You could define a new org link with this behavior. You just need to work
out a syntax for a link to the heading that also includes the property
name. e.g. [[property:file.org::*Heading::property]]

then, define a :follow function that probably opens the heading when you
open it, and an :export function that looks up the property and uses that
value on export.

You would split your path on ::, then you should have a list like (file
heading property-name). For the follow function, just find-file on the
filename, then search for the heading. For the export, wrap that in
save-window-excursion, and use (org-entry-get) on the heading to get the
property value.

John

-----------------------------------
Professor John Kitchin
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
@johnkitchin
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu



On Sun, Mar 14, 2021 at 7:41 PM David Masterson <
dsmasterson92630@outlook.com> wrote:

> I don't see this capability in Org, but maybe I'm missing it.
>
> My use case is that I setup an Org file as my phonebook.  Each child
> header (ie. no subheaders) is a person in my phonebook.  I can
> categorize them using parent headers.  All information about a person is
> stored in PROPERTY drawers (but, you could have information outside the
> drawer).
>
> What I'd like to do is include a "reference" to a PROPERTY in the
> phonebook entry in other Org files so that phone and address is stored
> in the phonebook, but I want the "reference" to become the value of the
> PROPERTY when the other Org file is exported.  I could do a link to the
> phonebook Org file, but that is a link and not the data.  I'd prefer to
> have (say) an exported PDF be standalone and not have references to the
> other file that I would also have to export.  One reason is that I might
> have "confidential" information in the phonebook.
>
> Does this make sense?  Has it been done?
> --
> David Masterson
>
>