How to save the article?

[BWbwchen]

Hi,

After reading the RSS article, I want to save some on my PC. What do you think I should do? I found no function or key binding that can save the article.

Thank you for your help.

Tim

[stottm]

This question is better suited on Elfeed itself and not Elfeed-org which is an addition to manage your feed list in an Org-Mode file. [ Go Here ] to reach the GitHub Repo for Elfeed itself.

Technically, the Elfeed database will keep all articles forever. Even though articles are read they remain in the database. Via search / filter and you can find those articles, especially if you tag them appropriately. You change the default search from @6-months-ago +unread to -unread then you will only see unread. Add tags to the search and yes you can use multiple tags. By carefully curating your tagging you can find most anything. Emacs has a variable which you can examine by pressing (C-h v) and searching for elfeed-db-directory. You can change where Elfeed can find the database. I keep mine in, "~/.config/emacs/elfeed/". It is apparently possible to put this location on a cloud drive so it can sync between computers. You should ensure you back up the database directory, cloud sync is not a complete backup strategy.

Alternatively, it is possible to write some Elisp code where you create a function and bind it to a key that is active within Elfeed and not globally. Then when on an article, you hit the hotkey, the function triggers and performs a series of steps to save the article in a way that it is useful. This may take considerable thought and effort but it's doable. This isn't the best place for this type of help. Try posting on r/emacs on Reddit or Emacs Stack Exchange or the mailing lists, etc. The community is typically quite helpful.

Here's a simple example of a custom function with a keybinding:

Credit: Elfeed Author's Blog - Chris Wellions

(defun xcowsay (message)
  (call-process "xcowsay" nil nil nil message))

(defun elfeed-xcowsay ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((entry (elfeed-search-selected :single)))
    (xcowsay (elfeed-entry-title entry))))

(define-key elfeed-search-mode-map "x" #'elfeed-xcowsay)

Now when I hit “x” over an entry in Elfeed I’m greeted by a cow announcing the title.

The hard part is knowing what to put in those functions. That's where you need to learn and ask for help and while it's a somewhat steep learning curve, once you 'get it', it will all suddenly make a great deal of sense. What you need to do now is learn a whole lot more about Emacs and Elisp.

I would advise you to do the following as I do for any new Emacs user:

1. Run through the Emacs built-in tutorial a few times
2. Read this Mickey Peterson Article
3. Buy Mickey's excellent book, Mastering Emacs eBook (ePUB/PDF).
4. it's worth every penny. You receive free updates for life. This book is so good, I am serious considering buying it again just to help support the author.
5. Read the Emacs Manual in Info (C-h i)
6. Read the Emacs Lisp Intro (this is quite good as well)

Have fun!