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Most of the time, org-mode's keybindings M-return to create a heading, and TAB to cycle visibility, are quite useful.

But sometimes when brainstorming, it would be useful to use org-mode to create a traditional hierarchical bulleted list (of course using stars instead of bullets), and using the traditional keybindings used by outlining apps like Workflowy, Evernote, Taskpaper, etc:

  • return creates the next item in the bulleted list
  • tab demotes the item in the hierarchy
  • S-tab promotes the item in the hierarchy

In org terms, this would mean:

  • return binds to M-return
  • tab binds to M-right
  • S-tab binds to M-left

Is there some kind of org minor mode that will allow me to (temporarily) run org like it's a traditional outlining app?

incandescentman
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1 Answers1

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I don't believe there is any existing minor mode that will do the trick, however one such as this should work:

(define-minor-mode zin/org-outline-mode
  "" nil
  :lighter " OOut"
  :keymap (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
            (define-key map (kbd "<return>") 'org-meta-return)
            (define-key map (kbd "<tab>") 'org-metaright)
            (define-key map (kbd "S-<tab>") 'org-metaleft)
            map))
Jonathan Leech-Pepin
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  • Totally works! Others, note too that you one also start with a `- ` to outline using a list instead of using headlines. – incandescentman Aug 20 '13 at 17:17
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    It won't disable any of the other Org keybindings. So every other command is still available (however no easy way to create newlines for content, or cycle visibility because the keys are used by this new minor mode). – Jonathan Leech-Pepin Aug 20 '13 at 17:50
  • What about defining a new file extension so that certain files were automatically opened in the outlining minor mode? You could define a new file extension (e.g. `(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.ooo\\'" . org-mode))` but then how to automatically invoke the outline mode hook? – incandescentman Aug 21 '13 at 08:21