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I have a problem where I want to structure my document visually with a heading but do not want it to actually execute a \section{Fake Heading} for the latex export. I imagine this would be customizable through an org mode property that I am unaware of.

 * Normal Heading ** Subheading 1 baz * Fake Heading :PROPERTIES: :UNKNOWN_PROPERTY_NAME: t :END: ** Appendix A foo ** Appendix B bar

Desired result.

 \section{Normal Heading} \subsection{Subheading 1} baz \subsection{Appendix A} foo \subsection{Appendix B} bar

Bonus: it would be nice that it would only ignore the fake heading for latex export. The reason I need the fake heading in the first place is that there is a custom command in the latex \documentclass{...} I am using that generates an appendix \makeAppendix thus it is redundant to have a \section{Appendix}

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  • There is a simple method that achieves something similar but not exactly what you want. If you select the region from Appendix A to the end of your example text Appendix A and B are exported as first-level headers. Don't know whether that bothers you. I know that this is not an answer, therefore I write this only as a comment. Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 11:07
  • Sadly that does not work for me because my document is much more complex than what have shown before. I have added to the question to show why that wouldn't work for me. Along that idea I think that using org sparse trees would be a possible workaround and then export. Commented Jan 19, 2018 at 13:30
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    Possible duplicate of Is it possible to export content of subtrees without their headings? Commented Nov 20, 2019 at 8:38

6 Answers 6

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For others who stumble upon this question, the following is available. As hinted to by yantar92, this is included in ox-extra which is included in the org-plus-contrib elpa package.

Headers can take an :ignore: tag, which excludes the heading upon export while still including its contents.

To make it work, add the following to your emacs setup (having installed org-plus-contrib as described here):

(require 'ox-extra) (ox-extras-activate '(ignore-headlines))

How to make this only affect LaTeX export, I don't know.

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  • You need the titletoc package mentioned in the manual at orgmode.org/manual/Table-of-contents.html. Commented Nov 21, 2018 at 9:08
  • Just to add to this, you need to have the org mode repo added to your package lists for this to work. ox-extra is not included by default. If you're using use-package you basically do what this github issue says github.com/jwiegley/use-package/issues/… and then in :config put @elfs answer. Commented Sep 8, 2019 at 9:18
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    org-plus-contrib is now outdated, use org-contrib instead: (use-package org-contrib :config (require 'ox-extra)(ox-extras-activate '(ignore-headlines))) Commented Feb 12, 2023 at 15:09
  • This fails for me with error: Wrong type argument: number-or-marker-p, nil Commented Jul 31, 2023 at 22:17
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Add this: 

#+EXCLUDE_TAGS: noexport

Then add the tag you specify: 

* Fake heading :noexport:
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    This has the effect of commenting out the entire section under the :noexport:-tagged heading. Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 14:25
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    @AlexShroyer indeed, but I also landed on this question wanting exactly that ;) Commented Nov 21, 2020 at 20:32
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    One person's bug is another person's feature! Commented Nov 22, 2020 at 15:18
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    Note: I did not need to add an explicit #+EXCLUDE_TAGS. :noexport: seems to work by default. Commented Dec 30, 2020 at 21:57
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I have found a workaround that satisfies all my needs. It takes advantage of how org mode exports and that in latex you can have "multiline comments" or sections that it ignores https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/87303/multi-line-block-comments-in-latex.

So I did the following and it works for me. Note that when exporting to other document formats (odt, html, markdown) it exports normally which is what I want.

#+BEGIN_EXPORT latex \iffalse % multiline comment #+END_EXPORT * Fake Heading #+BEGIN_EXPORT latex \fi #+END_EXPORT ** Appendix A foo ** Appendix B bar

This results in the following latex code with comments out the latex section command.

 \iffalse \section{Fake Heading} \fi \subsection{Appendix A} foo \subsection{Appendix B} bar
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    That's terrible. And by terrible I mean I'm going to use it right now. Commented Oct 28, 2018 at 14:22
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You can use org export filters for this purpose:

(defun yant/org-export-suppress-some-sections (data backend channel) "Do not put \\section for headlines with :NOSECEXPORT: tag." (when (eq backend 'latex) (let* ((parent (get-text-property (- (string-match "$" data) 2) :parent data)) (headline (and parent (cadr parent))) (tags (and headline (plist-get headline :tags)))) (when (member "NOSECEXPORT" tags) (replace-regexp-in-string "\\`.*$" "" data))))) (add-to-list 'org-export-filter-headline-functions 'yant/org-export-suppress-some-sections)

EDIT: Just found that ox-extra from org-plus-contrib provides the similar functionality. My solution seems to fit your question better though.

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You can retain folding by avoiding using a section at all and instead use a drawer. The contents of the drawer will still be exported but the drawer name will not.

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  • If the content is after a section heading, org will assume that the drawer is part of that subtree, which may be unwanted. Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:10
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Why not to simply comment out the fake heading? https://orgmode.org/manual/Comment-Lines.html

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  • Then we would lose the ability to fold the headings to get a cleaner overview if needed though... Commented Mar 6, 2024 at 7:31

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