Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal

A simple org-mode based journaling mode
https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal

Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation

A simple org-mode based journaling mode

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
[[https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal/actions/workflows/test.yml][file:https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg?branch=master]] [[https://elpa.nongnu.org/nongnu/org-journal.html][https://elpa.nongnu.org/nongnu/org-journal.svg]] [[http://melpa.org/#/org-journal][file:http://melpa.org/packages/org-journal-badge.svg]] [[http://stable.melpa.org/#/org-journal][file:http://stable.melpa.org/packages/org-journal-badge.svg]] [[contributors][file:https://img.shields.io/github/contributors/bastibe/org-journal.svg]] [[license][file:https://img.shields.io/github/license/bastibe/org-journal.svg]]



#+CAPTION: The org-journal logo

[[./org-journal.svg]]



* org-journal



  Adapted from https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/PersonalDiary



  Functions to maintain a simple personal diary / journal using in Emacs.



  Feel free to use, modify and improve the code!

  — mtvoid, bastibe



[[open-issues][file:https://img.shields.io/github/issues/bastibe/org-journal.svg]] [[closed-issues][file:https://img.shields.io/github/issues-closed/bastibe/org-journal.svg]] [[open-pull-requests][file:https://img.shields.io/github/issues-pr/bastibe/org-journal.svg]] [[closed-pull-requests][file:https://img.shields.io/github/issues-pr-closed/bastibe/org-journal.svg]]



** Synopsis



=org-journal= maintains a set of files, depending on the value of

=org-journal-file-type=, a file represents a day, week, month or year. When

=org-journal-file-type= is set to ='daily=, each file represent a day. In case

=org-journal-file-type= is set to ='weekly=, a file represents a week,

etc. Convenient bindings allow the creation of journal records in the current

daily, weekly, monthly or yearly file and search within all records or

specified time intervals. All records can be browsed and searched from the

Emacs Calendar for convenience. All entries in a specified TODO state will be

carried over to the next day, see =org-journal-carryover-items=. Optionally,

the journal entry can be encrypted, so can the file, see

=org-journal-enable-encryption= and =org-journal-encrypt-journal=,

respectively.



Every journal entry must have a *CREATED* property when using yearly, monthly

and weekly journal files. This property is added by =org-journal-new-entry=

automatically.



An example of a daily file (it will actually look a lot nicer, depending on

your org-mode

settings):



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE org

  * Tuesday, 06/04/13

  ** 10:28 Company meeting

  Endless discussions about projects. Not much progress



  ** 11:33 Work on org-journal

  For the longest time, I wanted to have a cool diary app on my

  computer. However, I simply lacked the right tool for that job. After

  many hours of searching, I finally found PersonalDiary on EmacsWiki.

  PersonalDiary is a very simple diary system based on the emacs

  calendar. It works pretty well, but I don't really like that it only

  uses unstructured text.



  Thus, I spent the last two hours making that diary use org-mode

  and represent every entry as an org-mode headline. Very cool!



  ** 15:33 Work on org-journal

  Now my journal automatically creates the right headlines (adds the

  current time stamp if on the current day, does not add a time stamp

  for any other day). Additionally, it automatically collapses the

  headlines in the org-file to the right level (shows everything if in

  view mode, shows only headlines in new-entry-mode). Emacs and elisp

  are really cool!



  ** 16:40 Work on org-journal

  I uploaded my journal mode to marmalade and Github! Awesome!



  ** TODO teach org-journal how to brew coffee

#+END_EXAMPLE



An example of a weekly/monthly/yearly journal file, see also

=org-journal-file-type=.



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE org

  * Tuesday, 06/04/13

    :PROPERTIES:

    :CREATED:  20130604

    :END:

  ** 10:28 Company meeting

  ...



  ** 11:33 Work on org-journal

  ...



  ** 15:33 Work on org-journal

  ...



  ** 16:40 Work on org-journal

  ...



  * Wednesday, 06/05/13

    :PROPERTIES:

    :CREATED:  20130605

    :END:

  ** 10:28 A new day

  ...



  ** 11:33 Work is almost over

  ...



