todo-mode: Levels of Organization
1.1 Levels of Organization
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In Todo mode each todo list is identified with a named category, so you
can group together thematically related todo items. Each category is
stored in a file, which thus provides a further level of organization.
You can create as many todo files, and in each as many categories, as
you want.
All todo files reside in a single directory, whose location is
specified by the user option ‘todo-directory’. This directory may also
contain other types of Todo files, which are discussed later (
Todo
Archive Mode and Todo Filtered Items Mode). When you use a
Todo mode command to create a todo file, the extension ‘.todo’ is
automatically added to the base name you choose (as a rule, this name is
also used for the other types of Todo files, which have their own
extensions). As a user, you only have to deal with the base name of a
Todo file.
When you create a new todo file, you must also add at least one
category to it, and each todo item belongs to a category. It is not
possible to have an uncategorized todo list, but you can always make a
catch-all category with a generic name like “Todo”, which is in fact the
default name assigned to the first category when you create a new todo
file, if you don’t provide a different name; you can change the default
by customizing ‘todo-initial-category’.
The most basic level of organization is the todo item itself, since
it contains the information about what you want to do. As detailed in
subsequent sections of this manual, most Todo mode commands and user
options concern ways of classifying and deploying this information by
associating various kinds of metadata with it, e.g., the category it
belongs to, its priority, whether it is to be included in the Emacs
diary, date and time stamps, whether it is done or still to do.
Info Catalog
todo-mode: Overview
todo-mode: Todo Items as Diary Entries