How to add font styles to org-capture templates?

Question

I want to change the color and font style in my template. I use custom-set-variable and cannot set, for example, italic style

(custom-set-variables
 '(org-capture-templates
   (backquote
    (("d"
      "diary"
      entry
      (file+olp+datetree ,(concat org-directory "diary.org"))
      ,(propertize "* [%<%H:%M>] test %?" (quote face) (quote italic)))))))   

My goal is to get this: * [20:32] test
Org-capture works, but the font is not italic: * [20:32] test

UPD I missed an important part of my question. I need to change the styles just for the time mark. Is it possible to color this time mark as a timestamp?

Answer 1

I suspect that org-mode is only using the actual text of your template, and ignores the text properties. Properties are generally used for short-term formatting. Even if you add the italics property to your capture template, it won't persist between Emacs sessions.

org-mode does provide support for markup though, and that is persistent. The markup for italics is to wrap your text in / characters:

(custom-set-variables
 '(org-capture-templates
   (backquote
    (("d"
      "diary"
      entry
      (file+olp+datetree ,(concat org-directory "diary.org"))
      "* /[%<%H:%M>] test/ %?")))))

If you want to all of your org headlines (in capture buffers and elsewhere) to appear in italics, you can accomplish this by customizing the faces for headlines: M-x customize-face org-level-4 (and other numbers for headings of different levels).