  ** TODO teach org-journal how to brew coffee

#+END_EXAMPLE



** Installation



=org-journal= is available through [[https://elpa.nongnu.org/][NonGNU ELPA]], [[https://melpa.org/][MELPA]] and [[https://stable.melpa.org/][MELPA Stable]]. So

installation should be trivial:



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE

    M-x package-install org-journal

#+END_EXAMPLE



Then add =(require 'org-journal)= to your =.emacs=.



*Note!* If you are using =org-mode= version 9.6 consider customizing the variable =org-element-use-cache= and setting it to =nil= to workaround [[https://github.com/bastibe/org-journal/issues/406][an issue where journal items are not properly carried over to the next day]]



** Quickstart



Doing =M-x org-journal-new-entry= will immediately create a journal

directory in the default path (customized using the =org-journal-dir=

variable), open or create a file in =org-journal-mode=, and insert a

template for a new journal entry.



The same command with a prefix argument (=C-u M-x

org-journal-new-entry=) will do everything mentioned while skipping

entry creation, which is useful for looking at the current journal

file.



** Basic Usage



Bindings available in =org-journal-mode=:



- =C-c C-f= - go to the next journal file.



- =C-c C-b= - go to the previous journal file.



- =C-c C-j= - insert a new entry into the current journal file (creates the file if not

  present).



- =C-c C-s= - search the journal for a string.



All journal entries are registered in the Emacs Calendar. To see available journal

entries do =M-x calendar=. Bindings available in the =calendar-mode=:



- =j m= - mark entries in calendar



- =j r= - view an entry in a new buffer.



- =j d= - view an entry but do not switch to it.



- =j n= - add a new entry into the day's file (creates the file if not present).



- =j s w= - search in all entries of the current week.



- =j s m= - search in all entries of the current month.



- =j s y= - search in all entries of the current year.



- =j s f= - search in all entries of all time.



- =j s F= - search in all entries in the future.



- =[= - go to previous day with journal entries.



- =]= - go to next day with journal entries.



** Setup and customization



The following variables can be customized through =M-x customize=, or configured programmatically in your =.init.el=.



See below for an example.



*** Journal Directory and Files



Customization options related to journal directory and files:



- =org-journal-dir= - the journal path.



- =org-journal-file-format= - format string for journal file names (may contain directories relative to =org-journal-dir=).



- =org-journal-find-file= - a function to use when opening a journal file. By default it

  opens a window using =find-file-other-window=. Set this to =find-file= if you don't want

  org-journal to split your window.



- =org-extend-today-until= - a number that indicates the hour of

  /your/ end of the day. If you create a new entry with

  =org-journal-new-entry= earlier than this time, the journal entry

  will go into the previous day's journal.



- =org-journal-file-type= - the journal file type either 'daily (default),

  'weekly, 'monthly or 'yearly.  Also see the customizable variables

  =org-journal-start-on-weekday= for changing the start of the week for weekly

  journals (defaults to Monday). Keep in mind changing

  =org-journal-start-on-weekday= won't work for existing weekly journal files.



*** Journal File Content



Customization options related to the journal file contents:



- =org-journal-date-format= - date format =org-journal= uses when showing a

  date within a journal and search results page. It can also be a function,

  which return value will than be inserted.



- =org-journal-date-prefix= - this string will prefix the date at the top of a

  journal file.



- =org-journal-time-format= - a timestamp format that will prefix every entry

  within a daily journal file.



- =org-journal-time-prefix= - a string that will prefix every entry within a

  daily journal file.



- =org-journal-file-header= - a string that will be inserted at the top of

  every new journal file. If a string, it will be passed to

  `format-time-string` along the time value of the new journal entry.

  It can also be a function expecting a time value.



  #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

  (defun org-journal-file-header-func (time)

    "Custom function to create journal header."

