@cindex restore session
@cindex remember editing session
@cindex reload files
-@cindex desktop
- Use the desktop library to save the state of Emacs from one session
-to another. The Emacs @dfn{desktop} consists of the buffers, their
-file names, major modes, buffer positions, and so on.
+@cindex desktop configuration
+ You can use the desktop library to save the state of Emacs from one
+session to another. The saved Emacs @dfn{desktop configuration}
+includes the buffers, their file names, major modes, buffer positions,
+window and frame configuration, and some important global variables.
@vindex desktop-save-mode
@findex desktop-save-mode
-To enable this feature, use the Customization buffer (@pxref{Easy
+ To enable this feature, use the Customization buffer (@pxref{Easy
Customization}) to set @code{desktop-save-mode} to @code{t} for future
sessions, or add this line in your init file (@pxref{Init File}):
(which defaults to @code{user-emacs-directory} and then your home
directory) and uses the first desktop it finds. While Emacs runs with
@code{desktop-save-mode} turned on, it by default auto-saves the
-desktop whenever any of it changes. The variable
-@code{desktop-auto-save-timeout} determines how frequently Emacs
-checks for modifications to your desktop. The desktop is also saved
-when you exit Emacs.
+desktop whenever any of the desktop configuration changes. The
+variable @code{desktop-auto-save-timeout} determines how frequently
+Emacs checks for modifications to your desktop. The desktop is also
+saved when you exit Emacs.
+
+@cindex disable restoring of desktop configuration
+ Specify the option @samp{--no-desktop} on the Emacs command line
+when you don't want it to reload any saved desktop configurations.
+This turns off @code{desktop-save-mode} for the current session.
+Starting Emacs with the @samp{--no-init-file} option also disables
+desktop reloading, since it bypasses the init file, where
+@code{desktop-save-mode} is usually turned on.
@findex desktop-change-dir
@findex desktop-revert
- You can have separate saved desktops in different directories. You
-can save the current desktop and reload one saved in another directory
-by typing @kbd{M-x desktop-change-dir}. Typing @kbd{M-x
-desktop-revert} reverts to the desktop previously reloaded.
+ You can have separate saved desktop configurations in different
+directories; starting Emacs from a directory where you have a saved
+desktop configuration will restore that configuration. You can save
+the current desktop and reload the one saved in another directory by
+typing @kbd{M-x desktop-change-dir}. Typing @kbd{M-x desktop-revert}
+reverts to the previously reloaded desktop.
@vindex desktop-load-locked-desktop
The file in which Emacs saves the desktop is locked while the
can avoid the question by customizing the variable
@code{desktop-load-locked-desktop} to either @code{nil}, which means
never load the desktop in this case, or @code{t}, which means load the
-desktop without asking. Finally, the @code{check-pid} value means to
-load the file if the Emacs process that has locked the desktop is not
-running on the local machine. This should not be used in
-circumstances where the locking Emacs might still be running on
-another machine. This could be the case in multi-user environments
-where your home directory is mounted remotely using NFS or similar.
+desktop without asking. You can also customize the variable to the
+special value @code{check-pid}, which means to load the file if the
+Emacs process that has locked the desktop is not running on the local
+machine. This should not be used in circumstances where the locking
+Emacs might still be running on another machine, which could be the
+case in multi-user environments where your home directory is mounted
+remotely using NFS or similar.
+
+@cindex desktop restore in daemon mode
+ When Emacs starts in daemon mode, it cannot ask you any questions,
+so if it finds the desktop file locked, it will not load it, unless
+@code{desktop-load-locked-desktop} is @code{t}. Note that restoring
+the desktop in daemon mode is somewhat problematic for other reasons:
+e.g., the daemon cannot use GUI features, so parameters such as frame
+position, size, and decorations cannot be restored. For that reason,
+you may wish to delay restoring the desktop in daemon mode until the
+first client connects, by calling @code{desktop-read} (see below) in a
+hook function that you add to @code{server-after-make-frame-hook}
+(@pxref{Creating Frames,,, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}).
