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13.2 Export Settings

Export options can be set: globally with variables; for an individual file by making variables buffer-local with in-buffer settings (see In-buffer Settings); by setting individual keywords or specifying them in compact form with the β€˜OPTIONS’ keyword; or for a tree by setting properties (see Properties and Columns). Options set at a specific level override options set at a more general level.

In-buffer settings may appear anywhere in the file, either directly or indirectly through a file included using β€˜#+SETUPFILE: filename or URL’ syntax. Option keyword sets tailored to a particular back-end can be inserted from the export dispatcher (see The Export Dispatcher) using the β€˜Insert template’ command by pressing #. To insert keywords individually, a good way to make sure the keyword is correct is to type β€˜#+’ and then to use M-TAB1 for completion.

The export keywords available for every back-end, and their equivalent global variables, include:

β€˜AUTHOR’​

The document author (user-full-name).

β€˜CREATOR’​

Entity responsible for output generation (org-export-creator-string).

β€˜DATE’​

A date or a time-stamp2.

β€˜EMAIL’​

The email address (user-mail-address).

β€˜LANGUAGE’​

Language to use for translating certain strings (org-export-default-language). With β€˜#+LANGUAGE: fr’, for example, Org translates β€˜Table of contents’ to the French β€˜Table des matiΓ¨res’3.

β€˜SELECT_TAGS’​

The default value is β€˜("export")’. When a tree is tagged with β€˜export’ (org-export-select-tags), Org selects that tree and its sub-trees for export. Org excludes trees with β€˜noexport’ tags, see below. When selectively exporting files with β€˜export’ tags set, Org does not export any text that appears before the first headline.

β€˜EXCLUDE_TAGS’​

The default value is β€˜("noexport")’. When a tree is tagged with β€˜noexport’ (org-export-exclude-tags), Org excludes that tree and its sub-trees from export. Entries tagged with β€˜noexport’ are unconditionally excluded from the export, even if they have an β€˜export’ tag. Even if a sub-tree is not exported, Org executes any code blocks contained there.

β€˜TITLE’​

Org displays this title. For long titles, use multiple β€˜#+TITLE’ lines.

β€˜EXPORT_FILE_NAME’​

The name of the output file to be generated. Otherwise, Org generates the file name based on the buffer name and the extension based on the back-end format.

The β€˜OPTIONS’ keyword is a compact form. To configure multiple options, use several β€˜OPTIONS’ lines. β€˜OPTIONS’ recognizes the following arguments.

'

Toggle smart quotes (org-export-with-smart-quotes). Depending on the language used, when activated, Org treats pairs of double quotes as primary quotes, pairs of single quotes as secondary quotes, and single quote marks as apostrophes.

*​

Toggle emphasized text (org-export-with-emphasize).

-​

Toggle conversion of special strings (org-export-with-special-strings).

:​

Toggle fixed-width sections (org-export-with-fixed-width).

<​

Toggle inclusion of time/date active/inactive stamps (org-export-with-timestamps).

\n​

Toggles whether to preserve line breaks (org-export-preserve-breaks).

^​

Toggle TeX-like syntax for sub- and superscripts. If you write β€˜^:{}’, β€˜a_{b}’ is interpreted, but the simple β€˜a_b’ is left as it is (org-export-with-sub-superscripts).

arch​

Configure how archived trees are exported. When set to headline, the export process skips the contents and processes only the headlines (org-export-with-archived-trees).

author​

Toggle inclusion of author name into exported file (org-export-with-author).

Toggles if Org should continue exporting upon finding a broken internal link. When set to mark, Org clearly marks the problem link in the output (org-export-with-broken-links).

c​

Toggle inclusion of β€˜CLOCK’ keywords (org-export-with-clocks).

creator​

Toggle inclusion of creator information in the exported file (org-export-with-creator).

d​

Toggles inclusion of drawers, or list of drawers to include, or list of drawers to exclude (org-export-with-drawers).

date​

Toggle inclusion of a date into exported file (org-export-with-date).

e​

Toggle inclusion of entities (org-export-with-entities).

email​

Toggle inclusion of the author’s e-mail into exported file (org-export-with-email).

f​

Toggle the inclusion of footnotes (org-export-with-footnotes).

H​

Set the number of headline levels for export (org-export-headline-levels). Below that level, headlines are treated differently. In most back-ends, they become list items.

inline​

Toggle inclusion of inlinetasks (org-export-with-inlinetasks).

num​

Toggle section-numbers (org-export-with-section-numbers). When set to number N, Org numbers only those headlines at level N or above. Set β€˜UNNUMBERED’ property to non-nil to disable numbering of heading and subheadings entirely. Moreover, when the value is β€˜notoc’ the headline, and all its children, do not appear in the table of contents either (see Table of Contents).

p​

Toggle export of planning information (org-export-with-planning). β€œPlanning information" comes from lines located right after the headline and contain any combination of these cookies: β€˜SCHEDULED’, β€˜DEADLINE’, or β€˜CLOSED’.

pri​

Toggle inclusion of priority cookies (org-export-with-priority).

prop​

Toggle inclusion of property drawers, or list the properties to include (org-export-with-properties).

stat​

Toggle inclusion of statistics cookies (org-export-with-statistics-cookies).

tags​

Toggle inclusion of tags, may also be not-in-toc (org-export-with-tags).

tasks​

Toggle inclusion of tasks (TODO items); or nil to remove all tasks; or todo to remove done tasks; or list the keywords to keep (org-export-with-tasks).

tex​

nil does not export; t exports; verbatim keeps everything in verbatim (org-export-with-latex).

timestamp​

Toggle inclusion of the creation time in the exported file (org-export-time-stamp-file).

title​

Toggle inclusion of title (org-export-with-title).

toc​

Toggle inclusion of the table of contents, or set the level limit (org-export-with-toc).

todo​

Toggle inclusion of TODO keywords into exported text (org-export-with-todo-keywords).

|​

Toggle inclusion of tables (org-export-with-tables).

When exporting sub-trees, special node properties can override the above keywords. These properties have an β€˜EXPORT_’ prefix. For example, β€˜DATE’ becomes, β€˜EXPORT_DATE’ when used for a specific sub-tree. Except for β€˜SETUPFILE’, all other keywords listed above have an β€˜EXPORT_’ equivalent.

If org-export-allow-bind-keywords is non-nil, Emacs variables can become buffer-local during export by using the β€˜BIND’ keyword. Its syntax is β€˜#+BIND: variable value’. This is particularly useful for in-buffer settings that cannot be changed using keywords.


  1. Many desktops intercept M-TAB to switch windows. Use C-M-i or ESC TAB instead.↩
  2. The variable org-export-date-timestamp-format defines how this timestamp are exported.↩
  3. DEFINITION NOT FOUND.↩