    (concat

      (pcase org-journal-file-type

        (`daily "#+TITLE: Daily Journal\n#+STARTUP: showeverything")

        (`weekly "#+TITLE: Weekly Journal\n#+STARTUP: folded")

        (`monthly "#+TITLE: Monthly Journal\n#+STARTUP: folded")

        (`yearly "#+TITLE: Yearly Journal\n#+STARTUP: folded"))))



  (setq org-journal-file-header 'org-journal-file-header-func)

  #+END_EXAMPLE



- =org-journal-hide-entries-p= - a boolean (defaults to =true=) that will

  hide previous journal entries if true. Can be set to =nil= to show previous

  entries.



*** =org-journal= behavior



Customization options related to =org-journal= itself:



- =org-journal-mode-hook= - List of functions to run when =org-journal-mode= is

  loaded. By default this is set to ='(turn-on-visual-line-mode org-journal-default-enable-encryption)=.



*** An example setup



A very basic example of customization.



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

(setq org-journal-dir "~/org/journal/")

(setq org-journal-date-format "%A, %d %B %Y")

(require 'org-journal)

#+END_EXAMPLE



For users of =use-package=, this setup could look like the following:



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

(use-package org-journal

  :ensure t

  :defer t

  :init

  ;; Change default prefix key; needs to be set before loading org-journal

  (setq org-journal-prefix-key "C-c j ")

  :config

  (setq org-journal-dir "~/org/journal/"

        org-journal-date-format "%A, %d %B %Y"))

#+END_EXAMPLE



** Advanced Usage

*** Searching the Journal



=org-journal= has two searching options: the usual =org-mode= agenda search and the

built-in plain text search. The former can become slow with bigger journals, so the

built-in search is a recommended option.



To use the agenda search, you can add all journal entries to your org-agenda by adding

=org-journal-dir= to =org-agenda-files= and setting =org-agenda-file-regexp= to include

files matching your =org-journal-file-pattern=.



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

  ;; When =org-journal-file-pattern= has the default value, this would be the regex.

  (setq org-agenda-file-regexp "\\`\\\([^.].*\\.org\\\|[0-9]\\\{8\\\}\\\(\\.gpg\\\)?\\\)\\'")

  (add-to-list 'org-agenda-files org-journal-dir)

#+END_EXAMPLE



However, this can become /very/ slow if you have many journal entries. As a compromize,

you can set =org-journal-enable-agenda-integration= to =t=, which automatically adds the

current and all future journal entries to the agenda. This is enough to get an overview

over current and future tasks.



The built-in search is available through the following function: =org-journal-search=

(=C-c C-s= in =org-journal-mode=). By default, it will ask for the time interval to search

within (accepting the =org-read-date= format such as "-1y" or "-1m") and the string to

search for. Given a prefix argument (=C-u org-journal-search=), it will go through the

whole journal.



The order of the search results (ascending or descending by date) can be customized using

the =org-journal-search-results-order-by= variable.



Search is also available through the Emacs Calendar as described in "Basic Usage".



*** Carry Over



By default, =org-journal= will try to /carry over/ previous day TODO-marked

items whenever a new journal file is created. The older journal entry will be inserted to the current day's file.



This feature is controlled through the =org-journal-carryover-items=

variable. To disable this feature set =org-journal-carryover-items= to an

empty string =""=. Any [[http://orgmode.org/manual/Matching-tags-and-properties.html][agenda tags view match string]], tags, properties, and

todo states are allowed. By default this is ~TODO=”TODO”~. Which will

match TODO items.



The old carryover items in the previous day's journal are processed by the function assigned to =org-journal-handle-old-carryover= variable.

Default is to remove all of them. You can change this behavior by

assigning a custom fuction to the variable.

Your function has to take one argument, which is a list of old carryover entries. The list is in form of ((START_POINT (END_POINT . "TEXT")) ... (START_POINT (END_POINT . "TEXT"))); and in ascending order of START_POINT.



