Item not showing in agenda

Question

In my org mode file I have:

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 1 <2020-09-25 Fri>

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 2 <2020-09-25 Fri>

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 <2020-09-25 Fri .+1w>

But only:

TODO [#A] Call UPS 3

Shows up in the Agenda.

However, all 3 TODO's do show up in the Global TODO List.

I don't understand why, when all 3 TODO's have the same priority and the same date, that only the one with a repeating date shows up in the Agenda.

Any help is appreciated......

Thanks ahead of time.

Answer 1

Suppose that I have a file foo.org with the following contents:

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 1 <2020-09-25 Fri>

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 2 <2020-09-25 Fri>

* TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 <2020-09-25 Fri .+1w>

and this file is the only file in the agenda file list; and I use the default weekly agenda; and I have set up the agenda keybinding as the manual recommends (i.e. just the following in my init file, so that I don't get tripped up by other settings):

(setq org-agenda-files '("/path/to/foo.org"))
(setq org-agenda-span 'week)

(define-key global-map (kbd "C-c a") #'org-agenda)

and I start emacs and construct the agenda with C-c a a, then the agenda looks like this:

Week-agenda (W40):
Monday     28 September 2020 W40
Tuesday    29 September 2020
Wednesday  30 September 2020
Thursday    1 October 2020
Friday      2 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday    3 October 2020
Sunday      4 October 2020

with just the third item in the Friday, Oct 2 slot, as discussed in the comments. That item shows because it is in the future, whereas the others do not show because they are in the past.

If I instead make the agenda a daily agenda by changing the value of org-agenda-span in the init file:

(setq org-agenda-span 'day)

I restart emacs, and get an agenda I see this:

Monday     28 September 2020 W40

That's it: none of them is for today's date, so nothing shows up.

If I make the agenda monthly with

(setq org-agenda-span 'month)

restart emacs and show the agenda, I now see this (with most of the empty entries elided to save space):

Month-agenda (W40-W44):
Monday     28 September 2020 W40
...
Friday      2 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday    3 October 2020
...
Friday      9 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   10 October 2020
...
Friday     16 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   17 October 2020
...
Friday     23 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   24 October 2020
Sunday     25 October 2020
Monday     26 October 2020 W44
Tuesday    27 October 2020

with just the repeating entry showing every Friday.

Finally, if I make the monthly agenda start earlier so that it includes the 09/25 date by adding this to my init file:

(setq org-agenda-start-day "-1w")

so that the monthly agenda starts one week before today, then restart emacs and get an agenda, I get this (again eliding most of the empty days to keep things short):

Month-agenda (W39-W43):
Monday     21 September 2020 W39
Tuesday    22 September 2020
...
Friday     25 September 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 1 
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 2 
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   26 September 2020
...
Friday      2 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday    3 October 2020
...
Friday      9 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   10 October 2020
...
Friday     16 October 2020
  foo:        TODO [#A] Call UPS 3 
Saturday   17 October 2020
...

Now all of them show up on Fri, Sept. 25 and the third, repeating one shows up every Friday after that.

You can also switch time frames interactively: get rid of the customizations except for the org-agenda-files one and restart emacs. Then C-c a a should give you a weekly agenda, as in the first display above. Pressing b moves the time frame back a week; pressing f moves forward a week (or a day or a month depending on org-agenda-span).

The manual is indispensable. For this particular subject, check the chapter on Agenda Views and the section Commands in the Agenda Buffer for all the keys that you can use in the agenda buffer to do various useful things.

I hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

Just to summarize the above - my question is "How do I include a non-repeating TODO that has a plain date that is in the past, in today's view of the Agenda?"

I believe I found the answer - using a SCHEDULED date vs a plain (Not SCHEDULED nor DEADLINE) date makes a non-repeating item that has a date in the past show in today's Agenda view, with the agenda view showing only today (no past days). This is what I wanted. I have tested this quite a bit so I am pretty confident this will work. If anyone ever wants to test this in future, this may help:

* Testme01 - This does NOT show in Agenda for today (2020-09-29), nor in Global list of TODO's  <2020-09-28 Mon>

* Testme02 - This DOES show in Agenda for today (2020-09-29), but NOT in Global list of TODO's 
  SCHEDULED: <2020-09-28 Mon>

@NickD - thanks again for your time and attention and help to this and my other questions :) You are a great help to me and the community. PS I arrived late into our chat and I think by that time you had (understandably) left.