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   1 * Gnorb
   2
   3 Glue code between the Gnus, Org, and BBDB packages for Emacs.
   4
   5 This package connects Emacs-based email, project management, and
   6 contact management a little more closely together. The goal is to
   7 reduce friction when manipulating TODOs, contacts, messages, and
   8 files.
   9
  10 Probably the most interesting thing Gnorb does is tracking
  11 correspondences between Gnus email messages and Org headings. Rather
  12 than "turning your inbox into a TODO list", as some software puts it,
  13 Gnorb (kind of) does the opposite: turning your TODO headings into
  14 mini mailboxes.
  15
  16 *Note for previous users*: If you were using Gnorb from Github before
  17 it shifted to the Elpa repository, the email tracking mechanism has
  18 changed, please see the manual for details.
  19 ** Known bugs/issues
  20 *** Gnus Registry
  21 Prior to late December, 2014, the Gnus registry had some issues with
  22 preserving "precious" entries while pruning.
  23
  24 When the registry approaches its maximum size it will delete excess
  25 entries, a process referred to as "pruning". "Precious" entries are
  26 those that contain important information: they should not be pruned.
  27
  28 Gnorb uses the registry to track associations between messages and Org
  29 headings, and marks those entries as precious. The entire process of
  30 tracking, in fact, relies on these entries being preserved, and Gnorb
  31 goes to some lengths to protect this information. Older versions of
  32 the registry could nevertheless delete those entries.
  33
  34 These issues are fixed circa the end of December, 2014, around "Ma
  35 Gnus v0.12", whatever that means. If you think there's a possibility
  36 your registry is full, and associations are being deleted, you might
  37 consider upgrading to a recent Gnus.
  38 *** Multiple Associations
  39 Gnorb theoretically supports email messages being associated with
  40 multiple Org headings. In practice, however, this situation hasn't
  41 been thought through completely, and you may experience weirdness. If
  42 you do, and you have some ideas about how it should be handled, please
  43 contact the author and suggest them.
  44 ** Installation
  45
  46 It's easiest to install Gnorb from Elpa: run `list-packages' and look
  47 for it there.
  48
  49 Or clone the Git repo at https://github.com/girzel/gnorb, and add the
  50 top-level directory to your load path.
  51
  52 If you want to use Gnorb for tracking emails with TODOs, you'll need
  53 to add a nngnorb server to your `gnus-secondary-select-methods'
  54 variable, then call `gnorb-tracking-initialize' in your init files.
  55 Again, see the manual for details.
  56 ** Roadmap
  57 *** More fully utilize nngnorb
  58 Instead of just being place to put nnir searches, the nngnorb server
  59 should have groups in its own right. Users will still be able to make
  60 ephemeral search groups if they like, but they'll also have the option
  61 of creating regular Gnus groups that track certain Org subtrees. These
  62 groups will be persistent, and they will auto-update, so it's possible
  63 to handle more TODO stuff from the Gnus group buffer. Copying a
  64 message into the group will set up tracking for the message; deleting
  65 it from the group will remove tracking.
  66 *** Comprehensive views of related information
  67 For instance, A `gnorb-view' command that takes a tags-todo search
  68 phrase (or a single Org heading ID), finds all relevant messages, Org
  69 headings, and BBDB records, and sets up a four-pane view: Org Agenda,
  70 BBDB buffer, Gnus Summary buffer, and Gnus Article buffer.
  71
  72 Or something like that -- more pondering is necessary.
  73 *** Consider consolidating posting styles, personas, etc
  74 There are many solutions out there for setting up "personas" in Gnus
  75 or elsewhere: wrappers for mail composition and reply that create
  76 certain identities by setting variables and mail headers.
  77
  78 Do we need another one? Gnorb seems so well placed for this sort of
  79 thing: we've already got bbdb-posting-styles, and allowing further
  80 configuration based on, say, the Org tags of the subtree we're
  81 composing messages from... Or maybe it's just a case of NIH.
  82 ** To do list
  83 *** TODO Agenda date-span message search
  84 Provide an Org Agenda command that does an email search for messages
  85 received in the visible date span, or day under point, etc. Make it
  86 work in the calendar, as well?
  87 *** DONE Capture to child/subtree trigger actions
  88 :LOGBOOK:
  89 - State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2015-03-17 Tue 17:42]
  90 :END:
  91 Add trigger actions that create new sibling or child headings on the
  92 original Org heading.
  93 *** TODO Gnus message tagging
  94 Allow tagging of Gnus messages, by giving the message's registry entry
  95 an 'org-tags key.
  96 *** TODO Email subtree export to doc and rtf
  97 When using `gnorb-email-subtree', provide built-in options for
  98 exporting to doc and rtf attachments; these are such commonly-needed
  99 formats. Do the odt conversion automatically.
 100 *** TODO Collect BBDB messages by thread
 101 At present, when you collect message links on a BBDB contact, each
 102 message is a separate link. If you have lengthy conversations with
 103 this contact, you'll get a whole bunch of links with the same summary:
 104 not very useful. Provide an option to collect one /thread/ per link:
 105 each link represents the top-level message in the thread, and
 106 following the link opens a Summary buffer where the whole thread is
 107 visible.
 108 *** TODO Automatic org-tagging for BBDB contacts
 109 When messages from a contact are associated with an Org heading, make
 110 it possible for the contact to inherit that heading's tags
 111 automatically.
 112 *** TODO gnorb-bbdb-view
 113 Provide a `gnorb-bbdb-view' command that opens a Summary buffer
 114 containing all the tracked messages from the contact(s) under point.