5.2.3 Multiple keyword sets in one file

Sometimes you may want to use different sets of TODO keywords in parallel. For example, you may want to have the basic TODO/DONE, but also a workflow for bug fixing, and a separate state indicating that an item has been canceled—so it is not DONE, but also does not require action. Your setup would then look like this:

(setq org-todo-keywords
      '((sequence "TODO" "|" "DONE")
        (sequence "REPORT" "BUG" "KNOWNCAUSE" "|" "FIXED")
        (sequence "|" "CANCELED")))

The keywords should all be different, this helps Org mode keep track of which subsequence should be used for a given entry. In this setup, C-c C-t only operates within a sub-sequence, so it switches from ‘DONE’ to (nothing) to ‘TODO’, and from ‘FIXED’ to (nothing) to ‘REPORT’. Therefore you need a mechanism to initially select the correct sequence. In addition to typing a keyword or using completion (see Completion), you may also apply the following commands:

C-u C-u C-c C-t

C-S-RIGHT

C-S-LEFT

These keys jump from one TODO sub-sequence to the next. In the above example, C-u C-u C-c C-t or C-S-RIGHT would jump from ‘TODO’ or ‘DONE’ to ‘REPORT’, and any of the words in the second row to ‘CANCELED’. Note that the C-S- key binding conflict with shift-selection (see Conflicts).

S-RIGHT

S-LEFT

S-LEFT and S-RIGHT walk through all keywords from all sub-sequences, so for example S-RIGHT would switch from ‘DONE’ to ‘REPORT’ in the example above. For a discussion of the interaction with shift-selection, see Conflicts.