Mode.
61 * Backends:: Backends for saving notes.
62 * Copying:: The GNU General Public License gives you
63 permission to redistribute Remember on
64 certain terms; it also explains that
66 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
67 * Concept Index:: Search for terms.
70 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
74 * Text File:: Saving to a text file.
75 * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox.
76 * Bibliography:: Saving to a bibliography.
77 * Planner Page:: Saving to a Planner page.
82 @node Preface, Introduction, Top, Top
83 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
86 This document describes remember-el, which was written by John Wiegley,
87 was once maintained by Sacha Chua, and is now maintained by the Emacs
90 This document is a work in progress, and your contribution will be
93 @node Introduction, Installation, Preface, Top
94 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
97 Todo lists, schedules, phone databases... everything we use databases
98 for is really just a way to extend the power of our memory, to be able
99 to remember what our conscious mind may not currently have access to.
101 There are many different databases out there---and good ones---which
102 this mode is not trying to replace. Rather, it's how that data gets
103 there that's the question. Most of the time, we just want to say
104 "Remember so-and-so's phone number, or that I have to buy dinner for the
105 cats tonight." That's the FACT. How it's stored is really the
106 computer's problem. But at this point in time, it's most definitely
107 also the user's problem, and sometimes so laboriously so that people
108 just let data slip, rather than expend the effort to record it.
110 ``Remember'' is a mode for remembering data. It uses whatever
111 back-end is appropriate to record and correlate the data, but its main
112 intention is to allow you to express as @emph{little} structure as
113 possible up front. If you later want to express more powerful
114 relationships between your data, or state assumptions that were at
115 first too implicit to be recognized, you can ``study'' the data later
116 and rearrange it. But the initial ``just remember this'' impulse
117 should be as close to simply throwing the data at Emacs as possible.
119 Have you ever noticed that having a laptop to write on doesn't
120 @emph{actually} increase the amount of quality material that you turn
121 out, in the long run? Perhaps it's because the time we save
122 electronically in one way, we're losing electronically in another; the
123 tool should never dominate one's focus. As the mystic Faridu'd-Din
124 `Attar wrote: ``Be occupied as little as possible with things of the
125 outer world but much with things of the inner world; then right action
126 will overcome inaction.''
128 If Emacs could become a more intelligent data store, where brainstorming
129 would focus on the @emph{ideas} involved---rather than the structuring
130 and format of those ideas, or having to stop your current flow of work
131 in order to record them---it would map much more closely to how the mind
132 (well, at least mine) works, and hence would eliminate that very
133 manual-ness which computers from the very beginning have been championed
134 as being able to reduce.
136 @node Installation, Implementation, Introduction, Top
137 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
138 @chapter Installation
140 Installing Remember Mode is as simple as adding the following lines to
141 your Emacs configuration file (usually @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} or
145 (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/remember")
149 @node Implementation, Quick Start, Installation, Top
150 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
151 @chapter Implementation
153 Hyperbole, as a data presentation tool, always struck me as being very
154 powerful, but it seemed to require a lot of ``front-end'' work before
155 that data was really available. The problem with BBDB, or keeping up
156 a Bibl-mode file, is that you have to use different functions to
157 record the data, and it always takes time to stop what you're doing,
158 format the data in the manner expected by that particular data
159 interface, and then resume your work.
161 With ``remember'', you just hit @kbd{M-x remember} (you'd probably
162 want to bind this to an easily accessible keystroke, like @kbd{C-x
163 M-r}), slam in your text however you like, and then hit @kbd{C-c C-c}.
164 It will file the data away for later retrieval, and possibly indexing.
166 Indexing is to data what ``studying'' is in the real world. What you
167 do when you study (or lucubrate, for some of us) is to realize certain
168 relationships implicit in the data, so that you can make use of those
169 relationships. Expressing that a certain quote you remembered was a
170 religious quote, and that you want the ability to pull up all quotes
171 of a religious nature, is what studying does. This is a more labor
172 intensive task than the original remembering of the data, and it's
173 typical in real life to set aside a special period of time for doing
176 ``Remember'' works in the same way. When you enter data, either by
177 typing it into a buffer, or using the contents of the selected region,
178 it will store that data---unindexed, uninterpreted---in a data pool.