For example, you can choose putting a tag on the old carryover entries intead of removing them:



#+begin_src elisp

(defun my-old-carryover (old_carryover)

  (save-excursion

    (let ((matcher (cdr (org-make-tags-matcher org-journal-carryover-items))))

      (dolist (entry (reverse old_carryover))

        (save-restriction

          (narrow-to-region (car entry) (cadr entry))

          (goto-char (point-min))

          (org-scan-tags '(lambda ()

                            (org-set-tags ":carried:"))

                         matcher org--matcher-tags-todo-only))))))



(setq org-journal-handle-old-carryover 'my-old-carryover)

#+end_src



You can also skip carry over of [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Drawers.html][Drawers]] through the

=org-journal-skip-carryover-drawers= variable. This is specifically

useful when you want to skip carry over of previous days clocked

entries when it is under the drawer =LOGBOOK=. The variable accepts a

list of drawers names which will be skipped on carry over. Sample

configuration for skipping =LOGBOOK= drawer:



#+begin_src elisp

(setq org-journal-skip-carryover-drawers (list "LOGBOOK"))

#+end_src



*** Encryption



The journal entry can be encrypted using =org-crypt=, to enable it set

~org-journal-enable-encryption~ to =t=.



You can also encrypt the journal files itself by setting the variable

~org-journal-encrypt-journal~ to =t=. =org-journal= will always search for

journal files with the =.gpg= extension, and highlights them in the calendar,

etc., regardless of the value of ~org-journal-encrypt-journal~.

See the info page =(info "(epa)Encrypting/decrypting gpg files")= for more

information about gpg encryption in Emacs.



*** Agenda and Scheduling



An easy way of keeping track of appointments or future TODOs is to simply create a journal

entry in the future. Such entries will automatically get a timestamp and show up in the

current day's journal entry once you reach that day.



- if =org-journal-enable-agenda-integration= is =t=, org-journal will automatically add

  the current and all future journal entries to =org-agenda-files=.



There are a few helper functions to deal with such scheduled entries:



- =org-journal-new-scheduled-entry= - prompts for a date, and creates a new journal entry

  on that date with its timestamp set to the date. By default, this is a TODO entry. Set

  the prefix to avoid the TODO.



- =org-journal-schedule-view= - creates a read-only overview of scheduled entries.



**** iCalendar export



You can export your scheduled entries to an iCalendar file, and subscribe to that file in

your calendar application. You need to enable the agenda integration for this to work. I

also recommend you set the following values before exporting:



#+begin_src elisp

(setq org-journal-enable-agenda-integration t

      org-icalendar-store-UID t

      org-icalendar-include-todo "all"

      org-icalendar-combined-agenda-file "~/path/to/org-journal.ics")

#+end_src



With this done, you can export your agenda, including your scheduled entries, with =(org-icalendar-combine-agenda-files)=.



*** Journal Capture Template



You can configure a capture template in order to integrate =org-journal= with =org-capture=,

as in the following example for a daily journal:



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

  (defun org-journal-find-location ()

    ;; Open today's journal, but specify a non-nil prefix argument in order to

    ;; inhibit inserting the heading; org-capture will insert the heading.

    (org-journal-new-entry t)

    (unless (eq org-journal-file-type 'daily)

      (org-narrow-to-subtree))

    (goto-char (point-max)))



  (setq org-capture-templates '(("j" "Journal entry" plain (function org-journal-find-location)

                                 "** %(format-time-string org-journal-time-format)%^{Title}\n%i%?"

                                 :jump-to-captured t :immediate-finish t)))

#+END_EXAMPLE



If you want to do the same to schedule a task for a future date, you can use the following:



#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs-lisp

  (defvar org-journal--date-location-scheduled-time nil)



  (defun org-journal-date-location (&optional scheduled-time)

    (let ((scheduled-time (or scheduled-time (org-read-date nil nil nil "Date:"))))

      (setq org-journal--date-location-scheduled-time scheduled-time)

      (org-journal-new-entry t (org-time-string-to-time scheduled-time))

      (unless (eq org-journal-file-type 'daily)

        (org-narrow-to-subtree))

      (goto-char (point-max))))



  (setq org-capture-templates '(("j" "Journal entry" plain (function org-journal-date-location)

                                 "** TODO %?\n <%(princ org-journal--date-location-scheduled-time)>\n"

                                 :jump-to-captured t))

#+END_EXAMPLE



*** Caching of journal dates

Since version 2.0.0 a cache has been added to speed up calendar

operations. This should drastically improve the performance when using

encrypted journal files, see =org-journal-encrypt-journal=.



