Re: Deleting (not archiving) TODO items when done

[Peter Neilson]

On Wed, 04 Aug 2021 13:47:11 -0400, William Denton <wtd@pobox.com> wrote:

> When I've marked a TODO item as DONE and want to get it out of my  
> projects list, I've always used C-c C-x C-a  
> (org-archive-subtree-default) to get it out of the way.
>
> Today I had to go through the archive file to find an old note about  
> something, and the file was huge because it was filled with many trivial  
> TODOs that didn't need to be archived.  For example, If I'm waiting to  
> hear back from someone, when they reply I usually just want to mark the  
> task DONE and delete it.  I don't need to record it forever.
>
> Maybe I've been using the archiving not as intended, but I don't see any  
> other command for getting rid of a TODO.  I can't find a command to  
> delete the current task.  Am I missing something?  Is there a keystroke  
> to delete a TODO?  Or does everyone archive everything?
>
> Bill
>
> --
> William Denton
> https://www.miskatonic.org/
> Librarian, artist and licensed private investigator.
> Toronto, Canada

It's just text. Delete it. ^k^k or (for bigger items) establish a region  
and kill it (^w).

If you would like (since you're in emacs) you can write yourself a special  
button to do it.