12.3 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 by specifying them in a compact form with the #+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 ‘#+SETUPFILE: filename’ syntax. Option keyword sets tailored to a particular back-end can be inserted from the export dispatcher (see The Export Dispatcher) using the Insert template command by pressing #. To insert keywords individually, a good way to make sure the keyword is correct is to type #+ and then to use M-<TAB> for completion.

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

‘AUTHOR’

The document author (user-full-name).

‘CREATOR’

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

‘DATE’

A date or a time-stamp¹³³.

‘DESCRIPTION’

The document description. Back-ends handle it as they see fit (e.g., for the XHTML meta tag), if at all. You can use several such keywords for long descriptions.

‘EMAIL’

The email address (user-mail-address).

‘KEYWORDS’

The keywords defining the contents of the document. Back-ends handle it as they see fit (e.g., for the XHTML meta tag), if at all. You can use several such keywords if the list is long.

‘LANGUAGE’

The language used for translating some strings (org-export-default-language). E.g., ‘#+LANGUAGE: fr’ will tell Org to translate File (english) into Fichier (french) in the clocktable.

‘SELECT_TAGS’

The tags that select a tree for export (org-export-select-tags). The default value is :export:. Within a subtree tagged with :export:, you can still exclude entries with :noexport: (see below). When headlines are selectively exported with :export: anywhere in a file, text before the first headline is ignored.

‘EXCLUDE_TAGS’

The tags that exclude a tree from export (org-export-exclude-tags). The default value is :noexport:. Entries with the :noexport: tag will be unconditionally excluded from the export, even if they have an :export: tag.

‘TITLE’

The title to be shown (otherwise derived from buffer’s name). You can use several such keywords for long titles.

The #+OPTIONS keyword is a compact¹³⁴ form that recognizes the following arguments:

':

Toggle smart quotes (org-export-with-smart-quotes).

*:

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 any time/date active/inactive stamps (org-export-with-timestamps).

:

Toggle line-break-preservation (org-export-preserve-breaks).

^:

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

arch:

Configure export of archived trees. Can be set to headline to only process the headline, skipping its contents (org-export-with-archived-trees).

author:

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

c:

Toggle inclusion of CLOCK keywords (org-export-with-clocks).

creator:

Configure inclusion of creator info into exported file. It may be set to comment (org-export-with-creator).

d:

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

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). It can also be set to a number ‘n’, so only headlines at that level or above will be numbered.

p:

Toggle export of planning information (org-export-with-planning). “Planning information” is the line containing the SCHEDULED:, the DEADLINE: or the CLOSED: cookies or a combination of them.

pri:

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

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), can be nil to remove all tasks, todo to remove DONE tasks, or a list of keywords to keep (org-export-with-tasks).

tex:

Configure export of LaTeX fragments and environments. It may be set to verbatim (org-export-with-latex).

timestamp:

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

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 only a subtree, each of the previous keywords¹³⁵ can be overridden locally by special node properties. These begin with ‘EXPORT_’, followed by the name of the keyword they supplant. For example, ‘DATE’ and ‘OPTIONS’ keywords become, respectively, ‘EXPORT_DATE’ and ‘EXPORT_OPTIONS’ properties.

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

The name of the output file to be generated is taken from the file associated to the buffer, when possible, or asked to you otherwise. For subtree export, you can also set ‘EXPORT_FILE_NAME’ property. In all cases, only the base name of the file is retained, and a back-end specific extension is added.