179 It will also try to remember as much context information as possible
180 (any text properties that were set, where you copied it from, when,
181 how, etc). Later, you can walk through your accumulated set of data
182 (both organized, and unorganized) and easily begin moving things
183 around, and making annotations that will express the full meaning of
184 that data, as far as you know it.
186 Obviously this latter stage is more user-interface intensive, and it
187 would be nice if ``remember'' could do it as elegantly as possible,
188 rather than requiring a billion keystrokes to reorganize your
189 hierarchy. Well, as the future arrives, hopefully experience and user
190 feedback will help to make this as intuitive a tool as possible.
192 @node Quick Start, Function Reference, Implementation, Top
193 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
199 Load @file{remember.el}.
202 Type @kbd{M-x remember}. The @samp{*Remember*} buffer should be
206 Type in what you want to remember. The first line will be treated as
207 the headline, and the rest of the buffer will contain the body of the
211 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} (@code{remember-buffer}) to save the note and close
212 the @samp{*Remember*} buffer.
215 By default, @code{remember-buffer} saves the note in @file{~/.notes}.
216 You can edit it now to see the remembered and timestamped note. You
217 can edit this file however you want. New entries will always be added
220 To remember a region of text, use the universal prefix. @kbd{C-u M-x
221 remember} displays a @samp{*Remember*} buffer with the region as the
224 As a simple beginning, you can start by using the Text File backend,
225 keeping your @file{~/.notes} file in outline-mode format, with a final
226 entry called @samp{* Raw data}. Remembered data will be added to the
227 end of the file. Every so often, you can move the data that gets
228 appended there into other files, or reorganize your document.
230 You can also store remembered data in other backends.
233 Here is one way to map the remember functions in your @file{.emacs} to
234 very accessible keystrokes facilities using the mode:
237 (autoload 'remember ``remember'' nil t)
238 (autoload 'remember-region ``remember'' nil t)
240 (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> r") 'remember)
241 (define-key global-map (kbd "<f9> R") 'remember-region)
244 Check out the Planner package
245 (@uref{http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/PlannerMode}) for plenty
246 of annotation functions you can use with Remember. If you use Planner,
247 you can easily publish your remembered notes as HTML and RSS.
248 (@pxref{Planner Page})
250 By default, remember uses the first annotation returned by
251 @code{remember-annotation-functions}. To include all of the annotations,
252 set @code{remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag} to non-nil.
254 @defopt remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
255 Non-nil means use all annotations returned by
256 @code{remember-annotation-functions}.
259 You can write custom functions that use a different set of
260 remember-annotation-functions. For example:
263 (defun my/remember-with-filename ()
264 "Always use the filename."
266 (let ((remember-annotation-functions '(buffer-file-name)))
267 (call-interactively 'remember)))
270 @node Function Reference, Keystrokes, Quick Start, Top
271 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
272 @chapter Function Reference
274 @file{remember.el} defines the following interactive functions:
276 @defun remember initial
277 Remember an arbitrary piece of data. With a prefix, it will use the
278 region as @var{initial}.
281 @defun remember-region beg end
282 If called from within the remember buffer, @var{beg} and @var{end} are
283 ignored, and the entire buffer will be remembered. If called from any
284 other buffer, that region, plus any context information specific to
285 that region, will be remembered.
288 @defun remember-clipboard
289 Remember the contents of the current clipboard. This is most useful
290 for remembering things from Netscape or other X Windows applications.
293 @defun remember-buffer
294 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
298 This enters the major mode for output from @command{remember}. This
299 buffer is used to collect data that you want remember. Just hit
300 @kbd{C-c C-c} when you're done entering, and it will go ahead and file
301 the data for latter retrieval, and possible indexing.
