emacs/doc/misc/remember.texi

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@setfilename ../../info/remember.info
@settitle Remember Manual
@include docstyle.texi
@include emacsver.texi
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@copying
This manual is for Remember Mode, as distributed with Emacs @value{EMACSVER}.

Copyright @copyright{} 2001, 2004--2005, 2007--2024 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.''
@end quotation
@end copying

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

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

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

@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top
@top Remember

@insertcopying
@end ifnottex

@menu
* Preface::                     About the documentation.
* Introduction::                What is Remember Mode?
* 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.
* Separate Text Files::         Saving to separate text files.
* Diary::                       Saving to a Diary file.
* Mailbox::                     Saving to a mailbox.
* Org::                         Saving to an Org Mode file.

@end detailmenu
@end menu

@node Preface
@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
@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 Farīd ud-Dīn
ʿAṭṭār 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 Implementation
@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
@chapter Quick Start

@itemize

@item
Type @kbd{M-x remember}.  The @file{*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 @file{*Remember*} buffer.
@end itemize

By default, @code{remember-finalize} saves the note in @file{~/emacs.d/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 @file{*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{~/.emacs.d/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.  @xref{Backends}.

Here is one way to map the remember functions in your init file
(@pxref{Init File, , The Emacs Initialization File, emacs, GNU Emacs
Manual}) to very accessible keystrokes facilities using the mode:

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

@cindex annotation
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 a
non-@code{nil} value.

@defopt remember-run-all-annotation-functions-flag
Non-@code{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

@cindex notes
The @code{remember-notes} command creates a @dfn{notes} buffer that
visits the file specified by the option @code{remember-data-file}.
The option @code{remember-notes-buffer-name} specifies the name of the
buffer.  The buffer uses @code{remember-notes-initial-major-mode} and
@code{remember-notes-mode} minor mode.  Use @kbd{C-c C-c} to save
and bury the buffer.  The command @code{save-some-buffers} saves this
buffer without asking.  This function is a suitable setting for
@code{initial-buffer-choice}.


@node Function Reference
@chapter Function Reference

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

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

@defun remember-other-frame &optional initial
Like @code{remember}, but uses a new frame.
@end defun

@defun remember-region &optional 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 a web browser or other X Windows applications.
@end defun

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

@defun remember-destroy
Destroy the current remember buffer.
@end defun

@defun remember-mode
This enters the major mode (@pxref{Major Modes, , Major Modes, emacs,
GNU Emacs Manual}) for output from @code{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

@defun remember-notes &optional switch-to
This returns the notes buffer, creating it if needed, and switches
to it if called interactively (or if @var{switch-to} is non-@code{nil}).
The notes buffer visits @code{remember-data-file}, and
is named @code{remember-notes-buffer-name}.  It uses
@code{remember-notes-initial-major-mode} and @code{remember-notes-mode}
minor mode.
@end defun

@defun remember-notes-mode &optional arg
This is a minor mode for the notes buffer.  It sets
@code{buffer-save-without-query} so that @code{save-some-buffers} will
save the notes buffer without asking.  Use @kbd{C-c C-c} to
run the command @code{remember-notes-save-and-bury-buffer}.
@end defun

@defun remember-notes-save-and-bury-buffer
Save (if it is modified) and bury the current buffer.
@end defun

@node Keystrokes
@chapter Keystroke Reference

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

@table @kbd

@item C-c C-c
@itemx C-x C-s
Remember the contents of the current buffer (@code{remember-finalize}).

@item C-c C-k
Destroy the current @file{*Remember*} buffer (@code{remember-destroy}).

@end table

@node Backends
@chapter Backends

You can save remembered notes to a variety of backends.

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

@node Text File
@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 Separate Text Files
@section Saving to Separate Text Files
@cindex text files, saving to separate

@subheading Insinuation

@lisp
(setq remember-handler-functions '(remember-store-in-files))
@end lisp

@subheading Options

@defopt remember-data-directory
The directory in which to store remember data as files.
@end defopt

@defopt remember-directory-file-name-format
A format string to use for naming files in the remember directory.
File names are formed by calling @code{format-time-string} at the time
of saving, using this format string.
@end defopt


@node Diary
@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 @code{nil}, then @code{diary-file} will be used instead.
@end defopt

@node Mailbox
@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
@section Saving to an Org Mode file
@cindex org mode, integration

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

@node GNU Free Documentation License
@appendix GNU Free Documentation License
@include doclicense.texi

@node Concept Index
@unnumbered Index

@printindex cp

@bye