Scheduled timestamp inside of tables

Question

I am creating a table for the upcoming winter season of anime and when I try to insert scheduled timestamps into the table for release dates it automatically pushes the timestamp under the nearest headline.

Is there a way to change this behavior? Or maybe a timestamp that is more fitted for using inside of tables, that will also add the date to my calendar?

Inserting an active timestamp inside of the table works, but what is the difference between that and a scheduled timestamp?

Answer 1

Try an active timestamp: C-c . (or C-u C-c . for an active timestamp with a time). That will be included in your agenda on the dates specified in the timestamps (more than once if there are multiple timestamps with the same date).

SCHEDULED and DEADLINE timestamps cannot be put into a table: they have to appear immediately after the headline - not even an empty line can separate them. See Org Syntax.

EDIT: There are active timestamps and inactive timestamps. Active timestamps are delimited with angle brackets in the buffer:<2022-12-11 Sun>. Inactive timestamps are delimited with square brackets: [2022-12-11 Sun]. The difference between them is that active timestamps will get the headline in which they are found into that day's agenda, whereas inactive timestamps will do nothing: as far as Org mode is concerned, they are just some text sitting on the page.

SCHEDULED timestamps and DEADLINE timestamps are both active timestamps that will get the headline in which they are found into the agenda, but not only on the day that the timestamp says but on other days also.

For SCHEDULED timestamps, the entry will first appear on the agenda on the day the timestamp specifies, but in addition, it will also appear on subsequent days, until the entry is marked DONE. IOW, scheduling the entry for a given day will get you a reminder on that day to start working on it, and on subsequent days to continue working on it, until it is done. It then disappears from the agenda. The agenda also shows you how many days this entry has been in the agenda, "guilting" you into doing something about it.

For DEADLINE timestamps, the entry will appear on the agenda on the day the timestmap specifies, but it will also appear on earlier days (the number is configurable), reminding you that the deadline is approaching. If you don't get it done by the deadline, then it drops you through a hole in the floor into a vat of hot oil - kidding. If you don't get it done by the deadline (i.e. mark it DONE or CANCELED or some other keyword that you have specified to be a DONE state), then it will continue to nag you on subsequent days as well, just like a SCHEDULED item.

The difference between these two styles of timestamp is that with SCHEDULED, you tell it when you want to start work on it, with DEADLINE when you want to finish work on it. See Deadlines and Scheduling in the Org mode manual.

Both of these are syntactically required to be right after the headline (that's why when you try to enter a SCHEDULED timestamp into your table, Org mode enters it after the headline).

As the above link to the manual states, you don't use a SCHEDULED timestamp to e.g. schedule a meeting. SCHEDULED means something else in Org mode: when you want to start working on an item. To schedule a meeting, you just use a plain active timestamp: no SCHEDULED and no DEADLINE.