Nobody else has commented on this, so perhaps I am doing something
wrong.
My recollection is that [setting the todo state of a task with a
repeating scheduled task to done] did not used to insert a closed
timestamp, but now it seems to -- or at least it fails to remove the
timestamp. Is this intentional?
I use the closed timestamp to indicate that a task can be archived,
but perhaps I should not rely on that?
I find that most things in org behave in a way that works for me right
away, which shows how much thinking goes into its design. However
repeated tasks is one thing that has not quite worked for me
yet. Repeating items and cyclic diary entries provide part of the
functionality I need, but not quite.
Basically, I would like repeated tasks and cyclic appointments to
disappear from the past when they are done (so that they do not
clutter the agenda) but to appear in the future (so that I can, e.g.,
schedule other appointments around them in the days they occur).
Repeating tasks do not appear in the future or the past. Cyclic
appointments are close. If I have:
** TODO Check backups <2009-03-05 Thu 11:00 +2d>
And pass from TODO to DONE this happens:
** TODO Check backups <2009-03-07 Sat 11:00 +2d>
CLOSED: [2009-03-05 Tue 07:57]
- State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-03-03 Tue 07:57]
An then, with "l" this entry will appear in the agenda, but:
- It appears as TODO (rather than DONE) and with the current date,
(even though it also does say "Closed:") all of which can be
confusing.
- Non-repeating tasks with a timestamp behave differently: if such a
task is marked as done a CLOSED line is also generated (provided the
right flags are on) but it does not actually disappear from the
agenda (at least for me, even if the manual seems to imply
otherwise), independently of the logging ("l") state.
I think a perhaps better behavior could be that the same line:
** TODO Check backups <2009-03-05 Thu 11:00 +2d>
is marked as done, then a) a *copy* is made of the TODO item, and that
copy is the one that goes to DONE and gets the CLOSED (i.e., a
"normal" task is generated and updated) and b) the repeating task is
shifted (without attaching anything to it, since it is a "fresh"
task):
** DONE Check backups <2009-03-05 Sat 11:00>
CLOSED: [2009-03-05 Tue 07:57]
- State "DONE" from "TODO" [2009-03-03 Tue 07:57]
** TODO Check backups <2009-03-07 Sat 11:00 +2d>
Apart from behaving more like a normal task this would have in my mind
some additional advantages: I like DONE tasks to eventually disappear
from my agenda. I do this by archiving them (to sibling). This allows
me to easily see that I have not left anything behind in past days. I
could now do this with the copied task, independently of the updated
repeater. When I want to look at what I did on a certain day I hit the
handy "v" key and the archived, done tasks appear again, including
those that originated from the repeater --great! I.e., the
repeater leaves behind a trail of normal tasks.