I scan all the mail (not email, but good ol' mail) I receive and have these saved as PDF files into a directory, which we think of as an inbox. I would like to find a workflow to quickly refile these PDF files by moving them to one of several pre-defined directories. From a user perspective, the closest thing I can think of is org-capture and capture templates, where I can have a couple of custom defined destinations that have a simple one key shortcuts. I want the same thing but for refiling actual files, using dired or similar, so when I have the list of files I can go just press two quick keys and have it moved to one of my predefined directories.
To further illustrate my wanted workflow, imagine org-capture-templates, which can look like this;
(setq org-capture-templates
'(
("t" "Todo Work" entry (file+headline "~/org/work.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n %i\n %a")
("p" "Todo Personal" entry (file+headline "~/org/personal.org" "Tasks") "* TODO %?\n %i\n %a")
...
So after bringing up the capture menu, I can press t
or p
to choose either a work related todo or a personal todo. Similarly for my PDF refiling operation, I want to define some "templates" with a shortcut for each, so after selecting a file and bringing up my "quick-refile" menu, I can press a single letter, like 'p' for personal files or perhaps 'w' for work related files, which will then move the file.
I'm open both to configuration suggestions on how to achieve this as well as plugins or suggestions on workflows for doing this. I concocted this workflow for myself but otherwise try to follow BASB (building a second brain) and PARA for filing stuff. If anyone has broader workflow suggestions I'm listening.
Many of these files are closely associated with tasks I have in org, so it's nice to have en Emacs centric workflow to handle all aspects of refiling. Extra points for an answer that can update references to these files from within org, when the actual file is moved. I imagine that I will always refile the file first, then reference it, but perhaps sometimes it is useful to be able to refile later as well, in which case I don't want my org mode references to the file to break.
R
to move them to another directory (anywhere). You can mark files according to any number of characteristics, including dates, file types, file-name patterns, and even file attributes.R
will let me then pick a folder. I want to have a couple of quick selections, so I can do sayR a
to move to one directory (the one 'a' is mapped to) orR b
to move it to a different directory. I guess it would actually have to be something besides R, otherwise it would conflict, but I think you get the point.