Transform an org-mode outline and its properties to a table format (org-table, CSV). This makes it possible to have an outline with properties and work with it in column view. Then you can transform the outline to a table to share with others (export to CSV and open in Excel). More about column view: * http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-column-view-tutorial.html * http://orgmode.org/manual/Column-view.html ; Usage ----- ### From org tree to table ;; Org outline to an org table M-x org-transform-tree/org-table-buffer-from-outline ;; Org outline to CSV (or rather, tab-separated value) M-x org-transform-tree/csv-table-buffer-from-outline If the region is active, convert that part of the tree. Otherwise, if point is on an org heading, convert that heading and its subtree. Otherwise convert the buffer. In the resulting table, row one is the column titles. The rest of the rows are property values. Column one is the outline heading, and the rest are the properties in the order they first appear in the buffer. However, all special properties (e.g. 'COLUMNS', '*_ALL') are placed after all the user properties (i.e. whatever properties the user has added to capture information). Special values that can't be represented in an org table are escaped: | ==> \vert{} first leading space ==> non-breaking space (C-x 8 SPC) ### From table to org tree ;; From an org table to an org outline M-x org-transform-table/org-tree-buffer-from-org-table ;; From CSV (tab separated) to an org outline M-x org-transform-table/org-tree-buffer-from-csv When converting from an org table, point must be on a table. When converting CSV, convert the buffer. Values escaped from any tree->table transformation are unescaped (see above) Tiny example ------------ This outline: * Pages :PROPERTIES: :COLUMNS: %30ITEM %10Access %10Cost :END: ** Products :PROPERTIES: :Access: All :END: *** Free Widget :PROPERTIES: :Access: All :END: *** Paid Thingy :PROPERTIES: :Access: Paid :Cost: 30 :END: Transforms into: | Heading | Access | Cost | COLUMNS | | * Pages | | | %30ITEM %10Access %10Cost | | ** Products | All | | | | *** Free Widget | All | | | | *** Paid Thingy | Paid | 30 | | Note that the special property COLUMNS are out on the right, to be out of the way when the table is being edited in e.g. Excel or Open Office. This also means the transformation is only 99% round-trip safe and the first time you go back to a tree representation, you'll get more diffs than subsequent ones. ; Installation ------------ Install org-transform-tree-table using MELPA. Or clone the repo into somewhere in the load-path. git clone https://github.com/jplindstrom/emacs-org-transform-tree-table.git and initialize with: (require 'org-transform-tree-table) ; Changes ------- 2014-12-28 - 0.1.3 * Transform text below headings 2014-12-26 - 0.1.2 * Bug fixes, doc fixes * Toggle between tree and table 2014-12-23 - 0.1.1 * Initial release ; Contributors ------------ * Syohei YOSHIDA - https://github.com/syohex