Re: Clarification on org-startup-fold behavior vs. docs

[Ihor Radchenko]

John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com> writes:

> #+begin_example
> (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org/lisp/")
> (add-to-list 'load-path "~/.elisp/org/contrib/lisp/")
> (setq org-startup-folded "overview")
> #+end_example

The value should be a symbol, not a string:

(setq org-startup-folded 'overview)

customise interface even tries to warn you that something is wrong:

> In addition, M-x customize-variable for org-startup-folded says:
>
> #+begin_quote
> org-startup-folded: "overview"
>     State : CHANGED outside Customize. (mismatch) <--- this is a clue 
>    Non-nil means entering Org mode will switch to OVERVIEW. Hide

If you select the value from customise interface, Emacs would set it
correctly.  Direct setting is indeed possible, but you need to consult
how the variable is defined.  Note the :type specifier below (also, see
15.4 Customization Types section of Elisp manual).

(defcustom org-startup-folded 'showeverything
  "Non-nil means entering Org mode will switch to OVERVIEW.

This can also be configured on a per-file basis by adding one of
the following lines anywhere in the buffer:

   #+STARTUP: fold              (or `overview', this is equivalent)
   #+STARTUP: nofold            (or `showall', this is equivalent)
   #+STARTUP: content
   #+STARTUP: show<n>levels (<n> = 2..5)
   #+STARTUP: showeverything

Set `org-agenda-inhibit-startup' to a non-nil value if you want
to ignore this option when Org opens agenda files for the first
time."
  :group 'org-startup
  :package-version '(Org . "9.4")
  :type '(choice
          (const :tag "nofold: show all" nil)
          (const :tag "fold: overview" t)
          (const :tag "fold: show two levels" show2levels)
          (const :tag "fold: show three levels" show3levels)
          (const :tag "fold: show four levels" show4evels)
          (const :tag "fold: show five levels" show5levels)
          (const :tag "content: all headlines" content)
          (const :tag "show everything, even drawers" showeverything)))

Best,
Ihor