@findex desktop-save
@findex desktop-read
Whenever you want, you can use the command @kbd{M-x desktop-save} to
-force saving the current desktop. If you do not want to use the
-automatic @code{desktop-save-mode}, you can use @kbd{M-x desktop-save}
-and then @kbd{M-x desktop-read} to restore a previous desktop.
+force immediate saving of the current desktop. This is useful either
+if you do not want to use the automatic desktop restoration, and thus
+don't turn on @code{desktop-save-mode}, or when you have made
+significant changes to the desktop, and want to make sure the
+configuration doesn't get lost if Emacs or your system crashes. You
+can use @kbd{M-x desktop-read} to restore a previously-saved desktop
+if the current Emacs session didn't load any desktop yet.
@vindex desktop-restore-frames
- By default, the desktop also tries to save the frame and window
-configuration. To disable this, set @code{desktop-restore-frames} to
-@code{nil}. (See that variable's documentation for some related
-options that you can customize to fine-tune this behavior.)
-
-@vindex desktop-files-not-to-save
- Information about buffers visiting remote files is not saved by
-default. Customize the variable @code{desktop-files-not-to-save} to
-change this.
+ By default, the desktop tries to save and restore the frame and
+window configuration. To disable this, set
+@code{desktop-restore-frames} to @code{nil}. (See that variable's
+documentation for some related options that you can customize to
+fine-tune this behavior.)
@vindex frameset-filter-alist
- When the desktop restores the frame and window configuration, it
+ When the desktop restores the frame and window configuration, it
uses the recorded values of frame parameters, disregarding any
settings for those parameters you have in your init file (@pxref{Init
File}). This means that frame parameters such as fonts and faces for
saved when you exited your previous Emacs session; any settings for
those parameters in your init file will be ignored. To disable this,
customize the value of @code{frameset-filter-alist} to filter out the
-frame parameters you don't want to be restored.
+frame parameters you don't want to be restored; they will then be set
+according to your customizations in the init file.
+
+@vindex desktop-files-not-to-save
+ Information about buffers visiting remote files is not saved by
+default. Customize the variable @code{desktop-files-not-to-save} to
+change this.
@vindex desktop-restore-eager
By default, all the buffers in the desktop are restored in one go.
@findex desktop-clear
@vindex desktop-globals-to-clear
@vindex desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp
- Type @kbd{M-x desktop-clear} to empty the Emacs desktop. This kills
-all buffers except for internal ones, and clears the global variables
-listed in @code{desktop-globals-to-clear}. If you want this to
-preserve certain buffers, customize the variable
+ Type @kbd{M-x desktop-clear} to empty the Emacs desktop; this can be
+useful, for example, if you want to switch to another desktop by
+invoking @kbd{M-x desktop-read} next. The @code{desktop-clear}
+command kills all buffers except for internal ones, and clears the
+global variables listed in @code{desktop-globals-to-clear}. If you
+want it to preserve certain buffers, customize the variable
@code{desktop-clear-preserve-buffers-regexp}, whose value is a regular
expression matching the names of buffers not to kill.
- Specify the option @samp{--no-desktop} on the command line when you
-don't want it to reload any saved desktop. This turns off
-@code{desktop-save-mode} for the current session. Starting Emacs with
-the @samp{--no-init-file} option also disables desktop reloading,
-since it bypasses the init file, where @code{desktop-save-mode} is
-usually turned on.
-
-@cindex desktop restore in daemon mode
- When Emacs starts in daemon mode, it cannot ask you any questions,
-so if it finds the desktop file locked, it will not load it, unless
-@code{desktop-load-locked-desktop} is @code{t}. Note that restoring
-the desktop in daemon mode is somewhat problematic for other reasons:
-e.g., the daemon cannot use GUI features, so parameters such as frame
-position, size, and decorations cannot be restored. For that reason,
-you may wish to delay restoring the desktop in daemon mode until the
-first client connects, by calling @code{desktop-read} in a hook
-function that you add to @code{server-after-make-frame-hook}
-(@pxref{Creating Frames,,, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual}).
-
If you want to save minibuffer history from one session to
another, use the @code{savehist} library.