The caching functionality can be enabled by settings

=org-journal-enable-cache= to =t=. The cache can be reset by calling

=org-journal-invalidate-cache=.



** FAQ



*** Can I use weekly/monthly/yearly journal entries instead of daily ones?



Yes, see =org-journal-file-type=.



*** Can I have multiple journals?



At the moment, this is not possible. But it should be possible to switch the

value of =org-journal-directory= using a custom function or directory local

variables.



*** Can I use org-journal with Spacemacs?



Yes you can!



- To use =org-journal= with Spacemacs from the =master= branch, you must do this:



  1. =git clone https://github.com/borgnix/spacemacs-journal.git ~/.emacs.d/private/journal=

  2. add it to your =~/.spacemacs=. You will need to add =journal= to the

     existing =dotspacemacs-configuration-layers= list in this file.



  The manual of the journal layer can be found at https://github.com/borgnix/spacemacs-journal



- If you use Spacemacs from the =develop= branch you can enable =org-journal= by

  setting =org-enable-org-journal-support= to =t=, see [[https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs/tree/develop/layers/+emacs/org#org-journal-support][Spacemacs org-journal support]].



*** Some key-bindings in org-journal conflict with org-mode key bindings



Minor modes are supposed to only use key bindings of the form =C-c C-?=, where =?= can be any letter, and to not overwrite major mode bindings. With org-mode already using most interesting keys, collisions are inevitable. This means that some org-journal key bindings will not work as expected in an org-mode buffer, and also that some org-mode key bindings will not work as expected in an org-journal buffer.



When working in an org-mode buffer the following org-journal key bindings are overwritten:

- =C-c C-s= (=org-journal-search=) with =org-schedule=

- =C-c C-f= (=org-journal-open-next-entry=) with =org-forward-heading-same-level=

- =C-c C-b= (=org-journal-open-previous-entry=) with =org-backward-heading-same-level=

- =C-c C-j= (=org-journal-new-entry=) with =org-goto=



To workaround this, you can use user bindings of the form =C-c ?=, where =?= can be any letter, to call the org-journal functions. This allows you to have a set of keybindings that work the same in org-mode and org-journal buffers. However, this is Emacs, and if you don't like a key binding, change it!



*** Opening journal entries from the calendar are not editable



Old entries are opened in =view-mode=, which has convenient key bindings for browsing files. Most notably, you can quickly close =view-mode= buffers with =q=, scroll them with the =SPC= and =DEL=, or quit =view-mode= with =e=.



*** Can I insert some text on a newly created journal file?



Yes, you can write a custom function and assign it =org-journal-date-format=.



*** Can I do more powerful things on a newly created journal entry?



Yes, there are two hooks that are run when a journal entry is created.

Each (=org-journal-new-entry=) will call =org-journal-after-entry-create-hook=, and =org-journal-after-header-create-hook= is called each time the date (the parent headline of each entry) is generated.



** Convenient =org-journal= Snippet Extensions



*** Kill journal buffer after saving buffer (By [[https://github.com/dhruvparamhans][@dhruvparamhans]])

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp

(defun org-journal-save-entry-and-exit()

  "Simple convenience function.

  Saves the buffer of the current day's entry and kills the window

  Similar to org-capture like behavior"

  (interactive)

  (save-buffer)

  (kill-buffer-and-window))

(define-key org-journal-mode-map (kbd "C-x C-s") 'org-journal-save-entry-and-exit)

#+END_SRC



** Contributors



See [[file:CONTRIBUTORS][CONTRIBUTORS]].



** Contributing to =org-journal=

We format the code using =common-lisp-indent-function= rather than the default

=lisp-indent-function=. Please set the variable =lisp-indent-function= to

=common-lisp-indent-function=, and format the code before creating a PR.



#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp

  (setq lisp-indent-function 'common-lisp-indent-function)

  ;; Markt the whole buffer: C-x h

  ;; Call indent-region: C-M-\

#+END_SRC



** Changelog



See [[file:CHANGELOG][CHANGELOG]].