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2.2.1 Global and local cycling

Outlines make it possible to hide parts of the text in the buffer. Org uses just two commands, bound to TAB and S-TAB to change the visibility in the buffer.

TAB (org-cycle)​

Subtree cycling: Rotate current subtree among the states

,-> FOLDED -> CHILDREN -> SUBTREE --.
'-----------------------------------'

Point must be on a headline for this to work[^4].

S-TAB (org-global-cycle)​

C-u TAB​

Global cycling: Rotate the entire buffer among the states

,-> OVERVIEW -> CONTENTS -> SHOW ALL --.
'--------------------------------------'

When S-TAB is called with a numeric prefix argument N, view contents only up to headlines of level N.

Note that inside tables (see Tables), S-TAB jumps to the previous field instead.

You can run global cycling using TAB only if point is at the very beginning of the buffer, but not on a headline, and org-cycle-global-at-bob is set to a non-nil value.

C-u C-u TAB (org-set-startup-visibility)​

Switch back to the startup visibility of the buffer (see Initial visibility).

C-u C-u C-u TAB (org-show-all)​

Show all, including drawers.

C-c C-r (org-reveal)​

Reveal context around point, showing the current entry, the following heading and the hierarchy above. It is useful for working near a location that has been exposed by a sparse tree command (see Sparse Trees) or an agenda command (see Commands in the Agenda Buffer). With a prefix argument, show, on each level, all sibling headings. With a double prefix argument, also show the entire subtree of the parent.

C-c C-k (org-show-branches)​

Expose all the headings of the subtree, but not their bodies.

C-c TAB (org-show-children)​

Expose all direct children of the subtree. With a numeric prefix argument N, expose all children down to level N.

C-c C-x b (org-tree-to-indirect-buffer)​

Show the current subtree in an indirect buffer[^5]. With a numeric prefix argument N, go up to level N and then take that tree. If N is negative then go up that many levels. With a C-u prefix, do not remove the previously used indirect buffer.

C-c C-x v (org-copy-visible)​

Copy the visible text in the region into the kill ring.