Org provides a full markup language which helps structuring the document, and is reflected as accurately as possible when exporting to other formats (like HTML or LaTeX).

Structure

Document title

#+TITLE: This is the title of the document

Sectioning

* First level
** Second level

Lists

Ordered list (items can also be numbered like '1)', with a perenthesis):
1. foo
2. bar
3. baz

Unordered list (items can also start with '+' or '*'):
- foo
- bar
- baz

Description
- lorem ipsum :: this is example text
- foo bar :: these are placeholder words

Checkboxes

Every item in a plain list can be made into a checkbox by starting it with the string ‘[ ]’.

* TODO [2/4] (or [50%])
  - [-] call people [1/3]
    - [ ] Peter
      - [X] Sarah
      - [ ] Sam
  - [X] order food
  - [ ] think about what music to play
  - [X] talk to the neighbors

• C-c C-c org-toggle-checkbox
• C-c C-x C-b org-toggle-checkbox
• M-S- org-insert-todo-heading
• C-c C-x o org-toggle-ordered-property
• C-c # org-update-statistics-cookies

Emphasis and monospace

You can make words *bold*, /italic/, _underlined_, =verbatim=
and ~code~, and, if you must, ‘+strike-through+’.

Text in the code and verbatim string is not processed for Org mode specific syntax, it is exported verbatim.

Links and references

Links

Org-mode will recognize URL formats and activate them as clickable links. However, links can be explicitly declared like this:

You will find more information in the [[http://orgmode.org/org.html][Org Manual]].

or alternatively :

The org manual is located here: [[http://orgmode.org/org.html]]

Footnotes

Footnotes can either be named:

See the org manual[fn:manual] to get more details.
...
[fn:manual] You will find it here: http://orgmode.org/org.html

or anonymous and inline:

See the org manual[fn:: You will find it here: http://orgmode.org/org.html]
to get more details.

To cycle the level of outline shown:

• Tab Cycle outline level for one heading
• Shift-Tab Cycle outline level for the whole document

To cycle through TODO states:

• Shift-Right Arrow
• Shift-Left Arrow

To increase or decrease hierarchical level for a heading

• Meta-Right Arrow Make lower level ("increase indent")
• Meta-Left Arrow Make higher level ("decrease indent")

To cycle the priority for a given heading:

• Shift-Up Arrow
• Shift-Down Arrow

To move a heading up or down:

• Meta-Up Arrow
• Meta-Down Arrow

(Meta refers to different keys on different keyboards. Most often it is either Alt or ⌘).

To add a code block, surround it with #+BEGIN_SRC language and #+END_SRC. language should correspond to the major mode for the language in question, e.g. the major mode for Emacs Lisp is emacs-lisp-mode, so write #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp.

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun hello-world ()
  (interactive)
  (message "hello world"))
#+END_SRC

#+BEGIN_SRC python
print "hello world"
#+END_SRC

You can open the code block in a separate buffer by typing C-c ' (for org-edit-special). If you don't have the major mode for the specified language, that will give an error message such as No such language mode: foo-mode.

If the content you want to put in the block is not in any programming language, you can use #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE and #+END_EXAMPLE instead.

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
output from a command I just ran
#+END_EXAMPLE

There are easy templates for both of these. At the beginning of the line, type either <s or <e, and then hit TAB. It will expand into a block with begin and end markers for SRC or EXAMPLE, respectively.

These markers are all case insensitive, so you can write #+begin_src etc instead if you prefer.

| Name  | Phone | Age |
|-------+-------+-----|
| Peter | 1234  | 17  |
| Anna  | 4321  | 25  |

To add a Table in org-mode, simply surround your columns with a bar (|)

| column1 | column2 | this column is wider |

When you press Return from inside a column, org-mode will automatically create a new row with the bars.

• Tab and Return will respectively move to the next cell or row (or create a new one if there isn't any)
• You can swap the rows and columns around with M-ArrowKey
• M-S-Down and M-S-Right will respectively create a row (above the current) and a column (on the left of the current)
• M-S-Up and M-S-Left will respectively remove the current row and the current column
• C-c i create a separator