this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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Emacs

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I want to journaling, but I need a few specific things. Can you tell me if Emacs can do them, before start learning it? (alien.top)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Hey! I use Cherrytree for journaling, but it has a few things I want to change, and lack a few things that I need. Plus, I'm worry about locking myself in one app, so I'm exploring the possibility of using Neovim or Emacs, but I'm aware there's a learning curve, and before investing time, I wanted to know if I'm using the right tool.

I need to do the following in a quick way:

1- Encrypt a whole folder, and acces it. This folder will keep other folders with pictures and text files.

2- Set a number of columns for the page, like 80 or 100.

3- Have a tree-like explorer on the left, to navigate the files with the entries.

4- Do bold, italics, and different colors.

5- Make an index or a different way to navigate the entries, besides the tree explorer.

6- Export everything in case I want to change the program I use to read my entries.

7- Inserting an image from a folder, like a picture I took. It can be a miniature to click and open the original picture.

Can Emacs do that?

Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Great questions:

  1. Encryption using PGP
  2. Use auto-fill mode 3.Use the TreeMacs package
  3. Org mode does bold, italics etc.. Colours in Emacs have semantic meaning and are automated through a theme.
  4. Use a note-taking application, such as Denote or Org Roam
  5. Org mode can be exported to many formats. Your documents are in plain text, so conversion is trivial. Aesthetic colouring is managed through export templates if you build a website, book etc.
  6. Use Org mode

My website Emacs Writing Studio explains most of what you like to achieve.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You skipped a newline between points 2 and 3 and that screwed up the numbering of the remaining points.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Thanks - all fixed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Well I thought so, but the new editor in Reddit sucks. When I select Markdown it erases the post!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Thank you! I'll check that later.

I saw a few videos about Emacs, and holy cow! all the things it can do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Emacs is not a text editor but a programming environment. So it can do anything, as long as it is plain text interface.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

You actually have to learn how to develop those features.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Emacs can do all these things, it just requires finding the right packages and creating your config. I recommended using epa to encrypt your files. However if your workflow involves decrypting the entire folder, operating on it / writing new notes, and then reencrypting, I would store everything in a veracrypt container.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Note that Emacs can interface with tools for encrypting and decrypting (and can work seamlessly with encrypted files in many cases), but Emacs itself is not performing those activities. There are many ways of encrypting things, and a decision on which approach to use is probably not going to be entirely tied to Emacs (although you'll want to be confident that the two things will work together).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Oh boy yet another treemacs question!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

There is org-journal, which uses org-mode. You will also be able to PGP encrypt each entry.