Deadlines and Scheduling (Org Mode Compact Guide)

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### 8.3 Deadlines and Scheduling

A timestamp may be preceded by special keywords to facilitate planning:

`C-c C-d`

  Insert ‘`DEADLINE`’ keyword along with a time stamp, in the line following the headline.

  Meaning: the task—most likely a TODO item, though not necessarily—is supposed to be finished on that date.

  On the deadline date, the task is listed in the agenda. In addition, the agenda for today carries a warning about the approaching or missed deadline, starting `org-deadline-warning-days` before the due date, and continuing until the entry is marked as done. An example:

      *** TODO write article about the Earth for the Guide
          DEADLINE: <2004-02-29 Sun>
          The editor in charge is [[bbdb:Ford Prefect]]

`C-c C-s`

  Insert ‘`SCHEDULED`’ keyword along with a stamp, in the line following the headline.

  Meaning: you are planning to start working on that task on the given date7.

  The headline is listed under the given date8. In addition, a reminder that the scheduled date has passed is present in the compilation for today, until the entry is marked as done, i.e., the task is automatically forwarded until completed.

      *** TODO Call Trillian for a date on New Years Eve.
          SCHEDULED: <2004-12-25 Sat>

Some tasks need to be repeated again and again. Org mode helps to organize such tasks using a so-called repeater in a ‘`DEADLINE`’, ‘`SCHEDULED`’, or plain timestamps. In the following example:

    ** TODO Pay the rent
       DEADLINE: <2005-10-01 Sat +1m>

the ‘`+1m`’ is a repeater; the intended interpretation is that the task has a deadline on ‘`<2005-10-01>`’ and repeats itself every (one) month starting from that time.

#### Footnotes

### (7)

This is quite different from what is normally understood by scheduling a meeting, which is done in Org by just inserting a time stamp without keyword.

### (8)

It will still be listed on that date after it has been marked as done. If you do not like this, set the variable `org-agenda-skip-scheduled-if-done`.

Next: Clocking Work Time, Previous: Creating Timestamps, Up: Dates and Times [Contents]