How do I pre-process capture buffer before saving to target?

Question

There are times I am given a list of names of people that I need to schedule appointments for in our organization. The names are typically given first, and then details come later.

I would like to create a capture buffer where I can quickly capture the names line by line, and then process the list of names with the types of appointments that need to be created. Is there a way to do this in org-mode?

Example workflow:

1. Create a capture buffer for capturing a vector of appointments:

   C-c c a v
   

2. Enter the following list into the capture buffer:

   John Deere
   Adam Smith
   Jane Doe 
   

3. Execute function to pre-process buffer into the following format before saving to target:

   * John Deere
   ** NEXT Schedule appointment for John Deere to meet with board of directors
     SCHEDULED: <2000-01-01>
   ** TODO Add John Deere to Board of Directors agenda
   
   * Adam Smith
   ** NEXT Schedule appointment for Adam Smith to meet with Mr. Robins
      SCHEDULED: <2000-01-01>
   ** TODO Add Adam Smith to Mr. Robins' calendar
   ** TODO Verify meeting with Adam Smith and Mr. Robins occurred
   
   * Jane Doe
   ** NEXT Schedule appointment for Jane Doe to meet with board of directors
      SCHEDULED: <2000-01-01>
   ** TODO Add Jane Doe to Board of Directors agenda
   

Answer 1

You are looking for org-capture-before-finalize-hook.

(defcustom org-capture-before-finalize-hook nil
  "Hook that is run right before a capture process is finalized.
The capture buffer is still current when this hook runs and it is
widened to the entire buffer."
  :group 'org-capture
  :version "24.1"
  :type 'hook)