Re: LaTeX letters in Org

[Michael Eliachevitch <m.eliachevitch@posteo.de>]

Hi Bill,

On 2022-01-29 at 12:39 -05, William Denton <wtd@pobox.com> wrote:

> I wrote up how to use Org to write letters with the LaTeX letter class. Here's
> the link in case anyone's interested:
>
> https://www.miskatonic.org/2022/01/28/latex-letters-in-org/

Cool, I'll try to remember this for when I write my next letter. You write

> I found it safest to use the #+latex: way of including LaTeX fragments. It doesn’t mess up the syntax highlight or the exporting.

When I have multiple lines of latex, I prefer including a latex export block over multiple `#+latex` lines, e.g.

    #+begin_export latex
    \closing{Sincerely,}
    \ps{P.S.  I need not tell you this is a secret.  Good-night again.}
    \end{letter}
    #+end_export

If you have `org-src-fontify-natively' to `t', this will even get you latex-syntax highlighting within the block, or if you find that too distracting, you can set that variable to `nil'. Sometimes it's useful to edit the latex-block in your latex major mode via `org-edit-export-block' (<C-c '>).

Currently the number of org export options you need is not too high, but if it grows you can move boilerplate of the letter itself via either `#+setupfile:` or just including a separate latex file. I'm think if there's a way to adapt the latex class

For not using the title, via not set `#+options: title:nil' ?

For this kind of short writing I'm always wondering whether doing it in org-mode is really worth it. I see a trade-of between the convenience of  org-markup (e.g. emphasis markers, itemize lists, links, …), and the inconvience of adding literal latex to org-mode, which is just a bit more cumbersome than doing so in an actual latex file with a latex major mode*. Especiall since you don't use headers anyway. If I do some writing where the transition between notes to the final product is fluid, then it's a no-brainer and I would do so from org immediately. But because I just enjoy writing in org-mode so much more, I would probably also do it like you from now on.

* I can use auctex in latex export blocks, but I don't think latex language servers like digestif (https://github.com/astoff/digestif) work well with them.

Cheers,
Michael

--
Michael Eliachevitch
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