[Tex/LaTex] latex in org mode of emacs and regular latex

auctexemacsorg-modexetex

What is the difference, advantage or disadvantage of using org mode in emacs? If there are advantages, would you like to explain how it is used and what codes goes into using it. I am new (3 days) to emacs and has just basic knowledge of LaTex!
Regards

Best Answer

Giordano's comment highlights many of the benefits of using org-mode to generate LaTeX documents. The main disadvantage of using org-mode, compared to simply writing in LaTeX to begin with, is that it adds a layer of complexity when you want to customize your LaTeX.

In straight LaTeX, you can simply add a new header line, or whichever particular bit of markup you need. In org-mode, you have several options, including specifying header lines in org-mode keyword format, adding in-line LaTeX, or setting LaTeX exporting options via the Emacs customization interface. There's probably nothing you can't do from org-mode, but if you're familiar with LaTeX already, it's going to be a little more involved than what you'd do outside of org-mode.

Zeroth provided a nice summary here.

For what it's worth, I'm switching over to using org-mode for most of my day-to-day LaTeX composition. If I know I'm going to spend a lot of time on the formatting, though, I write in straight LaTeX with AucTex instead.

Structure and preamble

To see the simple structure of a document I draft in Org-mode see the following:

# -*- mode:org; mode:reftex; indent-tabs-mode:nil; tab-width:2 -*-
#+TITLE: My title
#+AUTHOR: N.N.
#+OPTIONS: toc:t
#+LATEX_CLASS: myarticle

* Introduction...
* Section...
* Section...
* References...

The headings are folded here (hence the ... following them). If they are unfolded the text under them is shown. The first line is a mode line that is not necessary but helpful in telling Emacs that this buffer should have Org-mode switched on, that it should switch on RefTeX (which I use for references) and some things having to do with tabs. The second and third line specify the title and the author of the document. The fourth line sets the export options so that the document includes a table of contents. The fifth line, #+LATEX_CLASS: myarticle, makes Org-mode export with a LaTeX preamble defined in my .emacs. In my .emacs the preamble is defined as follows:

;; My custom LaTeX class for Org-mode export. require is needed for it to work.
(require 'org-latex)

(add-to-list 'org-export-latex-classes
             '("myarticle"
"\\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\\usepackage{lmodern}
\\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\\usepackage{fixltx2e}

\\newcommand\\foo{bar}
               [NO-DEFAULT-PACKAGES]
               [NO-PACKAGES]
               [EXTRA]"
               ("\\section{%s}" . "\\section*{%s}")
           ("\\subsection{%s}" . "\\subsection*{%s}")
           ("\\subsubsection{%s}" . "\\subsubsection*{%s}")
           ("\\paragraph{%s}" . "\\paragraph*{%s}")
           ("\\subparagraph{%s}" . "\\subparagraph*{%s}")))

You can use this as a template to create your own preamble for Org-mode by putting whatever you like your preamble to contain between '("myarticle" " and [NO-DEFAULT-PACKAGES].

For exporting to beamer you can instead use #+LaTeX_CLASS: beamer. This exports to beamer with a given preamble. If you want to define the beamer preamble yourself you can do as follows. Put the following in your .emacs:

;; My custom  class for Org-mode export. require is needed for it to work.
(add-to-list 'org-export-latex-classes
             '("mybeamer"
               "\\documentclass[presentation]{beamer}
               \\usepackage{...}
               [NO-DEFAULT-PACKAGES]
               [NO-PACKAGES]
               [EXTRA]
               [BEAMER-HEADER-EXTRA]"
               org-beamer-sectioning))

This also requires (require 'org-latex) in your preamble. You can include whatever you like your preamble to include between '("mybeamer" and [NO-DEFAULT-PACKAGES]. To export an Org buffer to this class it has to include #+LaTeX_CLASS: mybeamer.

Tricks

Here are some further tips on using Org-mode:

If you want Org-mode to open the PDF that results from the export in a particular viewer you have to configure it to do so. To open it in Evince put the following in your .emacs:

;; PDFs visited in Org-mode are opened in Evince (and not in the default choice)
(eval-after-load "org"
  '(progn
     ;; Change .pdf association directly within the alist
     (setcdr (assoc "\\.pdf\\'" org-file-apps) "evince %s")))

You can use biblatex for citations. Simply include biblatex macros directly in the Org buffer. To insert them you can use RefTeX. See Setting up RefTeX with biblatex citation commands and put the following in your .emacs
```
 (setq reftex-default-bibliography '("path/to/file.bib")); So that RefTeX in Org-mode knows bibliography
```
Obviously you need to replace path/to/file.bib with the path to the bib file you want recognized. To include the list of references create a header which you want to hold your references and under it include \printbibliography[heading=none] as in
```
* References

  \printbibliography[heading=none]
```

To export with latexmk put the following in your .emacs:

;; Use latexmk for PDF export
(setq org-latex-to-pdf-process (list "latexmk %f"))

To export " to csquotes macros put the following in your .emacs:

;; Export " to csquotes macros
(setq org-export-latex-quotes
      '(("en" ("\\(\\s-\\|[[(]\\)\"" . "\\enquote{") ("\\(\\S-\\)\"" . "}") ("\\(\\s-\\|(\\)'" . "`"))))

To automatically indent lists and similar structures of Org buffers put the following in your .emacs:
```
(setq org-startup-indented t); Use virtual indentation for all files
```
Org-mode has good support for making footnotes. Use the commands and you will easily create them. To make a new paragraph inside a footnote use \par.
If you need to include lots of LaTeX related code to complete a part of a document, e.g. for a TikZ figure, you can do that in a separate document and then include the generated PDF via pdfpages. To do this include #+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{pdfpages} in the beginning of your Org buffer and then at the place you want to include a PDF use:
```
#begin_latex
\includepdf[pages={-}]{path/to/file.pdf}
#end_latex
```
Obviously you need to replace path/to/file.pdf with the path to the PDF you want to include.
Bonus: you can integrate Stack Exchange with Org-mode. The ideas for this answer was organized in an Org-mode buffer and then the answer was written in markdown-mode.
Note: Writing in Org-mode and exporting to LaTeX may work for text, but for a more sophisticated layout (e.g. figures, two figures side by side, etc...), you end up thinking half of the time about how to export it properly from Org-mode to LaTeX. The solution is then to write drafts focusing on the content and structure with Org-mode, and to export it to LaTeX and stick to LaTeX when doing the editing work (adding illustrations, optimizing the flow and the aspect of the work).

[Tex/LaTex] Can Emacs org-mode be used to createToDo’s linked to a line in a LaTeX source

org-insert-link is your friend in this. Bind it to a useful key globally, like C-c l, which you can use in your LaTeX file under AucTeX. The anchor inserted by org-insert-link isn't exacly permanent if you mess with the file enough, but it works most of the time.

A different solution would be to write your thesis in Org, including the ToDo's, and export to LaTeX.

Here's an MWE, except the link won't work because you don't have the LaTeX file I'm linking to.

#+TITLE:     Some links to a LaTeX doc
#+OPTIONS:   H:3 num:t toc:t \n:nil @:t ::t |:t ^:t -:t f:t *:t <:t
#+OPTIONS:   TeX:t LaTeX:t skip:nil d:nil todo:t pri:nil tags:not-in-toc


* This is an ordinary heading

This is a link to a context in a \LaTeX{} file with
[[file:~/Dropbox/_support/LSM2241/L7/LSM2241-AY201213-S1-L6-Feedback.tex::\section*{Q6%20How%20can%20the%20delivery%20of%20the%20material%20be%20altered%20to%20enhance%20your%20understanding%20of%20the%20material?}][some
helpful linky text]]. Note that the link keeps a bit of context,
which is created by running ~org-store-link~.

I have org-store-link globally bound to ~C-c l~ in emacs. Once the
link is stored, just insert it with org-insert-link


* TODO [#B] Finish this section

This *TODO* heading prints the *TODO* mark when the ~todo:t~
property at the top of this file is enabled. The template is
inserted with ~C-c C-e t~

* But honestly?

Why not just write your thesis in Org and export to \LaTeX{}
instead of keeping separate files?

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Org-mode export to LaTeX: temptation or nuisance

Structure and preamble

Tricks

[Tex/LaTex] Can Emacs org-mode be used to createToDo’s linked to a line in a LaTeX source

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