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8.3 Deadlines and Scheduling

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

C-c C-d (org-deadline)​

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 (org-schedule)​

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 date1.

The headline is listed under the given date2. 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​

  1. 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. ↩

  2. 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. ↩