I found a problem when trying this on a bigger file (my book file): If $1 (actually, #$1) is for a link target that doesn't exist, then org-mode goes into its "No match - create this as a new heading? (y or n)" routine. That causes the rest of the export to fail. It'd be better if get-title could do the same thing org-mode does natively, that is, including the text of $1 as italics to indicate a non-existent link. Example file below: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- #+MACRO: get-title (eval (save-excursion (org-open-link-from-string "[[#$1]]") (org-get-heading nil nil))) #+MACRO: SECREF [[#$1][{{{get-title($1)}}}]] #+OPTIONS: H:7 toc:nil num:1 email:t author:t * Introduction to Technology Contracts :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: IntroTechContracts :END: Lorem ipsum etc. etc. * Dangerous Clauses :PROPERTIES: :CUSTOM_ID: DangerousClauses :END: Lorem ipsum etc. etc. -- see Section {{{SECREF( BogusLinkTarget )}}} --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- >