12.4 ASCII/Latin-1/UTF-8 export

ASCII export produces a simple and very readable version of an Org mode file, containing only plain ASCII. Latin-1 and UTF-8 export augment the file with special characters and symbols available in these encodings.

Links are exported in a footnote-like style, with the descriptive part in the text and the link in a note before the next heading. See the variable org-ascii-links-to-notes for details and other options.

ASCII export commands

C-c C-e t a/l/u     (org-ascii-export-to-ascii)

Export as an ASCII file. For an Org file, myfile.org, the ASCII file will be myfile.txt. The file will be overwritten without warning. When the original file is myfile.txt, the resulting file becomes myfile.txt.txt in order to prevent data loss.

C-c C-e t A/L/U     (org-ascii-export-as-ascii)

Export to a temporary buffer. Do not create a file.

Header and sectioning structure

In the exported version, the first three outline levels become headlines, defining a general document structure. Additional levels are exported as lists. The transition can also occur at a different level (see Export settings).

Quoting ASCII text

You can insert text that will only appear when using ASCII back-end with the following constructs:

Text @@ascii:and additional text@@ within a paragraph.

#+ASCII: Some text

#+BEGIN_ASCII
All lines in this block will appear only when using this back-end.
#+END_ASCII

ASCII specific attributes

ASCII back-end only understands one attribute, :width, which specifies the length, in characters, of a given horizontal rule. It must be specified using an ATTR_ASCII line, directly preceding the rule.

#+ATTR_ASCII: :width 10
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