304 @node Keystrokes, Backends, Function Reference, Top
305 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
306 @chapter Keystroke Reference
308 @file{remember.el} defines the following keybindings by default:
312 @item C-c C-c (`remember-buffer')
313 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
315 @item C-c C-k (`remember-destroy')
316 Destroy the current *Remember* buffer.
318 @item C-x C-s (`remember-buffer')
319 Remember the contents of the current buffer.
323 @node Backends, Copying, Keystrokes, Top
324 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
327 You can save remembered notes to a variety of backends.
330 * Text File:: Saving to a text file.
331 * Mailbox:: Saving to a mailbox.
332 * Bibliography:: Saving to a bibliography.
333 * Planner Page:: Saving to a Planner page.
336 @node Text File, Mailbox, Backends, Backends
337 @section Saving to a Text File
341 This backend comes with Emacs.
344 (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-append-to-file))
347 @defopt remember-data-file
350 @defopt remember-leader-text
353 @node Mailbox, Bibliography, Text File, Backends
354 @section Saving to a Mailbox
355 @cindex mailbox, saving to a
358 (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-store-in-mailbox))
361 @defopt remember-mailbox
362 Name of mailbox to save messages to.
365 This backend does not come with Emacs. To get it, download the latest
366 version of Remember from @url{http://download.gna.org/remember-el/}.
368 If you want to use BBDB to associate remembered snippets with entries
369 in your contact database, use the following code snippet:
372 (require 'remember-bbdb)
373 (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-bbdb-store-in-mailbox))
376 @node Bibliography, Planner Page, Mailbox, Backends
377 @section Saving to a Bibliography
379 This backend does not come with Emacs. To get it, download the latest
380 version of Remember from @url{http://download.gna.org/remember-el/}.
382 Bibl-mode is a major mode for maintaining bibliography files. You can
384 @uref{http://ftp.azc.uam.mx/mirrors/gnu/emacs-lisp/bosullivan-packages/bibl-mode/}.
387 (require 'remember-bibl)
391 Remember a URL in @code{bibl-mode} that is being visited with w3.
394 @defun remember-location
395 Remember a bookmark location in `bibl-mode'.
398 You can use this in addition to your normal remember backend.
400 @node Planner Page, , Bibliography, Backends
401 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
402 @section Saving to a Planner Page
403 @cindex @file{remember-planner.el}, using
404 @cindex remember-el, using with PlannerMode
406 This backend does not come with Emacs. To get it, download the latest
407 version of Remember from @url{http://download.gna.org/remember-el/}.
409 If you are using PlannerMode, depending on your configuration, notes
410 made using remember-el may actually be saved to a project and/or day
413 @file{remember-planner.el} makes the notes you save with remember have
414 more context information associated with them, in the way that
415 PlannerMode tasks do.
417 To use remember-planner, place this in your @file{.emacs}:
420 (require 'remember-planner)
421 (setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-planner-append))
424 To take advantage of PlannerMode's annotation functions, add the
425 following code as well:
428 (setq remember-annotation-functions planner-annotation-functions)
431 Then, type @kbd{M-x remember} to remember new text, @kbd{M-x
432 remember-region} to remember the current region, or @kbd{C-u M-x
433 remember} to remember the current region but have an opportunity to
434 edit it before it is saved.
436 @defopt remember-planner-xref-p
437 Non-nil means cross-reference new entries with plan pages. Plan pages
438 are useful for gathering related information. If you don't want a note
439 associated with a plan page, you can press RET to accept the default
440 (just today's page) or specify nil at the prompt.
443 @defopt remember-planner-copy-on-xref-flag
444 Non-nil means copy note text instead of moving it to the plan page. If
445 nil, move the note body to the plan page, leaving a cross-reference
446 link on the day page. This results in shorter day pages but may be
447 harder for people to read.
450 @defopt remember-planner-timestamp-format
451 Format of timestamp for remember entries.
454 @file{remember-planner.el} does not define any interactive functions
457 @node Copying, GNU Free Documentation License, Backends, Top
458 @comment node-name, next, previous, up
459 @appendix GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
462 @node GNU Free Documentation License, Concept Index, Copying, Top
463 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
464 @include doclicense.texi
466 @node Concept Index, , GNU Free Documentation License, Top
467 @comment node-name, next, previous, up