Creating a Task - planner-el

You can create a task from any buffer in Emacs by invoking M-x planner-create-task-from-buffer.

This command does more than just add an item to your list of tasks. It also connects that item to some useful context information.

If you create a task while viewing any buffer other than a Planner day page, Planner will associate the task with a hyperlink to that buffer. Try it now by creating a task from this Info buffer.

Planner prompts you for two pieces of information when you ask it to create a task. First, it asks you when you would like to have the task show up in your planner. If you would like it to be scheduled for today, you can just hit <RET>. If you would like it to be scheduled for some day during the current month, you can just enter the date, without the month, like ‘16’. If you would like it to be scheduled for some day in a future month of the current year, you can enter just the month and date, like ‘06.16’. If you would like to schedule something for next year, then enter the full date, like ‘06.16.2005’. If you do not want this task to appear on a day page at all, you can enter ‘nil’.

The second piece of information Planner asks for is the name of the project to associate the task with. In the above example, you associated the task with the project “TaskPool”, which means that you did not want to associate the task with a particular project or goal in your life. Another way to do this is to answer the project prompt by entering ‘nil’. But instead, you might enter ‘LearnPlanner’ as the project. This creates a new page called “LearnPlanner” in your planner directory and places an entry for the task on that page.

The task then exists in two places: once on your day page, to show how it fits into your daily work; and once on a project page, to show how it fits into your larger projects and goals. In the future you might add related tasks like, “Memorize Planner keybindings”. These tasks might be scattered over weeks or months worth of day pages, but as long as you enter the same project name for each, you will have a way to look at them all together on a single project page.

Planner also creates hyperlinks to enable you to easily move back and forth between the day page system and the project page system. Each task on a day page will have a hyperlink to its project page. Each task on a project page will have a hyperlink to its day page.

After using Planner for a while, you may find yourself with quite a few project pages. Keep in mind that completion is enabled at the project prompt when you create a task, so hitting SPC or TAB at the prompt will show you a list of your current project pages.

Once the task is created, you are returned to the buffer you were working in again, Planner gets out of your way, and you can go on about your business. Later on, when you decide to actually work on that “Memorize Planner keybindings” task, you will be able to follow the hyperlink from that task on your day or project page directly to the relevant node in the Planner info file!

By default, M-x planner-create-task-from-buffer creates medium-priority tasks, marked with the letter ‘B’. But you can specify a particular priority or change the default (see Task Priorities).

You don't have to use planner-create-task-from-buffer to create tasks. You can also create new tasks manually by typing them directly on your day or project page in the format Planner expects. You can even still create hyperlinks by using Muse formatting as you manually type the new task (see Hyperlinks). Keep in mind also that tasks do not have to be linked to any other page.

For convenience, planner-create-task-from-buffer is bound to C-c C-t in Planner buffers. You can bind planner-create-task-buffer to a shortcut key. See the manual for your Emacs distribution to find out more about keybinding.

— Function: planner-create-task-from-buffer title date plan-page

Create a new task named title on date based on the current buffer.
With a prefix, associate the task with the current planner page. If you create a task on a date page, you will be prompted for a plan page. If you create a task on a plan page, you will be prompted for a day page. If nil is specified, the task is created only on the current page.
See planner-create-task for more information.
The new task is created at the top or bottom of the first block of tasks on the scheduled day page (if any), depending on the value of planner-add-task-at-end-flag.

— Function: planner-create-task title date annotation plan-page

Create a new task named title based on the current Wiki page. If date is non-nil, makes a daily entry on date, else makes an entry in today's planner page. It's assumed that the current Wiki page is the page you're using to plan an activity. Any time accrued to this task will be applied to that page's name in the timelog file, assuming you use timeclock (see Time Intervals). If annotation is non-nil, it will be used for the page annotation. If plan-page is non-nil, the task is associated with the given page.
With a prefix, associate the task with the current planner page. If you create a task on a date page, you will be prompted for a plan page. If you create a task on a plan page, you will be prompted for a day page. If nil is specified, the task is created only on the current page.
You probably want to call planner-create-task-from-buffer instead.
The new task is created at the top or bottom of the first block of tasks on the scheduled day page (if any), depending on the value of planner-add-task-at-end-flag.

6.2.1.1 Creating a Task