Export Static Documents

This tutorial covers how to add metadata and export to both PDF and Word documents!

🛠 Throughout the tutorial, whenever you’re supposed to do something you will see a 🛠

Export to Microsoft Word¶

🛠 In the 01-paper.md add export: docx to the existing frontmatter section:

---
export: docx
---

🛠 Run myst build --docx

myst build --docx

The export process will run for any known files with docx specified in the export frontmatter. An equivalent command to export only this specific file is:
myst build 01-paper.md

📬 Performing exports:
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.docx
📖 Built 01-paper.md in 247 ms.
🔍 Querying template metadata from https://api.mystmd.org/templates/docx/myst/default
🐕 Fetching template from https://github.com/myst-templates/docx_default/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
💾 Saved template to path _build/templates/docx/myst/default
📄 Exported DOCX in 166 ms, copying to _build/exports/paper.docx

In this case, the default word template was used, resulting in a document formatted like this:

Next we will see how to change the template as well as how to add additional exports when working with $\LaTeX$ and PDF!

Export to PDF with Latex¶

To export to PDF with $\LaTeX$, first ensure it is installed, see Scientific PDFs for more information.

First, we need to decide which template to export to, for this, we will use the myst templates command, and for example list all the two-column, PDF templates available.

🛠 List all two column PDF templates with:
myst templates list --pdf --tag two-column

arXiv (Two Column)       arxiv_two_column
Description: A two column arXiv compatible template
Tags: paper, two-column, preprint, arxiv, bioarxiv, eartharxiv

Volcanica                volcanica
Description: A template for submissions to the Volcanica journal
Tags: paper, journal, two-column, geoscience, earthscience

🛠 Then, list the specific information needed for a template:
myst templates list volcanica --pdf

Volcanica                volcanica
ID: tex/myst/volcanica
Version: 1.0.0
Authors: Volcanica
Description: A template for submissions to the Volcanica journal
Tags: paper, journal, two-column, geoscience, earthscience

Parts:
abstract (required) - No description
acknowledgments - No description
author_contributions - No description
data_availability - Links to data repositories, and/or a statement...

Options:
article_type (choice) - Details about different article types...

In addition basic information on the template, the template’s specific “parts” and “options” are shown. Some of these may be marked as (required) and be essential for the building the document correctly with the template.

🛠 In 01-paper.md create an exports list with docx and pdf formats.

---
exports:
  - format: docx
  - format: pdf
    template: volcanica
    article_type: Report
---

We have added a second export target for pdf and included additional information to specify the template, as well as set the article_type option, which is information we discovered when listing the template above! We also saw this template supports a number of “parts” including a required abstract part, but as we already added an abstract part earlier in this tutorial, we are good to go.

You can now build the exports with the following command:

🛠 Run myst build 01-paper.md

📬 Performing exports:
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.docx
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.pdf
🌠 Converting 3 GIF images to PNG using imagemagick
📖 Built 01-paper.md in 257 ms.
📄 Exported DOCX in 205 ms, copying to _build/exports/paper.docx
📑 Exported TeX in 5.11 ms, copying to _build/temp/myst8BVu1k/paper.tex
🖨 Rendering PDF to _build/temp/mystvUibhD/paper.pdf
📄 Exported PDF in 9.3 s, copying to _build/exports/paper.pdf

# on Mac OS
brew install imagemagick
# on Ubuntu
apt install imagemagick

You can now see your two-column PDF in a submission ready format for the journal (check the _build/exports folder). It is very easy to change the template to a different format -- just change the template: field in the frontmatter! Notice also that the PDF has converted dynamic images to a static alternative (e.g. GIFs are now PNGs).

Export to $\LaTeX$¶

If you would like to see the $\LaTeX$ source, you can look in the _build/temp directory, or you can update the

🛠 In 01-paper.md: replace format: pdf with format: tex. Specify the output location as a zip file.

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---
exports:
  - format: docx
  - format: tex
    template: volcanica
    article_type: Report
    output: arxiv.zip
---

🛠 Run myst build 01-paper.md

You should see these two additional lines:

📑 Exported TeX in 4.87 ms, copying to _build/exports/paper_tex/paper.tex
🤐 Zipping tex outputs to arxiv.zip

Without specifying the output: location, this will copy the unzipped contents into the _build/exports folder along with all other exports. Creating a zip file can be helpful when directly submitted to the arXiv or a journal!

Export to Markdown¶

🛠 In 01-paper.md create an exports list with docx, pdf and md formats.

---
exports:
  - format: docx
  - format: pdf
    template: volcanica
    article_type: Report
  - format: md
---

You can now build the exports with the following command:

🛠 Run myst build 01-paper.md

📬 Performing exports:
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.docx
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.pdf
   01-paper.md -> _build/exports/paper.md
🌠 Converting 3 GIF images to PNG using imagemagick
📖 Built 01-paper.md in 257 ms.
📄 Exported DOCX in 205 ms, copying to _build/exports/paper.docx
📑 Exported TeX in 5.11 ms, copying to _build/temp/myst8BVu1k/paper.tex
🖨 Rendering PDF to _build/temp/mystvUibhD/paper.pdf
📄 Exported PDF in 9.3 s, copying to _build/exports/paper.pdf
📄 Exported MD in 205 ms, copying to _build/exports/paper.md

Conclusion 🥳¶

That’s it for this quickstart tutorial!!

Check out the following tutorials for more step-by-step guides: